I. Its office
I. Its office
The gift of faith is a divinely inwrought assurance given the soul that God will do in, for, or by the person upon whom it is bestowed, certain apprehended results, and this persuasion is so indubitable that it becomes the very substance of the things desired, and the very evidence (or proof), the conclusive testimony of the things not seen (not verified). Hence this faith is vital in certain of its relations. It is an indispensable qualification for the execution of some divine order by the person upon whom it is bestowed.
1. This gift is the indispensable accompaniment of the divine missions
To which God appoints men
When God calls one to the work of evangelist, teacher, prophet, or healer, he accompanies it with such an endowment of faith upon the soul as that the fruit of evangelism, teaching, prophecy, or healing shall appear. This gift attends such only in their divine callings, and is effective only for their legitimate work. Sometimes the range of this endowment of faith is narrow, limited to only one phase of results, with one evangelist to the conversion of sinners, as with Philip of Samaria and Thomas Harrison of today; with E. P. Hammond to the conversion of children chiefly; with another to the sanctification of believers principally, as Dr. Sheridan Baker; with Miss Sarah Smiley, to teaching alone; with George Muller, to building orphanages; with Dr. Cullis, to faith cures; with Francis Murphy, to reform inebriates. The divine call is the pledge of the divine anointing of faith for its work.
2. It is the indispensable antecedent of supernatural results
In nature and mind through human agency
The birth of Isaac in the ordinary course of nature was impossible. Many years after Abraham had believed the covenant promise of God by which he obtained justification, God appeared unto him; talked with him; promised him a son by Sarah, and called his name Isaac. By this revelation of the Almighty God, Abraham is persuaded that what he has promised he is able to perform. He received the gift of faith, gave glory to God, and laughed outright from the delight of assurance which illuminated his soul.
According to this faith, divinely imparted to him, it was done unto him. The miracle of the incarnation was through faith. The angel Gabriel being sent of God, came to a devout Galilean damsel residing at Nazareth; he saluted her: Hail! thou art highly favored; the Lord is with thee. Troubled in mind by the sudden appearance of this seraphic visitant, and his strange salutation, she is assured and comforted by a second message: Fear not; thou hast found favor of the Lord. Thou shalt bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. This supernatural manifestation irresistibly persuaded her that it was the divine purpose that she should be the mother of the Lord.
She consented to the mission, saying: Be it unto me according to thy word.
A divinely wrought faith possessed her heart. The divine Benedict us from the lips of Elizabeth, under the power of the Holy Ghost, confirmed it, saying: Blessed is she that hath believed that there shall be a fulfillment of the things spoken to her from the Lord. Then breaks forth the shout of Marys Spirit. imparted faith in the inspired Magnificat, My soul doth magnify the Lord, etc., jubilant with all the anticipations which had their wondrous realization in the Advent. God gave Mary faith for this mission, and according to her faith it was done unto her. When God would make Ananias an agent for the salvation of Saul of Tarsus, he appears to him in a vision in the person of the ascended Lord, speaks to him, commissions him, discloses to him Sauls state of heart, silences his fears, assures him of the persecutors true conversion, and of the divine purpose to make Saul a chosen vessel. All this brings the heart of Ananias into a sure confidence that the work committed to him shall not fail. He went; he succeeded; he witnessed the salvation of the great apostle to the Gentiles. So it is ever: when God would have an extraordinary work achieved, or some unusual event transpire which is not according to the observed course of nature or mind, he works into some heart the supernatural persuasion that he will do this thing to, for, or by him.
These Scriptural citations are given only as samples of how, in like manner, God now sometimes imparts this gift of faith to his humblest disciples, enabling them to effect results, secure deliverances, promote revivals, and to do other mighty works.
Miss Sarah Smiley had been long an invalid; one day it came to her: The Lord is thy healer! It came so irresistibly that her heart responded, Even so, Lord; it was faith, for her healing. The next day she arose from her bed, grew stronger day by day, and has ever since been a successful evangelist.
A wife was impressed while praying to ask for the preservation and salvation of her husband, who was an officer on a Mississippi River steamer, then distant from home. The assurance of faith came that her desire was granted. The day following a telegram came to her that the steamer had burned, and that her husband had perished. She read it, folded it up, and said to the friend who delivered it: It is not so; he is saved from the flames and the waves, and shall be from his sins. A few days after, he arrived home, was soon converted, and lived for many years, a praise in the Church.
Mr. Finney had visited a place to hold revival services. He was the guest of an excellent Christian woman. After he had held the first service, he determined to leave; his hostess urged him to stay, but he said he would leave. She then said: Well, if you do go, God will send a revival anyhow.
Mr. Finney stayed, and a most wonderful revival followed. She had the gift of faith for a revival. A young lady, backslidden in heart, filled with skeptical notions, reluctantly accompanied her godly father to church one night. Her mother in enfeebled health remained at home. While engaging in prayer, she was drawn out in supplication for her daughters restoration to divine favor; while on her knees, an assurance of faith was given her that her daughter should not come home without being saved. Lo! when she returned home, she reported how the Lord had restored unto her the joy of salvation ! The gift of faith is antecedent to and promotive of all such results as lie beyond the range of the blessings of grace promised to saving faith, and the experience of faith in the measure of its fullness,
3. It is the source of the prayer of faith
That which is called in the Scriptures the prayer of faith springs out of the endowment of faith. The soul, becoming supernaturally assured by the Holy Spirit through the Word that it is Gods will to do certain things by, for, or to it, instantly takes up prayer for that thing. What are often spoken of in Christian life as special answers to prayer, are those things given which were asked for when the soul was lifted into an assurance that God would grant those very things. The asking was prompted by the assurance of faith that had been given.