Faith Principles

 

‘What I have learned over the years from many teachers and through practical experience has helped us as a family for almost a century to inherit the promises of God in our lives.’

Apostle Andre Pelser

 

Here are some of the principles of faith we have lived by:

 

1. The Importance of Faith

Faith is of vital importance to every believer. The New Testament states plainly that only faith will get a person born-again into God’s eternal Kingdom. Only by faith can an unbeliever appropriate the righteousness which God has made available through Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 2:8 – for by grace are you saved through faith and that is not of yourselves it is the gift of God so that no man can boast. Philippians 3:9 – And may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.

After a person accepted and received Christ Jesus by faith to be born into the Kingdom of God, he or she needs to know how to walk by faith.

II Corinthians 5:7 – for we walk by faith and not by sight (five senses)

The importance of faith can be seen in the fact that it is impossible to please God without faith.

Hebrews 11:6 – for he who comes to God must believe that God is, and that He is a Rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

God is pleased with faith for faith is the way in which we receive what God has provided for us through Christ Jesus. Those who come to God through Christ Jesus must make two judgements about Him: one, believe that God exists and two, He rewards those who diligently seek Him.

Romans 3:28 – for we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law

Colossians 2:6, 7 – As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, instructed and overflowing with gratitude.

So in order to please God we must have faith, and faith is our conviction not only of God’s power and ability, but also of His willingness to use that power and ability on our behalf.

 

1. Receiving the Promises of God

Through Christ’s atoning work on the Cross, God has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness (II Peter 1:3). His death has provided for us redemption and salvation, both spiritually and physically. Through Jesus, total provision has been made for any need we might encounter in this life.

Romans 1:20 – For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

But while God made everything available to the believer in Christ, these promised blessings from God will not come automatically. There is a part that each person has to play in receiving what God has provided. God promised the land of Canaan to the children of Israel, but He didn’t magically transport them there out of Egypt. They had to go in and possess the land that the Lord God has already promised and given them (by faith in His promises).

Hebrews 6:12 – through faith and patience inherit the promises

II Peter 1:3 – Seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence

 

In much the same way many believers need to go in and possess what God has already promised and provided for them through the Lord Jesus Christ. God has done His part and now waits for His children to do their part. He waits for His children to exercise faith in what He has already done, and so receive and possess the provision that He has made for them.

 

The possession of God’s promises and provisions is accomplished when a person exercises faith in God and in His word. Faith is the spiritual quality that taps into God’s reservoir and receives the promises of God. All the power of God and His Word is available to anyone who will believe. But unless faith is exercised, that power will never be realised.

 

1. Definition of Faith

Hebrews 11:1 -Now faith is the substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen

Have you ever hoped for something? Hope is important because it is a vital link to workable faith. If you have no hope, faith cannot produce results. Faith gives substance to the things you hope for. Hope is the climate in which faith works.

Faith deals with unseen realities (not by sight). Faith is understood as the evidence of things which are not experience by the physical senses. To walk by faith means to walk with one’s attention fixed on what is not seen rather that what is seen.

II Corinthians 4:18 – While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal

Christian believers are called to walk by faith and not by sight. This does not mean that we are to walk blindly or in ignorance. It means that we are to fix our attention (spiritual gaze) on the unseen realities of what we believe. This is a higher dimension of living, or the third dimension of the spirit.

The unseen spiritual realm does exist. It is the realm in which God lives and operates. It is the realm in which angels work and in which demons live. Though it is not physically seen, it is nonetheless very real. This is the realm out of which God created the physical world in which we live. In fact, the whole physical world is predicated upon and has its source in the spiritual realm.

God alone can give us insight into the spirit realm. Any other form of insight into the spirit realm will lead to deception. Once we have seen that reality we can keep our eyes fixed on it. If we enter the spirit realm and use any other force to create things we dabble in witchcraft that serve our own purposes and not God’s divine purposes. God gives birth to what He wants to accomplish by directing our desires in line with His will for our lives. The devil offers the counterfeit to deceive us. Personal ambition has to be yielded to Christ in order to do the will of God. God knows better than we do, and we learn to trust in Him.

 

1. The window into the spiritual realm

Our window into the spiritual realm is the Word of God. It is God’s Word that informs us of the fact that we are more than conquerors (Romans 8:37). It is the word that tells us that we are healed by the wound of Jesus (I Peter 2:24). God’s word gives us insight into our sonship through the Lord Jesus (I John 3:1). Without the Bible our perception will be limited to what our sense could tell us. But with the Bible we can receive information that is truer than what we can perceive in the physical world.

There is a faith manifestation time before things manifest in the material world. There is a time period involved between the state of knowledge and the experience. God’s timing is perfect and while we wait we learn patience. Patience is the power twin of faith without which faith cannot operate. He who believes will not make haste. Let patience have her perfect work in you so that you may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing (James 1:4).

 

Walking by faith is walking by the Word. It is basing our judgements not on what we can see, but on what the Bible says. If our body says we are sick, the Word says we were healed. We base our judgement on the reality of the Word. We say, ‘By His stripes I am healed!’ If we feel rejected, but the Bible says we are well accepted in the Beloved and that God loves us, our conviction rests on what the Word tells us, not our five senses, or what other people say.

I John 3:1 – see how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him

To live by the Word, and base our judgements upon it, we must know what the Scriptures say. Ignorance of the Bible keeps people in bondage because it keeps them blind to the reality of what God has done for them. Paul’s prayer for the church in Colossians is that they might know!

Colossians 1:9 – we have not ceased to pray for you and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding

The Holy Spirit impresses truth on our hearts. He reveals things to us. He gives us understanding. It is not self-effort that produces faith; faith is a gift from God. We receive faith for our daily lives from God. We receive the gift of faith on special occasions where more faith is required to do something.

A believer pleases God when he puts his confidence in the truth of God’s Word and is assured of a reality that is unseen because God’s Word told him so. He believes before he sees any result in the physical realm.

A person of weak faith insists on seeing before believing. He or she won’t believe they are healed until all the physical symptoms of the disease have disappeared. He will not believe that God can supply his needs until his bank account is full. He can never receive anything from God because we receive everything from God by faith. If you are willing to believe before there is any physical evidence, the Holy Spirit will bring divine assurance to affirm your faith. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, but He needs faith on our part.

 

Jesus taught faith principles to His disciples.

Mark 11:24 – therefore I tell you whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours

The principle is clear: believe that you have received (past tense) before you see anything and then it will be yours. This is Biblical faith that appropriates the blessings of God. We must believe the promises and provisions of God are ours already just as they are shown in the scriptures, before we will experience them. Faith is our assurance and conviction that we have them even though we do not see them yet.

Jesus implored His disciples to have faith in God. It implies that you develop a strong trust relationship with God. Those with strong faith should help those with weak faith to develop their faith. Jesus is the one that authorizes our measure of faith and He is the finisher or developer of our faith (Hebrews 12:1). He creates situations where we are forced to exercise our faith. We see it as problems. He views it as opportunities to exercise our faith in Him.

There are false gospels that proclaim a ‘positive faith’ message like ‘positive thinking’ and they do not want to know anything about suffering for Christ’s sake or about facing any hardship for the Gospel’s sake. These false gospels make people who go through suffering and hardship hate God and shipwreck their faith, because they did not get what they asked for. Faith is also given to help us when we suffer for Christ’s sake or the Gospel’s. Paul clearly informs us that we are called to share in the sufferings of Christ Jesus.

 

Faith is a position of rest in God – we enter our rest like God entered His rest on the seventh day. Hebrews chapters 3 & 4 describe how Israel could not enter into the Promised Land because of their unbelief. They could not enter their allotted rest. To break through the sound barrier of faith into rest is a battle at first. Paul says he fought the good fight and kept the faith. It is a battle to believe when all the sense evidence is contrary to what you believe. But when you enter the rest of faith, you have a confident assurance of what God has already done for us, and a conviction that it will come to pass in at the right time.

Faith sees things from God’s perspective – the way things really are. To walk by faith means to have rest in God. The struggle and stain go before the release of faith. The yoke of real faith is easy and its burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30). Meekness and humility have to be learned and acquired before faith will work properly. When you are resting in faith you have ceased from your own effort (works) to believe – just like God rested from His works on the seventh day.

Matthew 11:28-30 – Jesus said, ‘Come to Me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest, take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am meek and humble I heart and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.

 

1. Faith is of the Spirit

Romans 10:10 – for with the heart man believes resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation

The assurance of faith enables a man to remain calm in the midst of adversity. Jesus often exhibited this supernatural ability during His earthly existence. When a storm almost sank the ship in which He was travelling the disciples were beside themselves with fear, but Jesus remained calm and rebuked the storm and it died down. The calm assurance came from Jesus spirit. That is where faith lodges. We release faith with faith-filled words that we speak.

Faith is of the spirit. It is not a mental phenomenon – it is not positive thinking! Faith is a spiritual force that comes out of a man’s heart. It is from a man’s heart that restful assurance comes. The spiritual force will override any mental reservation or fear that a person may have. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our spirit when we put our trust in the Word of God. The Holy Spirit co-operates with the Word of God. If we allow the Holy Spirit to do the work in us, He will reinforce our faith in God.

 

1. The Measure of Faith

Romans 12:3 – For I say, through the grace given to 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 has dealt to every man the measure of faith

Every Christian, man, woman and child has received a measure of faith for their lives. This measure is sufficient for the rest of their lives. Jesus authorizes this measure and develops it for us. We must use it by placing our trust in His Word. Peter says we have all received ‘like measure of faith’. We have all received a similar portion of faith. Just a little mustard seed measure of faith is enough to remove mountains if you believe, Jesus said.

 

1. The ABC of Faith

Do not worry about having faith, merely agree with the Word of God. Push the idea out of your mind that faith is a mysterious or strange thing. Agree with what the Bible says. God has given you the measure of faith.

In regard to physical, emotional or mental healing you can agree with I Peter 2:24 that by His stripes you were healed already. No matter what your body or the doctor says, you can say, ‘I agree with the Word of God and by His stripes I am healed.’ When you are sick and hurting it is hard to try and feel healed. But that is not what God asks of you. He says, believe and you shall have it. Look to the Scriptures about healing and confess them as the truth. Say ‘in spite of my situation, I agree with the Scriptures,’ and you will see the results.

Acknowledge your need, find a scripture to cover it and then confess the scripture over your need. We are not living in denial, we are facing reality but we call a greater reality to Lord it over the lesser reality. Jesus identifies with our weaknesses and infirmities (Hebrews 4:15) because He knew what it felt like to be human. But He said; do not be afraid, I have overcome the world. Your faith will overcome the world as well. His Word is greater than your situation. His Spirit within you is greater than the enemy in the world. Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.

 

Agree with God that you are a new creature in Christ, a new species of being, a chosen generation, part of a holy nation, a kingdom of priests, a peculiar people who know how to show others how to worship an Invisible God ( I Peter 2:9) who called us out of darkness into His glorious light!

II Corinthians 5:17 – if any man be in Christ Jesus he is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold all things are become new.

I don’t care how I feel about it, I don’t care what others say about it, I know what the Word of God says, and I agree with the Word above everything else. I am a new creature in Christ Jesus.

When you believe the Word of God you can act like it is so. This does not mean that I can do foolish things to prove that God will take care of me – that is tempting God. He has given His angels charge over me does not allow me to jump off a building to see if it is true. The devil tempted Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, but Jesus rebuked Him with the Word and said, thou shalt not tempt the Lord your God.

 

James 1:22 – be ye doers of the word and not hearers only

The only Word that will do you any good is the Word you act upon. It is better to take a single scripture and act as if it were true than to do nothing. If you diligently read, study and meditate in the Word of God to get the Word into your spirit you can put it to practice and it will produce. The Word works!

In the context of James’ exhortation he was not telling us to try and get everything we want, he was saying, you can overcome your weaknesses by faith: lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, get rid of things in your life God is not pleased with. Don’t just talk about it, do it! As we look into the Mirror of God’s Word we see what needs to change in our lives. James is saying, put your faith in practice to change and become the man or woman God wants you to be.

 How to act as though you believe the Word of God

1. Praise God – you can act as though the Word of God is true by praising Him.
2. Make plans – according to the Word of God. When the Word of God speaks to you it brings faith to your heart. Then plan to act on that faith.
3. Participate – co-operate with God. He needs action on your side to complete the work.
4. Confess it – use your mouth to mix your faith and God’s Word and to bring results. The power of life and death is in the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). Try saying this: ‘I confess I believe what God says in His Word.’ Confess the Word instead of your negative thoughts. Don’t dwell on thoughts that bring you down. Face them, acknowledge the situation and then get a Word that is greater than your problem and confess the Word with faith in your heart. God will work on your behalf if you believe. He has the ability and the power to do what you believe and confess. Jesus is the High Priest of our Confession.

 

1. How to win unsaved loved ones

1. Realise that the Father draws people through the Holy Spirit
2. Pray that God will send someone across your unsaved loved one’s path
3. Let your own life be a witness to them
4. Break the power of evil over their lives by interceding for them continually

When the Word of God is preached it brings conviction to the hearts of the unsaved. Always present the Word to the unsaved. The Holy Spirit will bring the conviction of sin.

Do not try to be super spiritual, just be yourself. Don’t overdo the witnessing; sometimes it is necessary to befriend them first before you start to witness to them.

 

Summary

We walk by faith in order to please God. We believe He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. This is the way in which we experience all that god has purchased for us through His great salvation. Walking by faith means basing our judgments on what the Word of God says, rather than on what physical circumstances tell us. We look to the unseen reality that the Scriptures describe, and as we do they will manifest in the seen realm. Real Bible faith involves that we believe that we have received before seeing physical proof. In this way, we tap into al that God has purchased for us and so desire us to experience.

God’s desire for us is to prosper and be in health even as our souls prosper (3 John 2)

 

The key to faith is love.

Galatians 5:6 – Faith works through love

If you are not walking in love towards people your faith will not work as it should. God loved us before we ever loved Him. We are to love people before they love us in order to reach them. Love forgives and forgets. We need to forgive in order to help our faith to work. God forgives and forgets. We need to do the same towards others. Love is patient and kind and does not seek its own. Love does not rejoice with evil. Love believes all things, endures all things and love never fails. (I Corinthians 13:4-9) God is love and those who say they know God should know how to love as well. God pours out His love in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that He has given to us (Romans 5:8).