Walking in the Spirit (Part 5)
Increase our Faith
Most people are looking for something that shows real power concerning the faith. People are no longer satisfied with mere religion but are looking for something genuine that will affect their lives and prove to be an authentic move of God. Over the last few decades we have been observing a departure from biblical Christianity as people seek for something more fulfilling or more relevant to their lives. Both liberal churches and conservative churches are experiencing the same problem. People come into a church and even join as they find either excitement through spirited worship or security through traditional practices. As the excitement fades, the reality sets in that the individual believers do not have any real foundation in their lives and are dependent on the leader to funnel truth to them. People believe that the pastor, guru, or spiritual leader has an inside connection with God and has found a secret knowledge that only they can reveal to their people. In reality, the spiritual leader has no more of an anointing or inside scoop than anyone else (1 John 1:26-27). In fact, most of the leaders I have met are struggling more than their congregations and are fighting to keep up the façade of spirituality.
People are departing from the faith and looking to other religions because they cannot find fulfillment in their own lives. Churches and leaders are mixing other religions into their beliefs because they can’t seem to find fulfillment in their own religion. In the past, Christianity was so interwoven into the fabric of Western culture that churches could be built on tradition alone, but this is no longer the case. Even churches that provide exciting, spirited worship are feeling the need to introduce ‘new’ things to keep people interested and to promise their congregations the secret that will change their lives. Go into any church, conservative or liberal, and talk to the faithful members about their faith. I have done this and I have found that the fundamentalist and the liberal alike have no foundation based on personal biblical understanding and knowledge of Christ. People are hanging on solely on the promise of gaining God’s favor or spiritual secrets, but very, very few have any understanding that they have applied to their own lives. We are seeing Amos 8:11-12 fulfilled before our eyes:
11 " Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, But shall not find it.
People are wandering to and fro looking for the answers and cannot find it. In the 70’s, the worldly culture around us pursued a new found interest in Eastern religions to fill the void in their lives and it left a wave of emptiness and even destruction in the lives of its followers. Today there is again a renewed interest in the Eastern religions and it has drawn the church into this new quest. As the church has drifted away from the word of God, the weakened faith has lost its appeal to many church leaders and congregations. Because there is no understanding about true biblical faith, people are beginning to wander to and fro and even looking to the east trying to find the word of the Lord and they cannot find it. The Lord can only be found in the unmixed truth of His word, not in meditations, new anointings or other pagan practices masquerading as Christianity.
A recent cult leader that once served as a Baptist minister for over 30 years now has a program called, ‘Pilgrimage to Portal’. In order for you to find the secret knowledge of God, you must travel to their town and receive the anointing or they must travel to you to impart the anointing. The ‘Brownsville Revival’ makes a similar claim. You must go to Brownsville and have hands laid on you to receive an anointing from God. In a previous church I served in we had men go to a ‘Men’s Advance’. Upon their return, they all claimed to have received a special anointing that they could impart to anyone by laying their hands on them. Their lives were not changed and there was no evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, but they had been taught that they were carriers of the anointing and that this can only come from the source or from someone who has been touched by someone whose anointing has come through the original source.
Why do people turn to cults and world religions for hope seeing that they are also experiencing the same problems and more so. Followers turn to the cults and then proclaim that they have found the secret truth, but soon they are out looking for truth again. Just look at the lives of Hollywood. Actors boast that they have found truth as they bounce from Scientology to Hinduism to Buddhism and so on. The secret of truth is found in plain sight for any who will put God’s word to the test. Look at Proverbs 3:32-33
32 For the perverse person is an abomination to the LORD, But His secret counsel is with the upright. 33 The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, But He blesses the home of the just.
Do you realize, Christian, that you have within your grasp the secret of life and spiritual fulfillment? The secret council of God is not with the anointed, the enlightened, with the pastor, leader or PhD. The secret is with the upright. If you seek the Lord, study His word, and walk by faith, you will find the secret. The path to knowledge is spelled out in Proverbs 2:1-9
My son, if you receive my words, And treasure my commands within you, 2 So that you incline your ear to wisdom, And apply your heart to understanding; 3 Yes, if you cry out for discernment, And lift up your voice for understanding, 4 If you seek her as silver, And search for her as for hidden treasures; 5 Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God. 6 For the LORD gives wisdom; From His mouth come knowledge and understanding; 7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; 8 He guards the paths of justice, And preserves the way of His saints. 9 Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path.
You cannot find the hidden things of God through any religious practice nor can it be revealed to you by any man. It comes from God and God alone and is revealed to the individual that will seek Him with all their heart. You must first receive His word and apply the commandments of God to your heart.
I have laid the foundation of this study about increasing our faith by first discussing the problem and then looking at the promises God has given us to find the secret of life and righteousness. The answer is not found in the cults or pagan practices and the world religions are struggling more than the church. While they claim to have the answers, their people are not showing the fruits of truth. In a previous study we looked at New Age practices being brought into the church. Those who introduce these practices show no fruit nor do their followers. If the church has the answer, why aren’t more people walking victorious in their Christian life and why aren’t people finding power? The answer is ‘faith’. This study will examine the scriptures teaching on faith, that the promises are only fulfilled in faith and how the Christian increases his walk of faith.
Faith is From God by the Spirit
The first principle that each person must understand is that faith comes from God alone. Faith is not a human achievement nor is it something you can acquire by human effort. You can’t ‘muster up faith’ nor can you boast about how great your faith is. Look at Romans 12:
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
If you have strong faith, you have nothing to boast about for it is God who has given you this faith. Every person is given a measure of faith and has the adequate faith to live and accomplish what God has committed to each person. Every person is dealt faith, but there is also the gift of faith by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:9). Everyone receives faith, but not everyone receives the gift of faith. There is a difference. To some, God has given a special gift of faith for the purpose of edifying the body (or church). You have no power over the gifts that God gives you; therefore, if you do not receive the gift of faith, it is not something to work for (though you can still have strong faith). Whether you have the measure of faith that God gives everyone or if you have the gift of faith, you have nothing to boast of for you did not merit it or increase it by your own power, but it comes from God.
Faith is necessary in the Christian life – in fact, you cannot walk obedient to God or claim His promises without faith. Look at Hebrews 11:6
But 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 diligently seek Him.
Faith is believing God and acting upon that belief. God gives you the ability to believe and then calls you to respond to the Spirit. If you choose to walk according to the flesh and resist God’s call of walking in faith, you cannot please God. If you choose to do works (even religious works) without God’s Spirit calling you through faith, you can’t please Him. You must believe that God is and that He rewards those who seek Him and then act upon that belief as the Spirit draws you. Look at these two passages:
Habakkuk 2:4 "Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
Romans 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
You must walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith is walking according to the Spirit while sight is walking according to the flesh. Take note of the principle found in Romans above. God’s righteousness is revealed from faith to faith. This goes back to the secret council of God being with the upright. As you walk by faith, you will be walking according to the Spirit, you will be justified by God and He credits you with His righteousness (Romans 4:5, Galatians 3:6, 2 Corinthians 5:21). As you walk by faith, God will reveal things to you that He only reveals to those who are walking in faith. This is the very reason why most people never see the power of God. Most people will never trust God enough to walk by faith. People are willing to do things for God and participate in church activities, but very, very few will ever put God’s word to the test in their everyday lives. When God puts people to the test, His people abandon the faith and take matters into their own hands. For this reason, Christianity does not appear to work. They never see the end of the Lord because they cannot trust God long enough to see the end.
If you truly believe that God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him, you will seek Him when the going gets tough. You will obey Him when it costs you and you will not compromise obedience to get out of a problem. Instead, those who walk by faith begin to seek God in difficult times and walk obedient in both good and bad times. When trouble arises, human nature stirs us up to take back control of our lives because we can’t trust God to take us where we cannot see the end results ahead of time. We can trust God when we think He is doing what we want to do, but we take the reins when God is not doing right according to our understanding. God will test you. God will put you into circumstances that you do not understand. Where most people cry out in frustration, “Why God?”, we should be committing our trust to Him. We should cry out as Job did, “though He slay me, yet will I trust Him”. It is easy to have faith when everything is going smoothly, but walking by faith is to trust God even when we cannot see what He is doing. Look at Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
If you lean to your own human understanding based on the flesh, you cannot be led down the right paths; however, if you trust in the Lord with all your heart and allow Him to direct your steps even when you don’t understand, you will see the provision of the Lord and the power of God.
Increasing Faith
In truth, you cannot increase your measure of faith. The problem in the faithless man or woman is not the lack of faith, but inability to see God’s hand in all things. Look at Luke 17:5-6
5 And the apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith." 6 So the Lord said, "If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, 'Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.
Most people never grasp what Jesus is teaching in this passage. His disciples ask for more faith, but Jesus teaches them that more faith is not needed. A grain of faith is sufficient to accomplish anything God has placed before us. In other words, God has dealt us a measure of faith and it is more than sufficient to overcome any obstacle. This is explained further in 1 John 5:
4 For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world -- our faith.
If you are in Christ, you have all the faith you will ever need. The problem with the struggles we face in this life is not that our faith is too small, but that we have made obstacles too big. What is greater than God or what can resist His will? Nothing? If that is true, why are we so easily defeated? Consider the account of Jesus sleeping in the ship in Matthew 8:25. A storm arose that tossed their boat around and it began to take on water. The disciples did what anyone would do when their ship was sinking in a violent storm – fear for their lives. They woke Jesus up and said that they were about to die, yet Jesus rebuked them for their lack of faith. Why? This is also the way most Christians live out their faith. Problems rise up that are beyond our control and we are frequently threatened. Like the disciples, we are often in despair and maybe even for our very lives. We respond just as Jesus’ disciples did, “Lord, don’t you care that we are perishing?” In truth, if we believe that God is in control of our lives, we should be able to rest in the confidence that He has already made a way through the storm and our circumstance is part of His perfect plan. So what role does faith play in these circumstances?
Faith overcomes the world because faith trusts in God and brings us under submission to His will. If we are in His will, the gates of Hell cannot withstand and the attacks of the devil cannot hinder the will of God in our lives. The disciples were looking at the physical and could not see the supernatural. In their boat was the Master of the sea. How could He have hand picked His disciples for the purpose of building the church and then lose them to a storm? The only way they could have perished would be if God’s plan had been fulfilled and their work was done. God, in His sovereign will can choose to take us home at any given time; however, our lives cannot be taken without God’s knowledge and approval, for not even a sparrow falls to the ground outside of God’s will (Matthew 10:31). By sight, the problems are powerful, but by faith, we know that God’s will is the only driving force in our lives. Faith says, “If God be for us, who can be against us”? (Romans 8:31).
So what makes a Christian weak in faith? I believe that Matthew 17:18-21 provides an important clue in this mystery:
18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?" 20 So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 "However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."
First notice why the disciples were not able to cast out this demon – their unbelief. Jesus then goes on to reiterate a similar illustration He used earlier – if you have faith the size of a grain of mustard seed, you can remove anything. Jesus then states that by faith, “nothing will be impossible for you”. Did the disciples have enough faith? Absolutely! So why couldn’t they do what Jesus said that they should have been able to do? Their flesh was strong and their faith was weak. Unbelief is not the absence of faith but putting our trust in the flesh rather than the faith of God. Unbelief is the result of allowing our flesh to control our lives rather than walking in the Spirit. Since faith is of the Spirit and unbelief is of the flesh, they were in the flesh and not the Spirit.
The purpose of prayer and fasting is to humble ourselves before God, deprive the flesh so that it is weak, and our spiritual life begins to emerge. Fasting denies our flesh of its desires in order to bring it under subjection and prayer submits ourselves to God so that we are focused on the Spirit. Our faith is not increased, but rather our flesh and its passions are decreased. We all suffer from the problem of Matthew 26:41
"Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
John the Baptist said, “I must decrease but He (Jesus) must increase”. This is true in every Christian’s life. Your flesh must decrease but the Spirit of God within you must increase. Your spiritual life will not increase until your flesh decreases and is brought under subjection.
The War between the flesh and the Spirit
The greatest hindrance to your faith and your spiritual walk is flesh. Your human nature is based on the flesh and is at war with the spiritual things of God. Look at Romans 8:5-8
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
In Hebrews 11 we looked at above also states that “without faith it is impossible to please God”. You cannot have faith without being spiritually minded and you cannot be spiritually minded if you are walking and acting in the flesh. There must be a change. Your flesh is in opposition with God and will always be so. It does not matter how long you have been a Christian or how religious you are, your flesh does not change. The only thing you can do is crucify the flesh. Look now at Galatians 5:24-25
24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
This is what Jesus was talking about when He said, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me”. To take up the cross does not mean that we have found suffering as some teach. You can suffer and still walk in the flesh. To take up your cross means that you do as Jesus has done – die to the flesh but be made alive in the Spirit (1 Peter 3:18). The cross is always the death of the flesh. This is why the apostles stated, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). Each day your flesh will make efforts to arise and become the driving force in your life, but you have the power to crucify it daily and set your mind on the things of the Spirit. Look at Colossians 3:1-5
If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
To increase your faith you must remove the things that are warring against the Spirit of God working in your life. This takes us back to Jesus’ statement explaining why the disciples could not cast out a strong demon. Jesus made it clear that they had the power to do so (because their power comes from Him), but that they could not because of unbelief. Unbelief is of the flesh. The Spirit reveals the things of God to us and when we are walking in the Spirit we believe. The Bible always teaches us to “have faith in God” because He is the object of our faith. We have faith because we see the things of God and we believe that He is able to do what He has promised and we are able to do what God has called us to do so that we fulfill His will in our lives. We have the power because we are walking in obedience to His will.
Unbelief is of the flesh. When our flesh takes command over our lives, we no longer see the power of God but we are focused on what our fleshly eyes can see. When the flesh is strong, we walk by sight and not by faith, yet the Bible commands us to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7, Romans 8). As our flesh attempts to gain control of our minds, we must either crucify the flesh or it will become a hindrance to the Spirit of God working in our lives. When the flesh is strong, we no longer see in faith and allow our decisions to be influenced by what our human nature desires rather than obedience to God in faith. As our flesh goes unchecked, temptation grows and our minds shift back into sinful desires and depart from the fear of the Lord and the promises of God.
The ONLY way to live in the Spirit is to crucify the flesh and put to death its passions and desires. This is why Jesus made the statement that this kind of demon only goes out by prayer and fasting. The flesh was hindering the disciples so that they were not able to believe that they could do what was impossible for man but possible with God. Let’s break down this example the scripture gives to hopefully get a grasp on these principles so we can apply it to our lives:
The disciples failed to overcome.
Jesus said their failure was due to unbelief.
Jesus said that they had the faith they needed.
Jesus said that nothing was impossible to those who believe.
Jesus said that prayer and fasting was necessary to accomplish this work of God.
This principle applies to every facet of the Christian’s life. God fills us with His Spirit when we empty ourselves of all that is contrary to the Spirit. You must crucify your flesh so that the Spirit of God works within you. God has the power to make you pure and holy but instead He places the action on you. Faith is not the work of man, in fact, there is nothing spiritual and acceptable to God that is the work of man. You are not working to produce faith, righteousness or holiness. You are working to bring yourself under subjection to the will of God and submit to the work God is doing in your life. Sin is the work of the flesh. Unbelief is the work of the flesh. Evil desires are the works of the flesh. These are the products of man’s works of the flesh. If you are in Christ, God has already given you everything that pertains to life and godliness by His divine power(2 Peter 1:3). You cannot produce spiritual goodness; you can only crucify the flesh so that God can bring these things out in your life. This is why Paul said, “I discipline my body to bring it under subjection”.
If you do not bring your body under subjection, your flesh will soon have free reign and you will be driven by fleshly desires instead of being led by the Spirit. Jesus gave His disciples direction on this matter by instructing them to pray and fast. Fasting deprives the body to bring it under subjection and prayer puts our minds upon the spiritual things of God. To walk in the Spirit by faith, you must break down the stronghold of the flesh while applying spiritual disciplines to your life such as prayer and Bible study.
Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com
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