Faith that brings to nothing the things that are!

I pray that this teaching on faith has opened your heart to desire the ingredients that make the God-Kind of faith become alive in your lives. That you would be God’s “true people of faith” along with Abraham, Joshua and Caleb who enter the rest of what faith really is. As we continue to teach on the reality of what a living faith is in a believer’s life, we must continue to understand the essential ingredients required for it to live. Our text scripture for this study on faith is:

1Co 1:25- 29, " Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honor, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

“We have learned what God does “not” use as ingredients for an active faith. Here is what they are. He does not use the wisdom or strength of men. He does not choose those who are wise after their own wisdom or understanding. He does not choose that which is strong in their own sufficiency. He does not use that which is noble or well regarded by the standards of men. That is quite a list of disqualifications for an active and living faith.

So what has God chosen? 1st Corinthians 1:25-29 says, "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to the wise to shame. He has chosen the feeble things to put to shame the strong. God has chosen the low things of the world, the things without honor, did God make selection of , yes, even the things that are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are:

God is not a man and His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. However; this has not crossed the ordinary mind of unsaved men. Unsaved men or woman think they are as smart or smarter than God. How can I say that? I can say it by experience. I thought I was able to choose my own path, direction for my life and family, and completely satisfy and fill myself and others by what I did. How about you? Have you ever thought like that?

How many plans do we make for our life? We plan how we are going to spend our time, money and energy every day. Another words we take “control” over our lives and our taught by the world that this is what our human existence should be. The world says if we are “really “ good we will leave the world a better place than we found it when we were born. For those in the world and not Born-Again, life is no more than accumulating as much as you can as long as you help people along the way. If you are a nice person, don’t hurt or say anything bad about anyone and you will be ok for eternity.

This worldly mindset usually consist of making “through another day.” If you are rich, you worry about how you are going to spend your money. If you are poor, you worry about how you are going to get your money. If you are middle class, you worry about how to make more money and who is going to take it from you. Mankind without the Holy Spirit rests in a wisdom that is “foolish” to God. So God has to show mankind what their own wisdom really is “foolishness, “to make as nothing the things that are .”

This is a key to understanding the realm of faith. Human wisdom is at war with the God-kind of faith. Human wisdom is the mind of the flesh as we wrote about in the last article, and it is at enmity with God according to Romans chapter 8:7. The God-kind of faith rest in the “wisdom of God” or the “mind of the Holy Spirit. It is in the mind of God that faith must become alive in a believers heart. That is why Jesus had to be born, die and be raised from the dead. He came not only to reconcile us back to God through the sacrifice of His own life and blood for our sins, but because He had to send the “PROMISE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT” to those who would accept His sacrifice. The Holy Spirit had to come to activate the measure of faith the Father has given to every man.

This is where many believers miss it. They don’t believe in the Baptism of the Holy Spirit as the finishing work of redemption; however, it was necessary for Jesus to send the Holy Spirit. God in His wisdom knew that for us to walk by faith and not by sight,” it was going to take His own Spirit to come live and dwell in our hearts. He knew to activate the faith He has given to every man as we pointed out earlier, that mankind would need to born-again by the Holy Spirit. The same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead according to Romans chapter 8:11 is the Holy Spirit Jesus calls our “ Comforter, Teacher“ in John chapter 14:16-17 and chapter 16: 12-15. In these passages of scripture Jesus tells us of the real work of the Holy Spirit and why “true and living faith” only comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. John 14:16-17, “ And I will pray to the Father and He will give you another Comforter, to be with you forever. Verse17, "even the Spirit of TRUE KNOWLEDGE (TRUTH).”

John 16:12-15 “I have still much to say to you, but you are not strong enough for it now. However, when he, the Spirit of true knowledge, has come, he will be your guide into all true knowledge: for his words will not come from himself, but whatever has come to his hearing, that he will say: and he will make clear to you the things to come. He will give me glory, because he will take of what is mine, and make it clear to you.”

Everything which the Father has is mine: that is why I say, He will take of what is mine and will make it clear toyou.” Jesus teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of “TRUE KNOWLEDGE!” He will guide us into ALL TRUE KNOWLEDGE! Do you understand what that truly means: That all of man’s great intellect, wisdom,understanding and reason is FOOLISHNESS TO GOD! To the man who is not born again and filled with the Holy Spirit, the WISDOM OF GOD seems like foolishness to them. It is foolish to the “natural unsaved man” because itis not practical.

This is the whole point of the Bible! It is written not to just tell of what to do or not do, but to tell us a story of what “Faith of God” It tells us that “blessed is the man who trust in the Lord, He shall never be put to shame. To prove His point the Lord allows us to prove Him. He does this by bringing us into impossible situations where all human wisdom has to be brought to nothing.
Beloved reader, it was not practical for God to bring 3,000,000 people outof slavery and lead them into a desert where there is no water, no food. It was foolish to bring them to the banks of the Red Sea, and have Pharaoh and his army corner them to take them back to Egypt and trap them by the sea.

It was foolish of God to do so to allow that the Israelite’s would think, “ you brought us out here to die by the hand of the Egyptians, we were better to be their slaves. Yet it was here against “human reason“ God brought for agreat deliverance by a mighty miracle of parting the sea. Yet, even this didn’t establish them in the “faith of God.”

After God delivered them from Pharaoh by opening up a sea for them to cross on dry ground in the midst of, and destroying Pharaoh’s army in the same river, they still complained. A few days later all their food ran out and they complained again and said, “we were better off back in Egypt as slaves at least there were cucumbers to eat.” God answered their cry and gave them “manna from heaven to eat”, yet that was enough to build their faith. As they went forward a few more days they ran out of water in the dessertand again they murmured that “God you brought us out here to die, we were better off in Egypt.”

Their “human wisdom” caused them to DENY GOD who had done so many miracles for them all along the way,and want to go back to being slaves in Egypt. Hebrews chapter 3 tells us that God was angry with this generationand swore in His wrath, “they shall never enter my rest.” The rest of what true faith is and what true faith brings.Listen to the rebuke the author of Hebrews writes about these people :

Heb 3:7-12, “ And so, as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you let his voice come to your ears, Be not hard of heart, as when you made me angry, on the day of testing in the waste land, When your fathers put me to the test, and saw my works for forty years. So that I was angry with this generation, and I said, Their hearts are in error at all times, and they have no knowledge of my ways; And being angry I made an oath, saying, They may not come into my rest. My brothers, take care that there is not by chance in any one of you an evil heart filled with unbelief, turning away from the living God!"

The King James bible describes Hebrews 3:12 as having an “evil heart of unbelief.” This heart is the “mind of the flesh“, or “human wisdom.” Their lack of faith caused them to DIE IN THE WILDERNESS! They did not allow God to activate the faith God gave them by trusting in someone bigger than them. Jesus said, I must send SOMEONE BIGGER than you to live in you. He is called the Comforter, Teacher, and the SPIRIT OF TRUE KNOWLEDGE! He is Knowledge of God Himself, the living Holy Spirit, the third person of the trinity!

So God has chosen that which is “not revealed to the spirit of the world” or the things “which are not” for this purpose: SO THAT HE MIGHT MAKE AS NOTHING THE THINGS THAT ARE! “The things that are” is what man bases “his faith upon!” His “own understanding, intelligence, wisdom as the basis of his faith.”

God proved that this kind of thinking in them to be nothing according to 1st Corinthians 1:1:29.Their human wisdom wanted to go back to Egypt! They said they would die in the wilderness, and God led them there to die! Yet by His mighty power for Israel, He opens up the sea to walk on dry ground. He brought forth water from the rock and provided bread from heaven called manna. So much for "human reason!"

There were even more miracles through the History of the Bible that shows us God’s wisdom supersedes all of mans wisdom. He allowed Elijah to call down fire from heaven to prove He was God and not Baal. He stopped the sun from setting for Joshua so the army of Israel could defeat the enemy, and later brought the great walls of Jericho down after 7 days of marching around them with the shouts of God’s people and a trumpet. Foolishness isn’t it?

All this is foolish to a man without God, and sadly also to so many in the Body of Christ that think God is powerless today. To many believers believe that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Holy Spirit died with the Apostles, though there is not ONE scripture that says this happened! Beside the logic itself that is faulty. Whywould God stop sending the Baptism of the Spirit after the disciples? So we could go back relying on our own human wisdom and power to serve God and make disciples of the nations?

Does it make sense that God would want every other generation to walk without the power of the Holy Spirit, the mind of the Holy Spirit, when He came to send His very Spirit to us in power? Why did the disciples have to tarry in Jerusalem until they were clothed with power from on high, if it was not important? To many this "human wisdom" seems logical even reasonable. Many even try to twist the scriptures to accomodate their reasoning.

Yet no where did Jesus ever teach the Baptism of the Holy Spirit would end with the disciples. Quite the opposite is true. On the day of Pentecost Peter preached to the crowd and said these words, Act 2:39, "For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call unto him!"

The “real” baptism of the Holy Spirit brought them “dunamus” power to preach the Gospel, but more it transfigured their lives by activating the "God-Kind of fatih" within them. Before Pentecost they were hiding and afraid for their lives, but after the Baptism of the Holy Spirit they were boldly proclaiming the Gospel and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. They now had a “new way” of thinking and living.

They did not have to hide anymore, but could declare the Gospel boldly with signs and wonders following. This sounds like a “new mind of faith” to me, the "mind of the Holy Spirit!" Once again God would demonstrate that the foolishness of God is wiser than all human wisdom could ever hope to be. He would use the foolishness of preaching the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit based in the "faith of God" in us to counfound the wisdom of this world.

I will close with this thought, "God did make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

Faith the substance of things that

Our study of the “God-Kind” of faith continues in 1st Corinthians chapter 1. Let us read the following scripture text:

1Co 1:25- 29, " Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honor, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

We have studied over the past few weeks on the “ingredients” necessary for the God-Kind of faith to become active and live in us. The teaching has been about the CONDITION of a person’s heart who is being prepared to live a life of true faith, and “to walk by faith and not by sight.” The life of faith is not an easy one to live. That is why not many wise, noble, intellectual people can walk it. Faith works against what we would call “common sense.” Do not misunderstand me, we need common sense for many things. We need it to walk across the street and not get hit by a car. We need it to go to sleep, eat, drink, brush our teeth and more.

When it comes to a real life of faith, common sense can become the greatest of enemies. It is foolish to many people that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin birth. Many don’t believe it happened. How can a virgin get pregnant they say? That is why so much focus today is on Jesus being married and having a family. Many wise people can’t believe He is the Son of God. Common sense says, He could not have lived a sinless life no one has. Common sense says He was just a man, a prophet, a good person with a new philosophy.

This is why the Gospel is foolishness to the wise men and woman of the world. Common sense may believe that He died on the cross, but it can not believe that the Father raised Him from the dead. So as you can see, common sense can be the enemy of true and living faith.

Why does the Lord have to chose “even the things which are not?” This is a fundamental question we are going to try to answer in this lesson. The bible tells us in Proverbs 14:12, “there is a way that seems right to a man, but it ends in the way of death or destruction.” THERE IS A WAY THAT SEEMS RIGHT! This is the secret to the verse we are expounding. The way of a man in his own wisdom and thinking always seems the right choice. Every decision we make as people is one that we always “think” is right.

Before I came to know Jesus Christ as my Lord and savior, I had plans for my life, goals, and all that I wanted to achieve. They were good plans. I knew where I wanted to be in 20 years, what I wanted to have, how I was going to plan for my wife and my future. I planned how I would pay for my children’s education. I had great and lofty plans. As I went about achieving these plans and goals, nothing was going to get in my way. You could say I was “wise” in my own sight. I was “noble” because I had my own success. When people came to preach the Gospel to me, I hated them. I despised them. Though I was religious and went to church, I didn’t need a savior. I liked my life the way it was.

I use this illustration to bring forth a needed point of discussion. This thinking and reasoning is the way that seems “right” to every one in the world and even some Christians. Shouldn’t we plan for our future and have something for a rainy day?

These goals and plans were “my ways.” The ways in which I was going to walk and bring my family. This reasoning was apart from the Holy Spirit guidance, and the bible calls this the “life in the flesh.” Romans chapter 8:1 tells us that, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who WALK NOT AFTER THE FLESH, BUT AFTER THE HOLY SPIRIT!” The amplified bible expounds this verse this way, “who walk not after the dictates and ways of the flesh, but after the dictates and ways of the Spirit.” Verse 6 says, “the mind of the flesh, (which is your sense and reason apart from the Holy Spirit) is DEATH, But the mind of the Holy Spirit (which is your sense and reason with the Holy Spirit) is LIFE AND PEACE!”

Faith requires the work and direction of the Holy Spirit. It requires the ability to hear God’s voice and the understanding of what He is speaking to our heart. His voice is to give us our plans, direction, power and ability to live and do the will of God. Active faith can never work apart from the ability to hear God’s voice personally through the bible and the personal speaking He does in a human heart.

When we are void of the Holy Spirit and dead in our sins, we can NEVER hear God or know His will and plans for our lives. We only have our “human thoughts” to live by and guide us, and the impulses of our flesh to gain as much as we can for ourselves. We might be good people and even help others, yet we are still guided by our “own understanding in wisdom.”

Romans 8:7, says “but the mind of the flesh (sense and reason apart from God) is at war, enmity against God. For to the law of God it CAN NOT submit itself.” Beloved, there is not one once of the God-Kind of faith in this kind of thinking. This type of thinking is opposed to God because it is based in common sense or human reason. Even though God has given to every man a “measure of faith”, this faith is dormant in a man until he is born-again by the Holy Spirit of God. Only them can that God-kind of faith in him become active to walk by.

The mind of the flesh, common sense, is at war with God, why? The bible answers that question in the following verses. Let us read and receive the impartation of these words: Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, or your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

God says, "OUR THOUGHTS ARE NOT, HIS THOUGHT! OUR WAYS ARE NOT HIS WAYS!" Beloved, this is the life of faithlessness. There is no exercising of faith in your own thoughts, plans and direction. God tells us this is foolishness. He tells us in his word that the end of these ways leads to death and destruction. I know I was on that path. All my great plans and success lead me to want to commit suicide, and I almost did! My end would have been destruction because I rested my whole life, my family on the “wisdom of man” and not the “wisdom of God.” I was wise in my own eyes, and noble in my own heart, so I was disqualified from a life of faith.

The tragedy is even worse if we become a Christian and continue to live “according to the flesh.” It is the highest insult to God that as believers we would live our lives as if we owned them still. It is an insult to God who saved us if we don’t consult Him, listen to His voice and find His will for our lives, yet so many Christians still live like that. They will get into heaven for trusting Jesus to save them and repenting from their sins, but the “LIFE OF THE FAITH OF GOD”, they will never know.

God’s thoughts are “above” ours thought, and His ways are “above” our ways! This “ABOVE OURS” is called the “things which are not!” We have read in 1st Corinthians that “did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not,” Yes the selection from God are HIS WAYS, HIS THOUGHTS AND HIS PLANS FOR OUR LIVES! These thoughts and plans are the “mind of the Holy Spirit.” and they are "above us" where He is! These thoughts are the purposes, directions and plans that God has created for us. Each thought God has for us is full of the active faith of God himself if we open our hearts to hear His voice. The words that God speaks are full of the life of faith if we allow Him to quicken them in our spirit until they become our only true direction.

Yes, beloved we now “live by faith and not by sight.” We become “just” and “live by faith.” A living faith that God has prepared in a heart of humility and brokenness. A heart willing to trust God in every word that He speaks to us. Now the “things which are not,” the things we can not see with the natural eye or hear with the natural ear are more real than the world around us. The invisible things of God become a living reality in our heart and we begin to look for a “heavenly” city like Abraham and not an earthly one.

We become citizen’s of “another” world, “another kingdom.” We live in the “faith of the Son of God who loves me and gave himself for me!” So with Paul we can say, “ I have been crucified with Christ to all the “human wisdom and logic of this world,” NEVERTHELESS I LIVE!, and the LIFE I KNOW LIVE, I LIVE BY FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD!”

Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God, for He that comes to God, must believe that He is, and He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Romans 8:8 say, “that those who live in the flesh (the thoughts and plans without the Holy Spirit) CANNOT PLEASE GOD!

No Beloved, without the mind of the Holy Spirit, the thoughts, word, plans and directions of God we can not live by faith. It is impossible and we can never please Him, the Word says so! We must live in the “things that are not.” The “things which are not” are hidden in God and they must be sought out daily by prayer, study of His word and in sweet living communion with the Holy Spirit speaking to your heart. This is the true life of faith we are called to.

I will close with scriptures from Proverbs that is to be a guide to all of us. May this be your heartfelt cry to the Lord today, that He would make these verses alive in your heart. Proverbs 3:5-6, “ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your path.”

The faith that has no honor

Welcome again dear reader! Today we are going to continue to look at the spiritual ingredients God needs to bring forth from our lives to truly, “walk by faith and not by sight.” Yesterday we learned of the lowliness of faith, and today we will continue on leaning about the “things without honor.” Let us review our text scripture for this study.

1Co 1:25- 29, " Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honor, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

The word “honor” means: high public esteem, fame, glory, high respect as in worth, merit or rank, the privilege of being associated with or receiving honor from respected person, group, or organization. It means having special rank or privilege or distinction amongst peers.

We have learned that God has chosen, the foolish, the feeble, the week and the lowly as ingredients for us to walk by faith and not by sight. Today we will learn that He has chosen people who to the world, and to many in the church itself, have no honor or apparent importance. He has chosen those who have NO public esteem, fame, glory or high respect as in worth, merit or rank. He chooses people who don’t receive honor from “respected people, organization or “ministry association.” He chooses those who have no special rank, privilege or distinction amongst their peers.

Why does God look for these ingredients in a person? I believe it is this, “that no flesh would glory in his sight.” God chooses the weakest and neediest of people because when He works through them, everyone will know that it is God working in them. When the multitude looked upon Steven, they said his face shined like an angel.

King David was described to us as a “man after God’s own heart.” When God chose him to be King over Israel, he was the LAST one brought before the prophet Samuel. David is an example of what means to be chosen by God because he was without honor amongst men.

In 1st Samuel chapter 16 1-15, Samuel is weeping over the failure of King Saul and the Lord calls him and tells him to get up and go to Jesse, the Bethlehemite and go anoint one of his sons as the new king of Israel. The Lord tells him these words in verse 1, “I have chosen for myself a King from amongst his sons!”

What we need to learn today is how God chooses “things that are without honor.” In verse 6-10 Jesse presents all his sons before Samuel to see who the Lord has chosen. He starts with the oldest one Eliab. Eliab was strong, handsome and well respected amongst his brothers. So outwardly strong that he was well honored by his father and even by Samuel. Listen to Samuel’s words in verse 6, “SURELEY THE LORD’S ANOINTED IS BEFORE HIM.” Beloved, Eliab had every natural quality to be a leader and king of Israel. He was honored, respected and desired above his brothers, yet God does not choose him.

David was a man that we see to be the greatest King Israel ever had. His heart was so pure before God, that God Himself promises to have one of his sons, sit upon his throne forever and ever. We know that Jesus himself as a man came through the line of David as a son. Yet, David’s selection by God confounds human wisdom and understanding. He was small, ruddy, red hair, pretty, hansome to look at, but not Kingly. He looked more like a "surfer boy," then a weight lifter. He had no “natural” qualities that would even suggest he could be a king. Eliab had all those qualities as a man and would make a better selection for a King than David by human standards.

But God is not a man, nor does He see as a man sees. Listen to the rebuke the Lord speaks to the great prophet Samuel concerning his discernment on selecting a king. Verse 7, “ and the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look upon his face or his continence, or how tall he is, for I have rejected him, For the Lord sees not as a man sees, for man looks on the outer appearance, but the Lord looks upon the heart! One by one each son was brought before the prophet, and none met God’s standard.

What standard was the Lord looking for? Each one of the older sons had a quality that could have surely made a good king from a human stand point. I want you to consider something, Jesse knows the prophet has come to choose a king and he brings all his sons before him EXCEPT David! Do you remember what the word honor means: high public esteem, fame, glory, high respect as in worth, merit or rank, the privilege of being associated with or receiving honor from respected person, group, or organization. It means having special rank or privilege or distinction amongst peers.

Jesse gave this honor to the first seven sons by presenting them to Samuel. In verse 10 we read, “ and Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, THE LORD HAS NOT CHOSEN THESE! So much for human wisdom and selection! The Lord has not chosen these. So who would God choose?

1st Corinthians chapter 1 tell us that: But God has chosen the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honor, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

The Lord was about to choose the exact opposite of what men would choose as ingredients to be king. If there was a man who knew how to “walk by faith, and not by sight” it was David. He was the man that would kill Goliath. He was the man that would continually defeat the Philistines. He was the man that would establish Jerusalem as Israel’s home. This man would be both priest and king before God by establishing a tabernacle to meet the Lord, called David’s Tabernacle. Here we find a man not ashamed to dance naked before the Lord. A man who continually would seek God’s face in every battle to get his direction.

He found a man full of mercy, compassion and love like no other before or after him. The Lord found for himself a king! The life of David shows us a man who was quite flawed in many ways, but a man after the very heart of God Himself. The psalms and songs he wrote our a testimony of someone who is foolish in men’s eyes, but beloved in God’s eyes.Israel grew to love and honor David as their king, not for his power, stature or might but for His deep relationship with the Lord who was with him always.

In the movie “One night with the King”, Esther, another person chosen by God who had no honor before men, had to make a decision to go before the King unsummoned. This act would mean her death if the King did not extend His scepter to acknowledge her. As she stood before the eunuch who trained her to be a queen, she says to him these words as he begs her not to go. She says, “ I will go before the King as David did before Goliath and killed him.” She smiles at the eunuch and tells him, “ Do you know what I love about this story? It is that David did not win the battle over Goliath because he fought well, but because HE BELIEVED WELL!

Beloved, this man of no honor with men won His victories not because he fought well, but that HE BELIEVED WELL! This is what it means to “walk by faith, and not by sight.” David wasn’t chosen because of the “honor” of men, but David had the “honor” of God who called him, “ a man after my own heart.” This is what a real life of faith requires.

It is not the nobility of David that made him a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, but the lack of it in the sight of men. This lack of honor from man made him a prime candidate for the honor of God. David loved what God loved.He loved God intimately because He found the love He needed in God Himself because he was despised and rejected by his own brethren and Father. Remember, Faith works by love.

Let us close with the verses from 1st Samuel concerning David’s selection as King, and as we do may we pray that this quality of the Spirit of not having or needing the honor of man be our motivation for seeking the Lord. May God continue to work in us these qualities so we can truly be as the “just who shall live by faith.” Holy Spirit teach us how to forever live in our emptiness to receive your fullness so we can “walk by faith and not by sight,” as David did.

1Samuel 16:11-13, “And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remains yet the youngest, and, behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look upon. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward.”

The lowliness of faith

Our last lesson taught us about being full of faith and the Holy Spirit. Todays teaching is about the "lowliness of faith!" What does God require for us as believers to truly live a life of faith AS GOD UNDERSTANDS that to be. Our scripture verse we have been studying is 1st Corinthians chapter 1:25-29.

1Co 1:25- 29, " Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honor, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

Every person has within them the ability to believe God. When a man is born-again His spirit is now open to recognize and use this measure of faith God has given him because His spirit has been born-again by the Holy Spirit. When this happens “the God-Kind” of faith is awakened in our spirit to see things spiritually. Our spirits which were dead to sin and could not discern anything of the Spirit of God is now awakened to receive all that the Holy Spirit came to give as our Teacher according to John chapters 14 and 16.

We have learned that faith is a substance according to Hebrews 11:1. It is the substance of things hoped for. It is a substance and it is an evidence (proof) of the things that are NOT SEEN! The God Kind of faith is a real substance, greater than a pound a butter in your hand. No one would dispute that you have something in your hand if you were holding a pound of butter in it, and you said this is pound of butter. Anyone who would dispute thatfact would be foolish and worse absurd, because you have a pound of butter in your hand.

When it come to the “God-Kind” of faith, God says that faith is a real substance. Where is this substance if it is real. Faith is a substance of “things” hoped for! Now if you are hoping for a new car, a new house, a wife or anything you can see with your natural eye, then hope would be a “desire” to have it. The faith teaching of the 1980’s and 90” paid a lot of attention on the faith of this kind to obtain these things in life.

Many believers who were in need to prosper saw this part of the Gospel as very appealing. Many today call it the “prosperity” gospel based in “faith.” This has produced a generation of believers who see God as someone who wants to meet their needs. He does want to provide our daily bread!

Yet with that being said, I need to distinguish this “fresh” teaching of faith you are reading from that which was taught in the past. Many needed to learn that God was really our “provider.” That if you would believe Him, he could provide things you never thought you could have. This was an important teaching for many caught in the grips of poverty. This teaching caused them to “hope” for a better day.

Many caught in the grips of discrimination, hopelessness, began to get a fresh revelation of what God could do for them and help them if they had faith. I am grateful to the Lord for bringing forth this truth to lift many out of the bondage of poverty and despair. For many their hope to get out of poverty was a “SUBSTANCE.” This substance was believing God could bring them out of poverty and enslaved to welfare. This substance believed God could prosper them even as their soul prospered.

As wonderful as this was to so many people, like so many times in the past, we take a truth of the nature of God and we elevate that truth to be God himself. By doing this, we began to "only" see God for what He could give, or what his hand can provide. Up to this present moment of this writing, many have stopped searching to seek His face and focus on seeking His hand. Today “faith or the faith of God” is related to “getting” our needs met by God.

True faith does not rest in the ability to possess things, but the ability to be emptied of our own life for the life of Christ and His faith possessing you! Jesus taught us one of the major keys to walking a life of faith as He calleds us to empty ourselves of all our concerns, plans and desires to do one thing, Mat 11:28 Jesus says, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Yes, beloved it is the lowly in heart that understand what the true "faith of God" really is meant to be in a soul. The lowly don't seek their own aim, ambitions, plans, or desires, they seek to do one thing, "the will of Him who sent me." Jesus told us in John chapter 17, "just as the Heavenly Father sent me into the world, so do I send you." He also taught us that a disciple must be like His master. If Jesus wore a yoke that was easy and light it was because He was "lowly" and meek, aren't we supposed to be like Him and wear the same yoke? It is this very issue James warns us of in His epistle. He shows us the danger in turning away from being meek and lowly to what a haughty prideful and selfsih spirt produces in a believer's heart.

Jas 4:1-4, "What is the cause of wars and fighting among you? is it not in your desires which are at war in your bodies? You are burning with desire, and have not your desire, so you put men to death; you are full of envy, and you are not able to get your desire, so you are fighting and making war; you have not your desire, because you do not make request for it. You make your request but you do not get it, because your request has been wrongly made, desiring the thing only so that you may make use of it for your pleasure. O you who are false to God, do you not see that the friends of this world are not God's friends? Every man desiring to be a friend of this world makes himself a hater of God."

Unfortunately, many in the Body of Christ have thought faith was a means to their own ends, and their own plans and desires. They do not understand what God truly says a walk of faith really is. Our scripture verse lays down some important fundamentals about what this life of faith requires. 1 Cor 25-29. “AND GOD HAS CHOSEN THE LOW THINGS OF THE WORLD, AND THE THINGS WITHOUT HONOR. Beloved, the message of the “faith of God” was never to be about obtaining things or stuff from God alone, but obtaining the very life, nature, promises and character that God desires us to have.

A measures of faith has been given to us by God to be able to walk out our entire life by faith and not by sight here on earth and forever. Faith is an ability from God to see beyond the natural life (sight) and its possessions, to see and obtain the spiritual life and all its possessions (true eyesight). The bible calls theses possessions, “treasure that moths and rust can not ruin.“ Faith is a life in the Holy Spirit where God makes the “substance and evidence” of the Kingdom of God a living reality in our lives on earth as it is in heaven.

God has chosen the “low” things of the world. The lowly things that the world has determined to be of little worth. It is in “being” lowly that we find the source of a real life of faith. So important is lowliness that Jesus calls us to come to him.

To be lowly is to truly understand our place in Christ of why we were made. Jesus summed it up best in the Garden of Gethsemane when he cried out, “Father, not my will, but your will be done.” The giving up of our life, our rights and plans is what produces a life that is lowly. This heart attitude is critical for a true life of the faith of the Son of God. Paul wrote it, “ and the life I now life, I live by FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD! This is what a true meek and lowly heart will do in relationship to God in Christ.

James warned us of the opposite type of heart in his epistle. He warns us of how “the pride of life” can tarnish this real God-Kind of faith in our lives. He warns us that people will begin to fight, and war with one another because of the lust “for things” that is the true desires of their heart. The teaching of faith in the 1980’s was not wrong. However; without the right ingredients of God’s work in our heart, that very good word from God would be used to fulfill our lusts ( the plans we have and desires of what we want) instead of the will of God.

He warned that our “most inner hearts” desires are not to be used on selfish ambition, desires or selfishness, but our hearts must beat only for the purposes of God. We must live only for HIM! Faith is not a “substance” to be used to fulfill our wants and desires, but it is the “substance” of things hoped for.

The bible says that Jesus Christ is that hope. He is the Hope of Glory itself! When He alone is your hope and your first and only desire, then you realize that your life is not your own but purchased with a price. You understand that “you have been crucified with Christ, but nevertheless you live.” You give up living for your own desires, but for the Lord’s desires alone.This beloved is what it means to be lowly and the place the "faith of God" becomes active and alive in your soul.

The word low means this: ranked near the bottom of some scale or measurement. Indicating the bottom or furthest possible point down, lacking in strength, energy of vigor, feeble or weak.” God has chosen that which is ranked near the bottom on the scale on human ranking, that which seems the furthest away of ability and power. He has chosen that which is lacking in strength, energy, vigor and is feeble and weak to make RICH IN FAITH!

When you have allowed the Holy Spirit to refine you like Gold and Silver, you loose the value of your life as you have known it to be. You begin to see your value in Christ alone. You understand that you were made for His pleasure and purposes. When you surrender and give up the “right to your life” you become a fool to the world.

Remember James warning,” to be friend of this world, you take your stand as an enemy of God.” Jesus taught us that “if you keep your life (as you want it to be) you lose your spiritual life, and if you give up your life (as you want it to be, for His life in you), you gain your spiritual life.

God resist the proud, but He gives grace to the humble. Faith is a substance of things hoped for. Only those who are lowly understand what they should truly hope for. Only the lowly made by God’s hand can understand and live in the substance of what faith truly is. The lowly in Christ have the “evidence” of the THINGS THAT ARE NOT SEEN!

When the bible speaks of Abraham, the father of faith, it says he was looking for something. This “something” was the result of true faith. His something was looking for a “heavenly city!" Not an earthly city or kingdom, but a city whose architect and builder was God. So Abraham lived as a stranger and wonderer in this land, because his destination was a heavenly city. A city that could not be SEEN with a natural eye, but more real than any city he had ever been in.

So real was this city, His whole live was consumed in the UNSEEN. This unseen faith of God was an evidence in the depth of His being that He was able to “WALK BY FAITH” every moment of His life. His life was consumed in BECOMING all God had promised him! He gave his life to “walk by faith and not by sight.”

Beloved this is what it means to be lowly. It has nothing to do with possessions, for Abraham was wealthy. He didn’t’ seek the Lord for “stuff”, but for every word God spoke to Him. He wanted to please God by his obedience in obeying every command God gave him. This is what a life in the “God-Kind of faith” really looks like. It is the life of the “lowly.”

People thought Abraham was crazy, he left everything behind in the Ur of the Chaldees and went to a country he had never seen. He brought his own son to be killed as offering to God on the mountain. This man of faith learned what it meant to walk by faith and not by sight. He allowed to bring him to the place where all his human reason for hope was gone, but against hope He believed in hope that he would become the father of many nations, even as God said. He is our example for us to follow because He is the Father of the faithful and through His seed, Jesus Christ, all nations will be blessed.

Let us walk on after him, yet even one greater than Abraham came. Jesus Christ who came as the son of man. This Son of God, and Son of man demonstrated to us the perfect obedience of a life that walked by faith and not by sight. He has given us that same life through the power of the Holy Spirit in us to “walk by faith and not by sight.“

Will you allow the Spirit of God to make you meek and lowly in heart? If you will, you will find the true “faith of God and you will be able to be as the scripture says, “ the just shall live by faith.”

Full of Faith and full of the Holy Spirit

Welcome Beloved, I pray that these teachings on “walking by faith” will be a blessing to you. I feel it is very important to bring forth this teaching at this time. We have had a lot of teaching on faith in the 1980’s and it was relevant for that day, but the Lord is taking us deeper into the life of faith then ever before. It is going to be critical for us in these last of days to be able to “walk by faith and not by sight.”

We are going to see things in the future worse than 9/11. The times we are in are called “perilous” times in 2nd Timothy chapter 3. Perilous meaning hard to deal with and hard to bare. So how are we going to walk in times of terrorism, economic decline? How are we going to walk when you can’t understand why things are happening in nature like Katrina, earthquakes and a like? Should I fly today or go to an airport? Are there terrorist on these planes or in the airport? Can I go to NY City and be safe or go to a mall or the grocery store?

Children are being taken, people being killed in their own homes and worse is happening all around the world. Can we eat the food or play with toys made in China? There are so many questions and concerns that we have today as no other time in history. Fear is on the rampant in the world, and wars and rumors of war are all around us. What are we going to do?

It is to these questions that God wants to answer us. How are we going to survive in these perilous times? The faith teachings of the 80’s on how to get stuff is not going to make it for us in these end-times. Faith is not about God meeting my needs. He has already promised to do that. True Godly faith is the ability for God to speak to your spirit and impart His word to you. It is to give you the power, ability and understanding on how and where to walk each moment of your life.

Faith is the ability of God to lead you “through the valley of the shadow of death.” It is the power that will keep you safe in the Secret Place of the Most High God when all the terror comes by night as found in Psalm 91. Faith is the power to live Psalm 27. One thing I desire of the Lord, that will seek after, to dwell in his house all the days of my life, until my head is lifted up above my enemies.

This is the true faith we need to use in the days ahead. That is why the bible tells us that, “we walk by faith and not by sight.“ (2nd Cor. 5:7) We are called to live by faith, “the just shall live by faith.” (Hab. 2:4) These teachings are for “TODAY”, the “NOW” of God so we can truly be men and woman of faith. The true God-Kind of faith is so important for us to be led by the Spirit of God. We can’t be led by someone who we don’t trust in the manner He wants us to trust Him.
The God-kind of faith exercised by a man and woman was one of the conditions set forth just to be a deacon in the church. Being full of faith was a requirement for Steven to be selected just to distribute food to the widows. If it was important enough of a requirement to distribute natural food, how much more is it to the true Spiritual food, Jesus Christ? In Acts chapter 6, let us read these requirements.

Act 6:1-5, “Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was increasing, protests were made by the Greek Jews against the Hebrews, because their widows were not taken care of in the distribution of food every day. And the Apostles sent for all the disciples and said, It is not right for us to give up preaching the word of God in order to make distribution of food. Take then from among you seven men of good name, full of the Spirit of wisdom, to whom we may give control of this business. Then we will give all our time to prayer and the teaching of the word. And this saying was pleasing to all of them: and they made selection of Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip and Prochorus and Nicanor and Timon and Parmenas and Nicolas of Antioch, who had become a Jew:"

Please notice the being full of the Spirit of Wisdom requires us to FULL OF FAITH! This is the God-kind of faith fully in operation in our lives. This is why this teaching on faith is coming forth. We must be able to live the “true life of faith." Not a faith that gets new cars, new houses, new ministries, but the FAITH that must guide and control us every day of our live. The faith that brings divine protection, direction and revelation into the heart and purposes of God.

What we call faith today is our ability to build something or do something for God. We need “faith” to do our ministry we are taught. This is not true, Faith is our ministry and it is a gift of God to BE a minister or ambassador of the Lord. Oswald Chambers writes, “ a child of God never has to ask to do the will of God," A child of God IS THE WILL OF GOD! Steven is a prime example of this. He was chosen for his nature, full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit!

Only a deep abiding relationship in and with the Holy Spirit can bring this about. Why is this kind of faith so important? Because the bible tell us FAITH WORKS BY LOVE! The Holy Spirit comes to work this love deep in our hearts. Romans chapter 8:5 says, “the Holy Spirit sheds the love of God abroad in our heart!” Every drop of that love is filled with the “faith of God!” That love has a voice, “ I am with you, even to the end of this age.” This love says, “nothing in all creation can separate you from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus."

So this “love” God himself, literally fills us with faith as He loves us and as we open our hearts to this love. The faith of God that he created us with rises up and mixes with that love and we become full of faith. Jesus always said, “ I do these things because the Father LOVES Me!” It was His Father’s love that empowered him to walk by faith and not by sight. Only walking and living in this love ourselves and really knowing it activates the “faith of God” in us to do great exploits in His name.

Steven was such a man that being full of Faith and the Holy Spirit caused him not only to give out food, but to be “led by the Spirit of God.” His faith allowed him to be led, for the steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord. His active faith caused him to see the great needs of the people and God used him to work great miracles, signs and wonders. His faith was so active, that when he was brought before the Jewish leaders, he spoke as one who was like an angel. His faith was so alive, that when they stoned him, he was able to look up to heaven and see Jesus standing next to the throne of His Father.

This is true, active and living faith. A faith worked by the love of God shed abroad in His heart. This faith did not get him a Escalade, or a new million dollar house. His faith made him become a martyr for Christ. His faith impacted a man named Saul of Tarsus to prepare him to meet the Lord Himself.

Beloved, we are going to face things we never dreamed of, but we will overcome all of them by learning how to “walk by faith and not by sight.” We will overcome as the “just shall live by faith.” Faith is not something we need to get things. Faith is God’s very life in us, filling us, sustaining us and guiding us in His path. We do not have to be afraid to travel, or do something because of the terror all around us. We have the Spirit of the living God in us who will speak a sure word to us, give us direction, instruction and protect us as the Lord allows. So we never have to be afraid of the terror by night, or the pestilence that comes by day.

Psalm 91 tells us of the fruit of those who really live the life of faith in God. It speaks of those who will put the entire leaning of their person in the Lord Himself. He will protect, provide and care for us in the worst storms ever to come, but we must be people who live and walk in the active faith found in the life of the Holy Spirit. He has given us power to cast mountains into the see. Praise God forevermore.

If you have not understood what true faith is that works by love, ask Him now to reveal this love in you. Ask Him to teach the life of love that produces real and living faith. Allow Him to take control of your entire life and put your trust in the God who has given you a measure of faith. Talk to Him, tell him where you are and ask for His help to walk by faith and not by sight. Then you will begin the wonderful fullness of life God has planned for you.

The weakness of faith

Today's journey in learning how to "walk by faith" takes us to the highlighted verse of 1st Corinthians chapter 1. "God has chosen the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong."
1Co 1:25- 29, " Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honor, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

The king James version says, "and the weak things of this world to confound the things that are mighty." The word weak means :not strong; liable to yield, break, or collapse under pressure or strain; fragile; frail. To understand what the walk of faith requires to God, we must understand the need for human weakness. Considering what most people think faith consists of is the following. Their faith rest in their own power to do something in the strength of their own convictions. We would call this "mental agreement." Much of what we call faith in the Body of Christ is the leaning upon our own goodness, strength and ability to get something accomplished with God's help! This is mindset that starts out to do something for God and wants God to bless their efforts.

Human energy and exercise can accomplish great things and build great edifices. All we have to do is go to New York City and see what man can build as in skyscrapers and tall buildings. In the church, we can build mega-ministries, reach thousands of people for Christ, yet in all these things we can do it without the faith of God. We can do all these things in the faith of our "own" ability to believe God is blessing our efforts.

What is the difference between intellectual faith that rests in our ability and that God must be with us to bless the works of our hands, and the true God-kind of faith? The answer is found in what 1 Corinthians chapter 1 teaches us: "and God chooses the feeble things, the thinks that are not strong, liable to yield or break to put to shame the strong."

A good example of this is God's selection of Gideon. In Judges 6:11-12 we read,"And the angel of Jehovah came, and sat under the oak which was in Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abiezrite: and his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites. And the angel of Jehovah appeared unto him, and said unto him, Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." Gideon was hiding behind an oak tree threshing his wheat. He was hiding from the Mideonites, yet God looked and found a man He could use. A man who was not strong outwardly, but able to yield to Him. A man not able to stand the strain of battle in his own strength, but would have to rely on God who would be with him.

Look at Gideon’s answer and understand the ingredient God needs for us to walk by faith. Judges 6:14-15. "And Jehovah turned unto him and said, `Go in this--thy power; and thou hast saved Israel out of the hand of Midian--have not I sent thee.' And he said unto him, `O, my lord, wherewith do I save Israel? lo, my chief is weak in Manasseh, and I the least in the house of my father.' O beloved, listen to his testimony, “ O My Lord, YOUR SERVANT IS WEAK AND I THE LEAST IN MY HOUSE!” See what God is looking for in us in order to walk by faith and not by sight.

There were many military men in the House of Israel much more qualified to lead Israel, but God didn’t pick them. Why? Because they would rested in their own ability and power. Their faith would have been in their own resources. Often in our walk in faith, God requires us to become empty, weak and powerless that our faith lay in His power and not our own.

If you remember the story of Moses, he was raised in all the ways of Egypt. When He recognized His call to deliver Israel from slavery he starts out in the STRENGTH OF WHAT HE KNOWS, the ways of Egypt .He ends us killing two Egyptians in the power of his own strength. Yet God did choose him to be the deliverer of His people, but first God had to prepare him. He allowed Moses to be chased from Egypt to the desert to become a shepherd over sheep for 40 years.

For over 40 years, God had to reduce this man and his call until it was completely dead. This death is what God calls weakness. Moses became “not strong, liable to yield, break and collapse under the pressure in his own power. When God finally called to Moses from the burning bush, Moses gave a completely different reply than when He was in Egypt.

Let us look at this new encounter with God. Exodus 3:7-11 “And God said, Truly, I have seen the grief of my people in Egypt, and their cry because of their cruel masters has come to my ears; for I have knowledge of their sorrows; And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. For now, truly, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the cruel behavior of the Egyptians to them. Come, then, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may take my people,the children of Israel, out of Egypt. And Moses said to God, "Who am I to go to Pharaoh and take the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

Do you see the difference? Moses had to be made weak so God could be strong. So many of us believers will not allow the Lord to do this work in our hearts. We can never truly walk by faith or with the faith of God as our power if we continue to fight against God emptying us.

Every day He brings us to places in our walk where we "cant" love, forgive, give something, say something or do something." We often get frustrated because we sure do try to do it, but time after time we just fail. We get angry with God and quit or give up in learning His ways. We think our own strength is enough, and we should be able to do it "ourselves." Beloved, when it comes to God's word and direction for us we can NEVER DO IT OURSELVES! We must do all things through Christ who strengthens us!

The Apostle Paul learned this when he cried out to the lord 3 times to take the thorn out of his flesh, but listen to the Lord’s answer to him and understand why God chooses the weak to confound the strong. 2Co 12:9, “And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Beloved, when we walk by faith and not by sight, every step we take is in absolute weakness and inability. Faith requires trusting in God’s ability and not your own. God’s power is made PERFECT IN WEAKNESS . No more is this seen then in the process of the making of the Bride as shown in the Song of Solomon.

In the beginning of her walk to be a bride, she is full of her own sufficiency and strength. She sees the Lord as someone to supply her needs as she goes about her own business. At the end of the book in chapter 8 a different picture is given to us of her life that has allowed the Lord to work in her heart. The process of brokenness and weakness is allowed to work in her life, and now she looks finally made ready to walk by faith with Him, her Bridegroom.

The bible describes the bride in her end-time positional walk with the Lord like this, Son 8:5 says, "Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, Leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple-tree I awakened thee: There thy mother was in travail with thee, There was she in travail that brought thee forth."

Beloved, this is the true posture of walking by faith. The leaning of your entire personality upon the Lord for His word, His life, His power and everything that He is. Only then are you ready to live a life of true faith. Hebrews 11:6 says, "For He that comes to God must believe HE IS, and He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him."

For your faith must never rest in the wisdom and power of man, but only in the strength and power of the Lord. This is what the Word God speaks does to those who walk by faith. It can take a shepherd and use him to deliver Israel from Egypt. It will use a little shepherd boy to slay a great giant. When God speaks a word to someone who is weak, they become enabled to do “super-natural” works by the power of God. Such a Word from God came to Gideon hiding under a oak tree, and it made him a mighty man of valor!

Beloved this is your God and this is your detiny. The just shall live by faith! The God of the impossible is your God. Let him empty you of your own power, understanding, strength and wisdom to give you his grace that is sufficient for you to walk by faith.

Pray right now and ask the Lord to remove all that is hindering you from living the true life of faith. Ask Him to fill you with the Spirit of Grace like He did with Apostle Paul. God's grace is His power, ablity and might and is the only source that can cause you to walk by faith and not by sight. Remember faith is active and it walks where God walks. Walking by faith is: a Bride coming forth from the wilderness leaning upon our Beloved.

The foolishness of faith

Today we are going to look at the "foolishness" of the faith of God. We started this series with the point that our "human" faith is not the same as the God-Kind of faith. Human faith is based on what the five senses tells you. Religious faith is "trying" to believe God rooted in human wisdom. This is why the Pharisee's could not know Jesus was the Messiah. Their faith rested in their wisdom, understanding and by what they saw. When Jesus healed on the Sabbath, what did they see? Did they see the goodness and love of God to set people free, or their man-made traditions. Let us read 1 Corinthians chapter 1 again:

1Co 1:25- 29, " Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honour, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

These versus tell us the nature of how the faith of God works, and how we can walk it out. One, the faith of God is foolish to men. Do you remember when they caught the woman in the act of adultery. The law demanded that she be stoned to death. All the people had "faith' in the law, but they did not have the God-Kind of faith. The God-kind of faith that could see the "present" Word of God standing before them. The second point we brought forth is that walking in faith requires action and moving ahead. When someone walks somewhere, they leave where they were and go someplace new. The bible tells us that if any man be in Christ, He is a new creation. Old things pass away, and all things become new.

If the people were walking in the faith of God, they would have seen one greater than the law was with them, Jesus Christ the fulfillment of the law. They could not see Him for who He really was "right now", the Messiah. Their faith rested in "their yesterday understanding" of the law. The bible teaches us, "NOW FAITH IS", not yesterday faith was! Jesus who was full of the faith of God did not operate in the yesterday. He sought the Lord for the "true present word from God." This did not contradict the law of Moses but fulfill it, to bring the law to its end, and inaugurate a new covenant with God's people. As Jesus sought the Father, He heard a QUICKENED WORD FROM HIM and He spoke it. "Those of you without sin, cast the first stone."

The quickening of the Word is what Jesus told us about the power of His words, "His words are Spirit and Life." As mentioned in the last article the angel Gabriel said, "no word from God comes without power." This quickening power makes the WORD a living reality in your heart. You actually agree in your spirit with what was spoken by God to you will happen. All you need do now is walk by faith and obey the Word.

Then the very WORD that God spoke to you will actually takes possession of and enable you to do the impossible.The Holy Spirit will bring into existence that which is not as though it was! In Romans chapter 8 Paul writes, "the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead quickens are natural bodies. When the Word of God is alive and active in you it becomes food and fuel. When this is mixed with the measure of the Faith of God that is in you, your receive "power from on High."

When Jesus answered the crowd, " those of you without sin." He spoke the life giving Word of God as an answer to this womans faith. A miracle happenes next, one by one they all dropped their stones and they leave her alone with Jesus. He is the only one that could have picked up a stone to condemn her, but He gave her mercy. This is what the whole law was to sum up, "that all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God." The law was to show us our need for mercy and forgiveness and our need for a savior.

Believe it or not, the woman caught in this wicked act used the God-kind of faith to obtain a miracle or the promise of God for forgiveness. She came to the only one who could save and forgive her, Jesus Christ. She knew the law demanded her to die, but the faith of God in her led her to Salvation himself! Praise God. This running to Jesus for mercy was true "walking in faith." Look at what she receives from Jesus, "woman is there anyone here to condemn you?' She replies, "no!" "Then neither do I condemn you, but sin no more!"

This woman obtained something by using the faith of God in her. She received the substance of what she hoped for and could not see. She received the evidence of the thing she hoped for. She received forgiveness and mercy, a better covenant. To walk by faith requires true faith that always sees it's true need. True faith finds the only place where it can receive the answer from God, God Himself! Walking in faith always requires a Word from God that will be foolishness to your wisdom and understanding.

It was foolish for her to think she could be forgiven for what she did. The law demanded for the people to stone her, yet her foolishness received a miracle from God. It was foolish for Peter to drop his net down again after they had fished all night in the same place and caught nothing. But at the word of Jesus, they dropped their nets and caught a catch like never seen before. Human wisdom is the barrier that must be overcome to walk by faith.

Our scripture verse teaches us that "not many wise, or many noble" are chosen. Why, because they rest their faith in what they are and what they know and not God. Do you remember Naman the leper in the old testament. He sent servants to the prophet to come and pray that he might be healed. The prophet told him what he need to do, go dip yourself 7 times in the Jordan river and you will be healed. This proud ruler would not do it and was angry to do such a thing because the Jordan was one of the dirtiest rivers in the land. Finally, his servant asked him, " if the prophet asked you to go into battle and kill thousands of people would you not have done it?" Naman said, "of course!" His servant said, then why don't you obey the word of the prophet now, because if you do obey will you not be healed?"

Namon finally obeyed and dipped himself 7 times in the river at the prophets word and he was miraculously healed. Beloved, walking in the faith of God or walking by faith requires us to be like children and simply obey what God says instantly! He will always speak a word that does not make common sense to our mind. Why? Not many wise are chosen or noble, their pride will keep them from using the faith God put in them that requires someone bigger than them to help.

Is your own wisdom today blocking you from your miracle, healing or possessing what God promised? Are you afraid to let go of your understanding and just obey what God asked you to do? In order to walk by faith and not by sight you must shut out all the other voices that say obeying God is foolish. You must not ponder on what will people think or say about me. You must not thing about what if it doesn't happen.

Beloved, use the measure of faith God has given you and OBEY! Put away your wisdom, understanding and wait upon the Lord, until He speaks a Word from His mouth to you.Then when you hear that quickened Word from God in your spirit obey it instantly. This is how you put one foot in front of the other and learn to walk by faith.

Walking by Faith

Continuing on our discussion of the God-Kind of faith, let us look about what active living faith looks like. In 1st Corinthians chapter one we see some ingredients needed for active faith.

1Co 1:25- 29, " Because what seems foolish in God is wiser than men; and what seems feeble in God is stronger than men. For you see God's design for you, my brothers, that he has not taken a great number of the wise after the flesh, not the strong, not the noble: But God made selection of the foolish things of this world so that he might put the wise to shame; and the feeble things that he might put to shame the strong; And the low things of the world, and the things without honour, did God make selection of, yes, even the things which are not, so that he might make as nothing the things which are: So that no flesh might have glory before God."

A walk by faith and not by sight starts with what seems foolish in God which is wiser than man. (2nd Cor. 5:7) We are to walk by faith. The word walk means:to advance or travel on foot at a moderate speed or pace; proceed by steps; move by advancing the feet alternately so that there is always one foot on the ground in bipedal locomotion and two or more feet on the ground in quadruped locomotion.

Walking requires motion or action. It requires us to advance, travel at a moderate speed. So when you walk by faith you MUST ADVANCE, TRAVEL at a moderate speed or gain ground and reach your destination. Faith is a walk, it is movement, action and advancing. Most Christians faith is just believing in something, yet the bible tells us that even the demons believer their is a God and that does not save them. So believing is not the key to walking by faith, action is. Faith is living and active and why is that so?

The bible tells us in Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the WORD OF GOD. So faith needs us to do something or to walk somewhere. That somewhere is to be with God to hear His voice, His word spoken to our Spirit. When we hear a "word from the Lord, a quickened word that is revealed in us and to us, then Faith becomes active in us. Here is why. In the Gospel of Mathew, Jesus overcomes the temptation from Satan to turn rocks into bread with these words, "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." So the WORD OF GOD is food. Well beloved, what do you with food, sit and watch it or do you do something with it?

Yes beloved, you pick it up and you bite it, you chew it and you swallow it. This is an action, the first action of what walking by faith really is. Remember in Hebrews 11:1 Paul writes, Now FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen. Yes it is a substance it is the very WORD OF GOD, who became flesh for us. The Word that said, "unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have no part of me." The Word of God who said, I am the bread that came down from heaven."

Dear Reader, the just shall live by faith! Man shall live by every words that proceeds from the mouth of God. Every man and woman of God who had active faith received the WORD OF THE LORD as their food. This food gave them the ability to walk in the will of God. Our problem is that we intellectually try to walk out the Word of God without the experience or the quickening power of the Holy Spirit to make His word personal in our lives.

Many people never obtain their prophetic words because they don't use their faith, the faith of God in them. They try to "believe it" but because they don't see anything happening they give up. This is human faith rooted in the wisdom of men. The God kind of Faith is rooted in GOD, THE LIVING WORD. The God who SAID: Let there be light, and there WAS LIGHT!
The bible teaches us this about the Word of GOD:" The word of God is living and full of power, and sharper than any two edged sword, cutting and making a division between even the soul and the spirit, the bones and the muscles, and quick to see the thoughts and purposes of the heart." (Heb. 4:12)

To begin a walk in faith you must understand how faith comes. It comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. God has given you a measure of faith already. We established that in yesterday's teaching. This God-kind of faith in you can HEAR HIS VOICE, it is His own voice! When you hear it with your spiritual ears of faith, that WORD you read in the Bible or hear through prayer or another person than can be QUICKENED and ALIVE in your heart. When that happens you now have the power to walk in it.

Luke 1:34 -37: “And Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God. And behold, Elisabeth thy kinswoman, she also hath conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her that was called barren. For no word from God shall be void off power.” Mary answers the angel, "Be it on to me, EVEN AS YOU HAVE SPOKEN! This was her first step of walking by faith.

Neither is any WORD OF GOD spoken to us by God VOID OF POWER when it is quickened in us by the Holy Spirit. Our spirit is where God placed His ability to walk by faith. He has given us a measure of faith when we were created and that God-Kind of faith becomes alive when we are Born-Again. Now we are able to truly eat the heavenly BREAD OF LIFE, Jesus Christ, the WORD OF GOD, and EVERY WORD THAT COMES FORTH FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD!
As natural food give strength to the body to walk, THE QUICKENED WORD OF GOD SPOKEN IN US, becomes our POWER to WALK BY FAITH AND NOT BY SIGHT! This is LIVING, ACTIVE FAITH that comes by HEARING, AND HEARING BY THE WORD OF GOD! It is our baby steps in walking by faith and not by sight. We will continue writing on this topic until the steps are made plain by the Lord on how to walk by faith.

The God kind of faith.

The bible tells us in Hebrews 11:6, "that without faith it is impossible to please God, for He that comes to God must believe that HE IS, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." In Mark 11:22 Jesus says, "have faith in God. People say they believe God all the time but they don't! Most believers today have faith in their faith, and not the God-Kind of Faith.

I have often said along with others, I am "trying" to believe God, or "trying" to have faith. I am "trying" to stand." The truth is everytime I say those words I am doing the exact opposite, I am in unbelief. Why? Because I am "trying" to do something or get something God has already given me. Romans 12:3 says, "that God has given to every man a measure of faith." Beloved I already have faith, the God-Kind of faith living in me.

Mark 11:22 Jesus says, have faith in God. So what do you mean Pastor, that I am not to have faith in God? The word faith in the greek means this: to be PURSAUDED, BE CONVINCED IN THE TRUTHFULNESS OF GOD, OR THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD! Notice it doesn't say in God, but OF God! Here is the truth about faith. Every time a person "tries" to have faith they fail. They give up, fall short, or turn back in trusting because their faith is based upon what they see and what they must do.

How often do we say, "I can't do it!" "It is to hard for me!" "I don't see anything happening." This proves where our faith is resting, in ourselves or in the world. It is not a faith rooted in God, therefore we never get what God says or become what God wants. We can not! We will not, for it is not of yourselves but faith is a GIFT FROM GOD! What do you do with a gift? YOU USE IT! When we are trying to have faith, we are actually saying we don't have what we already have, so we are trying to get it. When you are trying to get something you don't think you have, how can you ever use it?

Faith is a substance, the substance of things hoped for. It is a real substance and it lives in every man according to the word of God. It is a substance we are to use in order to be saved, healed, delivered and to live and receive our daily bread. Most of what we call faith is intellectual believing in the mind. We want to believe, we convince ourselves we believe, but our words and actions speak otherwise just as the children of Israel did when the Lord led them out of Egypt into the promised land. A faith based on our efforts or our trying to believe God will never believe God, and we so misserably fail.

As I mentioned earlier, faith is not something you do or try to get, faith is something we already have and we must use it. We used it to get saved. The measure of the God-kind of faith in us reached up and gained salvation by our simple trusting in the faithfulness of God to save us. The spirit bore witness with the Spirit and we were saved. In order for us to procure all God has promised us, we must stop trying to believe God or have faith in Him. WE ALREADY CAN BELIEVE HIM, IT IS IN US TO DO SO! GOD IS NOT A LIAR! His character and power is not in question.

When Joshua and Caleb came back from spying out the land they had a different report then the 10 others spies. The ten said surely it is a land flowing with milk and honey and then reported all the negative problems like giants, and big walls. Their testimony was we are like grasshoppers against them. Their faith in God led them to dispair, to see themselves as nothing, but worse that God was not with them. That is what human faith produces, it screams: GOD IS NOT WITH ME!

Yet Joshua and Caleb had a different spirit. They had a different testimony with God as men who had faith as recorded in Hebrews chapter 4. What kind of faith did they have, the human intellectual kind or the God Kind? They saw exactly the same thing as the 10 spies, but their eyes saw in the FAITH OF GOD! They said, "surely there are giants and walls, but they will be like grasshoppers in our sight for God is with us, LET US GO UP AT ONCE, AND POSSESS IT!
The 10 spies saw themselves and their ablity and their faith rested in their own power and not in God's ability and power. Joshua and Caleb had the GOD-KIND of Faith that rested in the "truthfullness (faithfulness of God). They had the faith found in Mark 11:22-23, "And Jesus, answering, said to them, Have God's faith. Truly I say to you, Whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and be put into the sea; and has no doubt in his heart, but has faith that what he says will come about, he will have his desire."

This is the God-kind of faith He has given us. Mountain moving faith. The faith that spoke to a fig tree to wither and it did. The faith that caused Peter to say, "if that is you Lord, let me come to you" walking on the water. This is the faith God has given us. Beloved it is in you. The trials and the ordinary things of daily life are the places God wants you to use the faith He has given you.

The faith He has given you must grow, and it can only grow when you use it. When you speak what God speaks to your situation as you hear a word from Him, you are using that faith. When you step out in things beyond your ability you are using that faith. When you follow Him when common sense says your crazy. When you obey Him and others laught at you, then you are walking by faith and not by sight. Then you will see the miracle working power of God on your behalf. God is looking to and from over the whole earth for those He can show himself strong to. Are you one of them He is looking for? Remember He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

Real Faith!

One of the most talked about miracles Jesus performed was when He came to the disciples while they were in a boat in the middle of a fierce storm. He came to them "walking" on the water. The disciples thought it was His Ghost, but Peter cried out, "if that is you Lord let me come to you." Jesus said, "Come!"

As I ponder at this event and it's importance I try to put myself in that boat with the disciples. First, Jesus doesn't come with us in the boat and says He is going to join us later. How is he going to get there, take another boat? Secondly, you see the storm coming. You wonder why if Jesus is the Messiah, why didn't he come with us if He knew a storm was coming? Why did He lead us out here into a storm? Third, now that we are in the storm, why isn't He helping me? How often these are the same questions we ask when the storms of life come upon us.

Storms and trials have a purpose and that is to reveal our true hearts. We don't like to see our hearts but it is necessary. The trials come to show us not usually what we have of the Lord, but what we don't have. But there is something more than this that God intends for us in the storms that come. What could that be? How about walking on the water.

The disciples thought Jesus (Spirit) was coming to them and not really Him. The ship was sinking. Their first cry should have been HELP! No the discussion went somewhere else for us to learn. The question wasn't help but, "is that you?" What a question.

How often in the midst of the storm do we say, "Lord is this you? Are you really here?" Like Peter we need to make a decision. I can stay in the boat and sink. I can stay in the boat and doubt His power. I can stay in the boat and question is He really God. We have to decide in whom we are going to believe. He is or He is not! When we choose to believe, HE IS, then the impossible becomes possible! We begin to use the faith of God that He has placed in us and we overcome like Peter!

In the midst of this great storm Peter ask the CORRECT question, " Lord, if that is you let me come to you?" It is a profound question! You see for that moment Peter NO LONGER saw the STORM! He was now focused on Jesus who was "walking on the water" in the midst of the storm. The storm lost is power to a greater power, JESUS CHRIST, the Son of the living God! Peter's eyes got fixed on Jesus and the faith of God in him rose up and said, "let me come to you."

O beloved reader, what a lesson to learn. When the storm or trials come, there is always someone walking towards us in the midst of them walking on the water. In the deepest hour of the storm, there He is right in front of us. Why? Because He wants to awaken the faith He Himself has placed in us, since He has given to every man a measure of faith. The Faith of God in us, not our faith in God which is our trying to have faith.

True faith rose up in Peter and said, "let me come." Did you notice Jesus wasn't concerned about the storm at all, He is God! Yet, there He was awakening the faith of God in Peter to say, " let me come." Jesus reply is startling! He says to Peter, "COME!" Peter doesn't see the storm anymore, but His eyes are fixed on Jesus. He gets up in the boat and then places his foot out of the boat unto the water.

Then the miracle happens. The water becomes like concrete under his feet and He does something that is impossible for a man to do. He walks on the water and starts to come to Jesus. Wow! A human being walks on the water, the natural law of what makes water, water is suspended and it becomes like concrete under his feet. Most of you know the rest of the story, He walks a little way and then starts noticing the storm instead of being fixed on Jesus and begins to sink and cries, "Jesus save me." Jesus reaches out to him, and rescues him and puts him back in the boat and says, "why did you doubt."

That is the real work God is trying to do in us in the midst of the storm, remove all the doubts that He is God alone. For a moment, Peter stood where no man had gone before. He did the impossible in the midst of the storm, he overcame it. So it will be for us, if we look to Jesus in the midst and listen for His voice say, "COME!"

The storm may be still there, but we are lifted up above the storm to walk in a new place of rest in His presence, knowing just one word to the storm from Jesus will quiet the winds and the seas. Just one word from Jesus, "COME" will allow us to walk over the waves and the winds. The bible tells us, that the just shall live by faith. That we walk by faith and not by sight. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

This is the lesson Peter had to learn and the lesson the Lord is teaching each one of us. We are called the people of faith and by faith alone do we live and by faith alone do we walk. Paul wrote that his new life in Christ would be by FAITH of the Son of God, who loveed him, and gave himself for him. Should we not follow his example in believing. Should we not live our new life hidden in the secret word Jesus says to Peter, "COME?" The bible asks the question, "when the Son of man returns will He find faith on the earth? Will He?