Examining Your Faith

by Alexandra Copeland

2Corinthians 13:5 (NLT) tells us, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves.” It is often said that God will not do for us the things He instructs us to do for ourselves. He is a God of extreme order and practicality. Everything that He does has a reason. He doesn’t waste His time on things that do not serve a purpose. If we understand this part of His nature, we will also understand that He would not tell us to do something that we are not capable of getting done. He tells us in 2Corinthians 13:5 to make an examination of the genuine quality of our faith. To do this, we first have to know what faith is. We also have to understand that there is such a thing as a faith that is not judged genuine, but disingenuous. That’s the kind we want to steer clear of, and God has charged with the responsibility of making sure that we do.

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 (NLT) states, “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”  Confidence is defined as a state of feeling certain about the truth. It is an unshakeable assurance of an outcome. When it comes to the promises that God has made in His Word, our faith must have an unshakable, fully persuaded confidence that the things that He has told us will absolutely come to pass.

Why is faith important to God?
Hebrews 11:6(NLT) tells us, “And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him.” You and I have never seen God. We learn about Him and His nature through His Word. God’s Word is alive! 1Peter 1:23 says that our born-again reality through Jesus Christ is a new life! It will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living Word of God. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus Christ said that we do not live by bread alone, but we also live by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. His Word gives us life!

It is also important for us to remember that our Heavenly Father is a God of love. 1 Corinthians 13:7 tells us that love never gives up or loses faith and is always hopeful. Love endures every circumstance.  Love is what connects us to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 4:19 tells us that we love each other because God first loved us. We didn’t love Him first, He loved us first, and Ephesians 1:4 tells us that He chose us to be in Christ and to be holy, without fault in His eyes. 

We demonstrate our love to God by having faith in His Word, by knowing that the victory He’s promised through Christ is ours if we continue to run, not grow weary and not faint. We can run this journey of life, with all its ups and downs, turns and twists, because our hope is anchored in Jesus. We may not understand all the details and the craziness we face, but we should continue to trust and believe that God is working everything out for our good.

This is the kind of faith that Abraham had. He is known as the father of our believing because he had a fully-persuaded, sold-out faith that what God said, He was also willing and able to perform. When Abraham and his wife, Sarah, were very old, God made Abraham a promise that he would be the father of many nations. Even though Sarah was beyond child-bearing years and Abraham was an old man, they had to believe and trust that what God had promised would come to pass. It wasn’t about what they thought or felt. In Genesis 18:12, Sarah referred to herself as worn-out and unable to experience physical pleasure with her husband. She laughed at the promise because it seemed so farfetched. They both had to make the leap from thinking and feeling old and worn out to actually manifesting the promise God had given them.

Our faith is like an incubator, keeping the promise nurtured and growing until God’s timing brings about its birth is our responsibility. We are to test our confidence to ascertain whether it is at the right temperature. We can’t allow our feelings to get in the way of our faith, because if they’re too cold, we might not be diligent to keep our hearts and minds in God’s Word. If they’re too hot, we might rush to birth outside of God’s timing. We should always test ourselves that thoughts and feelings contrary to the mind of Christ are stripped away. Then our faith will be genuine, because we won’t let anything prevent us from taking God at His Word and trusting it until the end.■

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.