FAITH

The Scripture says, "The just shall live by faith." Jesus said to the Devil, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." It sounds like the same two Scriptures to me. "Man shall live by faith … Man shall live by the Word."

Believe and be Convinced

What is faith? What is it? Faith comes from the verb ‘to believe’. Faith is the noun. It comes from the Greek verb ‘pisteuo’ which means, ‘to believe’. We looked at those Scriptures there now. "All things are possible to him who believes." You can say, "All things are possible to him who has faith." It is the same root.

What does pisteuo mean? It has two main meanings. There are several others, but two main meanings. Firstly it means to be convinced; to be fully convinced of something. And to be convinced of something means that you have heard something that you are convinced of. So it links with words somehow. Can you see? "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word …" "The just shall live by faith."

Based on Words

Faith is based on words. The Scripture says that, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." Faith means to be ‘fully convinced’.

Romans 4:20, speaking about Abraham says, "He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that what He had promised, He was able also to perform."

Faith is based on words. Faith involves believing words. Faith involves being fully persuaded, fully convinced, and knowing without a shade of doubt that what the Word says is true.

Involves Trust

Faith also means ‘to entrust oneself’. That means faith is based on a person. Because when you entrust yourself to someone it means that you have the fullest of confidence and trust in that person. You will find in the Amplified Version of the Bible that the word ‘believe’ is normally translated as ‘to trust, to cling to and to rely on’. Faith is based on words, and faith is based on confidence in a person. And if you have confidence in a person, and if you trust them implicitly, then you believe the words that they speak. Faith involves complete trust in Christ Jesus. and the Words He speaks.

Producing Faith

You have had faith in people's words before. Where is your faith in the Word of God? Where does faith come from? Faith, the kind of faith that God would have us to exercise, comes from the Word of God. So Romans 10:17 says, "So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Rhema Word of God."

There are two Greek words that are translated ‘word’ in the New Testament. The one is ‘logos’ and the other one is ‘Rhema’. The difference between the two is, logos is a tangible word like the written word. Your Bible is the logos. It is written down and it is tangible and available. The Rhema words are the words that come out of the mouth, fresh on the tongue; spontaneous words. The words that I speak are in a Rhema form in that they are the active words of my mouth.

Rhema Words

So when I speak to you as an individual and my words are addressed specifically to you, and they are coming to you from me specifically in direct communication, that is Rhema. But when I write it down in notes, and anybody can pick it up, it is logos. When I pick up a note that somebody else has written, and it is not specifically addressed tome , I look at it and I begin to wonder whether it applies to me or not.

People open the Word of God and they read, "My God shall supply all your needs," and they say, "Yes, but Paul wrote that to the Philippian church."

"By His stripes you were healed." They say, "Yes, but Peter wrote that to the early Christians. Isaiah wrote that to Israel. It’s not to me."

You see, it is still logos. In order for it to become Rhema, it has to become, "Thus saith the Lord to you,...., by His stripes, you ..., were healed!" Now it becomes God taking the Word afresh and speaking it in His lips to me specifically as an individual. That is what produces faith.

You see, we all know that God can heal. We all know that God can provide our needs. We all know that God can make the mountain jump up and be cast into the sea. We all know that God can make the fig tree die from its roots and a sycamore tree be plucked up and cast into the sea. We all know that God can do these things. He is God. He is able to do it. But I do not know if He will do it for me.

All Things are Possible

Jesus said, "All things are possible to him who believes." If you read the context of that verse, it actually comes even stronger than the way we read it, because the verse that we read earlier says, "If you can, all things are possible to him who believes." That seems to give us the idea that believing is a very difficult thing, and Jesus was saying, "Well it’s really hard to believe. But if you can … if you just can … then all things will become possible to you."

"All things? But you don’t know the problem that I have. You haven’t seen the situation we’re in. It’s impossible for anything to be done!"

All things are possible, no exceptions, to him, who really works hard; who walks so close to the Lord and lives a holy life and prays every day for hours? No, to him who believes.

believes.

That is why He gave that Scripture in Mark 11:23:Whoever shall say to this mountain, ‘Be plucked up and cast into the sea,’ and shall not doubt in his heart but believe …, he shall have whatever he says.

The Power of Faith

Jesus first said, "Have faith in God." The Greek there says, "Have the faith of God." All Jesus showed us there was the power that there is in this force of faith. All things are possible to him who believes. The force of faith is able to accomplish anything. And the Scripture says, "By faith we know that the worlds were framed …

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If you read Hebrews 11 you will see again and again, "By faith … by faith …" somebody did something. "By faith …" this miracle was performed. "By faith …" that was accomplished. All things are possible to him who believes. There is nothing that is impossible to faith. It is a very, very powerful force, and it comes from the intuition of the spirit where you know that you know that you know.

Have No Doubts

That is why Jesus said, "If you will believe and do not doubt …you will have whatever you say." If there is doubt there then there is no faith. You cannot believe and doubt at the same time.

God is a Faith God

Unless that force of faith is at work, and unless you are sending forth that force of faith from your life, you are accomplishing nothing for God in this world at all. And God can do nothing with you or through you, because He works through that power in your spirit. God works in your spirit. And as He works in your spirit and the power of faith is released within you, that power must go forth from you to accomplish what needs to be done in the earth.