Many think of faith as some mystical force with which, if they could possess it wholly, they could be granted their every desire–a “genie in the lamp” type situation. Satan has moved so many so far from the truth. This line of thought teaches that a man can receive anything that he can convince himself of. That tickles the ear but brings condemnation when it fails. The teachers of this theory ALL fail to live up to what they teach.

Romans 10:17 says,

“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

Faith is the act of hearing, and then believing what we hear. Whether or not we receive is determined by the integrity and power of the one we have heard and believed. When God speaks, He has the integrity and power to bring about what He has spoken. We believe He can and will do what He says; therefore, we have faith in God. Because of God’s integrity and His power to do that which He has said, FAITH IN GOD’S WORD NEVER FAILS. Some try to obligate God to do something which He has not spoken of, calling it faith.  This type of faith fails, for it is not faith in God at all, but FAITH IN WHAT THEY FEEL God’s will should be. We need to better understand God’s word and then we will better understand what we can have faith for.

Faith in God is hearing and believing Him. You can only have faith in what you have heard. You can’t believe until you hear. You must hear God before you can have faith in God. Faith in God will never fail to produce that which he has spoken.

Concerning Matthew 17:20: “If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

God must speak concerning the mountain for you to have faith in Him to move it. If He has spoken, believe Him, it will happen. If it does not happen, then God didn’t speak or you didn’t really believe Him.

Concerning Matthew 21:22 and Mark 9:23 “If you have faith, and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if you shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer believing you shall receive.”  “If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

The key word is believe. You can only believe what you have heard. Ask in prayer believing what God has spoken and you will receive. All things that God has spoken are possible to him who believes. The only way you can believe God, is for God to have spoken. Otherwise your believing is not faith in God, but faith in what you have thought or what someone else has said.

Concerning Matthew 18:19-20 and John 16:23: “That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them.”, “Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it you.”

The key phrase is “in Jesus name“. We are granted particular authority to secure certain things when we use His name. For example, I could leave town and give my brother “power of attorney” over my safe deposit box. Whatever I left in the box he could take out – maybe a deed or cash. If he went to the bank, in my name, and tried to get jewels out of my box, but I hadn’t left jewels in the box, he would be disappointed. Often people go to God and try to get something – in Jesus name – that He hasn’t left for us and they are also disappointed.

Faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). Therefore, know the Word of God, and have faith in the Word of God. That will please Him (Hebrews 11:6). Then receive from God what He has said. “Prove all things; hold fast that to that which is good” (I Thessalonians 5:21). Examine that which you believe in the pure light of God’s Word.

Faith  – persuasion; moral conviction of religious truth or the truthfulness of God.

  • Comes from a verb meaning to convince

 

  1. What id faith for? (Hebrews 6:12, 11:6)



 

  1. Where does faith come from? (Romans 10:17, I Cor. 12:9, Galatians 5:22-23; Romans 12:3)

1)____________________________________________________________________________________

2)____________________________________________________________________________________

3)____________________________________________________________________________________

4)____________________________________________________________________________________

 

  1. Example of faith working. (Romans 10:6-10)
  2. Where is faith?_____________________________________________________________________

  1. What evidences this faith?

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2)_________________________________________________________________________________

 

  1. What is dead faith? (James 2:14, 20)


 

  1. Was Noah a man of faith? Why? (Hebrews 11:7)



 

  1. Can mountains be moved by faith? (Matthew 21:21, 22)

What must instill this faith?


What must instill the believing in verse 22? (Romans 10:14)


 

  1. What is the trial of our faith? (I Peter 1:7, 4:12)


Why is the trail of our faith? (I Peter 4:17, Genesis 22)



Memory Work: Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.