In order to operate in the kind of faith the apostles have, we should get to know what the apostles explain about it. We find it in their epistles and in the Acts of the Apostles.
Here are a few pointers to give us true perspective on apostolic faith.
Apostolic Faith Notes
Sunday 12th January 2003, by apostle Andre Pelser.
In order to operate in the kind of faith the apostles have, we should get to know what the apostles explain about it. We find it in their epistles and in the Acts of the Apostles.
Here are a few pointers to give us true perspective on apostolic faith.
Paul called it a spirit of faith and told us that we all received a measure of faith.
Peter said we have received ?like precious faith? ? in other words the same kind the apostles had. He explains what ingredients we should add to it in order to keep from falling away from faith. Peter says that faith in the written word is more reliable that waiting for an audible voice from heaven to impart faith into your spirit.
Paul also explains the higher dimension of the faith: the Holy Spirit?s gift of faith for special occasions when the ordinary measure of faith will not suffice.
John repeatedly tells his dearly beloved followers that they overcome the evil one by faith in the Word of God.
The writer of the book of Hebrews describes faith as a battle and a wrestling until you break through the boundaries of unbelief and enter into a kind of rest of faith where you cease from your own works.
It is important to remember that the apostles of old and the apostles of today have a firm conviction about providence. Faith to them is not a tool to manipulate God to act like a genie in a lamp ala Aladdin and his magic lantern. Faith to the apostles is a confident trust in the foreknowledge of God as well as an unshakeable assurance that God will be true to His Word. Faith is an undergirding or support to the apostles in times of hardship and suffering, trials and tribulations that any believer who is worthy of the name of Christ will suffer in this life. Those who avoid it do not enter the kingdom for the apostle Paul clearly described the entry point: we enter the kingdom of God through much tribulation. Jesus said you must be born again to see the kingdom and be born again through blood and water to enter it.
Faith is another level of living ? not merely a tool to satisfy your fleshly desires and greedy nature to ?get what you want from God!?
Where believers have been misled to believe that suffering and hardship do not exist in the life of faith, they are disappointed in God and the church when hard times come. They have heard a strange Gospel mixed with Positive Thinking that is based on certain scriptures but not on the whole truth contained in the Scriptures. These false teachers have preached an easy Gospel to pacify human nature and to please their hearers with things they would like to hear. But true believers are not just seeking what they can get out of the Gospel; they are willing to suffer for Christ?s sake as well. They regard it as an honour to be counted worthy of suffering shame for His Name?s sake like Peter & John after they were stripped and beaten publicly for preaching the Gospel.
Faith towards God is one of the basic foundation stones in our Christian life.
In order to keep our faith directed towards God we need to stay in fellowship and communion with God. This is how we learn to rely upon God and how to trust in Him no matter what our circumstances are.

FAITH – a belief in or confident attitude toward God, involving commitment to His will for one?s life.
. Genuine saving faith is a personal attachment to Christ, best thought of as a combination of two ideas-reliance on Christ and commitment to Him.
In the NT the fact that believers suffer ill-treatment and adverse circumstances is no longer a problem, since it is recognized that fellowship in Christ?s sufferings is fundamental to the Christian vocation (cf. Mt. 10:24f.; Jn. 15:18ff.; 16:33; Acts 9:16; 14:22; Phil. 3:10ff.; 1 Pet. 4:12-19). This recognition, in conjunction with the OT principles mentioned above, completely disposed of the ?problem of suffering? for the first Christians. Knowing something of their glorious hope (1 Pet. l:3ff.), and of the strengthening and sustaining power of Christ (2 Cor. 1:3ff.; 12:9f.), they could contentedly face all situations (Phil. 4:11) and rejoice in all troubles (Rom. 8:35ff.), confident that through adversity their loving Father was disciplining them in sanctity (Heb. 12:5-11), developing their Christian character (Jas. 1:2ff.; 1 Pet. 5:10; cf. Rom. 5:2ff.), proving the reality of their faith (1 Pet. 1:7), and so ripening them for glory (1 Pet. 4:13). In all things God works for the spiritual welfare of his people (Rom. 8:28); and he supplies them with whatever material things they need throughout their earthly pilgrimage (Mt. 6:25-33; Phil. 4:19).

They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Revelation 12:11
There is no greater biblical declaration of faith?s confession than from those facing the cataclysmic travail of the last days. They endure persecutions in the overcoming power of the blood of the Lamb and of the word of their transforming faith in Christ. Their faith is unwavering, the result of an abiding relationship with Jesus Christ. This is the heart of faith?s confession, based in God?s Word and the blood of the Lamb, whose victory has provided the eternal conquest of Satan.
With Christ?s victory over Satan, those who have maintained their confession of faith now share in His victory. With their sins blotted out and their declaration of Jesus? redemptive work in their lives, they silence the attempts of the prince of darkness to intimidate God?s children. His accusing voice of condemnation and guilt is swallowed up in the triumph of Calvary.
Declare your abiding faith and continue in Jesus? ultimate victory, overcoming Satan by the power of the Cross and the steadfastness of your confession of faith in Christ?s triumph.

Have the right attitude in believing
The God of Hope fills you with peace and joy in believing!
. But close examination will reveal that in the OT, as in the NT, the basic demand is for a right attitude to God, i.e. for faith. Cf. Ps. 37:3ff., ?Trust in the Lord, and do good. . . Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.?

Special mention must be made of Abraham. His whole life gives evidence of a spirit of trustfulness, of a deep faith. Of him it is recorded that ?he believed the Lord; and he reckoned it to him as righteousness? (Gn. 15:6).

. Christ accomplished man?s salvation by dying an atoning death on Calvary?s cross. Faith is the attitude whereby a man abandons all reliance in his own efforts to obtain salvation, be they deeds of piety, of ethical goodness or anything else. It is the attitude of complete trust in Christ, of reliance on him alone for all that salvation means. When the Philippian jailer asked, ?Men, what must I do to be saved??, Paul and Silas answered without hesitation, ?Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved?

Consequently this construction is sometimes used where saving faith is in mind, as in Jn. 5:24, ?he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life?. The man who really believes God will, of course, act on that belief. In other words, a genuine belief that what God has revealed is true will issue in a true faith.

When a man comes to believe he commits himself decisively to Christ. The present tense has the idea of continuity. Faith is not a passing phase. It is a continuing attitude. The perfect tense combines both i