DO I BELIEVE, OR DO I BELIEVE NOT?

That is a question many people want an answer to. What does it really mean to have faith? Or better still, what is faith? Is there something that seems like faith but is not?

Now let me explain what faith is not so by it you can know the real faith. Faith is not mental agreement. It is beyond that. Just because you agree with your mind that something is possible does not mean you have faith concerning that very thing.

Faith is not mental assent. For example you seem to agree in your mind that “by His stripes we are healed”, Isaiah 53:5, but you are not really believing it in your heart.

Many people agree with the word of God and can even quote many scriptures if you would listen to them. But the truth is that these truths are not working for them because they only agree with them in their minds. So you tell them about the promises of God and it is not new to them. They know the letter of God’s word because they received the word with their minds only. Therefore the spirit of the word which is to be received with their spirits is lost. This only makes theologians without the power of the scriptures they know. Don’t just agree to the word of God in your mind.

In Romans 10:8,9, we are to believe with our heart and not our mind. Real faith is of the heart. It is of the human spirit. It is the response of the human spirit to the word of God. To breed faith one ought to receive the word of God with his spirit. It moves from just agreeing with the word of God in your mind to saying that, “I know deep within me, deep in my spirit that this word is true FOR ME.” This is achieved through meditation on God’s word.

Now, mental assent is passive, it does not want to act. Spirit faith levitates the person towards the direction of the faith. Spirit faith will not only say I believe but will also act. Why will spirit faith make someone act? Human beings do not just act. They act out of deep convictions. They speak out of deep convictions. Prov. 4:23 says; out of the heart are the issues of life. Like Jesus said; out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh, Matt.12:34. The human automatically moves in the direction of his heart.

Real faith carries with it a momentum that causes activity. Real faith says, “I am healed” and starts walking about healed. Mental assent says, “I agree with the possibility of my getting healed. I agree that Jesus died that I may be healed of all my infirmities but when I feel healed then I know it is really for me.”

In Matt. 9:6,7, when Jesus told the man with the palsy to get up, take his bed and go home, he had two choices. One was to wait and see what will happen, whether something will happen before he gets up. The other was to take Jesus at His word and get up as He instructed and leave the rest to Jesus. Thank God he took Jesus at His word. In front of the beautiful gate, Peter and John encountered a similar situation with the lame man. Peter instructed him to rise up and walk in the name of Jesus. However, that was not the end. The man had to follow that instruction. So the Bible says Peter took him by the hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he, leaping up stood and walked,…( Act 3:1-8).

Note that it was when Peter lifted him up that the strength came; it’s only when we act out our faith that we will see changes. Act on what God has said and it will produce results.

Faith is not positive confession. Just because you are confessing positive things for yourself does not make faith. Faith is not just confessing positive things. We confess the word of God in faith. Faith is hinged on nothing but the word of God. Believing in yourself is not faith. Faith is in God and nothing else. Note also that we do not confess our faith so those things will happen. We confess our faith because those things have happened (2Cor 4:13). Faith says it is done. Actually faith is a substance (title deed) (Heb. 11:1). Faith says; I have it. It is real to me. I will not have it in the future, I have it now. Anything apart from that is not faith.

You may say that if I have it, then where is it? That’s where you go wrong. Faith is not of the senses. It is of the spirit. You have it because you have an assurance in your spirit that it is done. The assurance came from God’s word. And it is more real to you because spiritual things are permanent. Actually they are more real than physical things. Physical things happen because they are already established in the spiritual realm. So once you have it in the spirit by the word of God, it is bound to manifest physically. Be a man or woman of the spirit. Have the God kind of faith. In Rom. 4:17, scripture says God calls those things which are not as though they were. Why will God do that? It’s because He has already seen those things in the spirit; in Himself. Be a child of faith just like your Papa!

Now, mental assent is passive, it does not want to act. Spirit faith levitates the person towards the direction of the faith.

How do you know that it is done? Because God says so. You receive what God has said to you from His word into your spirit and you respond adequately by acting on it. Forever o! Lord thy word is settled in Heaven. The word of God is settled already. It is not now going to be settled. It is already there. Receive it with your spirit. If the word says God will supply all your needs (Phil 4:19), it is true. Don’t just agree with your mind. Receive it into your spirit and start speaking that indeed God supplies all your needs. Speak it in the present tense for that is faith. Now act also in the present tense showing that indeed God supplies all your needs.

This is the substance of faith. Faith works. It is not trial and error. It is ever sure. Remember you are not acting out your faith or confessing your faith to see if it will work. For that is done by those who do not really believe. In faith we go all out knowing that the word of God has already been tested and tried (Psalm 18:30) and proven to be true. Now go ahead and demonstrate your faith in every area of your life.

YOU ARE BLESSED!