This is a devotional study on Faith
Lesson 6
The Source of our Faith
Rom 10:17 Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
One thing that we have to be certain about is that the source of our faith is the Word of God, our faith will grow in direct proportion to the revelation we have of the Word of God. It has been said that faith simply believes that what God says about you is true. Unbelief is standing against the Word of God, or contrary to the Word of God, in conflict with the Word.
James 1:5-6 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
To be in doubt means that we withdraw from, oppose, or discriminate against, hesitate, to contend, to be partial, to stagger or to waver. Have you ever had these arguments in your mind saying “Maybe God can, maybe God can’t, Maybe God will, maybe God won’t?
Every time we doubt we are actually calling call God a liar.
Heb 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
There have to be three elements at work in our lives for our faith to be effective.
- The first one is HOPE. Hope goes through the bible to see what God says about our situation or circumstances and finds the evidence. Biblical hope is a confident expectation of Good.
- Secondly, FAITH then believes the evidence, it believes and is persuaded in the truthfulness of God’s Word, it trusts in the character of God.
- The third element is PATIENCE, the one virtue we all want, we all need but we want in now. Patience is the quality that is willing to trust God until it sees the promises come to pass. Patience is the quality that does not surrender to circumstances or succumb under trial. It is the opposite of despondency and associated with Hope.
Faith is not hoping, because hope is always in the future, faith the bible says is now, it believes for what God has provided and Jesus accomplished on the cross. God has no power to bless, to heal, to deliver us or to prosper us today. The bible says that it has been already accomplished.
Eph 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
1 Pet 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds, you have been healed.
Col 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
2 Cor 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
These are all past tense, the action has been accomplished on the cross, this means that I don’t have to try and beg God to act on my behalf or try and twist his arm, as all of this has already been accomplished for you on the cross of Calvary. That is why faith is now, that is why our faith can be sure and our hope can be certain. We are not waiting for these things to happen, they have already been accomplished they are already a done deal.
1 Cor 1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptise, but to preach the gospel not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
- The cross was the place of one of the greatest supernatural exchanges that we could ever imagine, if we try and understand it with our human logic or reasoning we empty it of its power, but as we allow God to give us a supernatural revelation of what was accomplished on the cross and start to receive it by faith, we begin to experience the power of the cross.
- Our prayers should never be PLEASE GOD DO, they should be THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU HAVE DONE.
On the cross
- Jesus became a curse for us in exchange for God’s blessing Gal 3:13-14
- Jesus took our sins in exchange for his righteousness 2 Cor 5:21
- Jesus took our sickness and disease in exchange for his healing 1 Pet 2:24
The cross is the place of exchange for all God’s Blessings
So try and say that this verse is speaking about spiritual blessing not financial, but to adhere to the context of the passage it is clearly speaking about finances. In fact chapter 8 and 9 are all speaking about finances.
2 Cor 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was (1.rich), yet for your sakes he became (2.poor,) so that you through his (3.poverty) might become (4.rich.)
- Rich. plousios,; wealthy; abounding with wealth. From G4149; wealth (as fullness), money, possessions, or abundance, richness, valuable bestowment of riches.
- Poor. ptocheuo, to be a beggar, needy, impoverished, destitute, penniless,
- Poverty. ptocheia, to be a beggar, to be in destitution.
- Rich. plouteo; to be (or become) wealthy, be increased with goods, (be made, wax) rich, well-off, affluent, prosperous, well-to-do, loaded, abundantly rich
If the cross is the place of exchange
- Jesus identified with our curse so we could identify with his blessing
- Jesus identified with our sin so we could identify with his righteousness
- Jesus identified with our pain so we could identify with his health
- Jesus identified with our poverty so we could identify with his prosperity
At what point?
- At what point did Jesus become a curse, was he cursed while he walked the earth
- At what point did Jesus become sin, was he a sinner while he walked the earth
- At what point did Jesus bear our sickness, was he sick while he walked the earth
- At what point did Jesus become poor, was he poor while he walked the earth
- The answer to all of these questions is NO!!!!! He became these things on the cross.
2 Cor 1:20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.
This is how you can know if we are living in hope or faith, if I am believing FOR God to heal me, I am living in hope (hope lives in the future).
If I believe that Jesus has already healed me, I am simply claiming what already belongs to me (faith lives in the present)
Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
1 John 5:14-15 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked of him.
Faith is not about learning to plead and beg God to act on our behalf, it is simply understanding what the will of God is and learning to see it come to pass in your life. Faith knows what has already been accomplished and learns to walk in it. It’s not trying to twist God’s arm, it’s about coming into agreement and partnership with God.
So faith is finding the will of God, believing it has already been accomplished and we can have this confidence to believe whatever we ask we know that we have what we asked of him
If we want to live a victorious Christian life, it will only happen when we come to a place of knowing who we are in Christ and what we have in Christ. I am not a sinner trying to get saved; I am not a sinner trying to stay righteous. I am righteous making every effort to avoid sin.
2 Cor 5:21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Rom 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
As you learn to walk in my salvation and your righteousness you will learn to walk victoriously before God. When you know what has been accomplished for you on the cross of Calvary, I can walk in the power and authority that Jesus Christ has given me.
Eph 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who HAS blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
When you know that you are not trying to get blessed but you are already blessed you will begin to walk in those blessings. I’m not the sick trying to get healed, I am the healed learning to walk in my health. When you have a revelation that you are not trying to get God to heal you because by his stripes you are healed this is the pathway to begin learning to walk in that healing. When you understand that you are not the poor trying to get rich but you have already been made rich you will begin to learn to walk in that prosperity.
It’s like the story of the prodigal son that most tragic words to the jealous brother were.
Luke 15:31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.
The oldest son was angry thinking he was missing out on the fathers blessing but he never realised that everything the father had already belong to him, he could have enjoyed it at any time.
2 Pet 1:3-4 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
If you don’t know what God has given you or accomplished for you, you will never be able to participate in his divine nature. You will never walk in blessing, or health or prosperity if you don’t believe that he has already accomplished this for you, but you have to learn to walk in it. You have to start confessing it, believing for it, expecting it. Faith is an expectation that what you don’t have yet is going to happen
Gal 3:13-14 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus,
I believe that there is a very thin line that we need to be careful not to cross. I don’t believe that we should ever accept our ill circumstances as our lot in life. The minute we accept them it makes it impossible to walk fully in God’s ways. The minute we give up on God, it makes it impossible to live a life of faith and it renders the power of the cross, useless.
The good news is that Christ redeemed us so that we do not have to live under the curse but in the blessings of God. This is why it is vital to know what has been accomplished for you on the cross of Calvary.
This is why Jesus was able to cry out it is finished on the cross, it is a done deal. We have to have a revelation of this fact. Eph 1:17-19