YOUR FAITH

“According to your faith let it be to you.” Matt 9:29 NKJV

Lesson number one – faith works! It is mathematical. It works with perfect precision 100% of the time. The fact that it works with 100% precision is the reason why God is justified in answering prayer, or not. God is not arbitrary; He does not change. He makes his blessing available to every man all the time. It works regardless of whether you believe it works, and you can gain a level of mastery over it in every category of your life if you are willing to make the effort.

To Titus, a true son in our common faith: Titus 1:4 NKJV

There are at least seven different categories of faith that are spelled out and enumerated in the Word – your faith, the gift of faith, the faith of Jesus Christ, the faith of God, our common faith, the household of faith and the fruit of faith. Some of these may overlap but they are each distinctly stated in the Scriptures and deserve to studied and understood individually. You can see an example of our first category in the verse stated above – your faith.

Why does God answer prayer? We can give a galaxy of reasons but it comes down to one variable – faith. Why do wicked people succeed, or appear to succeed? Faith. Why does the God-rejecting unbeliever appear to prosper? In the area where the wicked one prospers it is always by the principles of faith, the concept of which God created and set into the world as a continual test for every man. I am attempting to ruin some of your romantic ideas about faith to get you out of a religious mindset into one of understanding the plan and purposes of God.

We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is fitting, because your faith grows exceedingly…2 Thess 1:3 NKJV

Faith is mathematical. Jesus talked of great faith and little faith, both terms which can be described mathematically. Matthew 9:29 can described mathematically – A (faith) = B (results). You can measure where your faith is at any moment in any category of your life by evaluating where you are in that category. Your faith is indicated by your present and emerging results. Your faith can grow or your faith can decrease. It can grow in certain areas and not grow in others, or even decline in others. Your faith is not static; it is dynamic.

This is why, for instance, people can grow rich or they can grow poor. Rich people do the things faithfully – an aspect of your faith – that they have learned to gain or maintain riches, or they become poor. Riches can fly away! Same truth with health, same truth with success in business or ministry, same truth with your family. Faith is mathematical and as dependable as the sunrise!

Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.”  30 And their eyes were opened. Matt 9:29-30 NKJV

Now, faith is mathematical. If something requires 100 units of faith to be received, will you receive it with only 50 units? No. But I have three possibilities to enable me to receive that ‘something’: I can build my faith or knit my heart together with someone who has 50 units of faith, or do both, and together we can overcome. If I knit my heart together with someone who also has 50 units of faith, if we put our faith together, we will succeed. At times others can knit their faith together to bring something to pass for me that I’m not even aware of. For instance, we have prayed in the past for people in a medical condition who have no faith for themselves, like dead people or people in a coma, and they have been healed. One time a man came to Lake for healing and confessed he had no faith for it. Lake joyfully said, “I have faith enough for both of us!” The man got healed. It’s good to have faith filled friends!

Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered. 1 Peter 3:7 NKJV

This is also what’s so great about the marriage covenant – you put your faith together. It’s a well-established fact that divorce causes both people to become poorer. The reason why is because what you once had faith for together you now do not have faith for on your own. Now, if your spouse dies, their faith can still go on and sustain you even after their death. It’s the application of your faith called faith for the future, which you operate right now. Your faith has impact even after your death. In one very real sense the worldwide spread of Pentecostalism is due to the faith and prayers of the Pentecostal pioneers. The prayers of the poor, partially blind, black American William Seymour – who prayed for five hours a day for three years, then seven hours a day for over a year until Azusa happened – and others, still reverberate through the world today. The prayers of Jacob over his twelve sons have affected the centuries of their progeny, including the Messiah, between then and now, and still do!

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory… 2 Cor 4:17 NKJV

Why faith? Why are the promises of God conditioned by faith? If God loves us why does He require faith? You have to understand a number of things. One is that this whole life – everything that happens, everything you do, think or say from the cradle to the grave – is a test for eternity. Your eternity is being molded right now. Everything is being recorded – every decision, every action, every turn for the right hand or to the left – and weighed in the balances, with the Lord understanding every variable involved. Your covenant with Jesus gets you into Heaven. How you live out that covenant determines your rewards in Heaven. Do you understand?

And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. Matt 21:22 KJV

Secondly, this understanding of your faith allows God to be a just Judge and to not overstep your freedom of will. You can build your faith; you can grow your faith and you can destroy your faith. You are in charge! With authority comes responsibility, and accountability which we will give account for before the BEMA of the Lord. God loves us so that He allows us to go as far with faith as we desire and are willing to make the effort, despite our circumstances. Fanny Crosby, who wrote over 8000 hymns, many of which you have probably sung, was born blind. I’d like to have some of her rewards that she is enjoying in Heaven right now!

Ok, with this understanding of faith, let’s understand how to build our faith.

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matt 22:37-39 NKJV

…but faith working through love. Gal 5:6 NKJV

First of all, faith is energized by love, even for the unbeliever. The greedy unbeliever who desires money and makes money is fueled by a love for money. ‘The love of money is the root…’ Or it could be the love of power, which is why people get into witchcraft, or the love of fame, or success, or some even darker passion. This is why the first and most important love in our lives must be Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Any other love may steal your love for Him. Then the key to all successful living horizontally is to love your neighbor as yourself. I love that person, so I lend to Jesus all the fire in my soul as I pray for them. Let the love of God and for God and others saturate your faith!

Finally, you must love yourself. Do you love yourself?

For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Rom 5:17 NKJV

Many times, what appears to be a faith problem is a love problem. If you love yourself, you will seek His benefits in your life for yourself. Many times, we secretly hate ourselves over some weakness or sin or mistake. That must go! I’ve known numbers of believers who have great faith for others but little faith for themselves because of this very thing. You must receive the grace of God and the gift of righteousness, declaring yourself to be who God says you are, not who you feel you are, and allow yourself to be worthy to receive His best. Lives have pivoted 180 degrees when this truth became real to them!

17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (Grk. RHEMA) of God. Rom 10:17 NKJV

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 NKJV

Ask Holy Spirit to help you build your faith. The moment you ask Him, His classes start! Yes, you are going to have to be instructed and trained in faith. Training and instruction require a Teacher. Classes will progress as you pass tests and finish the prerequisite work. Laziness will kill your faith, so rebuke that suicidal tendency. Expect to be changed from the marrow of your bones outward! Speaking in tongues much will build your faith. Meditating in and studying the written Word will build your faith. Interpretation of tongues, prophecy and the revelation gifts will build your faith. Anything worth doing is worth doing well. But that requires training, sacrifice, and practice until you gain a level of mastery. Little faith or no faith can become great faith. You and the lord can overcome anything. This is this great aspect of the subject of faith – your faith. Amen? Love You!

Remember dear ones, we must be about our Father’s business…