LEARNING TO LIVE BY FAITH

We have reached the place in our Christian walk where it is time to live by faith. This is something that we must learn to do. And let me quickly add that God is not looking over us to beat us when we fail at it. We will fall until we get it right.

First let me say that faith is from God. He originated it. He birthed it into being, not the Devil. Before the fall of Adam faith was in the earth and Adam (Eve) lived by faith. But after the fall of Adam, Adam and all that were born from Him, to include you and me, lived by the five senses – sight, touch, hearing, smelling, tasting. But sense the death and resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus the Christ, and especially the coming of the Holy Spirit, faith can take its proper place in the lives of those who live for God in the earth. And little by little believers have learned and began to live by faith. (This may be a little different the next time you hear it but the main point will be the same.)

God is seeking to get us back to the place where we live in the world of faith as much as we live in the natural world. Faith is a world all to itself, just like the natural world is a world all to itself. God wanted it so that we can say that everything we are, everything we have, everything we do, and everything we say is by faith. This will take time; you learn to do this. Some people never learn it at all.

From this night on we have got to remember and keep uppermost in our minds that faith is the key to all we do and say. The continuous operation in faith is very important to our spiritual growth and development. As you believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead and as you believe that you are filled with the Holy Spirit by faith, you now use that same faith to walk and carry out all your business in this world. This is what God is seeking to do: to have a people who will use faith to live in this world. Satan wants you to be controlled by your feelings or senses, but we are not under Satan’s rule and dominion anymore. We are under the dominion of the Kingdom of God. Thus, whether in this world or out of this world, we operate life in the life of faith – faith in God. We are returning to the life that Adam lived before the fall. This is the life God lives right now and this is the life that He wants us to live – The Life of Faith!

To live the faith life in this world you will have to study to know the Word of God. Rom 10:17 … faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Now listen to what I am about to say, God will speak to you from His Word or out of His Word and that is what you hear – the voice of God – that is faith. A knowing the mind of God – that is faith, the faith that you act on. The Word from God revealed from God out of His Word. When you hear that Word or that voice, you can act on it. You can do what God say do. (The power to do is in the Word you hear. That is another teaching.)

Let me say all of that another way. Your faith has to be based on something. That something is the Word of God. Therefore you daily meditate on/in the Word of God. It becomes the basis for what you believe. It becomes the basis for what you do. It becomes the new realm you walk in, move in, live in, and have your being. Faith and the Word will take you to a new level in Christ.

Faith takes you into the world of God, the Kingdom of Heaven the Kingdom of God. Faith enables you to receive the blessings (riches) of the Kingdom of God. Faith enables you to operate in God’s world – to live, move and have your being in the world of the Spirit. We have yet to fully experience what it means to live in God’s world. Thank God we have a few more years left to find out. Hunger to know. Hunger to learn. Faith and the Word take us there.

Faith enables you to operate in the wisdom of God. Look at the wisdom of Joseph. Through faith operating in his life He was promoted to the highest position in that kingdom. Faith gives you the mind of Christ. Faith enables you to operate in the power of God. Look at David and Goliath. David had the faith of God operating in him. With that faith he destroyed a powerful enemy, someone bigger and stronger than he was. Look at what the Hebrew boys were able to do with faith. Through faith they were able to overcome the fire of the king and live. Faith enables you to walk in the power of God. So you are to learn faith and use faith in all of life. Go back and read over the Old Testament characters, and see how faith was very important to them.

Christ is the Author and Finisher of our faith. Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith. Therefore we work with Him on all things. Our communion, our fellowship, and union with Christ should grow stronger and stronger each day as we walk in faith. We do not let a day go by without interacting with God and His Word and faith. For it is because of God that we have faith.

Last, faith is substance and faith is evidence. Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. In the world of God, the world of the Spirit, faith is substance and faith is the evidence of things not seen. If you have faith then what this means is that you have the substance and the evidence, and you hold it (in faith) until the Spirit manifest it in the natural world. What am I saying? I am saying everything that the Word of God says about you, you are. Everything that the Word of God says you have, you have. Everything that the Word of God says that you can do, you believe it and hold it (in your heart/spirit) in faith until the Holy Spirit manifest it in the natural realm. You have to get it by faith first and then it comes into the natural realm.

If the Spirit speaks into your spirit that you are healed, you agree and hold that word in faith until the Spirit manifests (bring it to pass) that word to you. You say to yourself, by the stripes of Jesus Christ I am healed.

If the Spirit speaks into your spirit that you are going to prosper in the thing that you are doing, you hold that word in faith until the Spirit manifests (bring to pass) that word to you. You keep saying to yourself, Ps 1:3 And I shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth fruit in due season; my leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever I do shall prosper.

If things get crazy and seem impossible for you to do, you hold the Word of God from the Spirit in faith until the Spirit manifest that Word to you. You keep saying to yourself, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthen me.

Whatever it is, seek God and He will give you His Word on it and you hold that Word until the Spirit manifests that word in the natural. This is faith.

It is the positive, clear cut confession that wins. “I know in whom I have believed.” “I know that no word from God is void of power or fulfillment.” “I know that He watches over His word to make it good.” These are the confessions of a victor. I want you to notice several facts about the relations of confession to faith. Your confession is your faith. If it be a neutral confession, you have neutral faith. If it is a negative confession, it is unbelief dominating your spirit.