FAITH
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith plays a significant role in our walk with God and the fulfillment of our destinies. This is so 'cos without faith, God's promises have no solid basis or foundation in our lives. Also, without faith in God, our will can't revolve around God's, and without this, it'll be impossible for our minds to have even a tiny conception of God's eternal glory and His will. Romans 10:17 says "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." And as we know, our mind processes information that comes through our ears. So unless our minds are(being) renewed to the mind of Christ, though the words come in, through our ears, they'll just sound like ordinary words. This is so because the sin nature is blocking the entrance of the words of faith. From this, you see that the result of what comes in through your ears depends on the level to which your mind has been renewed to.
Many Christians, the carnal ones in particular, think they have faith, where as what they have is "mental assent". E.W Kenyon said “mental assent is professing to believe in God's word, yet making no effort of acting upon God's word". The bible says "faith without works is dead", this describes the faith of a mental assenter. Mental assenters can't really live a life pleasing to God 'cos the word says "without faith, it is impossible to please God". Though his words are/ sound like words of faith, since his actions don’t correspond to his words, they bring down the power in his words. E.W. Kenyon also said (talking about a mental assenter and his attitude towards healing) "A Christian who is a mental assenter has the following attitude: "I believe the bible is true. I have believed these scriptures all my life. I have had so many pray for me. I can't understand why I am not healed...."
My Pastor, Olubi Johnson, said " faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word, and grows by doing and doing by the word." But the faith in a mental assenter is dormant, so it doesn't grow. Remember the parable of the talents? The master gave one of the servants 1 talent, but he hid it in the ground and had no profit to show for it. That's how a mental assenter is, though he has the faith with him, if he doesn't act upon it, it will profit him nothing, Nada, zilch, zero! So for your faith to grow to its fullness, you must hear the word, believe it and most importantly, act upon it diligently or fearlessly.
A man without faith sees the storm clearly, but doesn't see Jesus; one with faith sees the storm, but sees Jesus more clearly.
Matthew 14:28-32 And Peter answered Him and said, LORD, if it is You, tell me to come to You on the water. (29) And He said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. (30) But seeing that the wind was strong, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me! (31) And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him; and said to him, Little-faith! Why did you doubt? (32) And when they had come into the boat, the wind ceased.
Peter fell into the water when he shifted his focus from Jesus to the storm. This implies that, for us to reach our destination with Christ, we must hold steadfast our faith in Him no matter the magnitude of the storm or what the devil throws against us. Don't forget, John 4:4 says "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world". The devil is only as strong as the attention you pay to him. This doesn't mean he is weak, 'cos he is powerful, but relative to His creator, the trinity of the God-head, he is weak. That’s why you must try to keep your focus on the author and finisher of your faith, Jesus.
From the definition of peace I gave in the article 'living at peace", you'll see that faith has a lot to do with living at peace. So the higher the level of faith you have in God, the greater the amount of peace you experience in your life and vice-versa. Take an eagle and a bat for example. We know a bat has poor eye sight but an eagle has excellent eye sight. These eye sights represent our faith. We also know that a bat never glides it keeps flapping its wings to say in the air. Let's now assume -( it's just an assumption o!)- that its inability to glide is due to its poor eye sight. Unlike the bat, the eagle flaps it wings for a short period of time and then glides for a longer period. The flapping of wings period represents the time of exercising faith/ facing struggles and the gliding period represents the time of living at peace. For those who have faith (the eagles), after going through a time of struggles (holding fast to their faith) and overcoming them, they'll receive a reward of living a peaceful life (amongst other rewards) afterwards. But for the mental assenters and those who lack faith (the bats), even though they struggle, since they don't do it with faith, they have no reward of living at peace afterwards.
Now, its one thing to have faith, it's another to know when to use it. Many a times, we venture into things, thinking "if we do them out of faith" they will work out as planned. NO!!! It won't always. Your faith works for things that are incorporated in (or are part of) God's will. When we do such and they don't work out as planned we start blaming God or thinking our faith is weak... To prevent such things, you must ask God to open your the eyes of your understanding and give you a discerning spirit, with these, you can differentiate what is of God's will and what isn't. Doing this, you give your faith a suitable and favorable environment to grow in. So stop trying to use your faith, based on mere assumptions, and start using them by discernments.
Prayer is the master key, but without faith our prayers are just keys to no doors. In physics, waves (take sound for example) can't travel in a vacuum 'cos there's no medium( gaseous, liquid or solid ) for it to travel through. No matter how loud or how high the frequency, the sound won't travel. The same way it is with our faith and prayers, no matter how long or loud you pray, if there's no faith you'll just be like an empty gun shooting blanks. But when the sound is propagated through a medium, you'll perceive the effects with your ears. Also, the density of the medium affects the speed oft he sound; the denser the medium, the faster the sound. That's why sound travels about 4 times faster in water and 14 times faster in steel than in air. The same with our faith and prayers, the higher the level of our faith, the more effective our faith will be. Notice I wrote effective, not faster. The speed at which we get answers to our prayers depends on the effect it will have on God's redemptive plan; and the devil's opposition too.
James 5:16 ".... The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much."
Speaking about being righteous or righteousness...
Romans 4:20-23 "He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was also able to perform. (22) And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."
Abraham was accounted for as righteous in God's sight because he held fast his faith. Even though God's promise didn't seem realistic (or impossible), that didn't stop him from believing in God... Righteousness, which is having a right standing with God (being pleasing in His sight) and doing the right thing according to His will (or living a lifestyle free from the sin nature). I know this definition doesn’t accurately correlate with Abraham's righteousness, well that's because he lived before Christ. But since we live after Christ, the level of righteousness we aim for should be that of Christ (the author and finisher of our faith). Sin will come in its various ways and temptations, but it's up to us to keep away from or overcome them. This we'll do by His grace (which Abraham didn't have access to). Even though you might yield to sin sometimes, it's okay, as long as you confess and forsake them as soon as possible or immediately.
Romans 4:7 "...Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;...
From these, we can say a mental-assenter can't be found righteous 'cos of the doubt he has. This doesn't mean he won't make it to heaven, but he will forfeit his reward of eternal life, amongst other rewards.
John 6:39-40 And this is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day. (40) And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes on Him should have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day.
The first verse refers to the mental assenter, while the second refers to those who hold fast to their faith or sincerely believe in Christ. But eternal life isn't the only reward of the sincere believer; eternal glory and an inheritance in God's kingdom are also part of the rewards they'll receive.
You may ask, what's the link between righteousness and faith? From the definition of righteousness above, righteousness is (1) having a right standing with God or living a life pleasing to Him. And Heb 11:6 says "without faith it is impossible to please God..." (2) doing the right thing according to God's will.; I wrote at the beginning, "without faith in God, our will can't revolve around God's, and without this , it'll be impossible for our minds to have even a tiny bit conception of God's eternal glory and His will". You don't expect God to tell you about His plans unless you believe in Him, do you? That's my idea of the link between faith and righteousness, but I'm sure there's more. Don't forget, 'the righteous live by faith'. Rom 1:17
Romans 4:16 "Therefore it is of faith so that it might be according to grace; for the promise to be made sure to all the seed, not only to that which is of the Law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
By faith we also receive the promises of God to Abraham, not only that, but also the promises written in the word. God said "... but he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain." -Isaiah 57:13
Donald C. Stamps said “The Christian faith lies not in the removal of weaknesses but in the manifestation of divine power through human weaknesses".
2 Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may overshadow me.
Romans 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth."
We yield to sin 'cos of our weaknesses ( which is of the sin nature) and the devil uses this against us to bring us down. But through our faith in Christ Jesus, we can overcome our weaknesses. When we get born again, we become new creations in Christ as we know. In Christ is no weakness at all, so you have to believe that the perfect One dwells in you, and work towards becoming like Him. Doing this, you gradually put off the sin nature and it's weaknesses. Also, God gradually imparts His divine power on you as you overcome your weaknesses 'cos as you learn to control yourself, you become like God... So just believe in Him and let His divine power manifest in and through you, that He may use you to show the world His mighty and wondrous works.... This is one of the main purposes of Faith. Finally, the basic/ foundational purposes of our faith; provision, protection and healing. I'll just give some scriptures, I'll write about them later.
Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
James 5:15 And the prayer of faith will cure the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him.
In conclusion, reiterating, "for your faith to grow to its fullness, you must hear the word of God, believe it and act fearlessly upon it." Don't forget the bible says "With God all things are possible"(Matt 19:26), but the possibility depends on your faith. So go out there, put your faith to work, show others what God can do and preach His word to them, that they may get saved an also embark on this journey of our faith walk with God. Remember "he that winneth souls is wise"... God will never leave nor forsake His faithful ones, neither will He let the devil challenge you with something you can't overcome.
Romans 11:20 Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be high-minded, but fear.
Romans 14:22-23 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Blessed is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. (23) But, the one doubting, if he eats, he has been condemned, because it is not of faith; and all that is not of faith is sin.
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, to which you are also called and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.
John 14:12 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me, the works that I do he shall do also, and greater works than these he shall do, because I go to My Father.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the seed of faith which you planted in me. And I'm sorry for not using it as much as you expect me to. Help me Lord, to trust in you , believe in you and use my faith according to your will more. In Jesus' name. Amen. :D
Faith plays a significant role in our walk with God and the fulfillment of our destinies. This is so 'cos without faith, God's promises have no solid basis or foundation in our lives. Also, without faith in God, our will can't revolve around God's, and without this, it'll be impossible for our minds to have even a tiny conception of God's eternal glory and His will. Romans 10:17 says "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." And as we know, our mind processes information that comes through our ears. So unless our minds are(being) renewed to the mind of Christ, though the words come in, through our ears, they'll just sound like ordinary words. This is so because the sin nature is blocking the entrance of the words of faith. From this, you see that the result of what comes in through your ears depends on the level to which your mind has been renewed to.
Many Christians, the carnal ones in particular, think they have faith, where as what they have is "mental assent". E.W Kenyon said “mental assent is professing to believe in God's word, yet making no effort of acting upon God's word". The bible says "faith without works is dead", this describes the faith of a mental assenter. Mental assenters can't really live a life pleasing to God 'cos the word says "without faith, it is impossible to please God". Though his words are/ sound like words of faith, since his actions don’t correspond to his words, they bring down the power in his words. E.W. Kenyon also said (talking about a mental assenter and his attitude towards healing) "A Christian who is a mental assenter has the following attitude: "I believe the bible is true. I have believed these scriptures all my life. I have had so many pray for me. I can't understand why I am not healed...."
My Pastor, Olubi Johnson, said " faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word, and grows by doing and doing by the word." But the faith in a mental assenter is dormant, so it doesn't grow. Remember the parable of the talents? The master gave one of the servants 1 talent, but he hid it in the ground and had no profit to show for it. That's how a mental assenter is, though he has the faith with him, if he doesn't act upon it, it will profit him nothing, Nada, zilch, zero! So for your faith to grow to its fullness, you must hear the word, believe it and most importantly, act upon it diligently or fearlessly.
A man without faith sees the storm clearly, but doesn't see Jesus; one with faith sees the storm, but sees Jesus more clearly.
Matthew 14:28-32 And Peter answered Him and said, LORD, if it is You, tell me to come to You on the water. (29) And He said, Come. And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. (30) But seeing that the wind was strong, he was afraid. And beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me! (31) And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him; and said to him, Little-faith! Why did you doubt? (32) And when they had come into the boat, the wind ceased.
Peter fell into the water when he shifted his focus from Jesus to the storm. This implies that, for us to reach our destination with Christ, we must hold steadfast our faith in Him no matter the magnitude of the storm or what the devil throws against us. Don't forget, John 4:4 says "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world". The devil is only as strong as the attention you pay to him. This doesn't mean he is weak, 'cos he is powerful, but relative to His creator, the trinity of the God-head, he is weak. That’s why you must try to keep your focus on the author and finisher of your faith, Jesus.
From the definition of peace I gave in the article 'living at peace", you'll see that faith has a lot to do with living at peace. So the higher the level of faith you have in God, the greater the amount of peace you experience in your life and vice-versa. Take an eagle and a bat for example. We know a bat has poor eye sight but an eagle has excellent eye sight. These eye sights represent our faith. We also know that a bat never glides it keeps flapping its wings to say in the air. Let's now assume -( it's just an assumption o!)- that its inability to glide is due to its poor eye sight. Unlike the bat, the eagle flaps it wings for a short period of time and then glides for a longer period. The flapping of wings period represents the time of exercising faith/ facing struggles and the gliding period represents the time of living at peace. For those who have faith (the eagles), after going through a time of struggles (holding fast to their faith) and overcoming them, they'll receive a reward of living a peaceful life (amongst other rewards) afterwards. But for the mental assenters and those who lack faith (the bats), even though they struggle, since they don't do it with faith, they have no reward of living at peace afterwards.
Now, its one thing to have faith, it's another to know when to use it. Many a times, we venture into things, thinking "if we do them out of faith" they will work out as planned. NO!!! It won't always. Your faith works for things that are incorporated in (or are part of) God's will. When we do such and they don't work out as planned we start blaming God or thinking our faith is weak... To prevent such things, you must ask God to open your the eyes of your understanding and give you a discerning spirit, with these, you can differentiate what is of God's will and what isn't. Doing this, you give your faith a suitable and favorable environment to grow in. So stop trying to use your faith, based on mere assumptions, and start using them by discernments.
Prayer is the master key, but without faith our prayers are just keys to no doors. In physics, waves (take sound for example) can't travel in a vacuum 'cos there's no medium( gaseous, liquid or solid ) for it to travel through. No matter how loud or how high the frequency, the sound won't travel. The same way it is with our faith and prayers, no matter how long or loud you pray, if there's no faith you'll just be like an empty gun shooting blanks. But when the sound is propagated through a medium, you'll perceive the effects with your ears. Also, the density of the medium affects the speed oft he sound; the denser the medium, the faster the sound. That's why sound travels about 4 times faster in water and 14 times faster in steel than in air. The same with our faith and prayers, the higher the level of our faith, the more effective our faith will be. Notice I wrote effective, not faster. The speed at which we get answers to our prayers depends on the effect it will have on God's redemptive plan; and the devil's opposition too.
James 5:16 ".... The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous one avails much."
Speaking about being righteous or righteousness...
Romans 4:20-23 "He did not stagger at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was also able to perform. (22) And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."
Abraham was accounted for as righteous in God's sight because he held fast his faith. Even though God's promise didn't seem realistic (or impossible), that didn't stop him from believing in God... Righteousness, which is having a right standing with God (being pleasing in His sight) and doing the right thing according to His will (or living a lifestyle free from the sin nature). I know this definition doesn’t accurately correlate with Abraham's righteousness, well that's because he lived before Christ. But since we live after Christ, the level of righteousness we aim for should be that of Christ (the author and finisher of our faith). Sin will come in its various ways and temptations, but it's up to us to keep away from or overcome them. This we'll do by His grace (which Abraham didn't have access to). Even though you might yield to sin sometimes, it's okay, as long as you confess and forsake them as soon as possible or immediately.
Romans 4:7 "...Blessed are those whose lawlessnesses are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;...
From these, we can say a mental-assenter can't be found righteous 'cos of the doubt he has. This doesn't mean he won't make it to heaven, but he will forfeit his reward of eternal life, amongst other rewards.
John 6:39-40 And this is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all which He has given Me I should lose nothing but should raise it up again at the last day. (40) And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes on Him should have everlasting life. And I will raise him up at the last day.
The first verse refers to the mental assenter, while the second refers to those who hold fast to their faith or sincerely believe in Christ. But eternal life isn't the only reward of the sincere believer; eternal glory and an inheritance in God's kingdom are also part of the rewards they'll receive.
You may ask, what's the link between righteousness and faith? From the definition of righteousness above, righteousness is (1) having a right standing with God or living a life pleasing to Him. And Heb 11:6 says "without faith it is impossible to please God..." (2) doing the right thing according to God's will.; I wrote at the beginning, "without faith in God, our will can't revolve around God's, and without this , it'll be impossible for our minds to have even a tiny bit conception of God's eternal glory and His will". You don't expect God to tell you about His plans unless you believe in Him, do you? That's my idea of the link between faith and righteousness, but I'm sure there's more. Don't forget, 'the righteous live by faith'. Rom 1:17
Romans 4:16 "Therefore it is of faith so that it might be according to grace; for the promise to be made sure to all the seed, not only to that which is of the Law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all."
By faith we also receive the promises of God to Abraham, not only that, but also the promises written in the word. God said "... but he who puts his trust in Me shall possess the land, and shall inherit My holy mountain." -Isaiah 57:13
Donald C. Stamps said “The Christian faith lies not in the removal of weaknesses but in the manifestation of divine power through human weaknesses".
2 Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may overshadow me.
Romans 9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "Even for this same purpose I have raised you up, that I might show My power in you, and that My name might be declared throughout all the earth."
We yield to sin 'cos of our weaknesses ( which is of the sin nature) and the devil uses this against us to bring us down. But through our faith in Christ Jesus, we can overcome our weaknesses. When we get born again, we become new creations in Christ as we know. In Christ is no weakness at all, so you have to believe that the perfect One dwells in you, and work towards becoming like Him. Doing this, you gradually put off the sin nature and it's weaknesses. Also, God gradually imparts His divine power on you as you overcome your weaknesses 'cos as you learn to control yourself, you become like God... So just believe in Him and let His divine power manifest in and through you, that He may use you to show the world His mighty and wondrous works.... This is one of the main purposes of Faith. Finally, the basic/ foundational purposes of our faith; provision, protection and healing. I'll just give some scriptures, I'll write about them later.
Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
James 5:15 And the prayer of faith will cure the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up. And if he has committed sins, it will be forgiven him.
In conclusion, reiterating, "for your faith to grow to its fullness, you must hear the word of God, believe it and act fearlessly upon it." Don't forget the bible says "With God all things are possible"(Matt 19:26), but the possibility depends on your faith. So go out there, put your faith to work, show others what God can do and preach His word to them, that they may get saved an also embark on this journey of our faith walk with God. Remember "he that winneth souls is wise"... God will never leave nor forsake His faithful ones, neither will He let the devil challenge you with something you can't overcome.
Romans 11:20 Well, because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be high-minded, but fear.
Romans 14:22-23 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Blessed is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. (23) But, the one doubting, if he eats, he has been condemned, because it is not of faith; and all that is not of faith is sin.
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life, to which you are also called and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.
John 14:12 Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me, the works that I do he shall do also, and greater works than these he shall do, because I go to My Father.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I thank you for the seed of faith which you planted in me. And I'm sorry for not using it as much as you expect me to. Help me Lord, to trust in you , believe in you and use my faith according to your will more. In Jesus' name. Amen. :D
Thank you so much for sharing this post.
ReplyDeleteI pray that the eyes of my understanding will open and that God will give me a spirit of discernement in Jesus name. Amen
I have been a mental assenter for a long time, because I refused to be in God's will for my life. I have been fighting it for a long time but I have chose to give up everything, my own selfish desires just for Him!
God bless you Brother!
AMEN!!! GOD bless you too sister. :D
ReplyDeletePlease kindly share the post... Thank you.... May HIS WILL be done in your life. :)
cool stuff! Really learnt a lot from it but try to keep ur blog as short as possible. At times simple is more. Rily like it. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice Essien, I'll learn from that. God bless you. :D
DeleteAmen Deniry! As I stated on twitter this is an excellent read/write! God is so good. In Romans 11:36, Paul states "36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen." This post is a testimony of that. I am grateful that you invited me to read this blog and I praise God for what he is doing in your life. :)
ReplyDeleteWell said! & very good use of the scriptures as reference and supporting evidence to what you are stating! May God continue to use, bless, and keep you!
ReplyDeletePlease check out my blog at aheartofworship12.blogspot.com ...
Thanks & God BLESS :-)