We have been preaching on faith, that is, what faith ca

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1 By R.G. Hardy We have been preaching on faith, that is, what faith ca do, and how to use faith. But the Lord impressed upon me that I never really explained to you what faith is. It is very important that you know what faith is. For Christians it is the most important thing in reference to our relationship and response to God. Why? For the just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). This is the bottom line, because if you are not operating in faith, you are spiritually dead. righteous shall live by faith, not by anything else, not by works: Not by works righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us... (Titus 3:5). For by grace are you saved through faith; and not yourselves: It is the gift God. Not works lest any man should boast (Eph. 2:8-9). Greek text means that faith is the agent salvation. It is what saves me. God s grace brings salvation; that s His part: For the grace God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men (Titus 2:11). My part and your part are to by faith receive that salvation. It s a free gift, but by faith only we receive it. It s like when somebody gets a notice in the mail that says, We have a free gift for you, but you must bring this number to receive it. No one can get that free gift unless he has the number. God says, I have a free gift for you, but you must bring the number faith. We need to investigate what faith is, because Hebrew 11:6 says, Without faith it is impossible to please God. For he that cometh to him must believe that he is, and is a rewarder those that diligently seek him. I have researched various lexicons for the definition faith. n God said to me, Check your book Abraham s Kind Faith. When God gave me this revelation, I thought I was really strong in faith, but it revolutionized my faith. re are all kinds faith, and I have a whole chapter on the different kinds faith in this book. But the only faith that is going to please God is the same kind Abraham had. He was the first one to use that kind faith; that s why he s called the father faith (Rom. 4:16). He used that faith to believe God, and God said, I m going to count your faith as righteousness (vs 22). If we follow in the faithful foot steps our faithful father Abraham, and have faith, God will account it to us as righteousness. WHAT AITH IS To have faith in someone means to take him at his word, to rely upon the promises another, and to put absolute trust in a person without question or doubt as to his faithfulness to perform it. In the O. T. the term most ten used is trust. words faith, believe, and trust are basically all synonyms and simply mean to confide in so as to be secure without fear. I confide and I trust in God, and I am delivered from fear. Faith makes me secure, and I don t have anything to be afraid. If I have faith in God, who do I have to be afraid? That s what David said in the Psalms, I believe in God; Lord is my salvation, whom shall I fear? I will not fear what man can do unto me! My faith is in God, I am secure. Secure means safe. devil can t do anything to me. Lord is on my side; My faith has made me secure, because I have placed it in someone, and that someone is God and His Word.

2 Secure means to flee for refuge to, or to take shelter, to put your faith in. In the time trouble, what do you do? I flee to the Rock. David prayed, When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I (Ps. 61:2).When he needed somebody to scatter his enemies, he fled to the Rock. He said, Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident (Ps. 27:3). When I need to be lifted up, I go to the Rock. Faith comes by hearing God s Word, which means you need to quote it to yourself, not read it. David said his righteousness: His delight is in the law (the Word God) and in that law he doth meditate day and night... (Ps. 1:2). Hebrew for meditate means that he muttered and quoted it to himself. When the devil comes and says something to me, you know what I do? God brings the Scripture to counteract it, and I quote it. I quote it to myself, and then I quote it to the devil! To trust in God is to put faith in Him. This means as to stay or rest upon or in somebody or something. You put your trust in it, and then you rest. Who do you put your trust in? I put it in God, and then I m resting. God never loses anything or anyone! That s what Jesus said when He was praying in Gethsemane. In His moment greatest test, instead being selfish and praying for Himself, moaning, murmuring and complaining, He prayed for us! He said, Father, these that you have given me out the world, I have kept in thy name and none them is lost, but the son perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 12:11-12). Jesus said, I lost none them. Shortly thereafter, Peter denied the Lord three times, just like Jesus knew that he would, but He said to Peter before he ever did it, Satan hath desired to have you; that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed the Father that your faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren (Lk. 22:32). He knew Peter would have a weak moment. Sometimes you and I have weak moments. I don t care who you are, we grow in the grace and the knowledge the Lord (2 Peter 3: 18). Faith comes by the knowledge the Lord, and our faith gets stronger as we know more the Word God. But sometimes we waver and we are in doubt, and it catches us at a wrong time. You might not feel good physically, and it s hard at that stage to use faith. Or you might be under severe mental pressure, and it s hard then to use faith. When you are in church and the power God is falling, it s easy to believe then. But get in the pit, or be surrounded like David was, or be tied up like Samson was, or be in the lion s den like Daniel was, or be in the fiery furnace like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were, and it s a little harder then! But they had faith, and they kept the faith, and their faith, trust in God, kept him! God s record is that He s never lost anybody! When Peter denied Jesus three times, that meant he backslid. It didn t make any difference that he was called to be an apostle. Jesus said to him, Satan has desired to sift you like wheat. In their day, they separated the wheat from the chaff by running wagon wheels over it to crush the grain. n they winnowed or fanned it and blew the chaff away. David said, ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away (Ps. 1:4). And when the wind comes, it blows the chaff away and leaves the wheat. Jesus actually said, Satan desires to crush you. devil desires to crush everyone us, but Jesus interceded for us at Gethsemane. John recorded His prayer in verse 20: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also that shall believe on me through their word. That includes me and you! I don t see how I can fail when the Lord interceded for me. Jesus said to Peter, I prayed the Father, and I asked the Father, because I knew you were going to come to this. But when you are converted, strengthen the sheep. Faith is to place our trust in God, and then to stay or rest on it, to believe and take Him at His word. Faith means to take one at his word, because you are only as good as your word. If

3 your word is no good, you are no good. If I can t take you at your word, what can I base my trust on, if I can t believe what you say? We put our confidence in what God has said in His Word. God said that every man is a liar, but God is true. Truth is God s character. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, the life (John 14:6). WHERE AITH IS Where are you placing your faith? You are not to place your faith on feelings, because feelings - emotions are produced by your thoughts, and if your thoughts are not governed by the Word God, they are false and counter productive. Just because something is a fact does not always mean that it is truth! A thousand years ago, people believed the earth was flat. That is a fact, but it was not the truth! Neither should you place your faith on sight. old saying is, the hand s quicker than the eye, and many things you think you see, are only illusions. That s why we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor. 4:8). You put your faith in God and His Word, because He is His Word. You are your word, and God is His Word. God said that He cannot lie, and not only that, but His Word cannot fail. Remember, He that cometh to God must believe that He is. In other words, is He omnipotent? Is He all powerful? Can He do it? You must get this settled first! refore, you know you are coming to a God who cannot fail, who cannot lie. You are coming to God who, if you need something that is not even in existence, can create it, and He will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory (Phil. 4:19). Everything is predicated on faith, because it is the medium exchange by which we receive from God. You have to deposit or place that faith in God. Paul said, I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed (deposited) unto Him (2 Tim. 1:12). He then exhorted Timothy Keep that good thing (deposit) that was committed (deposited) unto you by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us (2 Tim. 1:14). In both these verses the word committed means to deposit. y are actually banking terms, and this is a good way to illustrate what to trust means: I might believe that a particular bank is a wonderful place to deposit or invest my money. I might believe that if I would entrust my money to them, their specialists would invest my money and earn me a dividend, and make me money. I could agree to that. I could even tell other people, Hey, this is a sound bank. y are giving good interests rates, and their track record is great. I can believe in this, but until I make a deposit in that bank, I don t actually trust in them. I can read all the banking brochures to find the best interest I can get on my money. Some banks give small percentages, but not God. He gives some 30, some 60, and some 100 fold. I mean, if you are frugal and want to make money, give it to God! That s not 100 percent it s 100 times! 100 percent would mean you duplicate your amount: You give a dollar, and you get two dollars back. But 100 times means you give God a dollar, and He gives you 100 dollars back! You want to put your faith into something that has a good track record? That s the Word God that has never failed. re s not one time in the Bible that anybody put their faith in God and believed, and He failed. Nobody can say, God, I believed and You failed me. In the early part my Christian experience, I told God on several occasions, You failed me, and as soon as I got the words out my mouth, everything I asked for came to pass. How do you think I felt? I felt stupid! What God did, was take me so far to see just how far I would go without doubting. n He would know how much pressure and how much a ministry to give me at that time. I m glad He didn t give me the ministry that I have now in those early days, because I would have blown it. As I said, we grow in grace and knowledge, and every experience stretches our

4 faith a little further. Jesus told His disciples right before He went to the cross, I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when the Spirit truth is come, he will guide you into all truth (deeper truth)... and he will shew you things to come (John 16:12-13). IN WHOM AITH IS Paul said, I know whom I have believed! To believe is to take one at his word, to rely upon the promises another, and to put absolute trust in a person without question or doubt to his faithfulness. God has to keep His Word, because part His character is that He is faithful. Faithful is He that has called you, who also will do it, Paul said (1 s. 5:24). One song writer said, Great is thy faithfulness... Do you know that He is faithful? That you can depend on Him? You can t say that about many people, can you? Many are not faithful. y wonder why God doesn t use them. If you are not faithful, God cannot and will not use you, because the first requirement a steward is that he be found faithful (1 Cor. 4:2). I had some workers say to me, Brother Hardy, you re not fair. You get this person to do this all the time. I said, Yeah, because I know I can count on them. When I want something done that s important, I give it to somebody that when I go away, I don t have to worry, because I know he or she is faithful. Faith is also defined as a union assurance, conviction, the accounting or reckoning a thing as though it was already done. This means that when you believe for something, you act like it s done. Whatsoever things you desire when you pray, believe (or act like) you receive them, and you shall have them (Mk. 11:24). Faith counts that whatsoever as already done. James 1:5-8 states: If any you lack wisdom, let him ask God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. As long as you are vacillating between faith and doubt, you are double-minded. You are not resting in faith, and you are being tossed like a cork on the waves. In this state, your prayers are hindered. WHAT AITH IS NOT Faith is not believing God only when things seem possible; that s mere sense knowledge, but faith believes in the God with Whom all things are possible (Mk. 10:27). What is impossible with man becomes I-M-Possible with God, because His Name is I AM! (Ex. 3:14). Faith is not moved with conditions that are contrary in the natural and never wavers or questions in the least anything that seems contradictory. Rather, it looks at the fulfilment the unseen promise for which you are believing God. Faith is not swayed by what it sees, what it feels naturally. It keeps on believing, counting the impossible as possible, counting the things which are not seen as though they are. This is contrary to our sense knowledge which is always trying to see if anything exists. When in reality, it doesn t matter if it exists, because God, if I need it, will create it. Faith is not feeling that your prayers are answered. Again, this is sense knowledge. Faith is never based on what you are feeling or any physical evidence. If you are praying for healing, and when you get up from prayer you feel worse, you don t base your faith on that, but on the fact the completed word. You must base your faith on Thus saith the Lord, and not anything else.

5 Whenever God makes a promise to you, and you meet the condition the promise, nothing can prevent the fulfilment it. It must come, because God doesn t lie and He keeps His promises. For all the promises in Him are yea and amen in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 1:20). If it didn t come, God would be a liar, and God is not a liar. He said, Let every man be a liar, but let God be true (Rom. 3:4). When God promises you something, and you believe, then to God it is done. It has to come to pass no matter what smoke screens natural sense knowledge brings. That s why you must be spiritual. For the natural man receives not the things the Spirit God, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned (2 Cor. 2:14). If you are carnal, and pray a carnal prayer, it doesn t even get above your lips, and you re not going to receive. Faith accepts no negative feelings, no evidence contrary to what God has said. When God makes a promise, the fulfilment the promise might not exist at the time the promise is made, but it s guarantee does. You must make a conscious decision to accept that fact. fulfilment the promise ten does not come immediately, but the believer is guaranteed at the moment the promise that God will fulfil the promise in His time. When you desire something that God has promised, get two or three Scriptures that cover your need. For in the mouths two or three witnesses every word shall be established (Matt. 18:16). n stand on these promises and refuse to be moved. THE REWARD OF AITH When you say, Amen to God and agree with His Word, in it s appointed time the promise will be manifested. For at the moment you believed, it s done in God s heart. Jesus said, If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you (Jn. 15:7). It s done. So what should you say? Your mother brought you up with good manners and taught you that when somebody gives you something, you are to say, Thank you. Thank You, Father.