Natural Faith vs God’s Faith: Why Believing Isn’t the Same as Living by Faith

By Dr. Layne McDonald and Daniel Gullick

Most people do not realize they use faith all day long. You used it before lunch. You used it when you turned the key in the car. You used it when you trusted a label on a bottle, a brand on a can, or a prescription handed to you by a stranger behind a counter. That is faith, but it is a kind of faith that lives at the natural level. It is trust in systems, people, patterns, and probabilities.

Natural faith is common. It is everywhere. It is the default setting of modern life. But the kind of faith that changes a man from the inside out, the kind of faith that rebuilds a life, restores a family, breaks chains, and renews the mind is different. God’s faith is not rooted in what seems likely. God’s faith is rooted in what God said.

Here is a simple way to see the difference. Natural faith often starts with the question, what seems true right now. God’s faith starts with a stronger question, what did God speak that is true forever. One is built on circumstances. The other is built on Scripture.

Here is what natural faith tends to look like.

• Trusting what you can see

• Trusting what you can measure

• Trusting what seems probable

• Trusting what feels safe

• Trusting what people say will work

Here is what God’s faith tends to look like.

• Trusting God’s Word when you cannot see it yet

• Obeying before you feel ready

• Speaking Scripture even when emotions argue back

• Building your life on the unseen reality of the Kingdom

• Refusing to let your circumstances be your final authority

A lot of men get frustrated because they believe in God, but they are still stuck. They believe God can do miracles, but they cannot seem to walk in freedom. They believe in the Bible, but their daily life does not match the promises. Often the issue is not that they have no faith. The issue is they are living on natural faith while trying to experience supernatural results.

If you want the takeaway to land in your bones, let it be this. Natural faith trusts what seems true. God’s faith trusts what God said. And God’s faith grows by hearing, speaking, believing, and obeying the Word.

For more teaching like this from the podcast hosted by Daniel Gullick, go to www.boundlessonlinechurch.org/podcasts