Faith – Living or Dead (Part 2 of 2)

Faith is by the Spirit

Let’s reiterate again that faith is a gift of God and is by the Spirit and not by any human effort. You cannot muster up faith; you can not build  your faith; you cannot produce faith. Your role in faith comes from 1 Thessalonians 5:19, “Do not quench the Spirit”. God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness according to His power (2 Peter 2:3). Since this is true, you have everything you need. You have enough faith to move mountains and walk victoriously in your life in the Spirit. The ONLY way that you will not accomplish everything that God has for you is to quench the Spirit. You quench the Spirit by walking in the flesh. Consider this vital passage from Galatians 5:16-17  

¹⁶ I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  ¹⁷ For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.

Your flesh cannot and will not EVER produce anything of the Spirit nor will God ever accept anything accomplished in the flesh. The flesh and the Spirit are at war with each other and will never walk together in this life. In order to have life in the Spirit and to walk in the Spirit, you must put to death the flesh. This is explained in Romans 8:13-14   

¹³ For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.  ¹⁴ For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.

The reason the Christian is not experiencing a true walk of faith is because we are trying to live by faith without crucifying the flesh. Unless you put to death the desires of the flesh and set your heart upon the spiritual things of God, you cannot walk by faith. Doubt is of the flesh and faith is of the Spirit. You cannot overcome doubt by blocking it out of your mind or trying to believe; you overcome doubt by walking in the Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit, you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You must put away the deeds of the flesh and set your heart and mind on the things of the Spirit by seeking God through His word and applying His truth to your daily walk.

The word ‘lust’ is not only applied to sensual desires, but all things that the flesh desires. The flesh desires to war against the Spirit of God. Doubt is a lust of the flesh. Sexual temptation is a lust of the flesh. Greed is a lust of the flesh. I could go on but hopefully we see that all the things of the flesh are the lust of the flesh and they war against the Spirit. If you allow the flesh to rule your life, you will quench the Spirit and you cannot walk by faith. Consider this passage in Mark 11:

 ²² So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.  ²³ "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.  ²⁴ "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  ²⁵ " And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  ²⁶ "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

This passage does not say that if you pray and are able to block out doubt you will receive, but rather if you believe and do not doubt in your heart you will receive. If there is doubt arising in your heart, this is the evidence that you are not praying in the Spirit. The Bible instructs us to pray without having trespasses or sins against us. If we are not right with God, we cannot pray in the Spirit. If we have wronged our brother, we cannot continue until we make it right. If we are bitter and unforgiving, we cannot pray in the Spirit for God does not release us from our sins against Him until we forgive those who have wronged us.

Another important thing to note is that if you are praying in the Spirit, you are also walking in the Spirit. If you are walking in the Spirit, your focus is not on selfishness but on the things of God. After all, the Bible tells us that selfish ambition and greed are works of the flesh; therefore, if you are praying a greedy prayer, you are not praying in faith and you cannot pray in faith. This is why we are warned not to pray for our lusts of the flesh – God will not answer this prayer. Consider James 4:3-4  

³ You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures.  ⁴ Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

If you are praying for worldly pleasures, you are praying contrary to God’s will and you cannot expect God to answer that prayer. Apply this to 1 John 5:14-15  

¹⁴ Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  ¹⁵ And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

In truth, you do not need to pray for God’s blessings for they are a natural result of God’s favor toward us when we are walking in faith. If you are seeking money, wealth and fame from God, you are pursuing the world. God may choose to give you riches or He may not. Your focus is on seeking first the kingdom of God and all these things God will add to you to meet your needs. We can also rest in confidence knowing that God loves to give us from the storehouse of His pleasure, but this is never the focus of our prayers or lives. So when we ask, we ask with a heart to do God’s will. We pray in faith by setting our minds on the things of the Spirit.

You do not overcome doubt by resisting doubt, but by pursuing the Spirit of God as you put to death the things of your flesh. Since the flesh cannot produce faith, you cannot believe by resisting doubt. The flesh cannot overcome the flesh; therefore, your human effort cannot overcome doubt by trying not to doubt. I know I have repeated this several times, but I believe it needs to be repeated so we don’t miss this vital principle. Your confidence comes from God as you remove the unprofitable things from your life and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal the faith of God that has already been given to you. You cannot pray in the Spirit while pursuing the works of the flesh. The Bible tells us what the works of the flesh are. Look at Galatians 5:19-21  

¹⁹ Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,  ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,  ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Are any of these things in your life? If you are honest you have to admit that they are. Who doesn’t struggle with selfish ambition? Even those who strive to walk in holiness are required to continuously put these things down in their life. As long as you live in a body of corruptible flesh, the works of the flesh will constantly attempt to rise up and gain control of your life. If you allow this to happen, you cannot see the power of God being manifested in your life. The works of the flesh quench the Spirit and hinder your faith. You have the measure of faith God has given and have the power to accomplish all things that pertain to life and godliness; however, if you allow the flesh to thrive, you cannot live according to the Spirit. This is why the Bible constantly commands us to put to death the deeds of the flesh and commands us to build ourselves up on the most holy faith that God has given us.

Faith Reveals the Fruit of the Spirit

There is one other example in the scripture of how faith is made manifest in the lives of God’s people. Look at Galatians 5:22-25  

²² But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  ²³ Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  ²⁴ And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  ²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Once again, the Bible affirms that faith is produced by the Spirit working in our lives. I used the King James Version in this reference because there is a little bit of confusion on the translation of the Greek word ‘Pistis’. The NKJV and NASB translate this into the word ‘faithfulness’. The Greek word ‘pistis’ is used 227 times in the New Testament. It is always translated into faith with the exception of this passage and Romans 3:3. The word faithful comes from the word ‘pistos’. In context with the rest of this passage and the context of the whole of scripture, I believe that faith is the more accurate translation of the word ‘pistis’.

I believe it is important to understand the significance of this passage for it sums up the work of God to reveal faith in our lives. Before teaching the fruit of the Spirit, the Bible first describes the works of the flesh which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, hatred, contentions, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, etc. The Bible identifies all the sins of this life as having its roots in the flesh and are the works produced by the flesh. The flesh works to rule our lives, but the Spirit calls for our submission to God. As you and I yield ourselves to the Spirit and we begin to live and walk in the Spirit, the evidence of the Spirit will begin to be produced in our lives. If you are walking in the flesh, the works of the flesh will begin to manifest themselves in your life. If you walk in the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit will begin to grow and mature in your life. This is why the passage above states that those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its lusts (or evil desires). If you are unwilling to put to death the deeds of the flesh, you cannot be a disciple of Christ (See Luke 14, John 14:23-24).

Faith is one of the evidences of the Spirit’s fruit in your life. This agrees with the passages we read earlier. When the disciples were faithless and could not accomplish God’s will, it was their unbelief which was from the flesh that hindered their ability to serve God in the Spirit. Faith will mature in the Christian’s life, not because you are adding faith, but because you are building yourself upon your faith that God has given and bringing your life into spiritual maturity. As you mature in the Spirit, the things of God will begin to manifest themselves into your life. If you build yourself upon the flesh, the works of the flesh will begin to manifest in your life. The flesh is not called fruit in this passage because it is not adding anything fruitful to your life. If you walk in the Spirit, the faith of God and all the things of the Spirit will begin to emerge in your life. The works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit is how we know where we stand in our spiritual walk.

Outbursts of wrath reveal that we are in the flesh, but gentleness and patience reveal that we are maturing in the Spirit. Fear and unbelief reveal to us that the flesh has become our focus and is driving our lives contrary to God’s will, but obedience through faith reveals that the Spirit is producing its fruit in our lives.

Power in the Church

Why is there no power in the church today? There is no power because our congregations are not being taught this basic command given by Jesus Christ in Luke 9:23-24   

²³ Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.  ²⁴ "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

You cannot come after Christ if you are holding on to your life in the flesh. If you are not willing to take up your cross and follow Jesus, you cannot be His disciple. The cross is always the death of the flesh. Unless you are willing to be crucified with Christ, deny yourself the desires of the flesh and follow all that the scriptures command us, you cannot have an abiding relationship with Christ. Jesus made a command that few take seriously in Luke 14:

 ³³ "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Are you willing to do this? If not, you cannot be a disciple of Jesus Christ. This is why there is no true power in the church. There are many showmen that claim to have power by false signs and wonders, but if they are not calling you to forsake your life in this world, they are not disciples of Christ and are false teachers. I have heard many preachers shout from the pulpit that we will never be held in account for anything and that the doctrines of scripture is not important. If you want this message, you can find many false prophets that will speak smooth things that will ease your conscience (Isaiah 30:10); however, if you want to truly have a conscience pure before God, you must die to the flesh and let God raise you in the Spirit.

When you obey these basic commands, God has promised many amazing things in our lives and churches. Consider this passage from James 5:14-18  

¹⁴ Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  ¹⁵ And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.  ¹⁶ Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.  ¹⁷ Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.  ¹⁸ And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.

How many years have I wondered about this passage? Has anyone ever called for the elders to pray for the sick but not seen God work? You have likely heard many teachers explain why this passage is not a guarantee and heard many explanations that try to say that this passage is not saying what it appears to be saying. Let me tell you that I firmly believe that God said exactly what He meant. The secret of this passage is in verse 15, “the prayer of faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise him up”. This passage does not say that the prayer of the elders will save the sick or raise him up – the prayer of faith and the Lord fulfill this promise.

The reason why we rarely if ever see this passage fulfilled is because there is no faith. The elders in most churches may indeed be knowledgeable and trying to live godly lives, but they are not walking in faith. Who truly walks in faith? Put this to the test and ask the spiritual leaders in your church to explain how we gain faith. I have never heard anyone teach about faith that is truly according to scripture. For most of my life I have believed just as everyone around me believed – that we muster up faith. I have been taught that doubt destroys faith and that we have to make ourselves believe in order to have faith. Oh how false this belief is. Doubt cannot overcome faith anymore than Satan can overcome God. If the gates of hell cannot stand when the people of God are walking in truth, it is certain that the works of the flesh cannot overcome the faith that has been measured by God into the life of His people. You can willingly submit yourselves to the flesh and resist the call of the Spirit, but doubt cannot overcome faith. The presence of doubt is a warning sign that the flesh is strong in our lives and that we need to give a more earnest heed to the word of God and apply God’s word to our lives. Doubt reveals that we are stepping into the flesh. If faith is dependent on your ability to block out doubt and force yourself to believe then it would also be possible for the flesh to produce the spiritual things of God.

In truth, the elders can only pray in faith when they are empowered by God to do so. God WILL NOT empower you to live in the Spirit while you are walking according to the flesh. When James wrote this epistle, it was well established that the elders of the church were appointed by the existing elders based on the evidence that they were walking in the Spirit and filled with the Spirit. The guidelines given for choosing an elder are based on the fruit of the Spirit which is the evidence that the Holy Spirit is leading their lives. If the flesh has infiltrated the lives of the elders, it is impossible for them to walk in the Spirit and there can be no prayer of faith. Look again at the gift of faith described in 1 Corinthians 12:4-9   

⁴ There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.  ⁵ There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.  ⁶ And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.  ⁷ But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:  ⁸ for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,  ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,

We have seen that faith is measured to everyone so that we can live victorious and walk in godliness by faith. We have also seen that there is also a gift of faith by the Spirit for the purpose of edifying the church and doing a unique work of God. Whenever you see God beginning to move, you also see God drawing His people to pray as He gives them the faith to pray according to His will. If God is not giving us the faith to pray and stirring up people within the church, this is a sign that there is a spiritual health problem within the church. The Bible makes it clear that if we pray anything according to God’s will, God will answer that prayer and perform our request. This is a very important principle to understand. If you are not walking in obedience, God’s work in your life is to draw you into obedience – not perform wonders in the church. If you are not seeking God with all your heart, God will not give you the gift of faith. The Bible makes it clear that there are none who seek God and none who understand by our own inclination (Romans 3:10-12). The Bible also makes it clear that when we do seek God it is because God draws us. Look at this wonderful passage from Psalm 27:   

⁸ When You said, "Seek My face," My heart said to You, "Your face, LORD, I will seek."

God calls you to seek Him. Does your heart say, “Your face I will seek?” If you wait until after you can work God into your schedule, you will miss the call of God. If your life is crowded with TV, hobbies and other activities, the word is choked in your life and you will not be fruitful in the things of the Spirit (Mark 4:19). However, if you set your heart to seek His face, God promises to show you great and mighty things that you do not know (Jeremiah 33:3). You do not decide to seek God; you respond to God’s call for you to seek. As you seek God and are drawn into His presence, God will reveal Himself to you as He also gives you the power to bring your flesh under subjection. If you do not spend time in the word of God, you cannot seek His face. Faith comes by hearing the word of God (Romans 10:17). As you discover God’s commandments, promises and the truth of His word, you can understand faith. How can you believe God without knowing what God has said in His word?

Remember the passage we studied earlier, “to him that has more will be given”? If you receive the word of God and His call to seek Him, God will build you upon the faith He has given and only then can you receive the gifts of the Spirit. The gifts of the Spirit are useless outside of God’s will and the work God is doing; therefore, if you are not walking in obedience, you will not receive these gifts and the church will not be edified.

When God’s people are walking in obedience and experiencing the truth of scripture being lived out in their lives, God will raise up true biblical elders from among you who are walking in faith. As we are in obedience and God is moving, God will also show His power to build up His church. Then the Spirit of God will give the gift of faith that will empower the elders who are already walking in faith so that they can pray in faith. The prayer of faith is a gift of the Holy Spirit and then God will raise up the sick, forgive their sins and save them from the disaster looming over them. The move of God is not dependent on the faithfulness of the sick but the faithfulness of the elders. You have no control over the faith given. This is the gift of the Spirit as God moves. God uses those who are walking in faith, not those who walk in the flesh. Consider this passage from Acts 14:8-10   

⁸ And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother's womb, who had never walked.  ⁹ This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed,  ¹⁰ said with a loud voice, "Stand up straight on your feet!" And he leaped and walked.

Notice the reason for the healing. Paul perceived that he had the faith to be healed and then acted on that faith. How did Paul know? The Holy Spirit reveals to us the will of God. Look now at Romans 8:27-28   

²⁷ Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.  ²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

The apostles did not heal everyone that they came across. In fact, Paul states that he begged God three times to be healed himself, but God did not do so. God’s answer was that this infirmity was of the Lord for the purpose of keeping Paul humble so that God could show Himself strong in Paul’s weakness. God did not gift Paul with the faith to be healed even though he prayed for it. I do not believe that healing is guaranteed nor that all prayers will be answered by God with a ‘yes’; however, I do believe that the prayer of faith is a guarantee and the Bible affirms this.

God gives us the gift of faith as He calls us to pray when He is moving. The gift of faith is not necessarily a one time gift but rather is a gift God gives as His Spirit works within us to accomplish His will. That work may be healing or it may be accomplishing the work of God within the church. One thing is certain, if you are not already walking in faith by the Spirit, you cannot expect the gift of faith to pray in faith. We must put off the flesh and walk in the Spirit if we are ever to see the move of God. God gives us the prayer of faith so that He can reveal His power and bring glory to Himself – not to the people praying. It is not the elder who has the power, but God who accomplishes His work through those who surrender their lives to Him.

If you walk in the flesh, you cannot walk in the Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit and seek God with all your heart, God will reveal Himself to you and accomplish His work through you and the church.

Jesus said that God eagerly waits to answer those who cry out to Him in prayer but then asked a redundant question by saying, “When the Son of Man returns, will He really find faith on the earth”? Throughout the scripture God makes it clear that the answer is “No”. The clearest illustration of this is in 1 Timothy 4:1-2  

Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,  ² speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

We are living in that time. As a whole, the church will depart (and has departed) from the faith as they have sought fulfillment in deception, self-centered doctrines, and lying wonders. However, this does not mean that we are forced into this departure. You still have the promise that you have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness by the power of God’s Divine Spirit. The church as a whole has no real power and will continue to descend away from the faith and seek teachers of false doctrines, but you have the right to walk in the power of God. If you are willing, the Spirit of God still cleanses us from all unrighteousness, gives us the power to put to death the flesh and walk in the Spirit. If you will obey the Spirit’s call, you will remove the things that choke your faith and walk as one who overcomes the world. Look again at 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.

This is the victory. If you walk by faith, you will experience God and overcome the world. If you set your eyes on other things, you will walk in darkness. Take heed of Jesus’ warning in Matthew 6:22-23  

²² " The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  ²³ "But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

If God has given you the light of truth and you set your eyes on the things that draw us back into darkness, great is that darkness. Do not let the faith God has given you be covered by the flesh.  Set your heart to seek the Lord as He draws you by His word. Only then can you understand faith and see God’s hand working in every part of your life. Also look at 2 John 1:8-11   

Look to yourselves, that we do not lose those things we worked for, but that we may receive a full reward.  ⁹ Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.  ¹⁰ If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him;  ¹¹ for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds.

Don’t lose out on your reward. Abide in the doctrine of Christ and you will have all the promises of God. Build yourself upon your most holy faith that you have received as a gift from God. Crucify the flesh and submit yourselves to the Spirit that you may walk in faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith is only possible if you are in the Spirit and seeking the Lord. Finally, 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.

Eddie Snipes
Exchanged Life Outreach
http://www.exchangedlife.com

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