WHAT IS FAITH?

Many people are not seeing the manifestations of the promises of God in their lives today because they are ignorant of the only way to receive anything from God – FAITH!

So, today we want to look at – “WHAT IS FAITH?” To receive the breakthrough you desire, you MUST have faith in God (Mk. 11:12-14, 19-22). Faith in God is faith in His Word.

To emphasize the importance of faith, the Bible repeatedly said, “…the just shall live by faith…”

Habakkuk 2:4 says, “...but the just shall live by his faith.”

Romans 1:16-17 Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God (God’s way of doing things) REVEALED from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”

Galatians 3:11 says, “...for, the just shall live by faith.”

When will the just live by faith? Now! Hebrews 10:38 says, “Now the just shall live by faith…”

Why must the righteous live by faith? In Hebrews 11:6 the Bible says, “Because without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God MUST believe that He is (able to fulfill His promise, Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Jireh; The Lion of the tribe of Judah etc.), and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Here is the point: God has made all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (all things that pertain to life and godliness), available to all His children by grace.

Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.”

2 Peter 1:3 says, “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.”

The question is: How can one access the provisions God has already made available to us by His grace. These provisions can be accessed only by grace. And grace can be accessed only by faith. It takes FAITH to lay hold on what grace has made available to us.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace are ye saved (delivered, promoted, healed, made successful etc.) through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

What then is FAITH?

1. Faith is believing the promises of God. And the promises of God are Yea and Amen. That is to say that the promises of God are “Yes! It is true!”

2 Corinthians 1:18-20 says, “…20 For ALL the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”

Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? Or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?”

Isaiah 55:11 says, “So shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”

2. Faith is not just believing the promises of God, because even the demons also believe and they tremble.

James 2:19 says, “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.”

3. Faith is acting on the Word of God you claim to believe. Faith is the practical expression of your confidence in God and in His Word. If you really have faith, you’ll add action to what you claim to have confidence in. For instance, Peter demonstrated his practical confidence in Jesus by walking on water as commanded by Jesus Christ.

In Matthew 14:28-29, Peter answered Him and said, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.”

If you really believe the Word of God, you will promptly act on it by doing exactly whatever it instructs. For instance, if you really need a breakthrough in your finances, and you are just waiting for something to turn up, nothing will show up but more bills to pay! But if you would just act on Luke 6:38, 2 Corinthians 9:6-7, Malachi 3:10, Proverbs 3:9, an encouraging harvest will surely show up in your finances.

4. In Hebrews 11:1, God describes what Bible faith really does. Here the Bible says, “Now faith is (1) the substance [reality] of things hoped for, (2) the evidence [proof; title deed] of things not seen.”

Moffatt’s translation of this verse reads, “Now faith means that we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see.”

Another translation says, “Faith is giving substance…to things hoped for.”

You can’t have faith without knowing it because it is a substance.

What is a substance? A substance is a particular kind of matter.

What is matter? Matter is the substance of which a physical thing is made. It (1) has mass, (2) occupies space, and (3) is convertible to energy.

It is a particular kind of material having uniform properties. For instance, water, ice and snow are not different substances because they are made up of a particular kind of matter – Hydrogen [H] and Oxygen [O].

Hope does not have any substance. It is faith that gives substance to those things that you are hoping for. Faith will eventually bring into reality what you have been hoping for.

But for your faith to work, you MUST act on the Word that God has spoken concerning your situation. For instance, when the children of Israel came up against the city of Jericho, God told them exactly what to do (He gave them an instruction to obey). But in order to enjoy the victory God had promised them:

(1) They had to receive God’s Word to them, (2) they had to believe God’s Word to them, and (3) they had to act upon that Word God gave to them.

Their acting on the Word from the LORD was their faith in action. Their obedience to the instructions God gave to them was their faith in action.

What was the instruction God gave to them? They were to march round the city of Jericho once a day for six days, and on the seventh day, they were to march round the city seven times. Then when the musical instruments sounded, they were to shout a shout of victory (Josh 6:3-5).

The children of Israel shouted as instructed while the walls were still standing. They acted on the Word from the LORD while the problem was still there looking at them. Their faith was the substance of what they were hoping for. The Word from the LORD gave substance to what they were hoping for.

And when they obeyed the instruction the LORD gave them, God’s promise became a reality and those walls came down flat and became a bridge for them to cross over.

Joshua 6:20 says, “So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.”

What is God really telling us? What God is saying in Hebrews 11:1 is that faith is taking hold of the unseen realm of hope, and bringing it into the realm of reality (Rom. 4:17). Faith is grasping the unrealities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality.

For instance:

1. You hope for God’s continued protection. FAITH in His promises concerning protection gives you the assurance that you are protected. His promise is the substance to that which you are hoping for (Ps. 91:1-16; Isa. 43:2; Col. 3:3; Zech. 2:5; Isa. 59:19; Ps. 23:4-5; Deut. 28:7; Isa. 54:15).

Therefore, in Isaiah 54:17 God promised saying, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and your righteousness is from Him."

2. You hope for finances to meet a certain obligation. FAITH in His Word concerning finances gives you the assurance that you’ll have the money when you need it. Check through the Bible to see if there is anywhere God made any promises to us concerning prosperity. If there is any such promise, then that is your legal tender; that is the substance of the thing you are hoping for. The Bible says that:

a)       God has pleasure in the prosperity of His children (Ps. 35:27).

b)       God wants His children to prosper (3 Jn. 2)

c)       God wants the righteous to flourish (Ps. 72:7).

d)       God wants His children to live in abundance (Jn. 10:10; Gen. 2:8-17).

e)       The Scriptures say that Christ became poor so that we through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9).

f)         Prosperity is the reward of the righteous (Prov. 13:21).

g)       Christ has redeemed us from the curse of poverty (Gal. 3:13-14, 29).

In Philippians 4:19 Apostle Paul said, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

3. You hope for physical strength to do the work that you must do. FAITH in His Word assures you that it is done.

Faith says, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

Faith says, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Ps. 27:1).

The strength of the Lord is my strength because the Bible says that the Lord is the strength of my life. My life consists of the physical as well as the spiritual, and the Lord is the strength of my life. Therefore, irrespective of how I feel, I just have to act on the Word of God for the hour because I know that faith is acting on the Word of God. The Lord is my strength. In other words, faith says what the Word of God says.

4. You hope that God will give you a good husband, a good wife, good children. FAITH in His Word concerning the blessings of God assures you that it is so (Prov. 18:22; Prov. 10:22).

Examples of people that allowed faith to give substance to their hope abound in the Scriptures:

1. Virgin Mary. Luke 1:30-38 says, “...37 For with God nothing shall be impossible. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.”

2. Hannah (1 Sam. 1:12-18).

3. The widow woman of Zarephath. 1 Kings 17:10-16 says, “...15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. 16 And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.”

4. David. 1 Samuel 30:1-8 says, “...8 And David inquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.”

By faith you can receive the breakthrough God has promised you in His Word. I therefore, challenge you to believe and act on God’s Word today and you will be a recipient of your expected breakthrough. So,  rise up and receive your breakthrough by faith today!

Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor)               June 18^th, 2017