Putting Faith into Practice – Part 6

Every day challenges come to believers, and we will always be given the opportunity to believe God over our present situation.  Your faith will grow, as you use it, just like a muscle.  Learn to recognize every challenge that comes your way daily, and put your faith to work for you against those challenges.  In other words, choose to believe God over what you are going through.  Then your faith will work and grow.

Scriptures:

 

Hebrews 11:1:   Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  NKJ

 

Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.  TPT

 

The Scripture is the substance of what you are hoping for.  Or as TPT says, the Scripture would be the foundation to acquire what we are longing for. Remember hope means “expectation,” so faith works by taking the Scripture you are standing on, and putting it before God, by simply confessing it, and holding on to it patiently until it comes to pass.  You must hold onto the Scripture, no matter how things look.  No matter what people say, no matter if the situation looks bleak, or hopeless.  You must trust God over what you see, hear, feel, taste, touch, and even what you think!  You have to believe God over this natural realm.  The natural realm does not look at things through the eyes of faith.  The natural realm is the soul realm.  The soul realm is the part of you that must be conformed into the image of Christ.  And remember, Jesus Christ is the Scripture.  He is the Living Word.  So you must make your soul, which is your mind (thoughts), your will and your emotions, stay in line with God’s word.  This means you must learn to keep your emotions in check, and control your thoughts to think like the Word.  That is why you need to keep the Word in front of your eyes, so that you don’t get distracted by things around you.  Don’t get distracted by what you see, or hear, or anything that is contrary to the Word of God.  Thoughts that would make you think about the opposite of what the Word tells you are thoughts you must cast down, and bring captive to God’s Word.  Sometimes you have to tell your thoughts, “No, God says this, and I cast down that negative thought down.”

You must learn not to speak out thoughts that are opposite of the Word of God.  Remember, the Word of God is your substance. The Word of God is Scripture.  It is your foundation of what you are believing for.  The Word of God is going to bring what you are believing for, out of the unseen world into the seen visible world.  So learn to control your tongue by not speaking out thoughts that come into your mind against the Scripture.  Believe the Word of God over your own thoughts and wait with patience for the answer to come.

 

Romans 8:25:  But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait eagerly for it with patience and composure.  Amp

 Hope is a verb – elpizomen- to expect, to trust

 You must learn to wait eagerly for whatever you have prayed for, but you must also do it with patience and composure.  Keep your peace of mind.  You cannot allow the circumstances around you to steal what you are believing God for.  It takes being vigilant, and being aware of your thoughts and aware of what you are hearing, because the devil is always on the alert to trip you up.

 

1 Peter 5:8:   Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.  9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.  NKJ

 1 John 3:8:   Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.  ESV

 

You must watch what you say, because if you speak words contrary to God’s word, then you are in essence, agreeing with the devil.  You must speak your words in line with God’s word.  Don’t speak contrary to God’s word.  Don’t speak in opposition to God’s Word.  Speak in agreement with God’s word.

Let’s take the example of salvation.  We believe for our salvation, the same way we would believe any Scripture promise in the Word.  Scriptures that speak of healing, or prosperity, we believe them the same way we believe in salvation.

Romans 10: 6-10:   6 But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: “DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, ‘WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?’  (that is, to bring Christ down), 7or ‘WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” 8 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.  NAS