Getting Started
A New Approach to the Christian Life
In order for our Christian life to be pleasing to God it must be lived by faith – REAL faith. For most Christians the concept of living in total dependence upon God for everything at all times is a very radical and totally new idea. It is a whole new approach to the Christian life. I have entitled this chapter “Getting Started” in faith, but the truth is, if you are a child of God you have already begun. You took your first step in real faith the moment you invited the Lord Jesus to come into your heart. The impossible became reality by your act of believing upon Jesus Christ to do for you what you could not do for yourself, to transfer you from the domain of hell into the Kingdom of God. You started in faith by making a simple choice to believe in what you could not see or touch. Now you must live in faith by continuing to make that same choice. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians 2:6). How did you receive Him? By faith. How do you continue in Him? By faith. In order to live the life that God intends for you to live, the life that you were born by God’s Spirit to live, you must discover how to live by faith. There are many reasons why, but the most important one is that “Without faith it is impossible to please him…” (Hebrews 11:6). As children of God, we are endowed by our Heavenly Father with the capacity for faith for the purpose of bringing honor and glory to Him.
Hindrances
Resisting the Lies of the Enemy
Satan’s aim for every Christian is a life lived apart from the supernatural intervention of God. Previously we made the observation from Scripture that without faith it is impossible to please God and that living by faith is not only the privilege but also the responsibility of every child of God. When God’s Word says, “…The just [saved] shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:38, Habakkuk 2:4), He means every Christian, not just a select few. Having that settled, we also concluded that if we do learn how to live by faith it will ultimately be for one reason, because we want to. Knowing that we can and that we should will never be enough; there must be a desire that produces a choice. Now we could reasonably ask this question; if a Christian knows that it is not possible to please God without living by faith, and he has the God-given capacity to do so, and there is a wonderful new world of experience waiting for him if he does, then why would he not have the desire and make the choice? There are several possible reasons which can all be grouped under one heading, satan’s deception. Remember, his ultimate goal for every Christian is a life that is lived out apart from the intervention of God. Why? Because a life lived without the intervention of God produces no glory to God.
Explainable Only in Terms of God
If I asked you to give one word that would define or explain or summarize your life at this very moment, what would it be? Think about it carefully; it is an important question. In Nairobi, Kenya, where I have preached hundreds of times, the main mode of public transportation is a mid-sized bus called a “matatu.” Want to test your faith? Ride one of those! They are always painted in bright colors and they are always overloaded. They also have names. Across the back window of each vehicle there is always one word painted in big bright letters. It may be a word like “joy” or “danger” or “light” or maybe the name of a famous rap music star or sports figure. One day as we were entering Machakos bus terminal to preach, we followed a matatu in that had the word “HOPELESS” written on it. Of course I used it in my message and asked the crowd if their life had a word written across it, what would it be? Would it be “hopeless”, “desperate”, “lonely”, or what? I also asked them if they would want to change it. Now let me ask you, what one word would you give at this very moment that would explain your life to this point? Would you want to change it? I told those people they could change from “hopeless” to “saved”, “redeemed”, and “Christian” by simply placing their faith in Jesus. Thank God hundreds of them did. As a Believer, your life should be summarized and explained by one name only, the Name of JESUS. If it isn’t, it can be by making the choice to go on with God into a life of real faith.
Living in Two Worlds
Part One : The Way It Was Supposed to Be
The fundamental basis for living the Christian life, as well as a life of real faith, is an understanding of how we were created and what we were created for. There is a crucial foundational Biblical truth that we must comprehend in order to fully grasp the meaning and operation of real faith, a truth that is largely neglected these days in the Christian mainstream. That truth is that we are created by God as three-part beings for the purpose of living in two worlds at the same time. He made us this way so that we can be one with Him continually, execute His will, and bring glory to Him. Man was created with a body, a spirit, and a soul, which equipped him to live in the natural world and the spirit world simultaneously. As human beings we were uniquely designed by God to be the connection between the two. Living by faith means living the complete, balanced, unlimited life that God intended for a human being to live in the first place.
Living in Two Worlds
Part Two : What Went Wrong
Through the fall, the human race lost its relationship with God and therefore its ability to trust God by faith. God’s purpose in the creation of man was that, through Him, the earth would be inhabited by a race of unique beings that would fellowship with Him and worship Him continuously. Through the creation of the spirit, God endowed man with the ability to know Him and worship Him. Through the creation of the soul, God endowed man with the ability to express Him and experience Him. Through the creation of the body, God enabled man to maintain his existence and carry out the will of God on earth. God had instructed Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 to “…Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over… every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” But, before the first child could be born, before that dominion could be realized, satan tempted them, they yielded, and they lost everything. The plan of God was seemingly interrupted.
Living in Two Worlds
Part Three : How Do We Get Back
As you already know, there is a way back to life as it is supposed to be. That way back is through Jesus alone. If you are a born-again person, you took your first step in the direction of a fully restored life when you received Jesus into your heart. Now you must continue. Through Jesus Christ man regains his position of dual citizenship and his ability to walk before God by faith. Every unsaved person is faced with a choice - to remain as he is, separated from God, or to be reunited with God by believing on Jesus Christ and receiving Him as Lord and Savior. He must make the radical choice of faith. He must reach out into the invisible and take hold of what he cannot see, thus receiving from God the impossible – that is, the miracle of salvation. Likewise, every saved person is also faced with a similar choice - to live a mediocre Christian life or to live the dynamic God-pleasing life of faith. How? By doing the same thing – by reaching out beyond the limits of the visible and taking hold of the will and promises of God.
An Operational Definition
Does the term “real faith” suggest that there is a faith that is not real? It most certainly does. For everything in the Christian life, satan has a counterfeit or substitute and real faith is no exception. Satan knows that real faith is the one and only thing that connects lost people to God for salvation, and it is the only thing that connects saved people to God’s will and purpose. Faith is the means by which earth is moved to heaven and heaven is moved to earth. From the very first pages of Genesis we see a contrast between real and counterfeit faith, a contrast that is illustrated repeatedly throughout the entire Bible. Hebrews 11:4 sums up what took place in Genesis chapter four, “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous…”. Abel offered a sacrifice of faith and Cain offered a substitute.
Two Realms : Natural and Spiritual
To understand fully the meaning and operation of faith and how to utilize faith as a Christian, we need to realize that in a sense, we have been exercising faith since we were born. When we use the term “real faith” what we are talking about is not something new, a new concept or capacity, but something expanded into a new realm. Real faith, i.e. God faith, is simply faith that has been extended to its highest level. It has moved beyond the realm of the visible into the invisible. From the time we are born until we accept Christ, the use of our capacity of faith is limited to the natural realm because we are functioning only as a two-part being: body and soul. After we are born again, however, our capacity of faith becomes operational in the spiritual realm as well.
Real Faith : The Real Issue with Jesus
How can you tell what is really important to someone? There are two ways - listen to what they talk about and observe what makes them happy and excited. Watch what makes them “light up.” That being true, what would you say is more important to Jesus than anything else? Well, when you read through the Gospels, what do you find Him talking about more than anything else? What was it that so evidently pleased or displeased Him in His relationship with His disciples? It was clearly their choice to believe Him or not to believe Him. It was indisputably the issue of faith. The same is true for you and me. More than sentiment, service, or sacrifice Jesus is interested in one thing from us – real, simple, childlike faith. The disciples asked Him in John 6:28, “What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” In verse 29 Jesus answered very clearly, “…This is the work of God that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” In John 7:38 Jesus said, “He that believeth on me…out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” It is believing that creates the flow. Then in John 14:12 He said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” It is believing that creates the works. Everything about our Christian life hinges upon one thing and one thing only - choosing to believe upon Jesus by faith, not just for salvation but for everything.
Real Faith : Beyond the Gospels
Throughout the Gospels we see Jesus continually leading the disciples into one situation after another in which they would be called upon to act in faith and in which they would likely fail. He did it because they were learning, and they had to. They were in the school of faith. Jesus knew that if they learned nothing else they must learn to live by faith. The reason, as already stated, was that in order for Jesus to continue His ministry on earth, He would have to do it through them and the coming Church. That could only be possible if they learned to apply the same faith process He used to the situations they would face.
Real Love : The Driving Force of Real Faith
Love and faith are the two driving forces in the universe, in the Word of God, and in our life. To fully comprehend the dynamic of real faith we must see clearly the relationship between the two because they are counterparts of each other. Stating it simply, faith is the facilitator for love and love is the stimulus or motivation for faith. When a person comes to the point of trusting God, it is because he is motivated by love. Natural love motivates to natural faith and love for God motivates to spiritual God-faith. All human beings love and therefore exercise their God-given capacity for faith towards something. The question is what?
Misconceptions
In chapter two we talked about a number of hindrances to beginning in faith. One we mentioned briefly was incorrectness regarding the truth of faith. In this chapter we are going to expand on that by discussing some commonly held misconceptions about what real faith actually is. Just a few wrong ideas about what spiritual faith is, and how it operates, is all it takes to prevent even the most sincere Believer from getting started. Of course, these incorrect and often innocently held views are fostered by the devil in an attempt to create enough confusion to prevent real faith from ever taking root in the Christian’s life. Distortion of spiritual truth comes from looking at the things of God from a natural, human point of view, and that is always satan’s temptation. The key to understanding real God-faith, and all other spiritual truths and concepts, is to simply get on God’s side of the page. To help us do just that, let’s look again at our operational definition of real Bible faith, “Choosing to act upon the revealed will of God, using power and resources that only He has access to.” Internalizing that definition will help dispel some of the wrong ideas we may have about faith. Now let’s look at some of them .
The Faith Life Is a Spirit-Filled Life
Part One : What It Means to Be Spirit-Filled
Upon looking at this chapter title you may wonder why we are including one about the Spirit-filled life in a book about faith. Should that not be in a book about the Christian life in general? Well, as we have said before, the faith-life IS the Christian life. Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost expressed it this way, “God has only one operating principle - the faith principle. A man is saved by faith, a Christian walks by faith, a child of God lives by faith, a soldier of God fights by faith. The Christian life is a faith life, step by step” (2). To understand the necessity of talking about being Spirit-filled we have only to look at our operational definition of faith (Choosing to act upon the revealed will of God using power and resources that only He has access to). The key phrase we are dealing with here is the revealed will of God. There are two crucial truths we will discuss fully later. The first is that the process of real faith begins with knowing the will of God, and the second is that the will of God is revealed only to the spirit of man by the Holy Spirit - not through intellect, emotion, environment, human influence, or circumstances. It therefore follows that if a person is going to receive the will of God, he must be proper spiritual condition to do so. He must be a Spirit-filled believer in order to hear the voice of God. I Kings 19:12 tells us God’s voice is “still and small,” detectable only to a sensitive spirit that is controlled by the Holy Spirit. I Corinthians 2:14 says, “…the things of the Spirit of God…are spiritually discerned.” In the things of God, trust is a two-way street. In order for me to trust God, I must first be in a condition for Him to trust me.
The Faith Life Is a Spirit-Filled Life
Part Two : How to Be Spirit-Filled
Paul’s Prescription: Know – Reckon – Yield
In Romans 6:1-18 we find Paul’s prescription for the Spirit-filled life. He tells us that there are three steps of faith to becoming a “servant of righteousness (v.18)”, which is what a Spirit-filled Child of God is. We must KNOW, RECKON, and YIELD. First, we “know” (v.3-5) that those of us who are saved, “baptized into Jesus Christ”, have entered into His death, His burial and His resurrection, and therefore “should walk in newness of life.” Second, we “know” (v.6) that “…our old man [unrenewed self] is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”, because (v.7) “…he that is dead is freed from sin.” Third, we “know” (v.9,10) that Jesus will not die again, death has no more dominion over Him, and He now lives unto God. That means that, in Christ, we can and should live unto God also. Now, verse 11 tells us that since we know these things then we are to “reckon” (consider to be true) ourselves “…to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Verse 12 goes on to add, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.” Now we come to the final word, “yield”. First we are to know some things, then we are to choose to consider them to be absolutely true and relevant to us personally, and finally we are to commit a definite act of surrender. Verse 13b tells us to “…yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead...” Verse 14 tells us why, “For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.” So in Romans 6 we clearly see the process of faith outlined (know - choose - act) in becoming a “servant of righteousness,” a Spirit-filled Believer.
Real Faith Requires Time Alone with God
The Necessity of Real Worship
On a Hillside in Africa
In 1975 on a remote hillside in Tanzania, Africa, God spoke to me and told me to leave my staff position at Briarcrest Church in Memphis, Tennessee and go into international evangelism. We will save that story for another book, but suffice it to say, it was an unexpected shock to my system. But I knew God had spoken, and I had to obey. The question was, how? We had no money, no backing, no organization, no contacts over-seas, and no idea of how to get started. The answer would be by faith alone – standing upon the will and promises of God. Upon returning home something happened that I had never experienced before. God began waking me up at exactly 4:30 every morning. I would get up, throw on some jeans and a tee shirt, grab my Bible (“Big Red”) and go down to a public park near our house. There, in the quiet and seclusion of the early morning, I would walk, read the Bible, and pray. That went on for months, and during that time I got to know God in a way that I had not known Him before. I had been saved and in the ministry for eight years. I had been to Bible College and University, had preached hundreds of times, had led thousands to Christ, and was currently serving on a church staff. I thought I had a real working relationship with God, but those mornings in the park showed me that I didn’t. I spent two or three hours out there, day after day, becoming familiar with Him Whom I was seeking to serve. Sheila and I had already “lived by faith” for years, but now God was preparing us for our life work and a new level of faith. It was a level of faith that required an intimate and personal understanding of Who God really is, what He really has, and what He can really do. God was leading us into a level of faith that not only required us to trust Him for our daily needs but also for the needs of others and the needs of a ministry. It was a new level of responsibility that required a new level of faith, and there was nowhere to learn it other than in the presence of God Himself. Out of those months of early morning fellowship with God came the ministry we have been in for the past thirty years. The experience I had back there years ago of daily meeting with God alone in the early hours set the standard for the remainder of my life. During those days in the park, I learned something that I did not learn in Bible College, or by attending church services, or from reading books; I learned to worship God and to recognize the voice of God in my spirit. Since then I have maintained the practice of meeting with God at the beginning of the day in private worship, because the necessity in my life for the intimate fellowship with God, that can only be found in the early hours of the day, has never diminished. In fact, it has increased as the years have gone by and as my responsibility has grown. Once you have experienced that fellowship, it is impossible to live a happy, faith-filled, satisfying Christian life without it. The one thing that we should be addicted to in our Christian life is time alone with God.
Real Faith Requires Knowing God’s Will First
One of the most enlightening and liberating truths contained in this book is found in the title of this chapter – faith requires knowing, in fact faith begins with knowing. One of the deadliest misconceptions concerning faith is that it begins with me and relates only to the future. From our natural human perspective it does, but as we will see later, from God’s viewpoint it is anchored in the past and in the present and rests entirely upon His will. Real faith is based in the known, not the unknown. It relates to what we have, not what we hope to have. It relates to the finished work. It is not a blind leap into the dark; it is a deliberate step into the light – into the received will of God.
God ’s Will Is Revealed on the Inside
The most difficult and perplexing question in the lives of many Christians is “How can I know the will of God?” We have established that real faith begins with knowing the will of God. In fact, the only way to exercise real faith is to know God’s will pertaining to some particular object or outcome. In Colossians 1:9, Paul tells the church that his desire for them is, “…to be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.” Scripture certainly indicates that God wants us to know His will and that it is possible, but how do we go about it? The key that unlocks the mystery of how to know the will of God is in that verse. It is the phrase “spiritual understanding.”
God ’s Will in Our Daily Routine
Faith is for everyday living, not just for special times of need, trial or challenge. It is easy to understand the necessity for the conscious exercise of faith in relation to special times where supernatural intervention from God is obviously required, situations that necessitate a “miracle”. But what about the ordinary days of life? Or to put it another way, are we to live by faith ALL the time? Absolutely. There are no “days off” in the life of faith because there are no days off in living a life that is pleasing to God. You see the faith life is just that, a faith LIFE. Every second of every minute of every hour of our Christian life is to be lived out by faith. Trusting God is not limited to just “special events.”
Coming to the Knowledge of God ’s Will
In settling upon the title for this chapter, I chose to say “Coming to the Knowledge” of God’s will, rather than “How to Know.” The reason is because I did not want to imply that knowing the will of God can be reduced to a formula, or stated as an equation, or explained in a series of steps. I’m sure we all wish some one would write a book called “God’s Will for Dummies” that would give us a few quick and easy steps for knowing the will of God. Well that book doesn’t exist and if it ever does, don’t buy it. The reason that coming to the knowledge of God’s will concerning things, events and situations in life cannot be reduced to a formula is because each life is different, unique, and individual, and God’s ways in His dealing with each of us are just as unique and individual. In a formula the same rules apply to everyone, everywhere, every time. Not so with faith and the will of God. Therefore, like faith, getting to the will of God is better approached as a process rather than a procedure.
Drawn to the Will of God
Part One : By Need and Desire
As we have said already, God uses five means to draw you to the ultimate knowledge of His will. They are need, desire, His Word, prompting from the Holy Spirit, and calling. Here, we are looking at need and desire, which are like first cousins, closely related but not exactly in the same family. In differentiating between the two, we normally think of needs as necessities and desires more as wants. Though basic and simple, that is actually a fairly accurate definition of terms. According to the dictionaries I have consulted, a need is something that is required to sustain life or quality of life. It is something that is necessary for us to survive in our physical and cultural environment. It is an empty space that must be filled. A desire, on the other hand, is a longing, a wish, a craving, but not a necessity. A need is something I must have or do and a desire is something I would like to have or do. When a desire is not fulfilled it may cause you sadness, disappointment, or even distress, but it will not threaten your life. When we turn to the Word of God we find that the same definitions apply. There are 12 different words in the Bible translated need, but when you put them all together they mean the same thing, necessity. Then there are at least 35 words in Scripture translated desire, but again, taken collectively, they refer to a longing, a craving, a wish, in other words, a desire, whether good or bad, pure or evil.
Drawn to the Will of God
Part Two : By God’s Word,,Holy Spirit Prompting, or Calling to Service
In the previous chapter we discussed need and desire, two means by which God causes us to seek His will concerning a particular issue and then act in accordance with it by faith, thus creating what we will refer to later on as a “faith event”. Now we will look at three other means God uses to do the same thing, all of which could actually be grouped into one category, a leading from the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us in Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” That is a very straightforward verse, and it says if you are a child of God then you are to be led by the Holy Spirit of God Who now indwells you as a result of the new birth. But how does He lead us? How does He guide us into a specific direction, into the will of God? The Holy Spirit speaks to us through our spirit, and He uses three different ways to get our attention.
The Faith Process Explained
Believing God in a Faith Event
STOP! If you have skipped over any of the previous chapters and jumped to this one as a short cut to understanding the operation of faith, then STOP! Go back to where you jumped ahead and read to this point. The reason I am telling you this is because that is exactly what I would do if I were reading this book. Being the “type A,” bottom-line, just-give-me-the-facts sort of person that I am, I would try to fast track right to the nuts and bolts of the matter and bypass all that “other stuff.” Well in this case that would be a mistake. To do so would mean that you have missed far too much and you would be approaching this chapter unprepared. So go back to that place and start there. Trust me, if you don’t, you will not fully grasp what you read here.
The purpose of the previous chapters has been to introduce you to the idea and concept of faith, to help you come to an accurate understanding of just what faith is, how it operates, and what it accomplishes for you and for the Kingdom of God. My aim up to this point has been to help you see that a life of faith is God’s will for you, and it is possible for you. Now, in this chapter we come to what I call the “faith process,” a series of progressive stages that apply to those special occasions in which we are drawn into believing God for specific objects and outcomes. In these occasions, our natural abilities and resources are clearly not enough and thus call for God’s supernatural intervention and provision. These special occasions are what we will refer to as “faith events.”
The Faith Process Illustrated
Part One : From the Bible and Christian History
In the previous chapter I attempted to explain the faith process by dealing with it as a sequence of stages throughout a faith event. These stages emerge as a pattern in the lives of those who accept God’s invitations to believe Him, by faith, for specific objects or outcomes in specific situations in their lives. In this chapter we are going to look at the faith process by way of illustration, first from the Bible, and then from Christian history. Again, let me remind you that we are not talking about a precise formula, but a general pattern. It is important to remember this so that you don’t find yourself trying to force your situation into a rigid mold. God’s dealings with each of us are always new, personal, and original. Now let’s observe the faith process at work in the lives of some people who were just as human and just as ordinary as you and me.
The Faith Process Illustrated
Part Two : From Personal Experience
In the previous chapter, we looked at illustrations of the faith process taken from the Bible and from Christian history, but now I want to look at some that are a little closer to home. They might not be quite as dramatic as Jehoshaphat defeating three armies with the song of faith, or Hudson Taylor sending a hundred missionaries to the field in one year, or Wayne Allen building the largest Christian school in America, but they mean a lot to me because they happened in MY life. And let me say this, as you begin to enter the faith process in relation to various areas of your life, you will begin to be able to say the same thing. You see the wonderful thing about the life of faith is that it ultimately becomes a history of faith in you, and that history of faith in you becomes a heritage of faith for the generations that follow you. Over the years there have been many times when Sheila and I have seen the faith process play out in our lives, and I plan to share a lot of them in another book, but for now in this limited space I want to share just a few.
The Faith Process Applied
Thus far we have looked at the faith process by way of explanation, we have seen it illustrated from the Bible and from Christian history, and we have seen it in the life and ministry of this evangelist and his wife. But here, I want to help you to begin applying the faith process to your own life, personally and practically. Until you begin to experience it for yourself, it is all just theory.
Real Faith Requires Real Warfare
One thing that is essential to understand in regard to living by faith, as well as walking through a faith event, is that real faith will not go unopposed by the powers of darkness. Satan will not oppose attempts to serve God as long as they originate in the flesh, but when you step into the arena of real God-faith, you are in for a real fight. As we said before, there are three fights in faith; the fight against faith, the fight to faith and the fight of faith. First satan will oppose even the idea, the notion of trusting God in the first place. He will tell you to just be practical, use common sense, do what you feel is right and hope for the best. Once you get past that, and make the choice to fight through to a place of real faith, satan will use every tactic in his arsenal to prevent you from coming to the knowledge of God’s will and the decision to trust God for it, rather than resorting to some human scheme. Finally, when you arrive at the place of faith, where the faith object or outcome becomes real in your heart, satan will tempt you to give up too soon and quit.
Real Faith and The Timing of God
Holding On Beyond the Deadlines
In discussing the faith process, we observed that between the prayer of faith and the actual fulfillment of God’s will in the visible realm, there will be a period of waiting, during which time the activity of faith takes place. Well part of that activity is the waiting itself, simply persisting in faith until the object or outcome believed for materializes. “…and having done all, to stand, stand…” (Ephesians 6:13,14). How? You must “…take unto you the whole armour of God...” Sometimes, however, that persistence may not be so simple, because it often takes you right up to the last minute. In fact, it sometimes even takes you beyond the last minute, beyond what men and circumstances might call the “deadline.” As we said before, walking through a faith event is often like walking with Jesus from the Garden to the resurrection. The will of God is settled in the garden and surrender is made to it. It is embraced as done. Then comes the court of mocking and ridicule, which leads to the cross and the grave - that place where it looks like all is lost and hopeless. But then comes the resurrection, when the stone is rolled away and God is glorified.
God Uses the Unexpected
One thing I learned early on, concerning faith and faith events, is that God very often uses the unexpected, in fact more often than not. Even if He tells you ahead of time that He is going to use this person or that situation to help meet your need, solve your problem, or expand your ministry, there will still be an element of the unexpected in it. You may have prayed the prayer of faith, placing your “prayer order” before the Great Supplier of heaven, and you may have an unshakable confidence in your heart that God’s deliverance is on the way, but you will likely not know by what means the deliverance will come. That is up to God. The faith life is full of wonderful surprises. That night that I sat on the side of my bed at midnight thanking God for His supply of the $4,000, I knew beyond doubt it was coming. In fact, I knew in my heart I already had it, but I did not have a clue God was going to use that man to whom I gave my card after that meeting. That part of it was a total surprise. The thought never entered my mind of that man’s having anything to do with me, or our ministry, beyond that meeting. I have found that if I make a list of all the ways I think God might do it, all I end up with is a list of ways He is not going to do it. In Isaiah 55:8,9 God plainly tells us, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” God always has His Own way of conducting His Own business and how He does it is none of our business. Our business is to trust Him.
Real Faith Requires Real Obedience
In the Christian life there are two types of obedience. The first is obedience in a general sense, that is, compliance with the will and Word of God in our daily walk (John 15:1-11). Living in obedience to God on a daily basis, in the broad sense, provides the underpinning required for a life of faith that will not and cannot exist without it. A Christian who is living in even the slightest disobedience to God should not expect to be able to believe God for anything. The first order of business, therefore, in attempting to believe God by faith, is to make sure you are rightly adjusted to Him. The real faith life is a life lived in continuous fellowship with God, and fellowship with God is maintained through continuous obedience to the Spirit and the Word. All it takes to maintain a consistent harmonious relationship with God is to simply, moment-by-moment, obey the leading of the Holy Spirit and do what He says. A consistent life of obedience to God is essential to a life of real faith. Every occasion for the kind of faith that connects you to the impossible will necessitate an activity of faith that requires an act of radical obedience. The choice of radical obedience to God in relation to a faith event is much easier to make when the habit of regular, routine obedience has been formed in the daily life already.
Real Faith Results in Real Giving
My intention in this chapter is not to give an exhaustive treament to the subject of giving - that would require another book. Rather, what I want to do here is simply make the important point that a life of real faith is a balanced life of giving as well as receiving. The very essence of the Christian life is giving. “For God so loved the world that He gave...” The very nature of the life of Jesus lived through us is giving. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).” Notice that the operation of real love, which we have said is the driving force of real faith, is expressed through the activity of giving. Because the life of faith is powered by love, it will always be a life of flow and not containment. One of the chief characteristics of love, which you discovered the moment you were born again, is that it wants to give. As I have mentioned before, when I first met my wife, I fell head over heels in love with her. The result was I wanted to give her everything - I still do. All of a sudden I found myself spending money I did not have and buying things I could not afford to give to a girl I did not yet really know all that well. Now, why did I do that? Because I was in love and love wants to give. I might add that after forty-two years I still feel the same way. The same thing happened when I met Jesus. The moment He came into my heart, I fell in love with Him and wanted to give Him everything. I gave away money, clothes, possessions, and anything else I thought God could use for His Kingdom. I am sure you had the same experience. When you are truly in love, you just can’t give enough. Amy Carmichael (1867-1951), missionary to India, said, “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.” In Acts 2:41-47 and 4:31-37, we see three outstanding characteristics of the early Church that resulted from being filled with the Holy Spirit - boldness, unity, and giving. These early Christians were almost intoxicated with giving, and as a result, there was no lack among them. They sold lands, houses, and possessions and gave the proceeds to the apostles to distribute to those who had need. What was it that produced this radical giving? They had been filled with the Holy Spirit, and they had fallen in love with Jesus.
Real Faith Requires Letting Go
When you begin to live a life of faith, and you must in order to please God, you will soon discover it is a life of continuously letting go – of something. It is a life of stepping out from the familiar and the comfortable into the unknown and the unpredictable. It is a life in which you exchange the false illusion of the security of the world for the rock-solid real security of God. It is a life that often takes you out of step with the world in order to put you in step with God. In a life of real faith you are repeatedly required to let go of the limitations of the visible and the possible so you may reach into the limitless realm of the power and resources of God. In the faith life you are required to let go of self-dependence and walk in total God-dependence, trusting Him alone. But when you finally make that critical life-changing choice to cast yourself upon God entirely and walk by faith and not by sight, you will find letting go is much easier than you thought it would be. It is also much more liberating than you ever imagined.
