How to Release Your Faith

How to Release Your Faith

Faith works according to knowledge.

2 Peter 1:3 NKJV “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue.”

Belief is the key to receiving from God, yet you can’t believe something that you don’t know.

Three things you need to know to release your faith.

1) God’s part and your part.

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.

Grace describes God’s part. His part was to remove the effects of sin on humanity so that we could once again live according to His design for us. The Bible calls this salvation.

Salvation is described as a one-time payment.

Hebrews 10:12 12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

The payment made was the shedding of the blood of Jesus.

Hebrews 9:22 In fact, according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified with blood. For without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness.

All of God’s redemptive promises have already been fulfilled through Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT  For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.

Our part is faith.

Faith is how God intended for us to receive what had already been provided by grace.

Think about how you got saved, you heard that Jesus was the savior, that he had already paid for your sin and all you had to do is receive it as a free gift.

Romans 10:9-10 “that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Remember the two sides of the faith coin? You believed in your heart that Jesus was the savior and God raised him from the dead and you exercised your faith by confessing or agreeing with the promise of God.

Faith can only receive what has already been provided by grace! 

2) Your benefit package.

In order for you to use your faith to receive God’s redemptive promises you have to know everything included in His benefit package.

In Psalm 103 King David prophesied about the benefits of salvation that would one day be paid for by Jesus. 

Psalm 103:1-5 ESV “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit,  who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

One of the major reasons that we rarely see all of these benefits on display in the lives of the church is because we have been taught to believe that salvation only includes one benefit, that only the forgiveness of sin is a past tense accomplishment that can be received by faith, all of the other benefits are present/future tense possibilities based on the mysterious will of God.

We have been taught that God decides if, when, where and how a person receives these benefits, so now instead of using our faith to receive what has already been provided, we are taught to use our faith to convince God to move on our behalf.

Take healing for example, we have been taught you just can’t know God’s will to heal, so we pray that it is. If nothing happens we call the church prayer chain because if your prayer doesn’t move God maybe twenty people’s prayers will, if that doesn’t work we post it on Facebook because maybe one thousand people’s prayers will move God, if still nothing happens we simply say it must not have been God’s will, that he must have some divine purpose in this sickness.  

3) God’s true nature.

We need to decide whether we want to develop our view of God’s nature by the theology of Jesus or Job.

Job said in Job 2:1-2 “Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.””

Many theologians teach that Satan had to come to God to get permission to attack Job. Therefore, nothing can happen that God doesn’t cause or allow.

Luke 4:5 “Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish [emphasis mine].”

Satan did not need to come to God to get permission to steal, kill and destroy, that permission was given to him through Adam.

Job said in Job 2:6-7 “And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand, but spare his life.” 7 So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord, and struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took for himself a potsherd with which to scrape himself while he sat in the midst of the ashes.”

Many theologians teach that this means that God and Satan are on the same team or God sub-contracts Satan to do his dirty work.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 6:14-15 “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? 15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?”

Job said in Job 1:21 “And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”” 

Many theologians teach that God is the source of both good and evil.

Jesus said in John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

Jesus’ theology is simple, good things come from God, bad things come from Satan.

Job 42:1-6 “Then Job answered the Lord and said: 2 “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. 3 You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. 4 Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’ 5 “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.””

Much of the church have developed their view of God’s nature based on the theology of Job, in spite of the fact that after he encountered God he repented of how he spoke about God and said that he spoke of what he did not understand.

Even the book of Job reveals the good news. God gave Job an abundant life. Satan stole everything that he had. God restored what he lost and doubled it.  #godisverygood.