Introduction
Everything that happens to us supernaturally happens by faith. Somewhere, somehow, someone has to release faith for the supernatural to happen in our lives. Just think for a moment how you came to be born again.
Maybe it was a friend, sibling or spouse who prayed for you to come into the kingdom of God. Maybe it was a great-great-grandmother who prayed for your salvation long before you were even born. It may have been someone on the other side of the world who interceded for you in the spirit, praying in other tongues and never even knowing what – or for whom – they prayed. Oftentimes, we’ll never know. But at some moment in time, faith must be released on our behalf for a supernatural event – like salvation – to happen. In my life, I know of at least one person who prayed and released faith on my behalf concerning my salvation, but I didn’t know it at the time.
“Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I’m going through labour pains for you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.” (Galatians 4:19 NLT)
So, whether it’s getting us born again or healed, whether it’s avoiding a financial disaster or avoiding a fatal car wreck, faith must be released. Paul’s faith was being released for the folks in Galatia. Someone’s faith must be in operation – and if not, our faith must be released. If it’s not our faith that gets us in the right place at the right time, then it’s someone else’s that does. Isn’t it comforting to know that God has people of faith and people of prayer scattered throughout each generation – people who pray and believe on our behalf?
But, you know, I discovered that you and I cannot live on someone else’s faith for the rest of our lives. If we try to, we probably won’t live out the full number of our days on this earth. We won’t walk in the fullness of the financial blessings God has stored up for us. We won’t walk in the fullness of the ministry gifts God wants to pour out on us for the benefit of the world around us, a world that’s full of lost, sick, lonely and needy people.
If you and I continue to depend only on the faith of other believers – our spouses, parents, children, or even our pastors and spiritual leaders – we will always be hindered and hampered, and never as free and successful as God wants us to be.
So, we must develop our faith and learn how to operate in it.
Access to Favour
There are many principles to faith, but I want to introduce an important one to you: Faith gives God an opening.
We read in Romans 5:1-2, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
Verse 2 tells us that we have “access,” by faith, into the grace of God through our LORD Jesus, the anointed One. It is our faith allows us access to God’s grace. That sounds reassuring, but what exactly does it mean? Let’s look at verse 2 in The Amplified Bible: “Through Him also we have [our] access (entrance, introduction) by faith into this grace – state of God’s favour – in which we [firmly and safely] stand.”
That’s a mouthful, but basically, the Apostle Paul is telling us that faith give us access to God’s favour. The New Living Translation puts it this way: “Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”
Our faith gives God an opening through which He can pour all His favour into our lives. The moment you and I received Jesus as our LORD; we gave God an opening into our lives. Our faith gave Him entrance to come in and save us. By faith, we gained access to the favour of God to be born again, but that was just the beginning. There is still much more of God’s favour for us to receive and experience every day of our lives.
Faith requires that we continually receive The WORD of God to lay hold of all God’s goodness. Faith is kept alive and working by taking God’s WORD into our hearts. Peter wrote:
“Like newborn babies [you should] long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may be nurtured and grow in respect to salvation [its ultimate fulfilment], if in fact you have [already] tasted the goodness and gracious kindness of the Lord.” (1 Peter 2:2-3 AMP)
Believing God’s WORD concerning any area of life and acting in line with that WORD is faith. You and I were created by God with the ability to choose. He gave us a will. So, when it comes to our relating to and interacting with God, we make choices to believe what He says or not. Many times, the right choice requires faith to believe what He says rather than how it looks to the natural eye.
The Choice Is Yours
In Deuteronomy 28, as God prepared to cut covenant with His people, Israel, He told Moses to tell them, “Now it shall be, if you diligently listen to and obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all of His commandments which I am commanding you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and overtake you if you pay attention to the voice of the Lord your God…! (verses 1-2 AMP). That was the bright side of the picture. On the other side, God warned Moses that if the people of Israel chose not to hearken [listen] to His voice and obey His commandments, then they would suffer consequences. The rest of Deuteronomy 28 contains more than 50 verses detailing the curses, already in the earth through Adam’s treason, that would overtake them if they got out from under His covering. God laid everything out for the Israelites – all the terms and details of His covenant. Then He told them in Deuteronomy 30:19-20 AMP:
“I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today, that I have set before you, life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore, you shall choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding closely to Him; for He is your life [your good life, your abundant life, your fulfilment] and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord promised (swore) to give to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
The bottom line was whether or not the children of Israel trusted God enough to agree to His terms of the covenant. If they did, they would have to walk in His ways. They had to choose by faith.
A Choice to Make
Noah is a good example. When God first approached Noah about building the Ark, no one had ever heard of the concept of rain. No one knew drops of water could fall from the sky because it had never rained before. Up to that point, an underground sprinkler system of sorts – dew – had been used to water the earth. Yet, here was God talking to Noah about rain, floods and building a big boat.
Noah had a choice to make: Do I believe God and build this monstrosity called an Ark, or don’t I? It was a far-out plan to make Noah’s natural understanding, but God knew exactly what He was doing.
Noah chose to believe God.
Once Noah made his decision, it took a long time to build that Ark. After all, he only had his family to help him build it. Everyone else thought he was crazy. “Crazy old Noah – building a floating house with no water to put it in.” don’t you know during the construction phase of that Ark, Noah had plenty of opportunities to change his mind and back out of that foolish-looking project of his? Nonetheless, he continued in faith. When God said: “Everything that is on the land shall die. But I will establish my covenant (promise, pledge) with you” (Genesis 6:17-18, The Amplified Bible) – Noah believed Him.
We find out that not only did Noah obey God by building the Ark, but he also obeyed by preaching to the unrighteous people while he and his family were being hammered and castigated. He preached what God told him to preach. The Bible says Noah was a preacher of righteousness (2 Peter 2:5). I have no doubt the people said he was a “faith preacher”! So, like Noah == and all the other heroes of faith in the Old Testament – if you and I are going to live supernaturally, and have the supernatural blessings of God overtake us, instead of curses, then we must give God an opening – and faith is that opening. Our faith is like opening a window to God.
Questions
How does faith give God an opening?
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How are obedience and faith tied together?
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What other lessons have you taken from this study?
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