Walk
305. Faith
In the book “In His presence” E.W. Kenyon
writes,
The reason faith is so difficult is
that Sense Knowledge has gained the ascendancy in our educational and religious
life. Sense knowledge has all come
through our physical contact with the world.
We have learned to trust so utterly in
our eyes, our ears, the sense of touch, of smell, and the sense of taste, that
spiritual things are hard to understand.
It is easy to believe in things you
see.
The crowds said about Jesus, “We see
the miracles; now we believe in thee.”
Thomas fell down at His feet when he
saw the wounded side and the holes in His hands and feet he said, ‘Lord, I
believe.” Jesus said, “Blessed are
they who have not seen, yet believe.”
The Master touched the heart of things there.
Faith is independent of Sense
Knowledge.[1]
What happened to Abraham that caused him to obey the voice of a
Being that he could
not even see?
1 Corinthians 2:9-12 (Amplified Bible) says, “…What eye has not
seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of man, [all
that] God has prepared (made and keeps ready) for those who love Him [who hold
Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing
the benefits He has bestowed]. Yet to us God has unveiled and revealed them by
and through His Spirit; for the [Holy] Spirit searches diligently, exploring
and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of
God [the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny]. For what person perceives (knows and
understands) what passes through a man’s thoughts except the man’s own spirit
within him? Just so no one discerns (comes to know and comprehend) the thoughts
of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have not received the spirit [that
belongs to] the world, but the [Holy] Spirit Who is from God, [given to us]
that we might realize and comprehend and appreciate the gifts [of divine favor
and blessing so freely and lavishly] bestowed on us by God.”
Romans 4 compares what Abraham believed and went through to what
we may believe and will go through.
He is our model for receiving grace. Then, Romans 4 compares us to David as another model for
grace.
King David, a Hebrew descendant of Abraham, got into some terrible
moral sin including murder and adultery.
But God uses him as an example for us. Actually, our sin is really no better than David’s sin, even
though it may be more socially acceptable. David was washed clean when he repented and became a hero of
faith.
Abraham was part of a family that worshipped idols and the moon. But he heard the voice of God. He did not have a Bible, nor did he
have any way of being sure it was God the Creator; yet, somehow he trusted
anyway. Abraham was a man without
children and unable to have children, but God promised him that he would
inherit the earth through his children who would number up into the
millions. Wow! How would you like to have been Abraham
telling his best friend about what some invisible voice just told him?
Romans 4:18 says that even after his human reason for hope was
gone, he continued to hope because he was fully satisfied and assured that God
was able to keep His word and to do what He had promised. Abraham grew strong when he praised God
even when things looked bad. He
came to realize that God called those things that were not seen as yet into
existence by speaking of them as if they already existed.
This is called faith. Was God just
a positive thinker? No way! He does not live contained in time; He
lives in a realm where there is NO TIME.
There is another dimension called eternity, it means not a long time,
but no time. So God sees what we
call the future as if it were today, and then He can honestly call it into
existence by speaking as if it were here now. He taught Abraham how to do this. He changed Abraham’s name from Abram to Abraham, which means
the father of a multitude. So he
went around telling his friends, “Hey, you can’t see any of my kids yet, but
just call me father of a bunch of kids.”
This is not positive thinking, it is God cutting across time and asking
us to help Him create things here on earth.
What is faith?
Faith is the invisible seed of the Word of God planted in a
human heart. It is spiritual
substance, and it is real.
Hebrews 11:1-2 (KJV) says, “Now faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.”
It lets us know
that what we cannot see yet with our eyes really does exist in our heart, and somewhere in our future
it will be made visible to our eyes.
It is like having faith in a corn seed, you know if you take care of it,
corn will grow into something you can see with your eyes.
What does faith do?
It puts us in touch with a supernatural government, a realm
outside of time and space that we can’t see, but that is more real than what we
can see. It puts you in touch with
a realm that has warfare, dungeons, dragons, demons, angels, God, and the
Lamb. Hebrews 12:22 (KJV) says,
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels…”
We contact the One who loves us more than we can imagine. Not only does He love you, but also He
has the multi-dimensional power to carry out that love on your behalf.
It brings God’s character into your life. Read John chapter 6, especially
verse 63. God’s words contain His
blood covenant and His Spirit.
It brings God’s provisions into your life, like friends, spouses,
material things, etc.
It brings God’s work into your life in order to bring His Kingdom
to Earth.
Most of all, faith allows your inner eye to see and behold
Jesus; that is the greatest reward!
How does faith come to you?
It is a gift from God; you cannot earn it. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you
have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of
God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”
It comes by hearing God speak directly to you through His Word and
Spirit. Romans 10:17 (KJV) says,
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Like in Mark 4, Luke 8 and Matthew 13, faith works like a planted
seed. God’s Word is the seed; your
heart is the soil. But it is only
a seed, and you must make the choice to allow it to grow and bear fruit.
Sometimes Satan steals the seed, your faith, the Word, out of your
heart by lust, things of the world, troubles and just having a “hard
heart.” If we keep an honest heart
by repenting each time we slip or have a bad attitude, the seed will grow into
the plant and produce fruit for which it was intended.
Faith always carries some sort of “suffering” or persecution. When God promises you something,
usually just the opposite happens at first. Are you going to believe and act in faith, or give in? It is your choice. Look at what Abraham did (Romans 4).
God will not give you more faith, more speaking to you, until you
do something with what He already has given to you. If you ignore His voice, He will not speak new things to
you.
Faith has some conditions that must be heeded, or it will not
work.
The Law of Obedience. James 2:20, 1:22 and Matthew 7:24 all
state that your faith will die if you do not act on it, or do something. Do what? Obey what the Word or the Lord is telling you. If you will make the Word Lord, Jesus
Lord, then faith will work. God
may be telling you not to watch so much junk TV, to get away from porno, to
forgive someone or ask to be forgiven.
He may be telling you to tithe, or whatever. It is custom made for you.
When one submits to another’s authority, the authority is
obligated to care for the submitted one.
When one does not submit to the authority of another, the authority
person is not obligated. Authority
as defined by Jesus in the New Testament is not ruling over another, it is
caring for another. Faith
requires submission to authority.
The Law of Love. Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Christ Jesus
neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working
through love.”
Most of all, faith allows your inner eye to see and behold
Jesus; that is the greatest reward!
Some examples of faith.
Mary conceiving Jesus in Luke 1:38. The invisible
seed or Word was spoken “into her” and she conceived. She said, “let it be unto me according to your Word” (Luke
1:38). By faith in God’s Word and
by acting on the Word in submission to its’ authority, Mary conceived Jesus
(God in the flesh), through a virgin birth!
The Centurion in Matthew 8 believed the Word of God. Matthew 8:5-12
says, “Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading
with Him, saying, ‘Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented.’ And Jesus says to him, ‘I will come and
heal him.’ The centurion answered
and said, ‘Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only
speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under
me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and
he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and
he does it.’ When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and
said to those who followed, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. And I say to you that many will come
from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom
of heaven. But the sons of the
kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and
gnashing of teeth.”
2 Kings 5, the Syrian Naaman. This rich and proud commander of the
Syrian army came to Elisha so he could be healed of leprosy. Elisha spoke the Word of God to him and
told him to go dip in the Jordan 7 times.
This made Naaman mad; he had clean rivers in his home country, why
should he dip into a muddy river, he thought. Jordan stands for death. We need to die to our pride and obey the Word of God. He almost went away not healed, but a
little Jewish maiden who was his servant prompted him to obey. 2 Kings 5:14 says, “So he went down and
dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and
his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.”
What is the evidence of our faith?
Is it how we feel?
No. It is what comes out of
our mouth. Mark 11:22-24 (KJV)
says, “And Jesus answering saith unto them, ‘Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that
whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into
the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things
which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things
soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.’”
There are times in our lives when we do not feel faith.
There are times when we feel just the opposite of faith. So what do we do? We prove our faith by speaking out what
God said. We take the Word of God
and quote it. That is what Jesus
did in His weakest times. In His
temptation, He drove the Devil away by quoting the Word. On the Cross He was quoting Psalm 22.
One good thing to remember about faith is that whatever God has ordained for our
life has already been done. That
gives us confidence when we do not “see” things. God wants us to enter into the rest of trusting Him and His
Word. Hebrews 4:3 says, “For we
who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said, ‘So I swore in My wrath, “They
shall not enter My rest;”’ although the works were finished from the foundation
of the world.”
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