Faith VS Human Reasoning – Benny Shobo

Human Reasoning is often mistaken for faith. Where faith relies on the word of God, human reasoning relies on one’s own strength and abilities. Therefore, where faith abounds and triumphs, human reasoning will often fail and remain inconsistent. 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we live by faith, not by sight”.

We must learn to bring our human reasoning in subjection to the Holy Spirit by applying the Godkind of faith. Where the Holy Spirit leads, there is no room for human reasoning operating in our lives as Believers because faith is consistent with the character of God. Romans 8:14, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God”.

Reasoning Faith differs from Human Reasoning because Reasoning Faith is you playing God’s word in your mind repeatedly, until it sinks into your spirit-man, i.e. meditation. While human reasoning simply means that you are thinking and planning based on your strength and acting based on what you believe to be the right thing. Hebrews 11:6, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him”.

Faith works regardless of all evidence because God sees the end of a thing from the beginning. Remember always that faith is destroyed by doubts through human reasoning. Faith is God’s wisdom and Human Reasoning is human wisdom.

In Matthew 16;21-23, Simon Peter said to Jesus, “far be it Lord that you should be crucified”. Jesus rebuked Peter based on his human reasoning because he could not fathom all the pains that Jesus would have to endure. On the other hand, it was still the same Peter in Matthew 16:15-17 that said to Jesus, “You are the Son of God”. Jesus replied to Peter, “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in Heaven”. Here, we see how Peter exercised the Godkind of faith, which meant that Peter saw Jesus through the Eyes of God.

It is very common for satan to supplant human reasoning for reasoning faith, but we must be aware of the tricks of the evil one always. In the parable of the Sower, all the seeds excerpt the seed that fell on the good ground, were choked due to human reasoning and not faith, “Matthew 13”. In the story of the twelves spies sent by Moses to spy on the land of Canaan, only Joshua and Caleb saw with their spiritual eyes (the Eyes of God), while the other ten spies saw the land with their physical eyes. Therefore, the Israelites defeated their enemies and possessed the land because of Joshua and Caleb’s Reasoning Faith.

Faith has no limitations because it allows you to see things through the eyes of God, by His Spirit, and this is the eyes of victory. Faith is against human reasoning because human reason will cause us to doubt God and reason our way out of God’s perfect will for us. Human reasoning will cause us not to walk out in faith, thereby missing out on the blessings that awaits a faithful Believer in Christ. In other word, it can cause us to miss out on applying for a job because we do not believe that we are qualified for the job. Human reasoning sets boundaries and limitations before we begin anything.

Examples of those who walked by Faith

1. Abraham: God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and regardless of Abraham and Sarah’s ages, he believed God. Abraham could have reasoned it out by saying to himself, I love Isaac too much. What will Sarah say? Instead, he believed God at all cost. “Genesis 22”
2. Hannah: Hannah believed that only God could give her a child irrespective of her barrenness. “1 Samuel 1:9-28”.
3. Peter: Although Peter denied Jesus thrice, he believed that he was forgiven because he repented from his sins. Peter could have dwelt in guilts. “Luke 22:55-62”.
4. David: David believed God when God anointed him king over Israel, although it took 15 years before he occupied that position. “2 Samuel 5”.

Examples of those who did not walked by Faith

1. Sarah: When Abraham told her that God said she would have a son, she laughed because she could not by human reasoning believe that at her old age, she could have a child. ”Genesis 18:12-15”.
2. Zachariah: Zachariah did not believe that God’s promises, instead, he reasoned out the word of God based on the physical evidence he could see. “Luke 1:11-14 &18”.
3. Judas: Judas betrayed Jesus and later felt very guilty. When he realised what he had done, rather than repent from his sins, he reasoned it out that he could and would not be forgiven by god for his betrayal of Jesus. “Matthew 27:1-10”.
4. Peter: Peter saw Jesus walking on the water and he dared to believe by asking Jesus to allow him walk on the water to Him, but as Peter began to walk towards Jesus, his human reasoning took hold of him and he doubted. When he did, he began to sink because of his unbelief. “Matthew 14:26-31”.

The Faith that works, is the faith that enquires of the Lord, and not human reasoning. In 1 Samuel, we see how David enquired from the Lord whether to go after the Amalekites. 1 Samuel 30:8, “and David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue”.

Consequences of Human Reasoning

1. 2 Samuel 6:5-7, Here we see how Uzzah who touched the ark of God when the oxen stumbled, died. Uzzah acted on his human reasoning because he thought that he could help God by catching the Ark of the Covenant. He forgot that God is always in control of all things.
2. Zachariah became dumb because he worked in human reasoning and not faith.
3. Matthew 19:20-22, we see how a young man asked Jesus, “How can I be saved?” Jesus replied him, to give up all his possessions and follow Him, but the man operated on human reasoning and not faith. Therefore, he missed out of Jesus’s salvation.
4. Human reasoning will cause us not to receive anything from God, thereby missing out on God’s miracles.
5. We will miss out on God’s best for us when we apply human reasoning instead of faith. Faith applied will always give us the right verdict.

Praise God!

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