Faith has come!

The supernatural faith of God that is able to move mountains, that makes the impossible pos­sible, that never wavers and never fails to pro­duce results, has come and is LIVING within you!

God has imparted this supernatural faith to you so you will be able to live every moment, day after day, empowered, strengthened and sus­tained by this faith.

Before you can appropriate it in your life, how­ever, you must have a breakthrough in your understanding concerning how faith comes and how to receive it.

As you have already learned, faith is not a function of the natural mind. Man, with all his struggling, cannot manufacture or produce it. The reason the Church today is not operating in the powerful dimension of faith God intended, is because we have struggled and have tried to obtain it in our strength.

There is only one Source for faith and that is Jesus! Paul said we are to look to Jesus, Who is the “author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). Our faith begins and ends in Him. He is the One Who creates it. He is the One Who imparts it and He is the One Who brings it to full maturity.

How is it possible that man would ever think by his own natural ability, and by the power of his own mind, he could enter into the supernatural and possess the power which is the greatest power in the world…the power of faith!

Man has nothing in himself but that which he receives from above. Though we were to struggle for a million years, we would never be able to produce the power of faith.

When God created man, He created us with five natural senses: touch, taste, smell, hearing and seeing. He gave man these natural senses, but He did not give him the sense of faith as a natural life force. Why? Because Adam and Eve did not need faith. There was no need for faith because God came out of the heavens and com­muned with Adam and Eve. They walked and talked together. They did not need faith to believe in God.

Man was given a free moral will…the ability to choose. God did not force Adam and Eve to love and obey Him. He gave them a choice. When they used their will against God, their intimate fel­lowship was broken. Man was cut off from God.

In this unregenerated state, man did not pos­sess faith. He did not have the ability to reach God. God, in His love and mercy, established the Law, through which man by his obedience, trust and reliance upon God’s promises was accepted in right standing with God. “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3, NIV).

The Old Testament saints had a faith that exist­ed according to the Law, which was manifested by their works, in obedience to the Law. They did not have the supernatural faith of God living in them; neither did they have the ability to produce that faith God has given to us today.

Faith had not come!

Paul said, “But before faith came, we were kept under the Law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed” (Galatians 3:23). Their faith consisted simply of taking God at His Word and acting in obedience to it. They were “shut up” unto the faith, under the Law, in prepa­ration for the faith which God had planned to reveal.

Before faith came, man was not able to enter and live in a vital union with God…where His very life flowed through him. His relationship was based upon the Law.

Then Jesus came, and with Him came faith!

FAITH CAME WITH JESUS!

Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, came, and faith was revealed and made manifest to the world. He demonstrated God’s faith. He opened blind eyes, cleansed the lepers, opened deaf ears, multiplied five loaves and two fish to feed the multitudes, calmed the raging storm…NOTHING WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO HIM!

By the mighty power of the faith of God within Him, Jesus destroyed the works of Satan and tri­umphed over death, hell and the grave!

By that mighty power of faith working in Him, He was resurrected from the grave!

By that mighty power of faith, He reconciled man to God and made it possible for us to have that same supernatural faith operating in our lives — so we can know God and become one with Him, whereby His life will flow through us.

Paul said, “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:25-26).

Look at the disciples before and after faith came. They did not possess the faith of God. On several occasions, Jesus rebuked them for their unbelief. It was because of their unbelief they were unable to heal the demon-possessed boy. He told them, “IF ye had faith the size of a mus­tard seed…”

After faith came, these same men had the supernatural faith of God operating in them that enabled them to do the impossible…to heal the lame, open blind eyes, raise the dead and mani­fest great signs and wonders in the Name of Jesus. The disciples received a divine infusion of the faith of God on the Day of Pentecost when Jesus came to dwell in them by the Spirit.

Faith came with Jesus. He is the Source…He is the Author and Finisher of our faith. To receive faith, we must come to Him. There is no other Source…no other way. We must come to Jesus and receive faith from Him.

MAN IS NOT SAVED BY A FAITH HE PRODUCES!

Say aloud: Man has nothing in himself but that he receives it from above.

Man does not possess faith. We do not even have the faith to believe God for salvation. Con­trary to what you may have heard, man is not saved by exercising his faith. We cannot even draw near to God, unless He draws us by His Spirit. “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” (John 6:44).

How can man in the natural world demonstrate faith if he doesn’t have it? He wasn’t born with it. It wasn’t part of man’s original personality or characteristics.

Man is saved not by his own mind power, not by his own personality, not by his own ability, not by his own willpower…but by the faith that is given to him by God.

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast
.Ephesians 2:8-9

God is after one thing in our lives. Do you know what He’s after? That which Adam used against Him in the Garden…his will. He’s after your will. He’s after my will. In every area of our lives, He’s after our wills. He wants the total sur­render of all that we are and all that we hope to be. God wants it because it belongs to Him.

What happens when we get saved? The Spirit of God comes to us. He convicts us. He chal­lenges us to surrender our lives to Jesus. Ninety percent of us, when we got saved, really didn’t know what it was all about. Somehow the Spirit of God got inside us and drew us to God.

We had a choice. The choice was this: Sur­render our wills to God and say, “Lord, I don’t understand what it is all about, but be merciful to me. Forgive me. Cleanse my sins. Come into my heart.” We had a choice to turn our backs on Him and walk away or to surrender. That is all we have the power to do.

Man is not born with faith. Faith is not a natu­ral life force. There isn’t a person in the world who has the ability to comprehend God. God is supernatural.

Look at Ephesians 2, verses 8-9 again. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God:, Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

Do you think God sent His Son Jesus here to die on the cross, to shed His blood, so that by some power that man possesses in himself he can find salvation? No! It’s not of works. It’s not of man. Salvation and grace are the gifts of God.

The only power man has is to take his will, throw himself before God and say, “Have mercy on me.” God is looking for a complete surrender of that which He gave to us when He created us. He is looking for a total surrender of complete authority over our being.

But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
John 1:12

FAITH IS A GIFT FROM GOD!

There is a difference between belief and faith. Belief is a mental process of the natural mind. It is the natural capability that man has to set his will in the realm of positive thinking. In this verse, the word “believe” is not referring to “head knowl­edge.” Believe, translated from Greek, is “pis­teuo,” which means “to be persuaded of; to place confidence in; to trust; to rely upon.”

When a person believes in Jesus, he is not merely agreeing with his natural mind that He is the Son of God…he is fully persuaded and is plac­ing his trust and confidence in Him.

The moment a person responds to the Spirit of God and totally surrenders his will and says, “Lord, I surrender! I receive! I believe that Jesus is the Christ,” God gives him the power…the authority…to become a child of God.

At that moment:

…when man cries and repents

…when he surrenders his will

…when he turns over all the affairs of his life to God

…at that moment, I tell you, in the Name of Jesus Christ, that person receives the gift of faith. Paul told the Romans that God has given to every man “the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). In this verse, he was not referring to unbelievers. He told the Thessalonians, “…for all men have not faith” (II Thessalonians 3:2). Paul was speaking to the Church. Every person who has been born again by the Spirit of God has received “the mea­sure of faith.”

I know there is a popular teaching today that to every man God has given a measure of faith. It isn’t true!

Faith is not a natural life force!

Have you ever heard ministers say that when you sit in a chair or flip a light switch on, you are demonstrating faith?

You are not demonstrating faith when you sit in a chair. And every person has not received the measure of faith!

Let’s look closely at Romans 12:3.

Paul said:

For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of him­self more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

I’ve heard preachers quote this verse and I’ve heard people say, “Everybody has faith and everybody can use it.”

In these verses, who was Paul writing to? He was writing to the believers…the Church at Rome. He wasn’t writing to the gambler, the prostitute, the dope addict, the infidel. He was writing to the Church!

GOD HAS GIVEN YOU “THE MEASURE OF FAITH”

The moment you surrendered your life to God and received Jesus, you received the gift of faith. It’s in you. You were infused with the supernatu­ral faith of God. Faith has come!

You no longer are to live your life controlled by your five natural senses. You no longer walk by sight…you no longer walk by hearing…you no longer walk by tasting…you no longer walk by touching. Your life is to be regulated and con­trolled by the supernatural faith of God that is LIV­ING within you.

You have received “THE MEASURE OF FAITH.” There are Christians who read this verse and think that God has given faith in various pro­portions: to some, great faith; to others a small amount of faith. This is not true. Every believer receives the same measure of faith.

The “measure” of faith refers to a specific por­tion of faith. The measure of faith you received when you were born again is the powerful, super­natural, mountain-moving faith of Jesus! God has planned for us to grow up “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). When you receive “the measure of faith,” the full potential is already there and, as you exercise it and allow His faith to flow through you, it will GROW until it reaches FULL MATURITY. Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, will perfect it and bring it to maturity.

Right now, you have within you all the faith you need to meet every need and fulfill the will of God in your life! However, unless you receive it and learn how to appropriate it, it will not be manifest­ed in your life.

Say aloud:

“God has placed the supernatural faith of God within me. I have received the faith of God that is able to move mountains, that makes possible the impossible, that never wavers and never fails to produce results.”

God has planned for the measure of faith that He has given to grow to full maturity, where we are operating in the same manifestation of faith as Jesus operated in.

How does this faith reach full maturity within us?

The proportion of the “measure of faith” that operates in our lives is according to the propor­tion we are crucified with Christ. Look at what Paul told the Romans in verses 1 and 2.

I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 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.
Romans 12:1-2

The word “renewing” in the Greek is taken from the word “renovate.” What do you do when you renovate a house? You strip out all the old stuff. You tear out all the old debris. You get rid of the junk.

Are you willing to be renovated?

Paul said, “By the mercies of God, present yourself…yield yourself…surrender yourself. Seek the Healer. Die to self. Lay it all on the altar. And in the measure that you do, faith is going to be measured to you.

If you want to stay a spiritual baby, sucking milk, God will let you. He’s not going to give you any more faith than the proportion to which you are willing to dedicate and humble yourself before Him. You’ll not receive one ounce more! Don’t fool yourself!

THE “MEASURE OF FAITH” YOU RECEIVE IS IN PROPORTION TO HOW MUCH YOU ARE WILLING TO BE CRUCIFIED!

Too long the Church of Jesus Christ has been living in a delusion, because we have a lot of preachers who know how to preach, who know how to shout and who know how to stir us up. We go out the door of our churches riding the big crest of the wave, only to find out the wave sub­sides when we get out there and it doesn’t work.

Faith is not a natural life force!

If you think by mental assent, by reaffirmations of slogans or sayings, or even quoting the Scrip­ture, you can receive this mountain-moving faith, you are sadly mistaken.

He that hath an ear, let him hear! The Spirit is calling you. He’s calling us. He’s calling me. He’s calling the Church to move into an EXPERIENCE, where His powerful faith is flowing through us.

The manifestation of the power and anoint­ing…the faith of God was so strong in the lives of the apostles and disciples in the early Church that everywhere they went, God’s power was released and people were healed and made whole!

Something happened to these men. They had an EXPERIENCE where the supernatural faith of Christ was released through them. Look at the experience of Paul:

And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.
Acts 19:11-12

What was the key to this supernatural manifes­tation of faith released in Paul’s life? Remember what I said…The proportion of the “measure of faith” that operates in our lives is according to the proportion we are crucified with Christ.

The supernatural faith of God was manifested in this powerful dimension because Paul had been willing to be crucified with Christ…to lay down everything at His feet in total surrender. Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ: neverthe­less I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20).

Paul lived BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD within Him! He no longer lived after the dic­tates of his flesh. He was no longer motivated by the desires of his carnal mind. He had crucified it!

In the Presence of a Holy God, how many of us can say with Paul, “I am crucified with Christ,” and it would be more than words…it would be a reality?

The Spirit of God is calling us to a fresh dedication of ourselves…a dying to ourselves…and allowing a full manifestation of Christ’s power, anointing and the supernatural faith that moves mountains to be released within us!

AS CHRIST’S LIFE FLOWS THROUGH US, HIS SUPERNATURAL FAITH IS RELEASED WITHIN US!

Most Christians today do not see the results of faith manifested in their lives because they don’t know how to possess it. In order for you to have the faith of God operating in your life, you must have a spiritual breakthrough in your understand­ing, where you KNOW that God has imparted it to you. Then you must RECEIVE it.

Receiving this supernatural faith of God is simi­lar to receiving the experience of the Holy Spirit and the prayer language. Based upon our com­prehension and understanding that God has promised to give the Holy Spirit and the manifes­tation of speaking in tongues to us, we act on His promise and receive it. We don’t manufacture it. We don’t work it up. We have to receive it.

The same is true with the faith of God. When you receive a breakthrough in your understanding where you know that faith is a life source…that it is Christ living in you, that it is all the manifesta­tion of Him in you, that Jesus is the Source of faith…your struggling is going to cease. You will be able to receive His supernatural faith, and will be able to appropriate it in your life.

When you came to Jesus, you didn’t have love…He imparted it to you. The supernatural love of God was “shed abroad” in your heart (Romans 5:5). You didn’t create it. You didn’t try to manufacture it. You received it! The same is true with joy, peace and the other fruit of the Spir­it. You didn’t have them and you didn’t try to pro­duce them. When you came to Jesus and were born again, you received His love, His joy, His peace!

The same is true with faith. Faith is a fruit…a manifestation of the Spirit. When you received Jesus and entered into a relationship with Him, you received His faith.

Jesus told His disciples:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman…Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me, I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
John 15:1, 4-5

Look at the illustration here of the vine. Jesus said, “I am the vine.” He is our Source of life. We are dependent upon Him for our very existence.

Without Him, we would have absolutely nothing and there would be no life!

Now look at the branches. We are the branch­es that are vitally united to Him. His life flows into us. As a result of His life flowing into us, the fruit of the Spirit is manifested in our lives. The branch doesn’t create the fruit…all it does is bear it! And it cannot bear the fruit if it is cut off from the vine.

You are part of the vine! It is the life of the vine flowing through you that will produce the faith of God in your life!

Jesus is the Author and Finisher of our faith. As we enter into a relationship where we are one with Him…where He is abiding in us and we are abiding in Him…His life is going to flow through us. And as a result, His supernatural faith is going to be released within us.

Just as it is impossible for the branches to cre­ate the fruit on the vine, so it is impossible for us to create faith. It’s time for us to stop struggling! There is only one way to have the faith of God manifested in our lives…through an intimate rela­tionship with Jesus, where we are constantly drawing our life from Him.

GO TO THE AUTHOR AND FINISHER OF YOUR FAITH AND DRAW YOUR FAITH FROM HIM

Faith has come! You have received the gift of faith. There is no more need to struggle to pro­duce faith to receive what you need from God. The faith of God within you does not waver or fluctuate, and it never fails to produce results.

To have this supernatural faith operating in your life, you must go to the Author and Finisher of your faith and draw it from Him.

God promised Abraham that He would make him the father of many nations, and that his seed would be as numberless as the stars of the heav­en. Years passed. At the age of 99 there was still no son. Physically, Abraham was not able to father a child and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. To the natural man it was an impossibility. Yet Abraham believed God.

And being not weak in faith, he consid­ered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb: He stag­gered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.

Romans 4:19-20

Abraham did not have faith, in himself, to believe. He did not have the ability to produce enough faith to believe God—against all visible, tangible evidence—that he would be the father of a great nation. But he had a divine Source from which he drew his faith.

One day God appeared to him and said, “I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect” (Genesis 17:1). The Hebrew word used for God is El Shaddai. The word “El” means “God” or “the strong One.” The word “Shaddai” is taken from another Hebrew word which refers to a woman’s breast. It is not referring to any woman’s breast, but to a mother’s breast. Do you know why?

It is from the mother’s breast that an infant gets its nourishment. It gets its life, its power, its strength to grow and mature, as it takes the life out of the breast of the mother where the nourish­ment is.

The mother cannot give the baby nourishment and strength unless the baby draws it. The baby must draw the life out of the mother. He must actually pull the life, the strength, the nourishment out of the mother.

God said, “Abraham, I am your El Shaddai. I promise you your seed will be like the sands of the sea. You will be the father of many nations. I promise you, Abraham, because I am your El Shaddai. I am your life giver! I am your strength! I am your divine nourishment! I am your power! I am your Source!

“Abraham, My little child, draw your life from Me. Get your faith from Me. Get your power to believe and not doubt from Me. And when you have drawn it from Me, then walk before Me, and be thou perfect.”

Abraham received his faith from God. He stag­gered not at the promises of God. He was fully persuaded that what God had promised He was able to perform!

Regardless of what the need is in your life right now…regardless of how impossible it may seem to your natural mind, God is able to meet that need. He is able to heal your body, provide the finances you need, restore your marriage. You don’t need to struggle to have faith to believe. Go to God…go to the Author and Finisher of your faith…and draw from Him the faith that you need.

Faith has come! God has given you the faith of God that is able to move mountains. But you must receive it.

At this very moment, allow every struggle, every attempt to produce faith to CEASE!

In the Name of Jesus, raise your hands toward heaven. Look to Jesus, who is the Author and Finisher of your faith, and RECEIVE His super­natural faith. He is your Source. Allow His life to flow into you, releasing His faith into your life.

Next week, you will learn how to appropriate and release the supernatural faith of God. This week, walk in the revelation that faith has come, you have God’s faith LIVING in you and NOTH­ING IS IMPOSSIBLE TO YOU!

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