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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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Ever wonder what it really means to have faith?
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Millions lack faith to receive answers to their
prayers—to free their minds from fears and
worries.
To a large extent this is due to lack of
understanding
what faith is. Read this simple
but thorough
explanation
of the subject.
Part 1
What Is Faith?
The whole world is now shaking with convulsions,
preparatory to a tremendous
event. This present
world breakdown, with world economic collapse,
social unrest, religious confusion, is merely the
warning signal that the end of the present civilization is here.
The Second Coming of Christ to establish a new order of world
peace on Earth is near—much nearer than people think!
An y Fa i th Today ?
And speaking of His own second appearance on Earth, Jesus
Himself asked, prophetically:
“When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the
earth?”
When Jesus uttered those words He was looking into the
future—into our very present generation which He clearly
foresaw. And, foreseeing the almost total absence of faith in
our time, He asked this question!
Certainly the world has almost lost sight of real faith. No
wonder so few have any—no wonder so many say, “My faith
isn’t very strong”—or, “I just can’t seem to work up the faith.”
People today do not know what faith is, or why they do not
possess it. Yet without faith none can even be saved!
2 WHAT IS FAITH?
J e sus Ha d Fa i th!
When Jesus walked the earth in human flesh, He possessed
faith!
Yet He said plainly, “Of myself, I can do nothing!”
Few realize that what He did—the miracles He performed—
He did not do by any supernatural power of His own.
Everything He did, every miracle He performed, was done literally
through faith, setting us a beautiful example.
But how, then, did He perform His miracles, accomplish
His mighty works?
“The Father that dwelleth in me,” explained Jesus, “He
doeth the works.”
Yes, even as you and I may be, Jesus was filled with God’s
Holy Spirit—God’s dynamic supernatural power! This power
of God Almighty, the Creator, was literally in Jesus; and the
same identical power of the same identical living God may be
within you today!
All the apostles and evangelists of the first-century true
Church of God did perform miracles, and even greater miracles
than Jesus had performed, until even Peter’s shadow passing
over the sick and afflicted caused them to be healed!
Peter, Stephen, Philip, Paul—all common, humble, ordinary
men themselves—all had that power, the same identical
power Jesus had, because they lived and walked close to God
and were filled with the Holy Spirit!
And we seem to lack that power today, not because God
denies us that power, but because we are so close to a modern,
materialistic world—our minds are so filled with the material
interests of this life; our minds and our hearts are so far from
God; we are so out of touch with Him, through lack of enough
time spent in the study of His Word and lack of enough of
the right kind of surrendered, submissive, earnest and heartrending
prayer—and consequently, because we are not filled
with the Holy Spirit!
So now let’s ask two questions:
First, what is faith?
And second, how may we have it, and how may it be
increased?
What Is Faith? 3
What Faith IS
Now notice, faith is the substance—the marginal rendering
says “assurance”—of things hoped for (Hebrews 11:1). So faith
comes before possession.
Once you have received the possession, you no longer hope
for it. But even before you receive it, you have it in substance;
and that substance—that assurance that you shall possess it—
is faith.
Then again, faith is an evidence—the “evidence of things
not seen.” Faith precedes the actual receiving of what you ask
for. And faith is the evidence you shall have it, before you even
see it. It is the evidence of things not yet seen. You do not have
it. You do not see it, or feel it—yet faith is your evidence that
you have, or shall have it. Faith is the substance—the assurance—
of receiving that which you still hope for.
How to K NO W You A r e He a l ed
So I want you to notice that when you hope for things or ask
God for things, there is an evidence—a proof because, where
God is involved, His evidence is proof—that you shall receive
what you have asked. And what is that proof—that evidence?
Is it the actual receiving of the answer, so you see, or feel, or
hear that you have it? No!
Suppose, for instance, you were ill—taken with a disease.
Now Jesus healed the sick continually. And, He said, the works
that He did—and this was one of them—we should do also.
Now suppose you ask God to heal you. Naturally, you want
some evidence that you are going to be healed.
So what is that evidence, that proof? Is it the evidence of
the pain ceasing—or the swelling going down—something
you can feel, and see? I know a man who said, “When I can
see anyone healed by direct prayer, then I’ll believe in it.” This
man said he wanted to believe in it—he wanted to have faith in
it! He was looking for an evidence that he could see—and he
died without ever seeing it!
Because what we see—what we feel—is not the true evidence.
Having the thing—seeing it—is not faith. Faith precedes
4 WHAT IS FAITH?
possession because faith is confidence—assurance—you shall
possess it.
The human mind, naturally, can receive knowledge only
through the five senses. These are five sole channels capable of
transmitting knowledge, by natural processes, to the human
mind. The senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, feeling.
But that is not faith! Faith is a spiritual matter, and it has
nothing to do with the five senses, which are physical.
Prayer is a spiritual matter. God is a spirit! And when we
ask, for instance, for healing, we do have an evidence—proof
positive—that the healing will be done; but that evidence is
not something seen, or felt, or heard—it is not a physical evidence—
it is rather the spiritual evidence of faith. Faith is our
evidence.
An Unusual Trial
Let’s picture a trial in a courtroom. It’s a very strange—a most
unusual—trial, for the One being tried is none other than God
Almighty! And you, yourself, are sitting as judge and jury. The
prosecuting attorney is your human nature. Attorney for the
defense is the Holy Spirit. God is accused of lying—of unfaithfulness—
of obtaining things more valuable than money under
false pretenses! God is accused of willful non-payment of
promissory notes.
You, now sitting as judge and jury, have read God’s command
and written promise, in James 5:14, for your physical
healing when sick. You have prayed for healing, according to
God’s written promise. You have followed God’s instructions
and called the elders of the Church, who have prayed over you
the prayer of faith and anointed you with oil.
The prosecuting attorney, your human nature, attempting
to convict God of obtaining your allegiance under false pretenses—
of breaking His contract—of lying—presents before
you, as judge and jury, his evidence.
“My evidence,” says your nature, “is literal, tangible evidence
that is real—evidence you can see and feel. You can see
for yourself that you are not healed. The pain is still there!
In fact, perhaps it has grown worse! God gave you a written
promise, as certainly as anyone ever gave a promissory note.
What Is Faith? 5
You conformed to all His conditions. You prayed. You called
the elders of the Church, and they prayed. You believed! But
you can now see my evidence—you can feel my evidence—you
are still suffering—you are not healed! Therefore God did not
heal you! God did not keep His Word. God’s Word, the Bible,
lied to you. God failed! My evidence is that which you plainly
see and feel! You are not healed. Therefore I demand you bring
in a verdict of guilty!—guilty in the first degree—I demand
you find Almighty God guilty of lying, of obtaining your allegiance
under false pretenses, of not performing what He promised
in His written promise.”
But now the attorney for the defense—God’s Holy Spirit—
speaks to you, quietly, calmly.
He says to you: “I now present my evidence that God’s
Word is true—that God is faithful—that God cannot lie. My
evidence is not anything you can see or feel. My evidence is
simple faith—patient trust in the veracity of God’s Word. It is
impossible for God to lie. My evidence is your faith in that fact,
and in His promise. And faith is the evidence of that which is
not seen, not felt!
“Let’s review the case to see clearly what happened. Let’s
understand plainly where your human nature has clouded the
issue and deceived you. God has told you, in Exodus 15, that
He is your healer—your God-healer—that is one of His names,
and God is named what He is. God sent His Son into the world
to be beaten with stripes, to suffer the penalty of your transgressions
of nature’s laws, in your stead—His body was broken
for you, and by His stripes, you are healed! God gave you His
Word that it is His will to heal you. He commanded you to call
the elders of the Church, which you did. He promised to heal
you. But God has also made it a part of this contract, in His
Word, that ‘according to your faith, be it unto you’—in the very
words of Christ!
“Now faith is your evidence that God will do what He
promised. You can’t see faith—you can’t feel it. What you see
or feel has nothing to do with faith. But the point your human
nature wants you to overlook is that God did not promise when,
or how, He would heal you!
“God’s purpose in your life is to transform you from what
you’ve been into the very image of His Son—into the very
6 WHAT IS FAITH?
character of God Himself. Part of this character is the learning
of patience! And God instructs you, in James 1:3, that the
trying of your faith works patience into your character. God
has revealed to you in this and other Scriptures that He will
sometimes delay healing you in order to try your faith and to
teach you to be patient! Your healing, God has promised, shall
be according to your faith.
“Faith is trusting God to do that which He has not yet done.
After the healing is completed, you no longer need to exercise
faith. Faith is the ingredient you must exercise until God heals
you—until you can see and feel that you are healed. After God
has healed you, then you won’t need faith in it any longer, but
your faith must remain firm and steadfast, and patient, regardless
of what you see or feel, until God actually heals you, as He
has promised to do.
“Now the prosecuting attorney in this case, your human
nature, wants you to believe that faith is something you exercise
about 30 seconds, while you are still praying, and then if
God has not done what He promised as soon as you expect, you
are to find God guilty of lying. The instant you yield to the devil’s
influence over your human nature and render a verdict that
God will not do what He promised just because He has not done
it yet—that moment you make God out a liar—you lose all faith
in God; and you thereupon break your part of the agreement,
which is to have faith and keep on having faith, and trusting God,
and relying upon Him, until He performs what He promised.
“Faith is simple reliance upon God’s Word. It is the evidence
of what you do not see or feel. Therefore I call upon you
to have patience—to keep on trusting God, until He heals you,
and then He will heal you! I call upon you to find God innocent
of this charge of lying—I call upon you to find Him faithful
to His promises, and then you shall have them.”
The evidence is now all in. You will now render the verdict!
You must render your verdict based upon the evidence.
Which, now, is the evidence you believe? That which you
see and feel—the physical evidences that often are deceptive—
or your faith that God’s Word is true, that His promises
are sure, that it is impossible for God to lie?
If you believe this latter spiritual evidence, and reject the
physical evidences of sight and of feeling, you pronounce
What Is Faith? 7
sentence that His Word has been vindicated by your verdict—
you shall be released from the disease, and what He promised
shall be carried out.
But, if you decide that the physical evidences of sight or
feeling are to be trusted over and above the Word of Almighty
God—and you reject His Word and His promise, and refuse to
believe in it—refuse, in other words, to accept and trust in the
evidence of faith until God completes it, then you yourself must
render your verdict, “not healed,” and you will not be healed!
You see, God does not promise healing, or anything else,
unless we believe. “According to your faith be it unto you,”
said Jesus. And remember the faith must precede, and therefore
is a condition to, the possession.
One man expressed it very well: “Faith is the assurance that
the things which God said in His Word are true: and that God
will act according to what He has said in His Word. This assurance,
this reliance on God’s Word, this confidence, is faith!”
And it is a true Bible definition. This Work of God has been
built by putting it into actual practice!
Learning God’s WILL
Remember, whatever your need, the first thing to do, to be
sure of receiving an answer to your prayer, is to search the
Scriptures, to learn whether it is God’s will (Ephesians 5:17; 2
Timothy 3:14-17).
The Bible reveals God’s will. We need never say, “Well, I
know God could heal me if it is His will.” You can know His
will. And so far as healing is concerned, I can tell you definitely
that His Word says plainly and emphatically that it is
His will. The Bible is full of promises—literally full of them. If
you need anything, study to see whether God promised it, and
if He has, He can’t break a promise!
The Importance of claiming a promise
I remember one time several years ago when my two sons
came to me and asked me to do something for them—I don’t
remember now what. They were then around 7 and 9 years
old. I do remember I didn’t want to do it.
8 WHAT IS FAITH?
“But, Daddy, you promised,” they said, “and you’ve got to
keep your promise.”
And then I remembered I had promised. Well, what do you
think? Do you think I could break a promise when my two
sons came to me and put it like that? No, and if you’ll just as
boldly tell God He has promised and then claim that promise
as applied to your case and trust God to keep it and quit worrying
about it—quit trying to work up faith—just relax, and
let God take over from there—leave it with Him—let Him do
it—He’ll do it, every time!
I know whereof I speak, because I’ve put what I’m now
telling you to the test not once, but literally hundreds and
thousands of times, and God has never failed to keep His
promise once. I’ve seen the answers come so often and so frequently
that I expect the answer when I ask!
God promises to supply every need—that if we’ll seek first
the Kingdom of God and His righteousness—which is right
doing—He will provide every material need (Matthew 6:33).
This WORK a Living Example of FAITH
Why, this very Work we conduct is a direct answer to prayer!
This Work—the World Tomorrow broadcast, the Plain Truth
magazine and Ambassador College—which now has grown
to national and international scope and influence, started as
small as any work could start—literally from nothing.
It has been from the start 100 percent a work of faith—and
we had to really learn this lesson of faith before it had even
started.
WHY People Lack Faith
And now, very briefly, why don’t we have faith, and how may
we get it, and how may it be increased? So many say, “Well, I
have no impression—I have no feeling, no conviction—that I
shall get the answer.”
They want to wait until they get a certain conviction, a
certain feeling, a sort of assurance they can feel—before they
really believe they shall have the answer.
But that is not faith!
What Is Faith? 9
That is feeling!
Your feeling, your convictions, your impressions, have
absolutely not one thing or the other to do with faith. Faith has
only to do with God’s Word! The one question is, Has God
promised it in the Bible? If He has, then probabilities, possibilities,
feelings, convictions, impressions, have nothing whatsoever
to do with it. God has a thousand ways we know nothing
of, of answering and providing whatever He has promised. We
don’t need to see how He is going to do it.
And that’s another thing—He almost never will do it the
way we expect. So don’t try to figure out how it is possible for
God to do it. You are trusting in supernatural power! Then
believe in that power. God works in mysterious ways His wonders
to perform. What He has promised, He will perform; but
He will do it His way, and in His time. Leave all that to Him and
just trust Him. Rely upon His Word.
God’s GIFT
And let us remember, faith is the gift of God.
So many think that everything else that comes from God is
His gift, but the faith required to receive these things is something
we ourselves must somehow work up, or strain and
strive for. But we have to just relax and trust God, even for
the faith by which we receive everything else! (Ephesians 2:8).
In Revelation 14:12 is a description of the true Church of
this day. Those in this Church have the faith of Jesus. Notice,
the faith of Jesus! It is not just our faith in Him, but His faith—
the very faith with which He performed His miracles—placed
in us and acting in us.
How can you get it? Draw closer to God. Get to know God.
Surrender all the way to Him, and do His will. And then pray.
You get to know Him in prayer. We are too close to the material
things. Through prayer, much more prayer, you can come
closer to God and the spiritual things. And what a happy,
joyous experience it is, once you have really done it!
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Mike 03/18/2012 11:13 |
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Ray
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03/18/2012 13:26 |
Mike,
Who gets the credit for writing this text?
Thanks,
Ray
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Kris
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03/22/2012 12:11 |
Very powerful. I also would like to know who wrote this.
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Davidwayne Lackey
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03/22/2012 22:00 |
Very good Mike loved this sermon. Is this one of yours?
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Catholica
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03/23/2012 08:55 |
It is a mistake to state that Jesus had faith. Jesus had no need of faith. He was God (and man), not just man. Faith is a virtue, a gift from God, evidence of things not seen. Jesus was both God and man, and He did not need faith. I think that is the danger in this article. It is equating Jesus with being just a man.
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Craig from Illinois
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03/23/2012 13:28 |
Google claims the source is by Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986)written in 1972 for the Worldwide Church of God.
Offered as a free educational service by
Church of the Great God
PO Box 471846
Charlotte, NC 28247-1846
(803) 802-7075
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gloria
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03/24/2012 15:48 |
Very powerful! Thank you for posting.
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Davidwayne Lackey
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03/24/2012 19:05 |
Thanks Craig. I have heard of Armstrong but never looked into him before. Going to do that now to see what he was all about.
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