But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. Hebrews 10:38.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6.
They came to Jesus and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And He got up and rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. And He said to them, “Where is your faith?” Luke 8:24-25.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהם) says:
Faith is a wonderful thing; it turns your life around. It fills your days with beauty and takes away your frown. It makes you into a prophet, telling the good news, that I AM here among you, making all things new.
Faith. My righteous one shall live by it, and I mean in every aspect of your life and every moment of your life. If you want a life pleasing to Me and fruitful for you and others you must walk by faith and not by sight. It is impossible to please Me without faith. My Son is looking for faith. Anything done without faith is sin. Where there is no faith, no miracles happen. Jesus could do no mighty deeds in his own hometown because they had no faith in Him, but rather were offended by him. As for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4. It was their lack of faith that kept the Israelites I redeemed out of Egypt from taking possession of the land I was trying to give them.
Your conclusion at this point, if you want to live a life pleasing to Me, should be that faith is very important. Without faith, you will live in fear and have no peace. With faith, you will walk free from fear and have great peace. So, it is time you learned how to live by faith. So today we begin a new series that will give you great insight and understanding, much peace, and a life of blessed assurance of good. And our series? “How to live by faith.” For if you live by faith, there will be nothing that can take you down, get in your way, or trip you up. Why? Because you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.
Living by faith is simply walking in the truth. My Word is truth. So living by faith is walking by My Word.
But let us start with the basics. Life Lesson No. 1 is “What is faith?” For if it is impossible to please Me without it, it is good to know what it is. And when My Son would ask the disciples, and now you as His disciples of today, “Where is your faith?” It is good to know what you are looking for.
The best place to find answers is in My Word, especially to things I tell you to do, be, or have in My Word. In My Word is all truth, all answers, all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and it is established forever in Heaven.
I define faith in My Word. So let us consider that first. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the men of old obtained a good testimony.” Hebrews 11:1. That passage was first written in Greek, so let us consider it in that language too.
The word translated as “now” is the Greek word “de,” which is a conjunction meaning “but”, “and”, “now”, (a connective or adversative particle). So look back to see the passage right before it to see what it is connecting to and you will find that I am telling you never to throw away your confidence in My Word but to press on even in the face of opposition and contrary circumstances. Once you have done My Will you have need of endurance to receive what was promised. I will fulfill what I have promised even if it should seem there is a delay, but it takes living by faith or you will shrink back and let go of your hope before it is realized. Hebrews 10:35-39. And it is here that I go on to give you the definition of what faith is and why you can live by it. And then I follow the definition with a series of examples of people who achieved what seemed impossible according to the world’s standard. And how did they get it? By faith. For it is My desire that each one of you show the same diligence until the end so as to realize the full assurance of hope, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Hebrews 6:11-12.
Let us go on with the definition of faith, for this is very important so that you do not have feigned faith, but unfeigned faith. Many people say they have faith, but if they are stressed, anxious, fearful, and not sure I will perform My promises, they do not have faith. My Son calls that no faith. “And He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” Mark 4:40. Even if, however, your faith is as tiny as a mustard seed, if you use the law of faith, which has to do with believing in your heart and speaking with your mouth, you can move mountains, uproot trees, and nothing will be impossible to you. Matthew 17:20; Luke 17:6.
“Faith is the assurance of things hoped for,” stop there for a moment. The word translated “assurance” there is the world “hypostasis,” which is formed from “hypó,” meaning “under” and “hístēmi,” meaning “to stand”– properly, (to possess) standing under a guaranteed agreement (“title-deed”); (figuratively) “title” to a promise or property, i.e. a legitimate claim (because it literally is, “under a legal-standing”) – entitling someone to what is guaranteed under the particular agreement. Do you see? When you find a promise in My Word you know that in Jesus it is “yes” to you and is already deposited in your heavenly account, so it is legally yours. He paid for it with His blood. You have the title to it. So when you find a promise in My Word that fills your present need you have found what you are hoping for and now you know it is yours legally by the finished work of My Son. And what do you do with something that is already legally yours? Do you beg for it? Do you plead for it? Do you fear it is not yours? NO. You simply take it. And the way you take My promises, which are gifts to you that you did not earn but have received by Christ making you righteous, is with joyful thanksgiving. You receive a gift by taking it from the owner giving it to you with thanks. That is how the donor knows you have truly received it, when you thank him. And that is the way My Kingdom operates; you receive by thanksgiving. “From them will proceed thanksgiving and the voice of those who celebrate; and I will multiply them and they will not be diminished; I will also honor them and they will not be insignificant.” Jeremiah 30:19. When you proclaim My promises with the voice of thanksgiving, wonders take place. Psalm 26:7. Remember Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah? Three enemy armies came to destroy them, but I gave them a promise of salvation and they immediately went into thanksgiving and praise while the threat was still there, but when they went into songs of thanksgiving I fought for them and wonders happened. What should have been a disastrous defeat by worldly standards, turned out to be a tremendous victory that gave them valuable spoils to collect! The ended up amassing treasure rather than losing all. How? By faith. Faith in what? Me, but particularly in My Word, My promise.
Faith is not just believing things will happen because you are declaring them. That is not a legal right of ownership if it is not a promise in My Word. If you do not have the title deed to a piece of real estate, you cannot have faith it is yours. You can do nothing without Me that is, without My Word. I make and sustain everything by My Word and that is still how everything works. But the good thing about that is if you use My Word with faith, then it works.
But let us finish the definition of faith. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” The word translated “evidence” there is “elegchos,” which means proof, an inner conviction, internal persuasion. And if you have the title deed to My promises in Christ Jesus that is proof enough (evidence) establishing our ownership of such even when you do not see them as having manifested yet. You are just as healed from the pain or disease while you still have the symptoms as when they go away as your healing manifests. But it takes faith, which is expressed by joyful thanksgiving, to withdraw it out of your heavenly account to the earth realm. With joy you shall draw water at the springs of Yeshuah.
Imitate Me as My dear children and live by faith. I created everything by faith. By faith you understand that I created the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all there is in it, by My Word so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3. There is power, creative power, in My Word, even in your mouth. I watch over My Word to perform it. My Word contains My faith and you can tap into that.
Faith in Me. You cannot have faith in a person unless you know him or her. And you know a person by his or her words and by whether they keep them, whether they lie or tell the truth, and whether their purposes towards you are for your benefit or your harm.
My Words are pleasant words, sweeter than honey dripping from the comb, they are filled with good plans and good things I have for you. They are filled with healing, love, prosperity, peace, and forgiveness. They are filled with light and comfort. And My Word manifested among you in Jesus, in seeing Him you see Me, and He came to serve you and give His life for you so that you could have eternal life, so that you stand righteous, sinless, and holy before Me because of what He did for you. My plans for you are shalom and not evil, to give you a future forever with Me and a hope for now that you do not yet see Me as I AM in all the majesty of My glory, which I give to you.
It is impossible for Me to lie. I am truth itself.
But if you are saying to yourself that you do not see these things manifesting in your life then it simply means you have not learned the laws of faith. For without faith it is impossible to please Me. Why? Because if you draw back, I cannot give you the promises I have preordained for you. I had given the Promised Land to the Israelites that I redeemed from the slavery of Egypt, but they would tell you they never received the Promised Land but just wandered in the desert for their entire lives. But I tell you that they could have had all the wondrous benefits of the Promised Land but they refused to take them by faith. They doubted My Word and spoke the opposite from what I said. That is not faith, it is unbelief, and I called it a wicked and evil heart. It was not that My Word did not work, it was that they did not work it. They were sluggish in unbelief, not diligent in faith. There were two of them though that had the spirit of faith and spoke in agreement with My promises, Joshua and Caleb, and they received the promise and more.
Do not forget ALL My benefits. By faith you can have them all. Do you see now why the Psalmist wrote, “I rejoice at Your Word, as one who finds great spoil.” Psalm 119:162. If you understand how faith works, you will find that reading My Word becomes a treasure hunt for all that is yours.
Faith is full persuasion and unwavering confidence that if I said it, it is yours. I tell you that you are forgiven, so you know and believe without a doubt you are, and you enjoy it and rest in it. I tell you that I love you and honor you, so you know without a doubt I do and sing praise for it and rest in it. I tell you that you are healed, so when sickness comes, you laugh at it, rebuke it, and you know without a doubt you are. And how does it show? Thanksgiving before it manifests. My Son saw people’s faith, He was looking for it. Why? Because then He knew they would receive the wonderful things He longed to do for them. He had great compassion. It frustrated Him when people hardened their hearts and would not receive. He marveled at the unbelief of the people of his hometown and He could work no great works there though the power was in Him to do so. Without faith it is impossible to please Me because then I cannot give you the life I have planned for you since before the foundation of the world. Do not fear, only believe. In faith there is great reward.
And the more you practice faith, the more it grows. Moses did not have sea-parting faith when I first appeared to him in the burning bush, but as he began to walk with Me and obey My Word he began to see amazing things take place until he was ready at My direction to lift his staff and part the sea and lead a mighty throng that became a nation across the barren desert to take the land I had promised Abraham. And the same with My apostle Peter, it started with a direction to put out to the deep and lower his nets for a catch, and it went on to following Jesus, and finally to bringing 3,000 people to salvation in one day, raising the dead, and healing people who got in his shadow as he walked by.
As this series continues I will show you how the law of faith works so you can have everything that I have promised you, which is so much you will not have room to contain it all! You will have overflow.
Delight yourself in Me, in My Words, like rich spoil, and you shall have the desires of your heart. Faith is coming to KNOW and believe in the love I have for you and walking in that truth with confidence.
I love you. Faith is a wonderful thing; it turns your life around. It fills your days with beauty and takes away your frown. It makes you into a prophet, telling the good news, that I AM here among you, making all things new.