This quotation is copyrighted material used by permission only from Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society.
The reason faith is so difficult is that Sense Knowledge has gained the ascendancy in our educational and religious life. Sense knowledge has all come through our physical contact with the world.
We have learned to trust so utterly in our eyes, our ears, the sense of touch, of smell, and the sense of taste, that spiritual things are hard to understand. It is easy to believe in things you see.
The crowds said about Jesus, “We see the miracles; now we believe in thee.” Thomas fell down at His feet when he saw the wounded side and the holes in His hands and feet he said, ‘Lord, I believe.” Jesus said, “Blessed are they who have not seen, yet believe.” The Master touched the heart of things there.
Faith is independent of Sense Knowledge.
Kenyon, E.W. (1997). In His Presence, Page 113
Lynwood, WA: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society, Inc.
I Corinthians 2:9-12 says, “what eye has not seen and ear has not heard and has not entered into the heart of a man, all that, God has prepared [made and keeps ready] for those who love Him, who hold Him in affectionate reverence, promptly obeying Him and gratefully recognizing the benefits He has bestowed, but God has revealed to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God. For who of men hath known the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Thus also the things of God knows no one except the Spirit of God But we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, so that we may know the things which have been given to us of God: freely [lavishly bestowed on us by God].”
Romans 4 compares what Abraham believed and went through to what we may believe and will go through. He is our model for receiving grace. Then Romans 4 compares us to David as another model for grace.
King David, a Hebrew descendant of Abraham, got into some terrible moral sin including murder and adultery. But God uses him as an example for us. Actually, our sin is really no better than David’s sin, even though it may be more socially acceptable. David was washed clean when he repented and became a hero of faith.
Abraham was part of a family that worshipped idols and the moon. But he heard the voice of God. He did not have a Bible, nor did he have any way of being sure it was God the Creator; somehow he trusted anyway. As a man without children, unable to have children, God promised him that he would inherit the earth through his children who would number up into the millions. Wow! How would you like to have been Abraham telling his best friend about what some invisible voice just told him?
Romans 4:18 says that even after his human reason for hope was gone, he continued to hope because he was fully satisfied and assured that God was able to keep His word and to do what He had promised. He grew strong when he praised God even when things looked bad. He came to realize that God called those things that were not seen as yet into existence by speaking of them as if they already existed.
This is called faith - Was God just a positive thinker? NO Way! He does not live contained in time; He lives in a realm where there is NO TIME. Another dimension called eternity; not a long time, but no time. So God sees what we call the future as if it were today, and then He can honestly call it into existence by speaking as if it were here now. He taught Abraham how to do this. He changed Abraham’s name from Abram, to Abraham, which means the father of a multitude. So he went around telling his friends, “Hey, you can’t see any of my kids yet, but just call me father of a bunch of kids.” This is not positive thinking, it is God cutting across time and asking us to help Him create things here on earth.
Faith is the invisible seed of the Word of God planted in a human heart. It is spiritual substance, it is real. Hebrews 11:1-2 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report.”
It lets us know that what we cannot see yet with our eyes really does exist in our heart, and somewhere in our future it will be made visible to our eyes. It is like having faith in a corn seed, you know if you take care of it, corn will grow into something you can see with your eyes.
What does faith do?
It puts us in touch with a supernatural government, a realm outside of time and space that we can’t see, but more real than what we can see. It puts you in touch with a realm that has warfare, dungeons, dragons, demons, angels, God, and The Lamb. “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels…” (Hebrews 12:22).
We contact the One who loves us more than we can imagine. Not only does He love you, but also He has the multi-dimensional power to carry out that love on your behalf.
It brings God’s character into your life. Read John chapter 6 especially verse 63. God’s words contain His blood covenant and His Spirit.
It brings God’s provisions into your life, like friends, spouses, material things, etc.
It brings God’s work into your life in order to bring His Kingdom to Earth.
Most of all, faith allows your inner eye to see and behold Jesus; that is the greatest reward!
How does faith come to you?
It is a gift from God; you cannot earn it. Ephesians 2:8 says, “For by grace you are saved through faith, and that is not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast.”
It comes by hearing God speak directly to you through His Word and Spirit. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Like in Mark 4, Luke 8 and Matthew 13, faith works like a planted seed. God’s Word is the seed; your heart is the soil. But it is only a seed, and you must make the choice to allow it to grow and bear fruit.
Sometimes Satan steals the seed, your faith, The Word, out of your heart by lust, things of the world, troubles and just having a “hard heart.” If we keep an honest heart by repenting each time we slip or have a bad attitude, the seed will grow into the plant and fruit for which it was intended.
Faith always carries some sort of “suffering” or persecution. When God promises you something, usually just the opposite happens at first. Are you going to believe and act in faith, or give in? It is your choice. Look at what Abraham did (Romans 4).
God will not give you more faith, more speaking to you, until you do something with what He already has given to you. If you ignore His voice, He will not speak new things to you.
The Law of Obedience. James 2:20, 1:22 and Matthew 7:24 all state that your faith will die if you do not act on it, or do something. Do what? Obey what the Word or The Lord is telling you. If you will make The Word Lord, Jesus Lord, then faith will work. God may be telling you not to watch so much junk TV, to get away from porno, to forgive someone or ask to be forgiven. He may be telling you to tithe, or whatever. It is custom made for you.
When one submits to another’s authority, the authority is obligated to care for the submitted one. When one does not submit to the authority of another the authority person is not obligated. Authority as defined by Jesus in the New Testament is not ruling over another, it is caring for another. Faith requires submission to authority.
The Law of Love. Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any strength, but faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).
Some Examples of faith.
Mary conceiving Jesus in Luke 1:38. The invisible seed or Word was spoke “into her” and she conceived. She said, “let it be unto me according to your Word.” By faith in God’s Word and by acting on the Word in submission to its’ authority, Mary conceived Jesus (God in the flesh), through a virgin birth!
The Centurion in Matthew 8 believed the Word of God. “And when Jesus had entered into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, beseeching Him, and saying, Lord, my son lies at home paralyzed and grievously tormented. And Jesus says to him, I will come and heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof; but only speak the word, and my boy will be healed. For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, Go! And he goes; and to another, Come! And he comes; and to my servant, Do this! And he does it. When Jesus heard, He marvelled and said to those who followed, Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say to you that many shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of Heaven. But the sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:5-12).
II Kings 5, the Syrian Naaman. This rich and proud commander of the Syrian army came to Elisha so he could be healed of leprosy. Elisha spoke the Word of God to him and told him to go dip in the Jordon 7 times. This made Naaman mad; he had clean rivers in his home country, why should he dip into a muddy river, he thought. Jordon stands for death. We need to die to our pride and obey the Word of God. He almost went away not healed, but a little Jewish maiden who was his servant prompted him to obey. 2 Kings 5:14 says, “And he went down and dipped seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God. And his flesh came again like the flesh of a little boy, and he was clean.”
What is the evidence of our faith? Is it how we feel? No. It is what comes out of our mouth. “And Jesus answering saith unto them, ‘Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them’” (Mark 11:22-24).
There are times in our lives when we do not feel faith. There are times when we feel just the opposite of faith. So what do we do? We prove our faith by speaking out what God said. We take the Word of God and quote it. That is what Jesus did in His weakest times. In His temptation, He drove the Devil away by quoting the Word. On the Cross He was quoting Psalm 22.
One good thing to remember about faith is that whatever God has ordained for our life has already been done. That gives us confidence when we do not “see” things. God wants us to enter into the rest of trusting Him and His Word. “For we who have believed do enter into the rest, as He said, ‘I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest;’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 4:3).
ISOB Discipleship Training Manual. Larry Chkoreff (WALK) (Faith)
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