There is a human side of faith that is called wanting to believe. There are those who still do not have faith, but who want to believe. On the other hand, there are others who do not want to believe. It is about such people that John says, “He who does not want to believe the Son shall not see life . . . .” John 3:36. Faith grows on the foundation of helplessness. Men’s eyes look around for help on the basis of a helpless and lost state. Then they hear the message about Jesus. They want to believe Him! However, they are not entirely helped by that alone. You can speak with many such helpless souls who say, “Yes, I would very much like to believe.” This can also be said differently: “I would very much like to possess this salvation.” When a soul wants to believe, we see that this aspect of faith creates prayer in order to receive. The one who prays must believe that God is, and that He rewards those who seek Him. Heb. 11:6. Now we know that God is full of mercy; He sees to the oppressed when he calls on Him, and to the one who has a broken and contrite spirit. Therefore He gives the soul what he is praying for. From that moment the person’s faith has taken on an entirely different character. If you ask this person whether he wants to believe, he will answer: “Now it is no longer a question of wanting to believe; I have received what I have prayed for; I have faith.” Now we come to the other aspect of faith: The Gift of Faith Paul says, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Eph. 2:8. When a person has received faith as a gift from God, he has the full and certain assurance of his salvation. Then he is not struggling any more with “wanting to believe”; he has faith. Peter writes to those who Have Obtained Like Precious Faith with us by the righteousness of our God and of Jesus our Lord. 2 Pet. 1:1. The gift of faith is the divine aspect of faith that creates joy because it possesses. But as it is from the beginning, so it continues. Some people seek the baptism of the Spirit. They want to believe God for this power, but they have still not received it. But on the day they have received the baptism of the Spirit in answer to their prayer from the foundation of their impotent state, they have received complete and full faith in this blessing. On the basis of this living and real faith they can proclaim this grace of God further. We continue with healing for the body. The sick person says, “Of course, I want to believe God who has all power; Jesus went about and healed all kinds of infirmities.” The sick person wants to believe. But this alone does not get him the help he needs. This is the beginning. If he has a sincere desire and need for healing, he will call out to the Lord in his need. And God answers. “He sent His word and healed them.” Ps. 107:20. Immediately the person’s relationship to God has changed. Now it is no longer: I want to have faith, but: I have faith. And in this faith you can also proclaim the glad tidings of faith to sighing and suffering souls. Notice that this divine faith by its very nature gives us an assurance and a certainty that becomes like a different nature in us. It becomes like a seal in our inner man. We Advance to Being Clothed With Virtues. In Colossians 3:12-14 it says: “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” God recommends that we put these things on. Try and see if it is possible. You cannot manage to do it. How are you going to do it? Take (for example) tender mercies. Put it on. How are you going to start? You realize that you are faced with the impossible. Perhaps you comfort yourself with the thought that in time God will surely mold us. It doesn’t all come in one day.” Yes, but what if you needed to forgive someone this very day as Christ has forgiven you? You think that it is so easy to forgive. Someone sins against you and asks for forgiveness. He is forgiven, but he sins again. You are annoyed because he has harmed you, was neglectful, talked behind your back; but he asks and receives forgiveness. Again he sins against you. Something rises up in you: This was the third time! He does it again; this was the fourth, fifth, sixth time. And he wants to call himself a Christian, a brother—bah! How about seven times seventy? Perhaps—in the midst of all this in order not to be like him—you say in your heart: “I want to forgive!” But you keep track of his sins and remember his transgressions, and you consider how he has harmed you. Is it easy to forgive and forget? We are to forgive each other as Christ has forgiven us! You need tender mercies. The Scriptures say, “Put on . . . .” Oh, how we get to see our own wretchedness and helplessness, our impotence; our love is shown to be just an attempt that immediately ends in disaster as does everything else that is human. Prayers and cries rise up on the basis of this acknowledgment. We want to believe God! And God hears us. We receive tender mercies. We receive the greatest power in life: to be able to forgive as we have been forgiven. Then we have put it on. We have complete faith that this can be received—a divine faith—because we have received it. This is how it will be. The disciples said, “Increase our faith.” We must receive this faith as a divine gift. Put on! This presupposes need. It is a shame to declare that you are bereft of tender mercies and goodness. Therefore there are very few who see themselves as genuinely needy so that they seek out God’s clothes closet. Consequently, they persist in proudly walking in their rags, whereas those who are worthy and truly needy are humbly clothed in God’s shining and holy and fragrant garments that have the flavor of fragrant herbs. And over all of this we can drape love, which is the bond of perfection. It is truly perfection to be able to forgive seven times seventy. “Give us godly faith, Lord!” Nevertheless, not everyone wants to possess these garments. It could be nice to have something in reserve, so we can really get at them at a given opportunity—those who have annoyed us so much with their many sins against us. “Beloved, do not avenge yourselves . . . .” Rom. 12:19. Can you not put on these virtues so that you are just as sure that you have them as you are that you are saved? We are to show virtue in our faith. Peter speaks about the exceedingly great and precious promises through which we can be partakers of divine nature. 2 Pet. 1:4. The person who wants to have faith receives faith in these promises, together with their entire content. However, no one receives them without first being willing to acknowledge his own wretchedness and denying his entire old life’s usefulness. We Progress to the Believers’ Work. We pray for revival, but we live in unbelief by complaining that it is “hard and dry.” The person who believes, receives. Seek God’s faith, the gift of faith. Then you will have revival. I saw a woman who lived in revival wherever she went. She did not doubt. She even prayed for a certain number of people to be saved. And she received them. It was like a game with destiny. She had faith. This is the faith that Jesus speaks about when He says, “If you have faith as a mustard seed . . . .” It is a faith full of vibrant life, a creative faith. All things are possible for someone who lives in such a faith. A brother had faith for the salvation of sinners, and they were also saved wherever he went. But then he met other believers, who did not possess this divine faith; his faith ebbed away, and he became like the others. One day a brother who was running a Christian work by faith lacked 3,000 marks for the work. He laid out the matter quite simply before God; then he returned to his chopping block and continued to chop wood—and the money came. This is the kind of faith Jesus has in mind when He speaks about not being anxious for the future—what we shall eat and drink and clothe ourselves with. He points to the flowers and the birds and their carefree life, and God’s care for them. Shall God not clothe you much more, O you of little faith? Are you not worth much more than they? Ch. 6. If we had faith, we would see God’s glory and power. Nothing is impossible for God. All things are possible to him who believes.Aksel Smith

“Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and are without a care on Mount Samaria . . . Woe to you who put far off the day of doom . . . who lie on beds of ivory and lounge on their couches, eat lambs from the flock and eat calves from the midst of the stall; who sing nonsense to the sound of the harps, and have invented for themselves stringed instruments like David, who drink wine from bowls, and anoint themselves with the best ointments, who are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives, and there will be an end of the shouting of those who lounge around.” Amos 6:1-7. This does not refer to those who are at ease and carefree in the world, in Egypt, but to Israel. This concerns God’s children. A Carefree Joy is very desirable. People are glad because they are God’s children; they are comfortable; they get the sun and the rain, food and drink; they have a home and clothing and go to assemblies wherever they want. They want to be free and happy. However, this joy is often a carefree joy. A testimony at the meeting can open our eyes to the sinners’ terrible state. We feel somewhat spoken to in that moment and pray for revival; but the prayer for revival is often not so much for the sake of the sinners but rather for ourselves, because it is so delightful during times of revival. Therefore it is often the case that people do not have the sinners on their heart, but rather themselves, and immediately after they have prayed, they no longer grieve over the sinner. Then they proceed in their carefree joy week after week, no longer grieving over the sinners unless they see one of them hurtling down to perdition. Then they awaken and lament over how little love they have. Then they forget the incident and again continue to live in that carefree joy! They are at ease and carefree where they are. There is little need over sinners. Who is willing to make this need his own need, call out to the Lord for salvation, and put on love’s great sorrow for those who are on the way to hell? Not only putting it on like a sack on your head at a meeting to show grief, or strew a few humble ashes on your head to get others to believe in the love that you neither have nor practice. A grief is needed that gives rise to cries and prayers to Him who can save. Or are you among the carefree in Zion? Or you see a sick brother or sister? A pleasant thought (a token of love) is possibly all it amounts to. A little prayer at the meeting, and then you forget the whole thing and continue to live in your carefree joy. Or do you have sufficient love to put on the matchless care of compassion, cast yourself down before God on behalf of the sick person—fight through to victory if necessary. Love endures all things and is longsuffering. Listen to what Amos says about the affliction of Joseph; this refers to the affliction of the church—if you are without care for the members of the body of Christ, whether it goes well with them or not. You see that Satan is tearing God’s children from each other; you see that they are fighting against each other; you see that many are dull, slack, and lethargic, and many are puffed up. Perhaps you complain and fret over them, but you have no care—no helping hand, no concern, and no care that lays its life down, no crying out in need to the Lord, no sufferings, no battles. You belong to those who are at ease and carefree. The Lord calls out His “Woe!” over such people. You like it best when you lounge on your bed and sing songs to the Lord’s praise just like David; but you do not want to suffer, fight, and struggle for Israel as David did, as Jesus did, and as Paul and many others did. You do not grieve for the affliction of Joseph. You like it best when in carefree joy you sing nonsense to the sound of harps. You put far off the day of doom; you want to revel in your joy, and you do not think that you will have to face a day of reckoning for the lives that you witnessed but did not help. Your egotistical joy will not help you. We are obliged to walk as He walked. When Paul speaks about always rejoicing, he does not speak about a carefree joy, for Paul himself had a continual grief in his heart for his brethren according to the flesh. Rom. 9. In the midst of his struggle and battles for his brethren, in the midst of bonds and chains, in the midst of dangers and sufferings, the joy of the Lord was his strength because it comforted him so that he could comfort others with the same comfort with which he was comforted by God. Paul says in Galatians 6:2: “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” You will receive an understanding of what it means to bear burdens if you leave your carefree joy behind and enter into the ministry for the others. It is written about Epaphras that he always labored in his prayers for the Colossians. He didn’t just pray, but he labored in his prayers for them. Col. 4:12-13. Recently a sister related a dream: “There was a prayer meeting in the house. During the prayer meeting, a brother came down the steps bearing another brother whose wife was present. This brother who was being carried was heavy to bear, but he managed to do it. When they had come down the stairs and the others saw him, they saw a worn-out man, someone who had fought and struggled, fought and suffered; his clothes were ragged and torn after the struggle, and underneath you could see blood flowing onto the white garment. Yet his eyes were wonderfully, yet mournfully gentle; and when she looked into his eyes it was as if a divine power infused her. Then he reached out his hand on which an ugly fly was impaled on a pin, and he said, ‘How such things can plague you, it is so that blood can flow.’ Then his wife approached him. Her entire appearance was transfigured; the glory of Christ had given her an exhilarating, pure, divine holiness. Her body was like a glorified body. She looked at her husband, fell on her knees, and wept quietly.” Oh, if only we had the love of Christ! We become rich through His poverty. He was afflicted so that we could radiate His glory. This is how Paul fought in order to present a pure virgin in Christ, so that she could be presented without spot or wrinkle before Him with joy. Moreover, God says about those who are carefree and at ease: “There will be an end of the roaring of those who recline at banquets.” Amos 6:7. Those who do not enter into the intent of the Spirit and the Word—all they will have left is laziness and roaring.Aksel Smith

Cheered by the presence of God, I will do at each moment, without anxiety, according to the strength which He shall give me, the work that His providence assigns me. I will leave the rest without concern; it is not my affair. I ought to consider the duty to which I am called each day as the work that God has given me to do, and to apply myself to it in a manner worthy of His glory—that is to say, with exactness and in peace. I must neglect nothing and do nothing by compulsion.Fenelon