Four Things to Know About Your Faith (parts 1,2,3,4)

10.20.2021, 10.27.2021, 11.17.2021, 12.8.2021

 

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. (Philippians 4:11 A.S.Way Translation).

Five 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, faith will bring God’s answer to you!

 

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

 

Notice these scriptures:

 

Hebrews 11:6 (MSG)

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…**

Self-pity will keep God away from you: the focus is on you, not Him.

 

1 John 5:4 (CEV)

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)

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 (MSG)

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.

 

Then, we know that Jesus emphasized faith in ministering to others…

Matthew 8:13 – “…as you have believed, so be it done for you.”

 

Matthew 9:29 – “…according to your faith let it be to you.”

 

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

 

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

who believes.”

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

 

Matthew 19:26 – …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…

 

Four things to Remember about Your Faith Life…

*Faith is fluid …not always the same…keep it built up.

1. 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…

 

2. 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 (AMPC)

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].

 

3. Faith is always present tense. Hope is 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 (AMPC)

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.

A confident expectation…

 

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 (AMPC)

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 (NCV)

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 (GW)

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 (ESV)

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 (BBE)

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

 

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

 

Romans 10:17 (NKJV)

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

 

Mark 4:24 (AMPC)

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?