12 The Triumph Of Faith
“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
Faith truly is assurance, it is also rest and it is triumph! When we choose to believe, we release God to work freely His miraculous life in us!
Let's Take A Close Look At The Scriptures
John 14: 12-14 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father. "And whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
In this passage of Scripture we are told by the Son of God that we can duplicate His miraculous life, yes, that is what He is saying when He says “ The works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do;” These are the very words of Jesus Christ. Not only did He say that we would do the works that He did, Heal the sick, raise the dead, open blind eyes, etc. etc. but He also said that we would do
GREATER WORKS THAN HE DID!!!
You might ask “How can this be? When you ask this question you are acting in unbelief! Yes, unbelief is very typical of most people, we need no practice to operate in unbelief. Look at how many times our Lord scolded His Apostles, for unbelief.
Matthew 17:16-20 "And I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him." And Jesus answered and said, "Oh unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me." And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured at once. Then the
disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" And He said to them,"Because of the littleness of your faith;
“For truly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, `Move from here to there,' and it shall move; and nothing shall be impossible to you.”
Did you understand what He just said?
Nothing shall be impossible to you.
Now, do you really believe what our Savior just said? Don't go into “mental assent” now. Do you really believe that nothing is impossible to him who truly believes?
Don't go any farther in reading this little tract until you address this question, for it is more than a question, it is an issue! A very important issue. What do you really believe? This issue is life and death, Heaven and Hell, peace and worry, etc.
True faith is true rest of soul. When we say we have faith in God, we are really saying that we KNOW that whatever God said would happen will actually happen, it can't be otherwise!
Let's look at another example
Matthew 6:30. "But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more do so for you, O men of little faith? Do you have confidence that God will work all things out for good, in your life? When we have faith we need not worry about all of the things that people worry about in this world, such as, health, finances, and things like these, the two that I mentioned above comprise most of the worries that people have. This is a significant demonstration that they have little or no confidence in God's promises. It doesn't matter whether they go to church or not, whether they profess to be Christians, or live their lives outwardly as pagans.
Nothing matters but this one proposition, that we either have all of our confidence in God, or we DON'T!
The truth of this issue will always settle things, this and this alone determines if we will take up a life filled with times of worry, or a life that continually rests in God.
Some Of The Things We Are Instructed Not To Worry About!
Matthew 8:24-27 And behold, there arose a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves; but He Himself was asleep. And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!" And He said to them, "Why are you timid, you men of little faith?" Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm. And the men marveled, saying, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?" The storms of life can often make men believe that they are about to perish, but if you have Jesus in the boat of life with you, there never is anything to really worry about, ever. Unless the type of unbelief that they demonstrated is alive in you and ruling in your life!
Sometimes In Weakness You Must Push Through!
Mark 5:24. And He went off with him; and a great multitude was following Him and pressing in on Him. And a woman who had had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse, after hearing about Jesus, came up in the crowd behind Him, and touched His cloak. For she thought, "If I just touch His garments, I shall get well." And immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Many people
have had the experience of going to doctors and hospitals and not receiving any benefit at all to their health, when this happens all too often they start to worry, instead of touching the fringe of His Holy garment. Be like this woman, say in your heart, “If I can touch even just the fringe of His garment . . . .”
Be Importunate, Don't Give Up!
Matthew 15:22-28 And behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region, and began to cry out, saying, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is cruelly demon-possessed." But He did not answer her a word. And His disciples came to Him and kept asking Him, saying, "Send her away, for she is shouting out after us." But He answered and said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and began to bow down before Him, saying, "Lord, help me!" And He answered and said, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." But she said, "Yes, Lord; but even the dogs feed on the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered and said to her, "O woman, your faith is great; be it done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed at once. Jesus didn't give her much hope when she first approached Him. But, she didn't give up, she humbled herself and received that which she asked for.
It Will Always Be According To What You Believe!
Matthew 9:27-29 And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out, and saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" And after He had come into the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am
able to do this?" They said to Him, "Yes, Lord." Then He touched their eyes, saying, "Be it done to you according to your faith." Do not think that Jesus is magic, and all you need is a touch from Him. Remember the woman with the issue of blood. Many people were brushing up against Jesus and “Touching Him” but she alone was healed at that time by contact. It will always be according to what you are believing. Do you believe that all you need is to touch the hem of the Master's garment? Then you will be victorious, this is because as you go your way it will always be according to your faith, not according to what you hope or wish will happen, but what you truly believe.
Be very certain of this fact, as you really and truly “Believe in your HEART,” not your mind, “so it shall be!”
Do You Really Believe That God Is Always On His Throne, Always Ruling
Philippians 4:6-7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
The word “anxious” in Philippians 4:6, is the Greek word “merimnao” Mer-im-nah-o (Strong’s reference # 3308) and has the same approximate meaning as the following words; “worry”, “anxiety”, “distress”, “uneasiness”, and “care”.
Matthew 8:9-10 "For I, too, am a man under authority, with soldiers under me; and I say to this one, `Go!' and he goes, and to another, `Come!' and he comes, and to my slave, `Do this!' and he does it. Now when Jesus heard this, He marveled, and said to those who were following, "Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel." What great faith! This man knew that Jesus
could not be anything but victorious! Do you believe as this man believed ? You will be blessed if you do. This is a faith that is rare today, but, this is the type of faith that always receives its desire, you can't pretend this type of faith. Remember, it always blesses God when we truly trust Him!
A Deeper Look At The Opposite Of Faith, Which Is Worry
What Is God’s Instruction To Us On The Subject Of Worry:
1) Don’t worry!
2) Pray with supplication
3) Pray with thanksgiving, (believe that God will answer your prayer)
4) Let your request be known to God.
Don’t Worry!
When we choose to worry, we testify that we have more confidence in ourselves and our ability to reason, than in God! We are saying, “Lord I don’t need your help. I’m a proud person and can handle this myself!” On the other hand watch what happens when we pray instead of worry.
1. First, we acknowledge the Lord in our life.
2. Second, we demonstrate our confidence in God.
3. Third, we open up the power of the living God in our lives, and can now expect that the God of all love will solve all of our problems.
Pray With Supplication
When we pray with supplication we are making an appeal to our Heavenly Father. We are showing our
dependence on the Lord. The Lord likes us to be dependent on Him, and it is good for us to acknowledge our dependence on Him!
Pray With Thanksgiving, Believing That God Will Answer Your Prayer
When we pray with thankfulness in our heart, we are demonstrating our faith. We believe that the problem is licked, and we are going to overcome. We have so much confidence in Almighty God, that we can smile in the midst of the storm! As we pray in this way, our hearts are lightened. We begin to realize that our problems with the things of this earth just aren’t that important, when compared with eternity.
Here Is A Good Place To Introduce Romans 8:28.
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [His] purpose.
Do you recognize this? All things work together for good, if you believe this, you can rest! In fact, you are resting! If you can’t rest, let me ask a question, “Do you love God?” Remember, the promise is “To those that love God”,
Read John 14:23 “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep my words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him.”
Do you “keep His words.” If your answer is no, this may be the problem. Jesus said this is the proof of our love to God; Keeping His words!
Let your request be known to God.
Even though the Lord knows all things, He expects us to make our requests known to Him. In this way, we acknowledge the Lord God as our heavenly Father. We let Him know that we trust and depend on Him.
Praying also gives us a close communion with the living God! What a privilege, to be able to carry our problems to a God who loves us, and is
able (unlike idols), to help us! If you choose to worry instead of praying, you only cheat yourself!
If you obey Philippians 4:6, you can expect to see the reality of Philippians 4:7 in your life.
“And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. “
Watch this, the problem is still laid out in front of you, it didn’t change, but somehow you have a deep abiding peace that is guarding your heart and mind. It is difficult to understand this peace from the world's point of view. In fact, you can’t understand it. It is flowing all over you, and it is wonderful. This peace that passes understanding is from God, the result of trusting in God as our Father.
This is faith to receive and BELIEVE the promises of our God.
You must remember that every triumph of Holy men of old was always accomplished by and through faith. Small insignificant men rose to great heights, not because they had greatness in them, but because they had great faith in the living and Almighty God!
A few examples of this that you may meditate upon.
1 Samuel 14:1-23
1 Samuel 16:1-13
1 Samuel 17:20-53
There are many, many more examples.