MARCH 10, 2024
Topic: A STUDY OF FAITH – CONDITIONS FOR EXPERIENCING
GOD’S PRESENCE
Text: Rom 10:17
Memory Verse: Romans 10:17 – “So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”
The reason faith is difficult is that Sense knowledge has gained ascendancy in our society. We have learned to trust so utterly in our eyes, our ears, the sense of touch, of smell, and the sense of taste, that spiritual things are hard to understand. It is easy to believe in things you see.
The Thomas-kind of faith is seeing is believing which is based on Sense knowledge. Jesus responded to his faith “Blessed are they who have not seen, yet believe”. Faith is independent of Sense Knowledge. Heb.11:1 says, “Faith is a conviction of things not seen”.
Hope is not faith. Faith is always “Now”. Hope is always future. Faith is not a product of intellectual faculties. Faith is born of human spirit. Faith and love spring from the recreated human spirit, not from the natural man. God is a Faith God. Faith is His nature just as love is His nature.
When we are Born Again, we receive Eternal Life, the nature of God; that nature begets in us faith, and we build our faith by feeding on God’s Word. “Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God”.
His Word is the only source of strength for the recreated human spirit, the only source of building faith. Faith cannot be built by abstract reasoning. It is only built by my acting on the Word, letting the Word live in me as it did in Jesus.
By my doing the Word, I build faith in my spirit. When I become a doer, a practitioner of the Word, the Word becomes a part of my very being.
Mark 11:22-23 “Jesus answering said unto them, “Have faith in God”. “Verily I say unto you. Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be Thou taken up and cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith”
There are two things to notice: He believes in his heart, and he believes in his words. You believe in your heart, and then you believe in the words on your lips. That gives you power over demons, diseases, and circumstances.
Meditate and Apply: Faith comes by daring to act upon the Word of God.