THE NATURAL AND SUPERNATURAL FAITH.

In continuation of our discussions on the different kinds of FAITH, we want to look at the remaining types of faith, namely: (a) The natural human faith (Jn. 20:24-29), and (b) The supernatural faith (Rom. 4:17-21).

The seventh kind of faith is the natural human faith. This is for both the saved and the unsaved.  Everyone, saved or unsaved, has a natural human faith.

                                                                                                                                      

What is the natural human faith? This is a faith that believes only what the human senses say. It is also called “the Thomas’ kind of faith, Sense knowledge faith, or Mental Assent.”

The natural human faith recognizes the truthfulness of God’s Word, but it does not act on it.

The natural human faith says, “When I see it, when I feel it, I will know I have it.” It says, “I know God’s Word is true , I know that God’s Word about my healing, my studies, my business is true, but for some reason, I cannot get it and I can’t understand it.” This is what they call “Seeing is believing.” It says, “I will believe only when I see.”

Apostle Thomas is an example of someone that operated this kind of faith. In John 20:24-29 Thomas said, “….Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I WILL NOT BELIEVE."

Thomas had only a natural human faith which says, “I’m not going to believe unless I see and feel the print of the nails and the wound in His side” (Jn. 20:25).

Jesus said to him, “…because thou hast seen Me, thou hast believed: blessed are they THAT HAVE NOT SEEN, and yet have BELIEVED” (Jn. 20:29).

In order words, Thomas didn’t believe in Jesus’ resurrection by faith as you and I believe it. Thomas believed because he saw Jesus with his physical eyes; he relied totally on his senses. But we believe in Jesus’ resurrection because the Word of God says that Jesus was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father (Rom. 6:4).

Why did Thomas find it hard to believe that Jesus was alive? Thomas knew the nails that pierced Jesus’ hands and the spare that was thrust into His side. His physical senses told him that Jesus was stone dead. You see, Thomas was using head knowledge.

This is the very thing that is preventing many Christians from receiving their miracles. For instance, you want to see the physical manifestation of your healing before you can believe that you are healed by His stripes. You want to receive the letter of promotion before you believe that God has promoted you.

The natural human faith will fight every step of the way to hold you in the realm of things seen, felt and heard, that is the realm of the physical; but we must persistently drive to the realm of the supernatural which is the realm of the miraculous.

2 Corinthians 4:18 says, “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

The natural human faith is not based on what God said in His Word. Rather it is based on what your physical senses are telling you. For instance, Thomas said he would not believe unless he sees first.

The eight kind of faith is the Supernatural faith. Unlike the “natural human faith” which is based on what your physical senses are telling you, the “supernatural faith” is a faith that believes with the heart (spirit-man) rather than believing what your physical senses are telling you. This kind of faith believes only what the Word of God says.

This is also called “Abraham’s kind of faith, Real faith, Heart faith, Bible faith, Strong faith, or God-kind of faith.”

This type of faith says, “If God says it is so, then it is so. In spite of what I am seeing or feeling; in spite of contrary evidence, it is mine. I have it now. I have it even though I can’t see it with my physical eyes. But surely I see it with the eye of faith.”

It is the faith that says, “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Cor. 4:18).

It is the faith that says, “We walk not by sight. We walk by whatever God has said in His Word” (2 Cor. 5:7).

Supernatural faith is believing whatever God said in His Word with your heart [spirit-man]. Supernatural faith in God simply says about one’s self what the Word of God says. If God says that by His stripes I have been healed, then I am healed (Isa. 53:4-5, Matt. 8:17; 1 Pet. 2:24).

Grief means sicknesses and diseases. Sorrow means pain. Sicknesses and diseases cause you pains. If you have no sickness or disease you will not feel any pain. Jesus took away the grief that brought us sorrow. No grief, no sorrow! Can you say, Thank you Jesus?

Isaiah 53:10 says, “Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him (Jesus); He (God) hath put Him (Jesus) to grief:”

Now, begin to look back and see God lay your sicknesses and pains on Jesus. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law” (Gal. 3:13).

Sicknesses and pain are signs of the curse of the law. Beloved, Christ has taken them all and nailed them to the cross at Calvary.

In Colossians 2:14 the Bible says, “Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it (them) out of the way, nailing it (them) to His cross;”

Therefore, I don’t have them anymore. And if you are a New Creature, you too don’t have them anymore. God is interested in both your physical health as well as your spiritual health. In fact, when you are spiritually healthy, you are bound to be physically healthy too.

1 Peter 2:24 the Bible says, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness--by whose stripes we were healed.”

Supernatural faith is the faith that never fails. Here you cast yourself on God, taking His Word as the absolute truth. Casting yourself on God is casting yourself on His Word.

Supernatural faith is laying hold of the unseen realm of hope and bringing it into the realm of reality. And supernatural faith grows out of the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).

Supernatural faith anchors itself strictly on the Word of God. When your faith is strong, you not only believe the Word but you instantly act on it, rejoicing that what God said in His Word has already come to pass in your life. It is easy for you to act on His Word just as Peter did (he walked on water, cast down his net etc.).

Supernatural faith is the faith that SPEAKS and it comes to pass. That is the faith God used in creating the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1-3; Heb. 1:3). Every Word that God spoke during the creation came to pass because He spoke them in faith. He knew that whatever He said must come to pass (Isa. 14:27; Isa. 55:11; Jer. 1:12; Num. 23:19). That’s supernatural faith! Isaiah 14:27 says, “God has spoken – who can change His plans?”

Jesus defined supernatural faith in Mark 11:23. In Mark 11:12 He was hungry and wanted to eat some fruit. But because He saw no fruit on that tree, He said to the tree, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever” (Mk 11:14). His disciples heard Him when He cursed the tree. After Jesus cursed the tree, it looked the same as it was before He spoke to it. But 24 hours later, His disciples observed that the fig tree had dried up from the roots.

This suggests that when Jesus spoke to the tree, it died immediately from the roots. The roots were in the ground so no one could immediately tell that anything had happened to the tree. Though the tree looked the same, as before Jesus spoke to it, the tree was already dead from the root. Its source of life had been cut off.

Seeing that the tree had withered away, the disciples were amazed. Then Peter said, “Master, look! The tree you cursed has withered away.” Then Jesus said, “Have the faith of God,” or “Have ‘God-kind’ of faith – the supernatural faith.” He wanted His disciples to know that with this kind of faith, they could do anything; they could move mountains.

Supernatural faith is a fearless faith. With supernatural faith you could do anything. That is why Jesus said, “To him that believeth all things are possible” (Mk. 9:23).

That is to say, “To him that has fearless faith, nothing shall be impossible.”

In Mark 10:27 Jesus looking upon them saith, “With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible.”

Just like Jesus when He spoke to the fig tree, each time you release words of faith, each time you speak forth what God has said in His Word concerning any situation, whether you see any change immediately or not wouldn’t make any difference. In your spirit-man, you know that the words you’ve spoken with your mouth will surely come to pass.

Supernatural faith does not consider the outward appearance of things. It does not consider whatever the five senses are saying. It does not consider the circumstances. It considers only what God has said concerning the particular situation.

“For we walk not by sight. We walk by faith” (2 Cor. 5:7).

God has given us His Word to straighten us out so that our believing will be right. If our thinking is right and our believing is right, then our talking will be right. Therefore, if the Bible says that God will supply all my needs according to His riches in glory, then He will do it.

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

If He says He cares for you (1 Pet 5:7), then He really does! So you simply, and quietly, rest on the Word. In Hebrews 4:3 the Bible says, “For we who have believed do enter that rest...” I believe so I quietly rest on the Word regardless of evidence contrary to what God has said. Believing God is believing His Word!

If God says, that you shall be the head and not the tail, then it is so. In Deuteronomy 28:13-14 the Bible says, “And the LORD will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.”

If God said in Hebrews 13:5-6 that He will never leave you nor forsake you. So that you can boldly say, “The Lord is my helper, and I shall not fear what man shall do unto me!” Then no matter where you are and no matter what you are doing at any point in time, the Lord is with you. Why? Because He said so in His Word. 

If God says that you shall know more than your teachers, then it is so. If God says that you shall not die but live to declare the works of the Lord, then it is so.

Psalm 118:17 says, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.”

SUPERNATURAL FAITH says the same thing the Word of God says. So you should quietly rest on God’s Word, in spite of evidences that might prove contrary. Supernatural faith is built on God’s Word. Therefore, meditate on the Word. Dig deeply into it. Feed on it. Then the Word will become part of you, just as natural food becomes a part of your physical body when you eat it. What natural food is to the physical man, the Word of God is to the spirit-man.  Meditating on the Word will build into your spiritual man confidence and assurance.

Supernatural faith is unaffected by sense knowledge. It has nothing to do with your understanding. God’s Word does not make sense. It makes faith! Faith is the result of the Word dwelling in you. I do not mean the word committed to your memory. The Bible says that the letter kills but the Spirit gives life (2 Cor. 3:6). I mean the Word lived, practiced, until it has become a part of you. You meditate on it. You think deeply about it. You feed upon it. The Word becomes a very integral part of you. It is a faith that believes without seeing, provided it is God that said it.

Mark 11:24 says, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you desire [ask] when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

The Scriptures tell us about Abraham as an example of a man that exercised supernatural faith (Rom. 4:17-21).

Abraham was threatened by alarming symptoms of childlessness. What did he do in such a shameful situation? Did he fret? Did he consult a witch doctor? No! Rather he anchored his faith in what God said in His word about his situation. That is supernatural faith – a faith that anchors itself on what God has promised in His Word concerning your situation.

In spite of all odds, Abraham believed God’s Word, considering not his own body – his natural senses. If he didn’t consider his own body, he didn’t consider physical sight or physical feelings. Rather he considered what God said in His Word. Abraham did not consider his own body now dead, nor did he consider the deadness of Sarah’s womb, but he considered God’s Word, believed it, and anchored his faith on it in spite of all contrary evidence.

Notice what Abraham did. (1) He anchored his faith in God. No doubt, Abraham was thinking of those things that were recorded in the early chapters of Genesis. Therefore his faith was built on something that God did in the past as recorded in the Bible. Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

(2) His faith was not a blind faith. How? He did not ignore the utter impossibility, from a human standpoint, of the thing God had promised. He did not disregard the reality that his body was now dead, nor did he ignore the reality of the deadness of Sarah’s womb. You do not deny your condition because it is real. Childlessness is real, but it is not the truth. The only truth is the Word of God (Jn. 17:17). Therefore consider the truth not the reality. The reality is temporal, but the truth is eternal (2 Cor. 4:18). Notice that Abram:

• Believed in hope against hope (Rom. 4:18).
• Faced the fact that his body and that of Sarah were as good as dead. “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about 100 years old (Rom. 4:19).
• Did not stagger (waver) through unbelief. “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; and
• Was strong in faith. “… but was strong in faith, giving glory to God” (Rom. 4:20). 

What does it mean to be strong in faith?  Romans 4:20 says that Abraham gave glory to God. That’s what being strong in faith is – giving glory to God before you see your answer manifested; thanking and praising God before you see the answer with your physical senses. All these facts led Abraham to a more complete trust in God. Beloved, all the trials you’re going through will only lead you to a more complete trust in God.

Supernatural faith thrives when it rests completely on the promises of God, especially when the promises cannot be fulfilled from a human point of view.

It is written, “They that trust in the Lord shall not be disappointed, not confused, not confounded, but shall be like mount Zion that cannot be moved forever” (Ps. 125:1).

In Romans 4:21, the Bible says, “He was fully convinced [persuaded] that God had power to do what He had promised.”

The only way you can be fully persuaded that God will do what He has promised is through your fellowship with Him and His Word. You MUST know Him for they that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits (Dan 11:32).

Being fully convinced means that Abraham rested in the power and faithfulness of God. This is supernatural faith! Abraham believed according to that which was spoken by God. He believed according to what God had said. His faith was based on the Word of God.

I know that Abraham had God’s promise that Isaac would be born. In fact, God didn’t say He was going to do it. He said, “I have made thee the father of many nations” because God saw it already done. That’s the way it is with supernatural faith. It already sees the job done. Real faith says, “It’s mine! I have it now!” God sees the future better than we see the past. He speaks as if it is already done, because in His sight it is done. The Bible says that God calleth those things that be not as though they were (Rom. 4:17).

Abraham’s physical senses told him that it was impossible to father a nation at his age (nearly 100 years old), yet he considered not his own body. Abraham didn’t consider the circumstances that contradicted God’s Word. Beloved, don’t pay any attention to the physical symptoms you are seeing or feeling no matter how threatening they may appear to be.

In that your aching condition, what do you consider?  Are you considering what the symptoms are saying? Are you considering what the doctors are saying? Are you considering what your senses are telling you or what the Word of God says concerning your situation? If you are truly considering God’s Word instead of what your senses are telling you, why are you still carrying that Panadol?

Did He not say in His Word in James 5:14-16, “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”

You see, when you develop your faith to the point where you believe what the Word says regardless of circumstances and physical symptoms, then you are believing the right thing, and that’s what brings results.

Do not consider and see the wrong thing because according to your faith it will be done unto you. Jesus is up there representing us at the throne of God, and He is saying, “I took their place; I died for them as their Substitute.” He didn’t die for Himself. He didn’t need to redeem Himself because He was never lost like you and I. He died for us. He became my Substitute. He took my sins. He bore my sicknesses. He died for me. He arose from the dead for me. He ascended on high for me, and He is up there right now saying, “I did that for him.” And we are to hold fast to saying the same thing down here. That is what puts the devil on the run. Learn to focus your attention on the TRUTH and not on the REALITY.

I therefore, challenge you today to deepen your knowledge in the different kinds of faith so that you can truly live a life that pleases God. This will help you to stop considering the magnitude of your problem, and start considering the magnitude of your God. It will help you to stop considering your condition, and start considering what God has promised you in His Word concerning that situation, and then rest in His power and faithfulness. Rise and be healed!

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

• Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor)                               July 16^th, 2017!

Promise of God: “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy” (Ps. 126:5).