There is only one way to receive from God and it is by faith.
Ephesians 2:8-9 NKJV For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Living by faith is a command not a suggestion.
Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
Hebrews 10:38 ICB The person who is right with me will have life because of his faith. But if he turns back with fear, I will not be pleased with him.
God established THE WAY, not A WAY to receive from him, yet many people simply don’t understand this or have just decided that there must be a better way.
Think of the power of a franchise, they are based on a simple pattern of success that is easily duplicated. This would be like buying a McDonald’s franchise and changing everything that they have done for 50 years and expecting to still have success. You decide instead of using beef you will use soy bean patties because it is cheaper.
Jesus’ faith teaching.
Mark 11:22-24 NKJV So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Jesus starts off his teaching with something very profound. Before we understand it we must go back to the original language. Most modern translations say “have faith IN God. The original Greek simply says have faith OF God.
Mark 11:22 YLT And Jesus answering saith to them, `Have faith of God;
Jesus is saying you have to have God’s kind of faith and you need to use it the same way that God does.
The first question we need to answer is, what is God’s faith based on?
Faith has to have a foundation to believe in.
God’s faith is based on these three irrefutable truths.
1) His own integrity.
Hebrews 6:13-18 TPT Now when God made a promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater than himself, he swore an oath on his own integrity to keep the promise as sure as God exists! So he said, “Have no doubt, I promise to bless you over and over, and give you a son and multiply you without measure!” So Abraham waited patiently in faith and succeeded in seeing the promise fulfilled. It is very common for people to swear an oath by something greater than themselves, for the oath will confirm their statements and end all dispute. So in the same way, God wanted to end all doubt and confirm it even more forcefully to those who would inherit his promises. His purpose was unchangeable, so God added his vow to the promise. So it is impossible for God to lie for we know that his promise and his vow will never change!
2) His unchanging nature.
Malachi 3:6 NIV I the Lord do not change.
3) He watches over his word.
Jeremiah 1:12 AMPC Then said the Lord to me, You have seen well, for I am alert and active, watching over My word to perform it.
Just think for a minute what the world and the church would look like if our faith was based on these 3 irrefutable truths.
We need to debunk one of the great deceptions of our day. Satan has convinced us that we are not receiving all of God’s promises because we simply don’t have enough faith.
God gave us His faith as a gift.
Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
We all understand that salvation is a gift. What we need to understand is that God gave you a gift first that allowed you to receive your salvation.
Every human being has natural faith, the ability to believe and act upon something that can be confirmed through your natural senses.
In order for you to receive salvation as a gift you had to believe and act upon something that you could not verify with your natural senses.
You had to believe that because of the sin of Adam you were separated from the nature of God. Yet you never saw Adam.
You had to believe in an invisible place called heaven.
You had to believe that Jesus came from heaven, died, was buried, was resurrected and returned back to heaven.
You had to believe that God sent the Holy Spirit from heaven to re-create you into the image of God.
You could not believe any of these things without God’s faith (the supernatural ability to believe and act upon what you cannot see).
One measure of faith.
Reinhard Bonnke
Romans 12:3 KJV For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
The faith of Jesus.
Galatians 2:16 KJV Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
The second question we need to answer is, how did God use his faith?
Everything was created by the power of the spoken word.
Hebrews 11:3 TPT Faith empowers us to see that the universe was created and beautifully coordinated by the power of God’s words! He spoke and the invisible realm gave birth to all that is seen.
Everything is held together by the word of his power.
Hebrews 1:3 AMP The Son is the radiance and only expression of the glory of [our awesome] God [reflecting God’s Shekinah glory, the Light-being, the brilliant light of the divine], and the exact representation and perfect imprint of His [Father’s] essence, and upholding and maintaining and propelling all things [the entire physical and spiritual universe] by His powerful word [carrying the universe along to its predetermined goal].
The power of your words.
Mark 11:22-24 NKJV So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Notice that Jesus didn’t say to talk to God about your mountain. Because he didn’t send the mountain. You need to talk to the mountain and command it to leave because it has no legal right to hinder you.
The mountain represents some form of demonic obstacle that is standing in the way of your divine purpose.
Luke 10:19 Now you understand that I have imparted to you my authority to trample over his kingdom. You will trample upon every demon before you and overcome every power Satan possesses. Absolutely nothing will harm you as you walk in this authority.
Many modern theologians teach that authority was only given to the Apostles and when they died, authority was lost. So basically, Satan got to keep his power but the church lost theirs.
It is important to understand who Jesus was talking to here.
Mark 16:15-20 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. 17 And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; 18 they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” 19 So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. 20 And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.
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