How Does Faith Work?

Do you wish you had more faith? How can you increase your faith?

Everything that we receive from God comes to us the same way from God, by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8-9). Our faith in the promises of God is not what buys the blessings of God...it is only the hand that receives it.  It’s God’s grace alone that provides His goodness in our life. None of us can ever be good enough to deserve God’s grace.  In Romans 12:3 Paul says that God has given us ALL the same measure of faith.  You have enough faith to do whatever God has called you to do in life. Your faith may seem weak because you may not be using it for much. Or it may be weak because you’re only using it in certain areas. Many people only use their faith for having their sins forgiven and hoping to go to Heaven some day. You can ask God for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING.  “But what if I ask Him for the wrong thing?” you may ask.  Then you won’t get it.  God wants us to come boldly to the throne and ask BIG. He is a BIG God and He loves to give.  If we ask for something that He knows is not good for us at the time He will not give it to us. Or He will prepare our hearts to receive it so that it will not destroy us. You can use your faith to overcome your past. Faith changes you from a victim to a new creation in Christ. 1 Corinthians 1:27 says that God purposefully uses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. He wants the world to look and say “there is no way you could do that.” Then He wants the world to watch it happen through you so that only HE can get the credit.  This is exactly what happens each time our 5’6  daughter Kaeli jumps 30 inches in the air to spike the volleyball. God has created her for signs and wonders leaving no doubt that it is HE that is doing it through her.  People are constantly asking the question “HOW does she do that? IN CHRIST is always our response. He puts HIS “super” on our “natural” equipping us to do things we could never do on our own.

There are certain ways that faith will work and certain ways it will not work. In Philemon 1:22 Paul is writing to Philemon about a runaway slave that became a spiritual son of Paul’s…. “And one thing more: Prepare a guest room for me, because I hope to be restored to you in answer to your prayers.” Paul was going to send him back and wanted to make sure Philemon would receive him back graciously and not punish him for running away. Paul wrote this letter from prison to Philemon and had no idea when he was going to get out. Paul had faith in the power of prayer. He believed that if others prayed for him that it would open the doors for him to be released from prison. Don’t pray if you’re not going to pray in faith.  When you pray have simple childlike faith...faith that God hears you and that God will give you what you are asking for.  And if you are asking for the wrong thing He will give you something better.  He told Philemon in this scripture to prepare a guest room for him in expectation of his visit.  So we can see that Paul EXPECTED to be released from prison.

Do you understand the power of expectation? Faith should have an active, aggressive expectation with it.  Paul believed that if they prayed for him that he would be released from prison so they might as well prepare a room for him to stay in when he visited.  He was THAT SURE that their prayers would be answered. We call women that are pregnant EXPECTANT mothers. When you’re pregnant with a desire, a goal for your life, a dream to to free from bondage, a dream to do something great for God...whatever it might be...you’ve got to be expectant.  A lot of people expect nothing and therefore get nothing. A lot of people are living with a “well let’s see what happens attitude. You never know what God is gonna do.” Don’t EVER live like that! You can never expect too much from God!!!  Isaiah 30:18 says “And therefore the Lord (earnestly) waits (expecting, looking and longing) to be gracious to you; and therefore He lifts Himself up. That He may have mercy on you and show loving-kindness to you. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) are all those who (earnestly) wait for Him, who expect and look and long for Him (for His victory…”  In other words, the Lord is sitting on His throne in Heaven looking, waiting, expecting, searching for someone that He can be good to.  But He can only be good to someone who is waiting on Him...looking, longing and expecting Him to be good to them.

What are YOU expecting? More of what you had in the past? More trouble? More disappointment?  Are you expecting to get laid off at work because you heard there is going to be a lay off? Even if you get laid off expect God to give you a better one than you lose.  And don’t wait until you are over your head with the problem...start expecting NOW!  You need to VOICE your expectation. When you’re full of expectation you talk about what you are expecting...you don’t talk about what you got.  Psalm 27:14 says “Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring. Yes, wait for and expect the Lord.” Isaiah 40:31 says “But those who wait on the Lord Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.”  The word “wait” in Hebrew means to look, long for and expect the Lord. While you’re waiting on God you may not being doing anything physically because you have a situation in life that you can’t do anything about.  While you may not be active in doing something to solve your problem you are very active spiritually. Never be passive spiritually.  Stay very active spiritually in expecting God…”I’m expecting a breakthrough. Maybe today is the day.” You can even use your imagination to dream big and imagine what life is going be like when my breakthrough comes because you know its on its way. Faith is full of expectation.

FAITH IS ONLY THING THAT PLEASES GOD.  Hebrews 11:6  says “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and He is the rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him.”  God doesn’t want you to just believe He exists. He wants you to believe aggressively that if you study the word, seeking Him, praying on a regular basis and abiding in Him that you can expect a reward. If  you serve God payday is always coming! He wants you to EXPECT A REWARD!  He promises over and over again that if we do the right thing and make the right choices that we are going to have a reward in our life. Maybe you are in a sowing time in your life right now.  The sowing and plowing times are not all that exciting. But a farmer never sow’s without having a harvest in mind. He sows because he is expecting a harvest. He doesn’t go out plowing, digging the rocks up,  planting the seeds and watering the land for nothing. He is expecting a harvest. We need to sow in expectation.  This doesn’t mean that we financially sow into the kingdom of God just to get something. Our motive should be that we give so that someone might be blessed and to honor God.  But we should still sow with expectancy...releasing our faith that we are doing what God is asking us to do... therefore we can trust Him to meet all of our needs according to His riches and glory in Christ.  Giving is just plain smart because you are sowing into your future. Works done without faith don’t please God. It’s only what we do IN FAITH that He is pleased with. We do it to glorify Him.

Romans 14:23 says that whatever is not faith is sin. Anything we do that we are not doing in faith is sin.  Worry is sin. Fear is sin. Complaining is sin. This is why we need to regularly THANK JESUS for the forgiveness of our sins and that we are continually cleansed by the blood of Christ.  Don’t do anything you don’t have peace about. Don’t get pushed into doing things by your friends that you know that you shouldn’t be doing. If you don’t feel right about watching a certain show on TV or going to see a certain movie then don’t watch it.  If you can’t go in faith don’t go. We all need to challenged by the word.  The Holy Spirit will never condemn us, He corrects us through conviction. We should thank God for convicting us. Learn how to be glad that you have that kind of fellowship with the King of King and Lord of Lords.  He loves you enough not to leave you in the mess you are in.

What should we put our faith in? What should we not put our faith in? Faith has to be based on God’s word.  We all have faith and we all get to decide what to put that faith in.  That decision is entirely up to us. You can put your faith in yourself.  This is what this new age movement is all about...faith in YOU! It’s all about ME!  I tried this for many miserable years...it does not work! You can put all of your faith in people. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t trust people but it does mean we can’t put our faith in them. People will disappoint you and let you down. We have no ability not to disappoint one another because we aren’t perfect. So don’t give trust to people that belongs only to God.  You can trust them but don’t go too far. We are all human, make mistakes and are fallible. We can’t handle that type of pressure. Only God is capable of never hurting us or disappointing us.

Don’t put your faith in the world’s system.  Our country was made great because the men and women who came here depended on God.  As a nation we must get back to depending on God. You can’t depend on your job, your 401K or your savings to take care of you. Depend on God.  We often look for the wrong source to take care of us when we should always be looking to God. When you put your faith in HIM to provide for you, you open up this wide door of many opportunities for God to bless you. Some of you are only looking at one source...your job,. You need not to look at your job but look at God. You need to say to God…”I don’t care what anyone else won’t give me. If you want me to have something  no devil in Hell or no person on earth is going to keep me from getting it.”  So our faith must be based on God. You should know His word well enough to know His promises. It’s wise to fill your prayers full of God’s word. Pray His word back to Him.  Remind God. The prophets did it all the time. They were always reminding Him of what He said. Say...”God you said you would meet ALL of my needs and I am expecting you to do that.  I thank you for it. God you promised that if I would train my children in the way they should go then when they were older they wouldn’t depart from it. So whatever they are right now I’m believing they are coming back.”

God has given each one of us a measure of faith. With His grace you can use your faith to achieve things you could never achieve on your own.  Each time you use your faith it gets stronger and becomes an effective tool in your life.  Faith prays bold prayers, dreams big dreams and expects God to deliver.  Faith is the language of God. It is the currency of Heaven and the only things that pleases Him.  Release your faith today my friend and expect God's grace to flow into every area of your life!

Speak it, believe it and receive it!  God Bless You!

In Christ, Sherry :-)

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