Faith or beliefs, how do we know what moves us to act?

And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them? Numbers 14:11

Life in Christ Jesus is not a life of beliefs, no spiritual life is built from the beliefs a person holds; life in Christ Jesus is about ‘believing’, not having beliefs. Believe, and beliefs, are not the same, they do not converge on the same point; believe is the active part of the devotion and sincerity of the person born by the impact of the Spirit, beliefs is the passive part, the one that simply identifies the person and places him in a position with respect to others. Having beliefs does not necessarily lead a person to believe, beliefs can rather be a hindrance to a person believing what is in his or her best interest to believe; in fact, the greatest danger one who believes in Jesus can expose himself or herself to is building convictions on the basis of beliefs. Believe are born of Revelation and lead you to move toward God through Jesus; beliefs lead you to develop only ideals, nothing more.

Life in Christ Jesus is a life of faith, it means believing that in and through Jesus, and in His teaching, uniquely, we are capable of doing what we could not do because of human limitations; life in Christ Jesus means being empowered with spiritual virtues that develop the supernatural capacity to act in an environment of limitations.[1] However, it must be kept in mind that since faith is subject to the Lord’s Will, faith is not a passport to do what a person wants to do, or to obtain what he wants to obtain; faith is the resource in Jesus to supernaturally complete the deficiency of strength required for one to believe in Jesus to complete the work of testimony delegated to him by the Spirit of Truth.[2]

The life of faith in Jesus Christ develops from voluntary exposure to the teachings of Jesus; it is the impact that the Words of Jesus provoke in the spirit of the one who believes in Jesus that moves him to do what the instruction of the teaching establishes; and when we say that it is the impact that the Words of Jesus cause the believer in Jesus to act, we are referring, to the Word contained in the Scriptures,[3] and to the Word that the Spirit of Truth imparts as a repository of Revelation in the spirit of the believer in Jesus; these are the only two forms that sustain the life of faith in Jesus Christ;[4] a prophetic word does not have the capacity to develop faith, faith is of an individual character, therefore the person has to receive it directly by the Spirit of Truth. The prophetic word is regarded as ‘exhortation’ by the Spirit.

Faith develops and builds spiritual life; it is spiritual life as only man can have communion with the Lord;[5] hence faith and spiritual life are two aspects that run parallel that make up the perfection of the one who believes in Jesus. If faith stops, the spiritual life stagnates,[6] hence the need to understand that faith is founded upon the permanent activity of the Spirit of Truth in the inner self of the believer in Jesus,[7] and that it is the responsibility of the believer in Jesus to guard the reservoir of Revelation which the Spirit of Truth has deposited in his inner self.

An action contrary to the operation of the Spirit by one who believes in Jesus can stop the movement of the Spirit of Truth; actions contrary to the operation of the Spirit are based on the use of the mores of the old way of living,[8] and on tolerance of heretical and apostate doctrines.[9]

The only responsibility of the one who has willingly believed in Jesus is to take care of his faith. How is faith taken care of? By persevering in what we have believed.[10]

What does it mean to ‘persevere’ to the end? To persevere to the end is the exhortation of the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven that he who has willingly believed in Jesus should stand firm in his conviction of faith in Jesus; it means not to make or allow changes to the instruction of the teaching he has received; it also means not to allow interpretation of the Word of Truth.[11]

The path of perseverance is an arduous one, not so much because of the external inconveniences that we have to overcome in order to continue moving forward, but more, and above all, because of the demand for perfection that the process of faith adjusts in the person in terms of changes in the Adamic nature. The path of perseverance is composed of three stages of faith perfection.[12]

Obedience to the instruction of the Word,

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Romans 6:16

Contrary to what religious philosophy establishes as the definition of faith, faith is not a feeling or a sensation of enthusiasm that takes hold of the person, faith is simply the capacity that the person develops to follow instructions, instructions from the Word, written or revealed, by the way. A review of the cases where Jesus operated supernatural work among His followers shows us that the key to the completion of the work consisted in the ability to follow Jesus’ instructions by those who received them. Faith is built on the basis of ‘naive’ obedience, that is, on obedience that does not question why it has to be done in the way it is established. The apostle Paul presents this clearly when, in his epistle to the community of faith in Rome, he states that the principle of faith consists in obeying: you are servants of the one whom you obey, of obedience for righteousness. Obedience is an act, faith then, is doing. Hence, no one should read the Bible, nor pray for guidance from the Spirit of Truth, unless he/she has first decided to follow the instructions contained in what he/she reads. The Bible and prayer are not an element to make devotions, they are the source to build faith.

It is not a matter of reading the whole Bible, it is not the task of the Spirit of Truth; one must choose portions, stories, short teachings, specific books, and stay in them by reading them for long enough, weeks, months, over and over again, without consulting outside sources, until we have fully penetrated the story and are able almost to recite them. In order to what? until we are able to…

Understand the spirit of the Word,

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. 1 Kings 18:21

In order for us to understand what is the ‘spirit’ of the Word we are reading; the teaching purpose upon which the Word we are reading was built is precisely the instruction we are going to follow, that is, the instruction upon which we are going to build faith.[13] Let’s look at the following example to establish the teaching of faith.

In Deuteronomy 21:21, we read: “And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear”. The instruction apparently aims at ‘stoning’ the offender with stones until he dies, but that instruction is not the ‘spirit’ of this commandment; the ‘spirit’ of this Word consists in “so shalt thou put evil away from among you”, this is the purpose of teaching upon which this Word was built; therefore now we can understand with certainty of faith why Jesus did not permit nor join with those who were about to stone the woman found in the act of adultery;[14] the purpose was not to stone, the purpose was to ‘put away evil from among the people’.

A Word executed without understanding reproduces a blind action, without any spiritual fruit. There are many people who are apparently following God, but in reality are servants of Baal.

Discern the motivations of the heart,

But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. Luke 9:55

A person is true not because he speaks Truth, but because he acts Truth; Truth does not consist in the things that are said, but in being consistent with the things that are believed. Truth is not a concept, it is the substance of which persons are made; Truth is fidelity, it is perseverance, it is consistency, it is firmness; Truth has to do with the reality of persons, that is, with what a person is in reality; a person is defined not by appearance nor by outward behavior, a person is defined by the motivation of his impulses, outward behavior is a facade which hides his true motivations.

We must not confuse motivations with intentions, intentions do not define a person, in fact, intentions are a distraction that tarnish a person’s true existence, deep down, a person’s intentions only serve to evade responsibility before his very conscience. Intentions are an alter ego that a person builds to morally disguise his or her misconduct.

Faith is not a hundred percent believing, nor does it consist one hundred percent in obeying, they are only the starting point, until the one who has believed in Jesus adjusts to submission to the Lordship of Christ, but from there, the one who has believed in Jesus must show how worthy he is to be ‘called’ a child of God, and how faithful he is to maintain such a great salvation.[15] Faith consists in the capacity that he who has believed in Jesus can develop to discern his own motivations, which means, the truth of the person to walk according to the doctrine of the Gospel, not serving the eye, as those who please men, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God in the spirit.[16]

Incorrect motivations reproduce a deformed faith. In the teaching of Jesus contained in the writing of Matthew, Jesus stated as part of His Gospel, that a person’s motivations can be as strong as the action itself, and that even if the person does not achieve the action, the motivation per se is considered to be the reality of the essence as the person is defined before God. The examples Jesus proposed; As for killing, anyone who gets mad at his brother, anyone who says, ‘You fool, you imbecile, etc.,’ and even anyone who says, ‘You fool,’ is equivalent to ‘killing,’ and for whose motivation-action he will be blamed for the judgment (5:22). As for adultery, anyone who looks at a woman to covet her has already committed adultery with her in his heart (5:28).

The motivation of the person is his or her definition before God,[17] or what is equivalent, God knows the person not by his or her actions but by his or her motivations; hence, in order for the man and woman of faith to walk in perfection before the Lord, Jesus recommended, do not repudiate your wife by seeking a legal excuse to do so, cause her to commit adultery and it will be accounted to you (5: 32); swear not at all (5:34), but let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for that which is more than this is of evil (5:37); resist not evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also (5: 39–42); and in addition to this, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who abuse you and persecute you (5:44–45).

Jesus’ teaching is addressed to men and women of faith who seek to walk in perfection; perfection is achieved when men and women purify their motivations: that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. (5:45).

Discerning one’s own motivations means that each person becomes a judge of himself, and each person determines when to act, when not to act, and under what circumstances to act. We have a clear example in the words of the apostle Paul about how to judge the priority of things: “All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not”.[18] What do his words mean? Though all things are lawful for me, yet not all things are expedient, nor all things edifying; so faith is to do according to that which is expedient, and according to that which edifies; in another section of the same epistle he added, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any”.[19] Faith consists in discerning the motivations for not getting under the power of anything or anyone.

As you can see, faith is not a launching pad to do and/or to acquire what you want to obtain; faith is the ‘correction’ resource to advance in the spiritual life, in order to reach that for which we were reached by the Grace of Jesus.[20]

To recapitulate, life in Christ Jesus is not a life of beliefs, no spiritual life is built from the beliefs that the person holds; life in Christ Jesus is a life of faith, it means believing that in and through Jesus, and in His teaching, uniquely, we can do what we are unable to do because of human limitations; all this for what? That we may have the ability and power to establish a testimony on earth that there is salvation only in Christ Jesus, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.[21]

Where are we headed? We get the answer by answering another question, What moves us to act? It is shocking to discover how many people who have believed in Jesus live in a state of simple-mindedness and religiosity, accumulating beliefs, dogmas and doctrines, but not knowing what to do with them. I have learned from the Revelation of the Spirit of Truth that in the years to come we will face many more pandemics, many more shortages, and many more chaos than we have faced this year 2020; if with one pandemic which paralyzed all the nations of the world and disrupted even systems of government, many men and women of faith could not answer for their faith in Jesus, and were confused as to whether this came from the devil, or from God, how much more so will it come later?

We need to start readjusting the fundamentals of the Gospel we have believed in, faith or belief?

All biblical quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Pastor Pedro Montoya

Twitter: @pastormontoya

[1] Ephesians 1:17–20: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20 which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

[2] Isaiah 40:31: but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

[3] Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

[4] John 16:13–15: 13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

[5] John 4:24: God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

[6] James 2:17–26: Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone… 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?… 26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

[7] 1st. Corinthians 6:19: What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

[8] Ephesians 4:29–31: 29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

[9] 2nd. John 9–11: 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

[10] Matthew 24:13: But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. (Mark 13:13; Luke 1:4; 1 John 2:27)

[11] 1st. Timothy 1:4: neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies, which minister questions, rather than godly edifying which is in faith: so do. Titus 3:9: But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain.

[12] Matthew 7:14: because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

[13] James 1:25: But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

[14] John 8:5: Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

[15] Acts 17:11: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

[16] Ephesians 6:6

[17] 1 Samuel 16:7

[18] 1st. Corinthians 10:23

[19] Ditto 6:12

[20] Philippians 3:12

[21] Acts 4:12