March 24, 2004
Hi everyone!
We are continuing on in our study of the faith walk. Remember there are
two main reasons why all of us believers should be desiring to develop our
faith walk. One, because we are commanded to "live by faith" in
the Word, and two because we cannot please our Heavenly Father except by
faith. So I want you to study along with me in these teachings and purpose
in your heart that you are going to live this way for the rest of your life.
You came into the kingdom of God this way when you first believed. The Holy
Spirit placed within your spirit the measure of faith. It is with this same
faith that the Lord expects us to live out our whole Christian life. There
are many promises in the Word given for each of God's children and we receive
each of them through faith. It is by faith also that we defeat the enemy
of our soul.
You will notice in the above verses that we believed in the Lord after we
heard the Gospel. That initial faith seed was planted in our hearts when
we first heard. Faith comes to us in this way, by hearing the Word of God.
Our God is a faith God and His words are filled with faith. The whole universe
(including each one of us) are upheld by the Word of His power! (Hebrews
1:3). In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God John 1:1. You see that God
and His Word are one. Each of God's words are filled with faith because
He is a faith God.
When we start talking about God's Word we are talking about the very creative
force that created the entire universe. Each of God's words are like spiritual
containers and each of them are filled with the spiritual force called faith.
There is enough faith in each of God's words so that when we hear them faith
comes our way. Faith comes as we hear God's Word.
Hearing the Word of God is one of the major ways the Lord has designed to
plant His Word in our hearts. You will notice in the parable of the sower
in Mark chapter 4 that the devil comes to try and steal the Word out of
the heart of believers. He will go to any length to try and accomplish this
as he knows our faith is connected with the Word. If he can get the Word
then he can cause our faith to fail. If our faith fails then we will not
walk in victory over the darkness because it is "by faith we stand"
(Romans 11:20).
Faith is of the heart (the spirit man) and not of the mind. You have no
more faith in your mind than in one of your big toes! We make decisions
with our mind and we believe God with our heart. Romans 10:10
says that "with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation". So choose this
day to hear God's holy Word. Speak it out load and hear it with your ears.
Listen to anointed teaching and preaching from those with hearts full of
God's Word.
Jesus exhorts us in Mark 4:24 to "consider carefully
what you hear".
Look at Proverbs 4:20-23 "My son, give attention
to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from
your eyes: Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those
who find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all diligence,
for out of it flow the forces of life". Just as faith comes from
God's words, fear comes from the devil's words. The negative, downputting,
defeated words of this world should not be in the hearts of believers. Get
God's Word in you in abundance and let your faith rise to new levels.
As I mentioned in the last teaching your faith can grow. The Father desires
for you as His child to grow up into the very likeness of Jesus in all things.
A continual process of hearing the Word daily throughout your Christian
life is important if you are to develop your faith. Hearing the Word is
not all you need to build your faith but it is the vital starting point.
I will cover the other areas necessary in developing our walks of faith
in future teachings.
May God bless you precious people this day
love David
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Faith Comes by...
Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall
they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe
in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: "How
beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring
glad tidings of good things!" But they have not all obeyed the Gospel.
For Isaiah says, "Lord who has believed our report?" So then faith
comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.
Romans 10:13-17 (NKJ)