Living By Faith (Lesson Two) What does it Mean to Live By Faith? Ricardo Rick Pina Victory Gospel Experience (VGE), Camp Victory, Iraq Wednesday Night, 5:30pm (January 14 th, 2009) Introduction: In our last lesson, the first lesson in this series, we established the foundation. Now you know: What faith is: An expression of confidence in God and/or in His Word. Why we need faith: To please God. And that Faith does not have to make sense. Probing Questions: How do you live your life? Who are you? Where are you going? How will you get there? How do you approach challenges? What is the foundation for your character? What foundation do you stand on? What drives the decisions you make? How do you spell success in life? What is the basis upon which you raise your children? What is holding your marriage together? The answers to these questions basically make up who you are. Now ask yourself, did your answers change AFTER giving your life Christ? (1 Thes 5:23) And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are tripartite beings: 1. I am a spirit. 2. I possess a soul. 3. I live in a body. When I came to God: 1. My spirit was saved (or changed) instantly: By God s Holy Spirit connecting with my spirit. (Romans 8:16 AMP) The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God. 2. My soul is saved (or changed) progressively: That is the focus of our lesson today. 3. My body will be saved (or changed) eventually: (1st Corinthians 15:52-54 CEV) It will happen suddenly, quicker than the blink of an eye. At the sound of the last trumpet the dead will be raised. We will all be changed, so that we will never die again. Our dead and decaying bodies will be changed into bodies that won't die or decay. The bodies we now have are weak and can die. But they will be changed into bodies that are eternal. Then the Scriptures will come true, "Death has lost the battle! Key #1: For Born-Again believers, the emphasis should now be on our soul. Our spirit has been changed and our body will be changed, but our soul (mind, emotions, and will) is being changed. 1
We must submit to the process of changing, of learning to live by receiving and responding to the Word of God, in order to Live By Faith! (Romans 12:2 KJV) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Some people are asking God to deliver them from some things that they simply need to renew their mind on. Once your mind is renewed in a particular area, then you don t struggle with it anymore, you simply move on. Explain: Subconscious programming. Answering the question: What does it mean to live by faith? We will look at three things tonight: 1. Your input what you allow in your heart. 2. Your output the words you speak. 3. Your capacity to believe what it in the realm of possible for you! Your Input (What you allow in Your Heart) Key #2: To live by faith you must fill your heart (deposit) with faith or with the Word. What are you listening to? What you continually receive will eventually get down in your heart! What is in your heart? (Luke 6:45) A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Explain the litmus test. What s in you abundantly has to come out of you eventually. Who are you listening to? Credible Authority Figures: This is very important. Your mind normally filters what you hear, based upon the relevance of the person who stated it. For example, if a person you do not consider credible makes a statement that you disagree with, you simply blow it off. The statement will not mean much to you, because the person did not mean much to you. However, if a person you consider credible says something you disagree with, then you will seriously consider the source. It may be that you are wrong in that area and that you need to research it for a possible change. If you want to renew your mind you will need to release a rite of passage to people that you consider very credible in the Word of God. When you first come to God you do not know much about the Word, so many things will not make sense. Those persons you know truly have a relationship with God and truly teach the Word with accuracy and clarity are people that you can give a rite of passage to. Key #3: A rite of passage means that you lower your natural defenses when you hear from these people and you seek to apply what they say to your life; expecting to receive similar results. 2
(Heb 13:7 CEV) Don't forget about your leaders who taught you God's message. Remember what kind of lives they lived and try to have faith like theirs. What kind of credible authority figures did you have in the past? What did they teach you? If you want change you might have to change your authority figures! My Life: I changed the people that I gave a rite of passage to. Some of my uncles and credible authority figures in my family told me things that did not line up with the Word of God; I had to deny them access to my soul and give access to a new set of people like my Pastor and other Ministers I considered credible. (Romans 10:17) So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. When you connect with the right Pastor, you hear the right Word, and you are able to grow your faith. If you hear the Word of God you grow your faith. If you hear the word of satan, you grow your fear. Fear moves satan, faith moves God! Your Output (The Words you Speak) (Luke 6:43-45 CEV) A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. You can tell what a tree is like by the fruit it produces. You cannot pick figs or grapes from thornbushes. Good people do good things because of the good in their hearts. Bad people do bad things because of the evil in their hearts. Your words show what is in your heart. 1. The words you speak are a litmus test for the condition of your heart (deposit). 2. Daily, your words are telling everyone who you are. 3. If you don t like the message your words are portraying about you, then it is time to change. 4. To change your words you must change your heart (deposit). 5. To change your heart (deposit) you must change your input: what you see and hear. 6. If you can change your input you can change the condition of your heart; if you can change the condition of your heart you will change the quality of your words; if you can change your words you can change your life! (Prov 18:21) Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Notice that the Word does not say that death and life are in the power of satan. Notice that the Word does not say that death and life are in the power of God. It says that death and life are in the power behind what you speak! Key #4: To Live by faith you must learn to speak the language of faith! 3
(Ps 45:1 CEV) My thoughts are filled with beautiful words for the king, and I will use my voice as a writer would use pen and ink. The KJV says, My tongue is like the pen of a ready writer. If your words are governing your life and they are then shouldn t you choose your words wisely? If your tongue is writing the book of your life, then what kind of book are you writing? I like to say, If I am writing the book, then I will always write that I WIN! Key #5: Your words of prayer, must be followed by words of faith!. You can t pray faith in the morning and then speak doubt all day and think your prayers will come to pass. Your Capacity to Believe (What is in the Realm of Possible for You!) (Mark 9:23 GW) Jesus said to him, "As far as possibilities go, everything is possible for the person who believes." Key #6: You are only limited by your capacity to believe. If you believe you can or you believe you can t, either way, you are right. If we can believe it, it is possible that we can receive it. If we don t believe it, it is simply impossible for us. Case in point: by the 1950s, track and field running times had been documented for hundreds of years; dating back to the Greek games. There was no record of anyone ever running a mile in under 4 minutes. Dating back to the beginning of all recorded athletic history, not one human had ever accomplished this feat. It was considered humanly impossible. Why? Because no one believed they could do it. On May 6th, 1954, the Englishman Roger Bannister did the seemingly impossible and ran the first sub-four-minute mile in recorded history (3 min. 59.4 sec.). Wow! He did what no had ever done. In hundreds of years of runners not one person had done it. How long do you think his record stood? Not even two months. Six weeks later, John Landy, an Australian, ran a mile in 3 minutes and 58 seconds and broke Bannister's record. Why? Because once Bannister did it, he believed he could. Since 1954 over a thousand runners have followed suit. Once they expanded their capacity to believe they were able to receive the seemingly impossible. The Bible is full of people who had to expand their capacity to believe so God could do what He wanted to do in their lives: Naaman had to believe God was able to heal an incurable disease. Gideon had to believe God was able to enable his 300 to defeat several armies. Abraham had to believe God was able to still give a baby to a 100 yr. old man and a 90 yr. old woman. Are you limiting God? If you are not careful, you can limit God with your inability to believe. 4
(Mat 13:58) And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief. Jesus was God incarnate. Jesus had complete power of satan, sin, and sickness. Jesus exercised the power of God over the power of Satan. But when He went home to Nazareth, the people there could not BELIEVE that He was the Son of God. Their unbelief actually limited God from moving in their lives. Are you doing the same thing? Key #7: Never allow logic, reason, or common sense to force you to put a NO where God has already put a YES! In summary: If you listen to the Word (input), speak the Word (output), and take all the limits you have off of your limitless God (believe), then you will be able to LIVE BY FAITH! Closing Confession of Faith: Father, I fill the deposit of my heart with Your Word. I give rite of passage to the righteous men and women that You have ordained to speak into my life. I hear from You, through them. My faith is built up by hearing Your Message. My heart gets so full with Your Word that I find myself speaking Your Word daily. I speak Your Word over every circumstance and situation in my life. I speak to mountains and they move, because I speak by faith. I remove all the artificial limits that I had on my limitless God. I expand my capacity to believe. Nothing is impossible for me, because I seek You to manifest Your glory in my life daily. I believe, I receive, I declare, I expect, and I see the manifestation of Your goodness in my life. I live by faith and I will not stop! In Jesus name. Amen! 5