DAY 25
What is Faith?
The Apostle Paul writes, “It is impossible to please God without faith, for one must believe that God is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.” The Apostle John writes, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith”. Jesus said, “If you have faith, as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘be removed and be cast into the sea’ and it would obey you and nothing would be impossible for you”. Faith makes the impossible possible. Faith is a vehicle that will take you to the promises of God. It is through faith that we possess our inheritance of good health, long life and abundant prosperity. We enter into God’s amazing grace with our faith. The Apostle Paul writes, “God’s word is in our hearts and in our mouth. It is the word of faith that we preach”. He continues, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation”. In another place he writes, “And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak”. Faith is simply God’s word in your heart and in your mouth. Not just any part of God’s word, for the Apostle Paul writes that the Old Testament Laws of Moses produced condemnation and are the ministry of death. So then what part of God’s word are we to put in our hearts and speak with our mouths. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 10:16-17 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?" So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The Greek word “God” in this passage of scripture is “Christos”. It should read, faith comes by hearing the word of Christ. In verse 16 the Apostle quotes from Isaiah 53:1 which is a prophetic passage declaring Jesus’ finished work on the cross. Therefore we could say, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing the word of the finished work on the cross”. All who believe the gospel can partake of the power of God unto salvation. You must believe that Jesus has borne your sins and the judgment for your sins. He paid for your sins with his death on the cross. Therefore God will never judge you for your sins again. When Satan comes to condemn you when you sin you can quench his fiery darts with your shield of faith by believing in your heart Jesus has paid the price for your sins and has forgiven you and with your mouth you resist the devil by declaring, “I am redeemed from every lawless deed”. When you resist the devil he will flee from you. If Satan tries to afflict you with curses of sickness you resist him the same way by declaring Jesus has redeemed you from the curse of the Law and by his stripes you are healed. We are instructed to mediate on our redemption in Christ until it is established in our heart (we gird our loins with truth) and then we speak God’s word with our mouth to possess our inheritance (the sword of the Spirit).
PrayerFather I thank you for giving me a measure of your faith. I thank you for giving me your word to put in my heart and to speak with my mouth. I ask you Father to open the eyes of my understanding to understand your kingdom and how it works.
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Confession
I believe in my heart that Jesus bore my sins and my judgment for sin and I confess with my mouth that I have been redeemed from every lawless deed and I am redeemed from the curse of the Law. My redemption is in Christ Jesus. He is my Rock on which I stand.
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