The Fundamentals Of Faith

Lesson 1

What is Faith?

Hebrews 11:1  

Since we have studied the hindrances to Faith, we know are going to study Faith and how to operate it in your life. What I consider as the "Faith Chapter" is Hebrews 11. It starts out with the definition of Faith


Hebrews 11:1 NOW Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.


Now is a present tense word and so is Faith. Faith deals with the present as God sees it and how he wants us to see it. Discarding the circumstances and how things may look and feel. God always sees things as done. He wants us to see things the same way. We can’t be moved by what we see in the physical, but be moved by what we see in the Spirit realm. God always spoke what He wanted into existence. If you read in Genesis 1 it says "And God said........and it was so." He was looking at an earth that was without form and void. But he spoke faith words, and this earth we know came into existence. He had faith in His words that they would accomplish what He sent them to do.

Through out the Bible you will see God’s emphasis on words.

Jesus when He was tempted in the wilderness, said to the devil. "It is written"

Satan can’t come against what is written. He hates the word of God, because he knows it is powerful. He knows that if God said it, it is so. That is why he tries to keep the word out of our mouth. Because if we speak God’s word, God will make it so. We just have to believe it. Do we have less faith then the devil? I should hope not. But sometimes we believe what he says, before we believe what God says. Instead of speaking God’s word out of our mouth, we speak what the devil feeds to us.

"I don’t feel well" "I am sick" "I don’t have enough money to pay my bills"

Can you see God saying any of those things. No He says

"I’m not moved by what I feel, I am moved by what I believe" Mark 11:23-24

"By His stripes, I am healed" 1 Peter 2:24

"My God shall supply all my needs according to his riches in glory" Phil 4:19

We need to put His words in our mouth and speak them out. It isn’t lying, it is speaking Faith. "Now Faith is!"

John 5:1-9 Here we see a man that was caught up looking at the circumstances

He had been crippled for 38 years. He lay by the pool every day on the chance that an Angel would come down and touch the water and he could be the first in to be healed.

Then the Son of God, the divine healer came up to him one day and asked

"Will you be made whole?" I believe Jesus wanted to see whether he was really believing or not. He didn’t ask him, "Do you want to be?" He asked if he "Willed" to be made whole. He wanted to know what the man’s will was.

Now he had been sitting there for a long time. Did he really expect to be made whole? Did he have anyone to help him down into the pool when the Angel came? Did he have faith to get himself there? This is how he answered Jesus.

"I have no man when the water is troubled to put me into the pool, but while I am coming, another steps down before me" That is not what Jesus asked him. So we see that he was not really expecting healing, he wasn’t prepared and he had a loser mentality. Man could do nothing for him, and there stood Jesus, offering him healing, and he was giving him excuses.

Jesus decided that this man needed stimulation. So he said "Rise, take up your bed and walk!" He must have spoken with the authority and tone that the man needed, because all excuses fell aside and he got up on his feet. He believed the words of Jesus, instead of what he had known as "fact" for years. All the circumstances melted away when he heard the words of Jesus, and he obeyed.

If he had decided that he couldn’t rise up, he wouldn’t have. He changed his will. He not only wanted to be healed, he was willing to be healed.

We have to change our will, to the will of God. We can want something all we want, but until we change to what the word says, nothing will change.

Another story we can look at is the story of the woman with the issue of blood.

Matthew 9:20-22, Mark 5:25-34, Luke 8:43-48

Here was a woman that had been plagued with a disease for 12 years. She had been to many doctors and had no money left and was not any better for it. But she heard of Jesus. She just knew that if she could get to him, she would be healed. Now did she stay in her house and keep wishing that if she could only get to Jesus? No she SAID

"If I could but touch his garments, I will be healed" Then she did something, she went to Jesus. She pushed her way through the crowd and even crawled to get to him, because it said she touched the hem of his garment. And she was immediately healed. Then something strange happened. Jesus stopped and wanted to know who had touched him. His disciples thought this was strange because he was in a crowd of people and everyone was touching him. But Jesus knew that someone had touched him with the touch of FAITH, and healing had gone out of him to that person. So the woman fell at his feet and confessed all to him. Then Jesus said to her "Daughter, your FAITH has made you whole. Go in peace and be whole of your plague." Her FAITH! She believed, she said, and she did something about it. "NOW Faith is"

Continuing on in these chapters we see the story of Jairus’ daughter. He comes to Jesus and says to him "My little daughter lies at the point of death, I pray you come and lay your hands on her, that she may be headed and that she might live." Again, he spoke his faith and Jesus responded. Of course along the way, he meets the woman. He stops and talks to her and along comes Jairus’ servant and says. "Trouble not the master any more, your daughter is dead." Now this was an opportunity for him to react in several ways. He could have been angry at the woman for stopping Jesus, angry that Jesus had stopped to talk to her, and given up his faith, because it was too late. But Jesus looked at him and said "Be not afraid, only believe." He stomped out the opportunity for doubt and unbelief to come in, or anger or anything. He spoke FAITH to the man. When circumstances come along to steal our faith, the Word is there to stomp it out.

Jesus continued on with the man and came to the house. He saw and heard the mourners and wasn’t moved by what they were saying, but made them all get out. They were filled with unbelief, because of the circumstances and he didn’t want that in the room. He took the father, mother and his disciples in with him only. He had seen Jairus’ faith and knew he wouldn’t be a hindrance. Then he spoke to the little girl and she came to life.

Faith moved Jesus and miracles happened. Yes He is the Son of God, but He gave us His Faith and His Word. We need to be moved by Faith, not circumstances. God will move mountains to strengthen your faith and answer your prayers, if you would only believe.

Mark 11:12-24 And Jesus answering said to them "Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, that whoever SAYS to the mountain, ‘Be removed and cast into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."

Mountain moving Faith is what God is looking for. If it were not possible, Jesus wouldn’t have said it. Our words are powerful and will work for us or against us. If we are constantly speaking the circumstances, it will never change. If we start speaking God’s Word, it will. We don’t deny that the circumstances exist, we just don’t allow them to stay the same. We speak Faith and change the circumstances. Speak to the mountains in your life and watch them move. Whatever it is, God has an answer.
 

A song that David Ingles wrote says this.

"The Word is working mightily in me,

The Word is working mightily in me,

No matter what the circumstance, of what I feel or see

The Word is working mightily in me."


The Word is always working. We just need to have Faith and give it a chance to complete it’s work. Don’t give up, things will change, if we only believe.