BEING STRONG IN FAITH
(week 17/17)
(week 17/17)
OLUBI JOHNSON
In our last article we saw that our Father Abraham was strong in faith giving glory to God being fully persuaded that God was able to give life to his functionally dead 100 year old body and Sarah’s 90 year old ‘dead’ womb
This week, we will see HOW, like Abraham we are to be strong in faith, giving glory to God and so experience resurrection life in our mortal bodies.
Now what is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 AMP: NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
True faith perceives as real fact what is invisible or not revealed to the physical senses.
Ephesians 1:18 AMP: By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light,
Now this light is brought to our minds as we hear and read God’s Word:
Psalms 119:130 KJV: The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.
This is why faith comes by hearing God’s Word. The more light in your mind, the more real invisible spiritual things will be to you and so the stronger your faith!
Doubt comes when the light in your mind grows dim and so you no longer ‘see’ or believe spiritual realities. So to keep your faith strong, you must constantly keep the Word of God entering into your mind by daily reading and hearing the Word.
Abraham was strong in faith because God’s Word to him that he would be the father of many nations as pictured by the stars in the sky (Genesis 15.4-6) was real to him and he knew that the God Who made the stars in the sky had the power to give life to his ‘dead’ 100 year old body!
Now, true faith also speaks to release the power of God to create and bring into physical manifestation invisible spiritual realities:
2 Corinthians 4:13 KJV: We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak;
Furthermore, in the New Testament, true faith will release MORE power and wisdom to overcome Satanic opposition that is seeking to hinder the Word we have spoken and are speaking to come into physical manifestation:
Ephesians 6:11-12 KJV: Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. (12) For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:18 KJV: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
Jude 1:20 KJV: But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
We pray in the spirit: with tongues (1 Corinthians 14.2) and groanings (Romans 8.26) ON THE FOUNDATION of the FAITH we have released AFTER speaking God’s Word! To be strong in faith, we need to pray in the spirit REGULARLY (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly (1 Chronicles 23.31) depending on what we are praying about) UNTIL the Word of God we are speaking comes into physical manifestation
Finally, true faith will be constantly giving glory to God like Abraham, by thanking God AS PERSON as we speak God’s Word and pray in the Spirit; we are thanking the God by whose mercy and grace, life and power is being released in our speaking and praying to cause spiritual realities to be birthed into physical manifestation.
Doing this, causes the operation of faith to be more than a mechanical operation of principles and to include a personal fellowship with a living God, giving us joy and strength.
Colossians 4:2 KJV: Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
So to be strong in faith, like Abraham was, we must be strong in:
Seeing the invisible, speaking the Word, praying in the Spirit and in thanksgiving!
As we do this, we, like Abraham faced the fact that his body was dead, face the present realities of the physical facts in our situation; but we know that these physical facts are GRADUALLY being changed by the invisible power of God to cause God’s will to come into physical manifestation.
2 Corinthians 4:18 KJV: While we look not at the things, which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things, which are, seen are temporal; but the things, which are not seen, are eternal.
Over time, what we see will be changed: reconfigured by God’s power to what God has said AS we continue to REMAIN STRONG IN FAITH.
Hebrews 6:12 KJV: That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
Hebrews 10:36 KJV: For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.
The time interval can vary from situation to situation for example:
It took about 24 hours for the fig tree Jesus cursed to wither (Matthew 11.12-14, 20).
It took 3 days for Esther and Mordecai’s fasting and prayer to change Haman’s decree to kill all the Jews in Persia (Esther 4.16-7.10).
It took 3 weeks for the answer to Daniel’s fasting and prayer to come (Daniel 10.2-7-14).
It took Abraham 25 years for his body to change to give birth to Isaac (Genesis 12.4- 17.1-27; 21.1-3).
So, let us stay strong in faith until God’s grace and mercy THROUGH our faith releases the power of God in sufficient measure to bring into physical manifestation what God has promised!
