Five things to remember about living by faith.

4.30.2023

Introduction

I believe that the Bible is the infallible rule of faith and living. I believe that the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, and that we know God by what is revealed about Him in the Bible!

1 Thessalonians 2:13 (AMP)

And we also thank God continually for this, that when you received the word of God [concerning salvation] which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its inherent, supernatural power in those of faith].

If you choose to believe the Bible and put it into practice, amazing things can happen in your life!

Philippians 4:11 A.S.Way Translation

No, I have learned in whatever condition I am, to be independent of circumstances. I am schooled to bear the depths of poverty; I am schooled to bear abundance. In life as a whole, and all its circumstances, I have mastered the secret of living – how to be the same amidst repletion and starvation, amidst abundance and privation. I am equal to every lot through the help of Him who gives me inward strength.

There is an optimism based solely on the power of the human will to endure hardship.

And, there is an optimism and hope based on the promises of God to those who believe the Bible!

5 senses on one side – faith on the other side

We must have an active faith to navigate the dark world climate and circumstances it produces for us today!

I want to encourage your faith today.

 

Regardless of what you face in any area of life, if you allow it, faith will bring God’s answer to you!

 

Sometimes we just need to be reminded of what we know to be true!

 

Notice this scriptures:

 

Hebrews 11:6 – (Message)

It’s impossible to please God apart from faith. And why? Because anyone who wants to approach God must believe both that he exists and that he cares enough to respond to those who seek Him.

**God does not respond to need, He responds to faith…**

God’s power is available universe wide.

But it is experienced by those who grasp it by faith.

Sine waves are in the atmosphere around us delivering data and images. But, they are only experienced by those who have the electronic gadgetry to receive them.

Self-pity will keep God away from you. – focus is on you not Him.

 

Again, God does not respond to need, He responds to faith!

In our self-centered age, we want people and laws to acquiesce to us. But that breeds more self-centered ness and lawlessness!

You don’t receive on your terms, you receive when you yield to His ways of dealing with life.

Listen carefully to what God declares about faith.

1 John 5:4 (Contemporary English Version)

Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory.

1 John 5:4 (NLT)

For every child of God defeats this evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith.

1 John 5:4 (WNT)

4 For every child of God overcomes the world; and the victorious principle which has overcome the world is our faith.

 

Ephesians 6:16 (TLB)

In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.

1 Timothy 6:12 NKJV

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

 

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NCV)

We live by what we believe, not by what we can see.

 

2 Corinthians 5:7 (Message)

It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going.

 

2 Corinthians 5:7 (New Living)

For we live by believing and not by seeing.

 

Jesus emphasized faith in ministering to others…

Matthew 8:13 (NKJV)

Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you.” And his servant was healed that same hour.

 

Matthew 9:27-31 (NKJV)

When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” 28 And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” 30 And their eyes were opened. And Jesus sternly warned them, saying, “See that no one knows it.” 31 But when they had departed, they spread the news about Him in all that country.

 

Mark 5:34 – “…daughter, your faith has made you well.”

Mark 5:25-34 (NKJV) Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. 28 For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” 29 Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”

31 But His disciples said to Him, “You see the multitude thronging You, and You say, ‘Who touched Me?’ ” 32 And He looked around to see her who had done this thing. 33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. 34 And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”

 

Mark 9:23 – “…If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Mark 9:21-25 (NKJV) So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?”

And he said, “From childhood. 22 And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”

23 Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!”

Mark 10:52 – “…Go your way; your faith has made you well.”

Mark 10:51-52 (NKJV) So Jesus answered and said to him, “What do you want Me to do for you?” The blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, that I may receive my sight.”

52 Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road.

 

Matthew 19:26 – …with God all things are possible.

Matthew 19:25-26 (NKJV) When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” 26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

 

Quotes:

Smith Wigglesworth

There’s something about believing God that will cause God to pass over a million people just to get to you!

Dr. J. Oswald Sanders:

Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.

Many talk about faith in the abstract…

Let’s take faith from the nebulous to the firm and concrete…

 

Five things to remember about living by faith.

1. Faith in God comes from the Word of God.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Colossians 3:16 (TPT)

Let the word of Christ live in you richly, flooding you with all wisdom. Apply the Scriptures as you teach and instruct one another with the Psalms, and with festive praises, and with prophetic songs given to you spontaneously by the Spirit, so sing to God with all your hearts!

The more you build the Word into your inner consciousness, the greater potential for faith!

Faith in science comes from facts you learn and study about science.

Faith in God comes from placing His Word into your heart and then acting on it.

Faith in God’s Word being reliable comes from reading the scriptures that reveal its reliability.

Faith in God to overcome fear comes from reading the scriptures that encourage you to resist fear.

Faith in God’s love as an antidote to sour relationships comes from reading God’s Word about His love and how it acts!

Faith in God for forgiveness from sin comes from reading and practicing what God says about forgiveness of sin.

Faith in God for health and healing comes from reading and practicing what God says about healing.

Faith in God to meet your material and financial needs comes from reading and putting into practice the scriptures that deal with finances.

If you just read and do not practice, it will not work!

Mark 4:24 (AMP)

And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure[of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure[of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you—and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.

James 1:22-25 (NLT)

22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.

Faith is fluid. It fluctuates in strength. It is not always the same.

Just because you had faith yesterday is no indication that you will have the same faith today!

It can atrophy just like a muscle.

2. Faith is a heart issue.

Mark 11:22-25 -NKJV

So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.

(23) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will

have whatever he says. (24) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

(25 )”And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.

 

Faith works best in an environment of love. Anything that affects your inner life – your thoughts and beliefs – can affect your faith.

 

Open ended relationships that leave emotional weight and wounds may hinder the free exercise of a confident faith in Jesus.

 

Your view of God as mirrored by your parents can affect your faith positively or negatively.

 

Unrepentant sin can hinder faith since it too affects the heart…

 

3. Faith is unreasonable to the natural mind.

The word doubt…

Notice this interesting observation:

(from the UBS Handbook Series. Copyright (c) 1961-1997, by United Bible Societies), PC StudyBible:

 

Though doubt is usually a much easier term to translate than faith or believe, it is represented by a variety of idiomatic renderings, and in the majority of instances the concept of duality is present, e.g.

‘to make his heart two’ (Kekchi),

‘to be with two hearts’ (Yipounou),

‘to stand two’ (Juarez Zapotec),

‘to be two’ or ‘to have two minds’ (Navajo),

‘to think something else’ (Chontal of Tabasco),

‘to think two different things’ (Shipibo),

and ‘to have two thoughts’ (Kiyaka).

In some languages, however, doubt is expressed without reference to the concept of ‘two’ or ‘otherness,’ e.g.

‘to have whirling words in one’s heart’ (Chol),

‘his thoughts are not on it’ (Baoule),

‘to have a hard heart’ (Piro), and

‘to repeatedly spread out in order,’ implying the process of arranging and rearranging of material as one wavers back and forth over varying possibilities (Chokwe).

To exercise faith, it is necessary to focus singularly on what God says about your situation, period!

 

You must move from the mind to the spirit. Faith is of the heart, an internal conviction.

Doubt thoughts may come, but don’t voice them and they die!

 

I just know that I know that I know…

Example – Financing for this building. 11 banks. 9 no’s.

Appraisal too low.

Current project.

James 1:5-8 (WNT)

And if any one of you is deficient in wisdom, let him ask God for it, who gives with open hand to all men, and without upbraiding; and it will be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith and have no doubts; for he who has doubts is like the surge of the sea, driven by the wind and tossed into spray. 7 A person of that sort must not expect to receive anything from the Lord–8 such a one is a man of two minds, undecided in every step he takes.

James 1:6-8 (AMP)

Only it must be in faith that he asks with no wavering (no hesitating, no doubting). For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. 7 For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord, 8 [For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides].

 

4. Faith is always present tense. Hope is the future tense. If it’s not now, it’s not faith.

 

Hebrews 11:1 -NKJV

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

 

Hebrews 11:1 -NCV

Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it.

Substance – Greek – Hupostasis:

Hupo = under,

stasis = a standing

A standing under, that which stands, or is set, under, a foundation. Used in the technical sense of a title deed, standing under the claim to the property to support its validity.

Evidence

Something that furnishes or tends to furnish proof; that which supports the existence of something.

Examples:

Footprints on the shoreline

A wake following a ship

A white streak in the sky

Toys scattered in the yard of a home – kid lives there!

Hebrews 11:1 -AMP

NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].

2 Kings 6:13-17 – NLT

Go and find out where he is, the king commanded, so I can send troops to seize him. And the report came back: “Elisha is at Dothan.” 14 So one night the king of Aram sent a great army with many chariots and horses to surround the city. 15 When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. “Oh, sir, what will we do now?” the young man cried to Elisha. 16 “Don’t be afraid!” Elisha told him. “For there are more on our side than on theirs!” 17 Then Elisha prayed, “O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!” The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.

Dr. J. Oswald Sanders:

Faith enables the believing soul to treat the future as present and the invisible as seen.

 

Think, speak, pray, and act as though you already had what you believe.

We are trained to believe when we see. But you must do the very opposite to receive from God…

If you have never done this, you must 1) meditate and 2) practice on purpose.

 

I wonder when, I’m not sure, how long will it be, are signs of hope and not faith.

Faith is a confident expectation.

 

Various translations of Mark 11:24:

Mark 11:24 NKJV

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

 

Mark 11:24 – Amplified

For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].

 

Mark 11:24 – New Century Version

So I tell you to believe that you have received the things you ask for in prayer, and God will give them to you.

 

Mark 11:24 – God’s Word

That’s why I tell you to have faith that you have already received whatever you pray for, and it will be yours.

 

Mark 11:24 – English Standard Version

I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

 

Mark 11:24- Complete Jewish Bible

Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, trust that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.

 

Mark 11:24 – Bible in Basic English

For this reason I say to you, Whatever you make a request for in prayer, have faith that it has been given to you, and you will have it.

Tulsa job.

1st House – 1985

Church building – 1988

5. Faith must be nurtured regularly by meditation in the Word.

 

Again, flesh and culture tell us to believe only what we can see and feel.

God asks us to do the counter-intuitive thing and believe before we see and feel.

Faith takes the place of what we don’t see and feel until it shows up.

Can you believe God for something without feeling or seeing it?

You must have faith that is steady and growing to do that.

Yesterday’s faith will not do!

Kenneth Hagin example when heart symptoms returned…

There is so much fear and doubt now that we must be purposeful in keeping our faith strong.

The only way to do that is to regularly meditate the Word!

Romans 10:17 -NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

 

Mark 4:24 -Amplified

And He said to them, Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you — and more [besides] will be given to you who hear.

 

Colossians 3:16 -NKJV

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

The following are scriptures that I meditate on almost daily to build up my faith:

Numbers 23:19 (NKJV)

God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

 

Psalm 84:11(NKJV)

For the LORD God is a sun and shield; The LORD will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.

Psalm 89:34 (NKJV)

My covenant I will not break, nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.

Psalm 119:89 (NKJV)

Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.

 

Psalm 138:2 (NKJV)

I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for You have magnified Your word above all Your name.

 

Isaiah 40:8 (NKJV)

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.

Isaiah 55:11 (NKJV)

So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Jeremiah 1:12 (NKJV)

Then the LORD said to me, You have seen well, for I am ready to perform My word.

 

Matthew 24:35 (NKJV)

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.

Matthew 21:22 (NKJV)

And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

Mark 11:24 (NKJV)

Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

 

John 15:7 (NKJV)

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

John 16:23-24 (NKJV)

And in that day you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. (24) Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

 

1 John 3:22-23 (NKJV)

And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

1 John 5:14-15 (NKJV)

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. (15) And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Your faith is directly related to your mouth and your heart!

Action Points:

1. Are you actively believing right now that you receive what you need from the Lord?

2. Are you wavering between faith and hope?

3. Are you regularly feeding your faith by meditating on specific scripture?