The Power and the Practice of Faith

Excerpts from the message

The Power and the Practice of Faith – 24^th August 2014

The Sin of not believing God (Jn 16:7-9)

Jesus said that when the Holy Spirit comes He will reprove the world of sin, righteousness, and of judgement; and He explained further that the world will be reproved of sin by the Spirit because they do not believe. The greatest sin on earth is to not believe God; and what He is saying to us. Perishing and condemnation in life is not just a function of sin (wrong doing) but a function of “not believing” in God and His Word/Jesus Christ (Jn 3:16-18). God hates to be doubted; Zechariah’s punishment was as a result of unbelief (Luke 1:20). God did not allow the Israelites enter His rest because of unbelief; because they doubted Him. We should be afraid of doubting God (Heb 4:1-3).

The Faith Mix (Heb 4:1-3)

God’s word will only benefit/profit those who mix it with faith (Heb 4:1-3). Mixing God’s word with faith (the faith mix) is similar to the “cake mix”. The fact that one has the ingredients for making the cake does not mean it is ready; the ingredients have to be mixed together and put in an oven. The same way God’s word must be mixed with faith (by believing, speaking, etc until faith is stirred up in our hearts). We miss many blessings and the manifestation of God because of our wrong attitude to the word of God; the reason God’s word does not manifest in our lives is because we do not complete the process. We should labour to enter God’s rest lest we make the same mistake the Israelites of old made (Heb 4:11). The reason the Israelites could not enter God’s rest was unbelief; hence our labour is a labour to believe God (looking into God’s word, believing and speaking), and we should not be discouraged by the delay. Our labour is not one of works but one of faith.

The Righteousness of Faith (Rom 4:1-3)

Righteousness is by faith and of faith, not works. Abraham believed God and it was counted to Him as righteousness. Christ became sin so that we can become the righteousness of God (2Cor 5:21). Our righteousness is not of works but of faith; faith in Christ Jesus and it is this consciousness that gives us boldness to come to God’s throne (Prov 28:1, Heb 4:16). There is righteousness without the LAW; it is the righteousness of God which is by faith in Christ Jesus (not by keeping the LAW) unto all and upon all who believe (Rom 3:20-22). The promise does not come by keeping the LAW, but by the righteousness of faith (Rom 4:13). We do not receive God’s promise by the works of the LAW, but by faith in Christ Jesus. There is simplicity in God and His word, and the power is in the simplicity (2Cor 11:3).

The Spirit of Faith (2Cor 4:13)

The Spirit (attitude) of faith is to believe and speak. Moses described the righteousness of the LAW as “failure in one is failure in all” and that it is based on works (what we do); the righteousness of faith however SPEAKS, and it does not speak works (what we need to do) rather it speaks the Word. Salvation (Christ coming into our situation) is by believing with our heart and confessing with our mouth; believing what God is saying and confessing it with our mouth – engaging ourselves in the “faith mix” (Rom 10:1-11). The spirit of faith is to believe and to speak. We are righteous when we believe. Believing gives us “power to become” (Jn 1:12). The way to receive power is by believing, and we release that power by speaking. Whenever we speak God’s word (give voice to His word) Angels attend to it as though it is God speaking (Psa 103:20). We believe and we take corresponding action. Just as works without faith is dead works, faith without works (corresponding action) is dead faith. 

We need to know what God is saying concerning our situation, believe it, and speak it (take corresponding action). God has revealed a new way to experience His power and His glory; and it is by faith in Christ Jesus. The power and the practice of faith is “believing” and receiving the power to become, and releasing that power by speaking. God’s word will profit us when we mix it with faith.