Faith/ Confidence, Trust, (Faith is a Person),The Faith of God

Faith/ Confidence, Trust, (Faith is a Person),The Faith of God

Part 1

(Mark 11:22)  And Jesus answering, saith to them: Have the faith of God. (Darby & Geneva)

"Have the faith of God" is the literal rendering, as in the margin of the Authorized Version, and this conveys the vital meaning more clearly than just "have faith in God," as in the Authorized Version text. For to "have faith in God" means to many just a reliance on the ability of God in His heaven and a leaving it to Him to do it. That is not not what Jesus said.

 But to "have the faith of God" means to recognize an indwelling God (as Jesus did in the instance cited above), to realize that we have His mind, and that by the inspiration of His Spirit we speak forth with our human lips the word of believing faith, of authority, just as He did when He said, "'Let there be light': and there was light," or as the Lord Jesus did in the above incident. And we are told in Romans 4:17 that the faith of God is that "He calls those things which be not as though they were." We are to do the same.

Thus Christ said, "Say unto this mountain." "Say," not "pray." The word is most significant. The thought is not that all prayer should be omitted (for the Word counsels us to pray) but that prayer should not be from an attitude of feeling that one has not and therefore has needs. Saying the word of faith is the attitude of one who has and dispenses what he has.

Such is the "throne life" as we commonly speak of it. A throne is occupied by a king. A king is a possessor and dispenser of gifts. This is why we who are believers and joined to Christ -- He the head, we the members of one Body, physically on earth, spiritually enthroned -- we are "kings ... unto God" and "seated in the heavenlies."

Examine the men of God through the Bible -- both prophets and apostles -- and you will find this conscious attitude of authoritative faith to be theirs. The difference stands out clearly with Hezekiah and Isaiah.

Hezekiah was a man of prayer. The threats of the enemy came upon him with overwhelming force. He prayed. He bemoaned weakness. "This day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy: for the children are come to the birth, and there is not strength to bring forth" (Isaiah 37:3). "Not strength" was his emphasis.

Hear Isaiah's answer, a declaration, a saying unto this mountain. "Thus says the Lord, 'Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me. Surely, I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall ... return to his own land'" (vs. 6,7).

The one -- godly, praying man though he was -- spoke in weakness. The other spoke in authority. The one was fully conscious of need and lack and separation from the supply of power. The other knew union with God, and spoke as His mouthpiece.

Faith is The Response of Your Heart to God's Truth! It is the Faith of God!

God has Made it Plane and simple to see that our faith only means persuasion! The Faith Of Christ is the core intertwined with our faith in the soulish realm. We Are Justified By the Faith of Jesus.

How can we be justified by our own Faith?

If those Who think that justification comes by human faith then what  did Jesus come to Do...Was Jesus’s word Complete?

 Work+Human Faith=Salvation!!!  This is what is taught.

We are saved by grace through faith. The church has taught us it's God's grace and our faith. But unless we have faith, and enough of it, no deal. That's what we were taught. So, it's our faith, we have to come up with it, we have to find it in us somewhere, or no deal. Someone who doesn't believe in God suddenly has to find faith deep inside them somewhere?  This is contrary to Scripture.

(Rom 12:3)  For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But set your mind to be right-minded, even as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.

Measure meaning metron.

The measure', or 'metron' in the Greek, used in (Rom 12:3)  For I say, through the grace given to me, to every one who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think. But set your mind to be right-minded, even as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.

The word means standard-- The standard is Jesus

Another scriptural reference

(Gal 2:20)  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

(Eph 2:20-22)  And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;  In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:  In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

The 'temple' grows or is built is determined by the Capstone, (Jesus Christ) the crowning pinnacle of the temple. Nothing is built beyond the Capstone, it determines the height.  So is your faith.

The King James Version of the Bible reads, "I live by the faith of the Son of God, rather than,"I live by my faith in the Son of God," In our union with Christ I would live by His faith -- His perfect faith was expressing itself through me! Do you see the difference? As long as your perception of spiritual success is contingent on your personal performance as an independent self, sooner or later you will fall short of your personal goals and expectations. Once you see that Christ in you is more than a "positional" truth -that He, as a living Person, with the attributes of faith, hope and love, actually lives His life through you, as you -- FAITH IS A PERSON!!

Why do we acknowledge that in the grace gospel, everything is a gift from God, he supplies all our needs, he has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in Christ - except faith? 1 Cor 13;13 says: "13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three ; but the greatest of these is love." We all agree that love comes from God and the love he requires from us has to come from him....but not faith?

I don't believe it's our faith, I believe it's Christ's faith, part of the free gift of God to us in salvation - and our part is to realize and receive it, acknowledge this in our soulish realm. Why would God entrust something like his supernatural plan of salvation to the faith of feeble humanity, so that if they don't have enough faith, it doesn't work???

Same with healing if we don’t have enough faith it doesn’t work! Nonsense.

The word faith in the following verses comes from the same Aramaic phrase which means the faith of Jesus or the faith of the Messiah:

Ephesians 2; 8: For it is by His grace that we have been saved through faith, and this faith was not from you, but it is the gift of God, 9 Not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Ephesians 3; 11: That which he had prepared from eternity and performed in Yeshua The Messiah Our Lord, 12 Him by whom we have boldness and access in the confidence of his faithfulness.

Phil 3;8:.. that I may gain The Messiah, 9 And be found in him, while I do not have my own righteousness, which is from The Written Law, but that which is from the faith of The Messiah, which is the righteousness that is from God.

This takes the pressure of us to bring faith that originates in us to the experience of salvation - it is all from God, one glorious package born of his love and his grace! We are merely the beneficiaries who receive it!

Galatians 2:20 is familiar to most Christians, as it is probably one of the ten most quoted and memorized verses in the Bible.

(Gal 2:20)  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

We find that we cannot do or believe anything to grow closer to God – indeed the message of Christianity is that it is His act on the cross that has drawn us close to Him. We are now at one with Him! (Even our faith/belief in that is a gift from Him) We cannot attain a higher spiritual status as believers – we have been fully made righteous, holy, perfect and spotless before God. We have already been seated in Heavenly places. This again is something that God has done entirely on His own initiative without any human effort.

My big breakthrough in my understanding came when I suddenly saw that the King James Version of the Bible reads, "I live by the faith of the Son of God, rather than, "I live by my faith in the Son of God," All along I had the impression that my spiritual success was related to my faith in Christ (which always seemed to be faltering!). Now I could relax.

Countless pamphlets and pages of books have been written about and around this verse. The key to a liberated and fulfilling, productive life is recognition -- recognition of who we are. For many I was unable to answer the question, "Who am I?" I talked about being "a new creation in Christ, but those were only words.  In my past I was plagued with unrest, spiritual drought and what I considered to be "hidden sins. No wonder I had such a poor self-image. I had answered the question "are you born again?" but I had never answered the more fundamental question: Do you know who you are?" I had not yet adequately nor correctly seen who I really was.

The " real me” was more than Mary Sue Davis.  Thank God I know now and am still learning who I am.

"I live by the faith of the Son of God, rather than, "I live by my faith IN the Son of God." An important distinction that many translations don't catch.

As Andrew Wommack puts it in his commentary: "We were so spiritually bankrupt that we had to believe for salvation with our own faith.  We didn’t know to  acknowledge God's supernatural faith (Eph 2:8) that came to us as a gift through hearing God's Word (Ro 10:17).  Faith comes by hearing and understanding the word of God.

There is a human faith that is limited to believing only what we can perceive through our five senses, but the supernatural, God-kind of faith goes beyond what we can see, taste, hear, smell, and feel. God's kind of faith calls those things that be not as though they already.

God gave you faith at salvation (the faith in your spirit) and that faith is supposed to grow through all of our life circumstances in your soulish realm.

All we need to do is to go forward in His faith, and we shall find that what is true in the realm of the Spirit becomes manifest, through our faith, in the realm of the senses. (soul)

These verses explain the faith and our faith. Our faith is growing and maturing in our soulish realm.

Php 3:8    But no, rather, I also count all things to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be dung, so that I may win Christ

 Php 3:9    and be found in Him; not having my own righteousness which is of the Law, but through the faith Christ, ( the faith of God) the righteousness of God by faith,   ( my faith in the soulish realm) that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable to His death.

He is the author and the finisher of our faith. Heb 12:2    looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right of the throne of God.

Continued in Part 2