CHAPTER 4 WALK BY FAITH
How can we be healed and still have a headache? How can I be prosperous and still not be able to pay this week's phone bill on time? These are fair questions, and God, in His infinite wisdom knew they would be asked. As such, He has given us the answers. Where? In His Word!!
The Lord tells us to "Fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporal and what is unseen is eternal" (II Cor.4:18). When we walk in faith we are "being sure of what ("things" in the literal Greek) we hope for and certain of what we do not see (Heb.11:1 emphasis added). In a very real sense we are being told to pay attention to what our faith says, and not what our senses feel. In fact, we have a God who "calls things that are not as though they were" (Ro.4:17). Since we know God cannot lie (Titus 1:2, Heb.6:18, II Sam.7:28, I Sam.15:29 & Nu.23:19), how can He call things that are not as through they were?
Just because things are not seen in the physical or sense realm, does not mean that they do not exist in the spiritual realm. God is spirit (John 4:24) and we know that God (spirit) created all things physical (Gen.1:1 & Rev.4:1). Therefore, we are completely correct in saying that that which is Spiritual is stronger than that which is physical. That which is Spiritual came before all that which is physical (John 17:5). What is seen was made out of what was not seen (Heb.11:3). In Gen.1:26 God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness ..." At that point man was created. Man is a spirit, he has a soul, and he inhabits a body. You will note that man's body was formed in Gen. 2:7, but as a spirit, man existed in 1:26 even though his body was not formed until 2:7. The spirit came first, than the physical.
In II Ki.6:17 Elisha knew that the Lord had sent deliverance, but his servant could only see the enemy which had surrounded them with his physical eyes (read vs.8-23 to get the whole story) . However, that did not mean that God's deliverance was not present, only that Elisha's servant could not see it. When the servant had his spiritual eyes opened, he could see God's deliverance. Things which were not (visible in the physical realm) were called as though they were. In Joshua 6:2 the Lord said, "see, I have delivered Jericho into your hands...", but Jericho did not fall for seven more days (see vs. 20). That didn't mean that Jericho wasn't Joshua's until verse 20. It was his when God said so in verse 2; however, the physical manifestation of that fact did not occur for several days. Joshua did not doubt. He didn't tell God "No it is not mine because I cannot see it." He stepped out in faith as though it was his the moment God said it.
We are to "live by faith, not by sight" (II Cor.5:7). The righteous man will live by his faith (Hab.2:4). "Consider Abraham: he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness" Gal.3:6). It was Abraham's faith in God's word that was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham ignored the physical condition of his body. Without doubting, he was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised. His faith did not waiver (Ro.4:19-22). Righteousness and faith are inseparable (Ro.3:22). Heb.11:4 tells us that Abel was commended as a righteous man by faith. Heb.11:7, while referring to Noah states, "righteousness came by faith." Phil.3:9 and Ro.1:17 both tell us that righteousness comes from God, and this righteousness is by faith. In fact, Jesus says in Mk.11: 22 that we are to have the very faith of God. Many translations say "in" God, but the literal Greek says "of" God. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb.11:6). We are even told in Scripture that an unbelieving heart is sinful (Heb.3:12). In Heb.4:2 we are advised that the Israelites heard God's word, but the message they heard was of no value to them because they did not combine it with faith. One of the clearest statements in Scripture on the topic of faith is found in Ro.14:23 which states "... everything that does not come from faith is sin." Faith, expressing itself, or working through love unlocks the very power promises of God (Gal.5:6). In II Tim.1:13 Paul again combines faith and love by saying that the Gospel he preached is to be kept as the pattern of sound teaching with faith and love in Christ Jesus.
How do we get faith? Faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Ro.10:17). There is no shortcut. That's it. Faith comes from hearing the message which is contained in God's Word. It doesn't say that faith comes by praying for it. It comes from hearing the Word. John 8:47 tells us that "he who belongs to God hears what God says." Our faith grows as we hear the Word.
Just hearing the Word though is not the end of the matter. We are then to act on that which we have heard (Phil.4:9). Ja.1:22 gives us an important warning when it says "do not merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves, do what it says." In Lk. 5:14 Simon, ignoring the physical signs of not catching fish all night, let down the net again at Jesus' Word. The nets were then filled with so many fish that they began to break. Naaman was not healed until he heard the Word of God and then acted upon that which he had heard (II Ki.5:1-14).
We must walk by faith and not by sight, ignoring the physical when it is contrary to what the Word says. Is there a reason why God tells us that? Yes, because He loves us. Failure to walk by faith was deadly once and will be again. In Nu.13:2 the Lord told Moses to explore Canaan, "which I am giving to the Israelites." It was theirs as of that moment. However, by verse 31 the Israelites were expressing their lack of faith by saying "we cannot attack those people they are stronger than we are."
They paid attention to the physical and ignored the spiritual. What was the result? All the men who were of military age when they left Egypt died because they had not obeyed the Lord (Joshua 5:6). How many was that? Six hundred and three thousand, five hundred and fifty men (Nu.1:46). They wandered in the wilderness forty years, one year for each day that the spies had explored Canaan and then come back and reported that they couldn't win (Nu.14:34).
However two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, were prepared to walk by faith and go into Canaan. All Israel said "no" except those two (Nu.14:1). What a vote, 603,550 to 2! But what happened. Only those 2 out of that whole assembly went into Canaan (Nu.14:30). Joshua walked by faith, not by sight. When we walk by sight we are relying 100% on our senses and the "knowledge" these senses have stored up. The deeper meaning of the Scriptures are "for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves (natural senses) to distinguish good from evil" (Heb.5:14, parenthesis added - see Amplified Bible). In I John 2:18&26 we are warned about the anti-Christ and the anti-Christs, many of which are already here. John was writing to us in order to tell us exactly who it is that is trying to lead us astray. In Jude 19 we find more detail about just who these people are. They are those "who will follow their own ungodly desires ... who follow mere natural instincts (senses) and do not have the Spirit." (parenthesis added)
This worldly sense knowledge, or wisdom of the world, is foolishness in God's sight (I Cor.3: 19). The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him and he cannot understand them (I Cor.2:14). Our faith is not to rest on man's wisdom, but on God's power (I Cor.2:5). The Greek word for "power" in that verse is dunamis which means "ability." In Acts 1:8 we find that this power or ability came when the Holy Spirit came. We walk, not in man's sense knowledge, but in faith, which rests upon the very ability of God.
According to Deut.20:18 Joshua was instructed to destroy all the nations that inhabited the promised land. This was commanded because God knew that if they were allowed to remain, they would teach the Israelites to follow and take part in all the detestable practices of their false religions. In Joshua 9:14 we see that the men of Israel were tricked into making a treaty with one of the inhabitants which they were supposed to destroy. They were tricked because they thought the emissaries from this nation had traveled a great distance and were from a far away country. They thought this because they acted upon what their eyes saw; namely, old clothes, stale bread, and cracked wine skins. They did not seek the Lord, but were guided by their physical senses.
In Numbers and Joshua we saw that in the past failure to walk in faith upon God's Word, even when it is contrary to sense knowledge, led to death. Can this happen again? Yes!! II Thes. 2:1-3 says "concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to Him ... that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction." (emphasis added). Here now is where the sense knowledge verses faith comes in. Verse 9 reads, "the coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders, and every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing." (emphasis added) I Tim.4:1 clearly warns us that in the end times some will abandon their faith and follow those deceiving spirits. That means some will pay attention only to what they see, and not to what the word tells them.
We will need faith, derived from the Word, resting on the ability of God in order to overcome. We must be in the Word and know it in order to know what is from God, and what is from satan. God doesn't say something and not mean it. God says it, that's it (Matt.4:4). Regardless of what our sense knowledge tells us, that's it. If God says we are to do something, and from the Word we know that it is from Him, we do it. If God says to ask for something and it will be ours, we are to ask, knowing it is ours when we ask (Mk.11:24 & I John 5:14). The moment we ask it is ours spiritually. Therefore, at some point it must manifest in the physical realm because it has already been given to us in the spiritual, and spirit creates physical. If we ask according to His promises in the word, we are asking according to His will, for His will is His Word (John 1:1, II Tim.3:16, John 6:38, 7:16, 14:9,16,24&31 and 16:13). If it is in the Word it is His will, and we need only ask according to the Word, in faith believing, and it will become real in the physical realm, for it is already real in the spiritual.
Another example from Joshua shows that God said it: "for I have delivered into your hand the King of Ai, his people, his city, and his land," (Joshua 8:1). Joshua then acted upon this fact and it became real in the physical realm (Joshua 8:3&24-29). We can praise God and thank Him for if we stand on His Word and are not budged by what we see around us, we will be delivered. Lk.1:37 says "for nothing is impossible with God." The literal Greek words in that text say that no Word of God is without power. We have to stand on the Word in faith in order to be victorious.
While some people have attacked the faith message we need to remember that it is God's desire for us to reach unity in the faith (Eph.4:13). An army needs to be united in order to be victorious. We see from Eph.6:16 that one of the important pieces of armor which God has given his soldiers is the shield of faith. A very careful look at the other pieces of armor in Eph. cha. 6 clearly shows the importance of faith. Vs.14 instructs us to take up the breastplate of righteousness; yet, we must remember that righteousness itself comes by faith (Gal.3:6 & Ro.4:21). Eph.6:15 tells us that our feet are to be fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. Yet Paul tells us in Phil.1:27 that we should all contend as one man for the faith of the Gospel. The Gospel is clearly related to faith. The "good news" is that Jesus has died and risen for us, and we accept that by faith.
Returning for a moment to vs.14 we see that we are to have the belt of truth buckled around our waist. The New International Version of the Bible shows in I Tim.4:6 that we should be a good minister of Christ Jesus brought up in the truths of faith. Other translations do not use "truths of faith." However, the relationship between the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit, and the very Word of God which was breathed by Him, and from which faith is derived, is undeniable. The very Helmet of salvation found in vs. 17 is dependent upon faith. Eph.2:8 tells us that "...it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith and that not from yourselves, it is the gift of God." The Sword of the Spirit also listed in vs. 17 is the Word. At the very beginning of this chapter we saw that faith comes by hearing the Word (Ro.10:17). The whole purpose of the Armor of God as set forth in Eph.6:13 is "... so that when the day of evil comes you may be able to stand your ground..." and II Cor.1:24 says that we stand by faith.
In attacking the faith message, the expression "faith in your faith" has sometimes been used. I do not have faith in my faith; rather, it is in the power of the Word of God upon which my faith is built. In Acts 3:16 Peter says that it was faith in the name of Jesus that made the beggar strong - "... it is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through Him that has given this complete healing to him." If we look in Rev.19:13 we see that the name of Jesus is the 'Word of God.'
What emphasis did Jesus place upon faith? After the demonic spirit had been driven out of the epileptic boy in Matt.17:20 the disciples came to Jesus and asked why they couldn't drive it out. Jesus responded simply "because you have so little faith." In Matt.14:31 Peter was walking on the water and he began to sink. Jesus looked at him and said, "You of little faith ... why did you doubt?" Peter made the mistake of taking his eyes off the Word. He began to walk by sight and not by faith. When he did, he began to sink. After calming the storm in Matt.8:23 and Lk.8: 22 Jesus turned to the disciples and said, "You of little faith, why are you afraid?"
What reason did Jesus have to question the disciple's faith? We are told in Lk.8:22 that Jesus had said, "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." When that storm came up they began to pay attention to the physical storm and not the Word of God which said "Let's go over to the other side of the lake." Jesus had said that they were going to the other side of the lake. For them to become afraid now, meant that they did not believe they were going to make it. They did not have faith in the words of the very God whom they were following. Now Jesus understood their lack of faith, but He did not say it was alright. Every time they exhibited their lack of faith He gently, yet firmly admonished them.
We know that our God does not show favoritism (Acts 10:34, Ja.2:1 & I Pe.1:17). This is not just a New Testament concept. In Deut.10:17 we are told that "for the Lord your God is God of gods, and Lord of Lords the great God, mighty and awesome who shows no partiality..." While we know that God does not show favoritism, He is a respecter of faith. Look at Heb.11:4,5, 7&8 and see the power of faith and the respect that God has for faith. Gal.5:6 says that the only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.
Faith is important. Eph.4:11-13 tells us of the fivefold ministry of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher. Those verses say that that ministry is here in order to "... prepare God's people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (emphasis added). According to Ja.1:4, perseverance must finish its work so that we may become mature and complete. In other words, no maturity without perseverance. Ja.1:3 states that perseverance comes about as a direct result of the testing of our faith. We must have faith in the whole Word of God in order to become mature Christians. Otherwise we will never attain to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
We are told in Eph.6:12 that we are in a struggle against satan. That is why we put on the full armor: to prepare for war. I Tim.6:12 says that we are to fight the good fight of faith. There are no neutrals. Hosea 4:6 says that God's people are destroyed from a lack of knowledge. It is lack of knowledge of the Word which keeps us weak. We sit back being lazy, refusing to read the Word of God, refusing to build our faith. My faith will most likely not benefit you. Your faith will not benefit me (Ez.14:12-20).
The problem with the faith message is generally in the ears of the hearer and not the words of the speaker. You cannot stand on faith if you do not have the Word. Foolishness is defined as acting on something when you are deficient in understanding, ie. being unwise, or ill-advised. Presumption is to take something for granted, or suppose something to be true without examining it for yourself. We can assume that we are standing on faith when in fact we are standing on either presumption or foolishness if our faith is not based upon what the Word of God tells us. Our faith cannot be based upon what some teacher has told us, or what we think the Word says (Acts 17:11). Our faith must be based on what the Word tells us, and what we know the Word says. Once we know Scriptures, having read them and heard them over and over again until they minister to us, then we can stand in faith.
Our faith is to be a current, active part of our life. Heb.11:1 says "now" faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Not yesterday or tomorrow, but "now." Turn for a moment to the story of Lazarus in John cha. 11. After Jesus arrived and talked with Martha, notice what her attitude was in regards to God's power. In vs. 21 she said to Jesus "...if you had been here my brother would not have died." She knew that Jesus could have done something YESTERDAY. In vs. 23 when Jesus said Lazarus would rise again she responded in vs 24 "... I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." She knew Jesus could do something TOMORROW. We see in vs. 27 that she knew Jesus was "the Christ" yet she did not have faith for today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Heb.13:8). We need faith now. We must have faith for today as well as for yesterday and tomorrow.
If satan is the one preventing a physical manifestation do not fret, for our prayers are answered when we pray. satan will attempt to stop the answer as he did in Dan.10:12-13. satan is the prince of this world (John 16:11 & 14:30). It is he whom we resist (Eph.6:12). However, we are not unaware of his schemes (II Cor.2:11). He will attempt to bind our minds even as he has done to unbelievers (II Cor.4:4). He is here in spirit now, working his tricks of deception (I John 4:3). However, we rebuke his darts with our shield of faith (Eph.6:16), bind his kings and nobles with our praise (Ps.149:8), and then we can take back from him that which he stole from Adam (Matt.12:29).
When we walk in faith - in the Word, believing that we have received when we pray - satan must, as we thank God for answering our prayer and rebuke satan according to the Word, back off and allow the physical manifestation to take place in the physical realm. He cannot stop it! Our faith will then control our senses which are now controlled by our mind. Then, as was true with Joshua, you will "know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the Lord your God gave you has failed." (Joshua 23:14)