Faith: belief, trust, confidence, conviction, strict adherence to duty and promises, word or honor pledged.

Faith without works is dead (James 2:26)

• inner and outer works

​Inner works - dealing with our hearts

• Going before the LORD in prayer and having Him weed out the areas that do not belong to Him.
• Repent, forgive yourself and others, and ask for forgiveness, receive it

​Outer works - walking out God's Word

• This is an action item. We must retrain ourselves to speak God's life giving/breathing Word, write it on our hearts (Jer. 31:33 "I will out my law in their minds and write it on their hearts...)and continually have it on our tongue. Continually going before Him in prayer, with supplication and thanksgiving (Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Th. 5:16-18)

We need to realize who we are on Christ 1st!

Shift the paradigm of our thinking!

Learn to have faith, believe and trust God at His Word, for who He is and what He says He will and can do!

2 Cor. 5:17,22; Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come! God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

Eph. 1:5,7; He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.

So it I am a new creation, I need to stop looking at who I used to be and be the new creation. A son/daughter of the Most High God! A brother to Jesus! A kingdom heir! Forgetting the past I press on towards the goal *(which is eternity)!

Forgetting what is behind and straining (to exert oneself, to exert to the utmost) towards what is ahead, I press (to push with force) on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 3:13-14)

HOW DO WE LOOK AT OUR CIRCUMSTANCES IN THE NATURAL?

• We see the bills come in, look at our account and then moan and groan because we do not have enough to pay them. We give ourselves a pity party.
• We believe that God is not looking out for us because we didn't get a check in the mail from Him.
• We believe that He does not hear our prayers because He did not answer (or so we think) them.
• We decide that we need to work this our ourselves and end up in worse shape than we were.

​Pro. 4:25; Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you (at JESUS)

I have to stop looking at what is going on around me and look at what the Word of God says about the circumstance. I have to make a conscience decision to praise God in every trial and tribulation (Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. James 1:2-3) No matter what is going on. Am I completely there? NO! If I was I would be in heaven seated next to Jesus watching you all. Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Thank Him for His Word and what He says for your particular trial. NO MATTER WHAT!!!

He is the GREAT I AM!

WE ARE IN THIS WORLD BUT NOT OF IT!

We have to stop looking at our trials/circumstances with our natural eyes. Often times then not our attention is on the wrong thing. Our trial/circumstance instead of God and what His Word says. ("I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. BUT take heart! I have overcome the world" John 16:33)

We have to shift focus. Instead of moaning and groaning and whoa is me. We need to be praising God for who He is ans what His Word says He can/will do! Minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. That bill comes in - thank Jehovah Jireh for His provision, then put it down and and thank Him every day as if you have already received it! (Now faith is sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Heb. 11:1)

"Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you". Phil 4:8-9

We live by faith, not by sight. 2 Cor. 5:7

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Cor. 15:57

And the kingdom is right here within us. The day we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we became kingdom dwellers. Jesus came to live within our hearts and HE is the kingdom of God! We may live on this big beautiful planet that God the Father created, BUT we most certainly are not i=of it anymore!

We must purpose to live by faith each and every day. We do not have a choice. God has provided the way so everyone can have faith.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for (thanking HIM for the provision for whatever you need), the evidence of things not seen (you will know them by their fruit - peace, joy, patience.....Matt. 7:16)

Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 1 Peter 5:8.

Yes roaring - I believe he really wants to make his presence known especially now with his time so short. The enemy is out to kill, steal, and destroy (the thief does not come except to steal, kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and they may have it more abundantly. John 10:10)

He does this by keeping us paralyzed by fear (false evidence appearing real) ( For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but power, of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Tim 1:7) Taking what is rightfully ours through Christ Jesus, and destroying us by our inactivity. (The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to turn one away from the snares of heath. Prov. 14:27. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. James 4:7)

We always hear, resist the devil and he will flee from you. BUT the most important part of this is the 1st part. Submit to God!! The devil is not going to flee from you if you are not submitted to God. What should he?! He doesn't have anything to lose. You're no threat to him. The only way to resist the devil is to be submitted to God. there is no other way!

I started off my faith walk with something small (If you have faith as a mustard seed....Luke 17:6). That was all the faith I had. I went before the LORD with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving and asked the LORD for a journal. And I thanked Him every day as if I had already received it. Mind you, I didn't tell anyone. About a week later a journal appeared on my desk wrapped in a gift bag. My God ROCKS!

Then I went larger. I needed gas in my car. So I prayed and thanked Him every day for gas. The needle never moved off a 1/4 tank and I went 498 miles on a tank. Of course I did get cocky and not listen to what the Holy Spirit told me to do and low and behold I ran out and had to be rescued.

Start small and work your way up. (But Jesus looked at them and said to them, "With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible". Mt. 19:26)

FAITH GROWS OUT OF THE WORD OF GOD

Faith is grasping the unrealities, the impossibilities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality. Hope says I may have it sometime or another. Faith says I have it right now, even though I cannot see it. Hope looks to the future. Faith looks to the here and now.

Faith says the same things that the Word of God says. Faith kept only in your heart will never bring your healing, the infilling of the Holy Spirit or an answer to your prayer. But faith in your heart and spoken our your mouth past your lips will bring marvelous results!

"Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,' move from here to there', and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you". Mt. 17:20

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Ro. 10:17

No matter how long it takes. This is how we build our faith. Will we stumble? YES! Will we fall? PROBABLY! The point is to pick yourself up , dust yourself off and pick up where you left off. Don't give up, don't quit! (His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Mt. 11:53)

What are you hearing? God's Word spoken out of your mouth? Or your negative, spirit breaking, hope killing words? Many are defeated by their negative confession. We are what we say! (But what does it say? "The Word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart." Mt. 10:8) that is the Word of faith we are proclaiming.

Why be buried under things we cannot handle ourselves? Why should you want to stay in a boat that is being tossed about by every wind of doctrine and circumstance (that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting. Eph. 4:14) when you can put your eyes on Jesus and walk on water! Many people fall because they see themselves fail. (Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Joshua 1:5)

We need to have the God kind of faith - we don't need to pray for it - we already have it - we need to exercise it! (For by grace given me I say to every one of you; Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Ro. 12:3)

I can't do it! YES, you can! (You can do all things through Christ who gives you strength. Phil. 4:13)

I can't learn! I can't change! YES, you can and you are!!! (You have the mind of Christ) You are already changed, a new creation since you accepted Jesus Christ as your LORD and Savior.  (Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Cor. 5:17) You are already changed. Whether you are hearing positive life giving Words or negative, spirit breaking, hope killing words - that is where your faith is. Faith is measured by our confession.

The tongue is also a fire, a word of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. James 3:6

Our lips can make us victorious or keep us in bondage. Our faith will never rise above the words of our lips. Learn to use words that will react upon your own spirit.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Ro. 10:10

"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go throw yourself into the sea', and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.' Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours". Mark 11:23-24

Believing and saying is the key to faith. Believe with the heart and say with your mouth.

Faith is measured by our confession. If your faith is in the wrong thing - what you have been hearing - it is time to switch lanes and get on the right hearing path. For our faith to work, we have to rely upon, have confidence in, the hope that, for safekeeping of, that which is in the care of God the Father. If you believe you will act. If you believe God's Word then you will act as though it is true. There are so many Christians today who believe what they feel, see, hear and can touch. Real faith cannot be felt, seen or touched in the natural, but is based upon the Word of God. Put your feelings last, God's Word first, and faith in God's Word second.

Many are defeated by their negative confessions. We are what we say. There is a confession of our heart and a confession of our lips, and when the two line up we become mighty in our prayer life.

The God kind of faith comes from hearing God's Word - out your mouth to your ears. Our actions have to line up with our believing if we are to receive from God. If we don't take God's Word and make it our own, then God had nothing to work with. God's Word does not return void. (...so is my Word that goes out from my mouth; it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. Is. 55:11)  If we never speak out His Word by faith He cannot answer!

By our actions we can be triumphant or defeated. We can receive from God or not - the choice is up to us.

Stop relying on yourself. (Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean (rely) not on your own understanding... Pro. 3:5). You cannot do it by yourself, God said I will never leave you nor forsake you. Joshua 1:5, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. Heb. 13:5. Turn to Him for help!

In order for this to happen we have to have a relationship with God that goes beyond our understanding or comprehension. 

​

Relate - to ally by kindred; to stand in some relation

Related - connected by blood; standing in some relation

Relation - connection; kindred; relative

Relationship - the sate of being related; kinship

Kindred - relationship by birth; affinity; relatives by blood; related; of like nature

In order to have a relationship with God, you need to be allied by affinity (resemblance), connected by blood (Jesus'), in the state of being related, of like nature (created in the image of God). Spending time withe the person of God the Father. We have been conditioned by our past and present circumstances. We put up walls, stay away from God as well as the people He has placed into our lives. We tend to isolate ourselves.

Blesses is he whose help in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord his God, the maker of heaven and earth, the seas and everything in them - the Lord, who remains faithful. Ps. 146:5-6.

Our perspective of other people and how they have treated us, disappointed us, etc. spills over into our relationship with God. We tend to view Him the same way. 

What so you do when your faith is challenged? Do you hunker down in your fox hole (prayer closet) and use your weapons (the Word of God) on the enemy, or do you surrender to the enemy? Give up, get depressed, angry, frustrated, etc. Our choices make a BIG difference in how we go through this life. Do we  get through with victory? Or do we go through with failure?

6 ENEMIES OF FAITH

1. Failure to understand what is means to be a new creature in Christ

2. Failure to understand our place in Christ

3. Failure to understand righteousness - God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21

4. Failure to understand our right to use the name of Jesus - In that day you will no longer ask me anything. I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name, until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. John 16:23-24

5. Failure to act upon the Word - real faith is the child of knowledge of God's Word

6. Failure to hole fast to our confession of faith - he taught me and said, "Lay hold of my words with all your heart; keep my commands and you will live...Pro. 4:5.

Mark 5:25-34

Say It!

Do It!

Believe It!

Receive It!

Tell It!

HOW CAN WE TRAIN OURSELVES TO BUILD OUR FAITH?

• Meditate on the Word of God
• Practice the Word of God
• Give the Word of God 1st place
• Instantly obey the voice of the Holy Spirit

​IT IS TIME TO PUT ON YOUR FAITH FACE AND TAKE A STAND!