Developing A Faith That Will Not Fail
Notes
Transcript
And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren.”
But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.”
vs. 32 I am praying that your faith will not be reduced to inactivity. Greek Translation
vs. 32 I am praying that your faith will not be reduced to inactivity. Greek Translation
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials,
that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire,
may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love.
Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls.
Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you;
The primary fire the believer faces is the persecution against what they believe. Attacks against their faith and the faith.
It is not sickness, abandonment, or poverty.
Peter was persecuted for his faith in the courtyard, and at the fire.
Your faith will be tested in life, but it doesn’t have to fail.
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
Ever Increasing Faith (1. Have Faith in God)
These are the days when we need to have our faith strengthened, when we need to know God. God has designed that the just shall live by faith. Any man can be changed by faith, no matter how he may be fettered.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
Faith can be measured!
For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
Revelation
God gives us the measure of faith releasing His power, position, and potential to live in Victory!
God gives us the measure of faith releasing His power, position, and potential to live in Victory!
Application
Our human nature wants outcome without effort.
Our human nature wants outcome without effort.
It’s easier to blame, and make excuses than it is to put in the effort to develop our faith.
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Faith is laying hold of the unrealities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality (by acting on the Word)
Faith is laying hold of the unrealities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality (by acting on the Word)
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It’s our handle on what we can’t see.
God’s Word is the Highest Reality available to us!
Faith changes things, not God!
How do I grow a faith that will not fail?
Take your medicine
Take your medicine
My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.
Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health (medicine) to all their flesh.
“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson
“The mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original dimensions.”― Ralph Waldo Emerson
Keep your focus
Keep your focus
Ears an Eyes are the pathway to the Heart
Ears an Eyes are the pathway to the Heart
This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
Faith brings what is impossible into the realm of the possible.
Faith brings what is impossible into the realm of the possible.
Don’t let circumstances shut your mouth
Don’t let circumstances shut your mouth
For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
You remove the mountain the same way it was created.
You remove the mountain the same way it was created.
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
Do what you can applying His Word
Do what you can applying His Word
Don’t allow what you can’t do stop you from what you can do. -John Wooden
Don’t allow what you can’t do stop you from what you can do. -John Wooden
Faith is of the Heart
Faith is of the Heart
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 preach):
that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Faith is of the Spirit and Soul.
Spirit- Conscience, Intuition, and Communion
Faith-Hope-Love (Spiritual Forces)
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,
All of these have a secondary source: Sin or Holy Spirit
Soul- Mind, Emotion, and Will
Trust-Wish-Affection (Natural Forces)
Ear Gate-Eye Gate
Believing is an Action Word!
Believing is an Action Word!
Act on the Word!
Moreover, keep on becoming doers of the Word and stop being hearers only, reasoning yourselves into a false premise and thus deceiving yourselves, because if, as is the case, anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, this one is like a man attentively considering in a mirror the face with which he was born. For he took one look at himself and was off, and he immediately forgot what sort of a person he was. But he who with eagerness and concentration has pored over the perfect law, the law of liberty, and has continued in it, not having been a hearer who forgets but a doer who works, this person shall be prospered spiritually in his doing.
You were not created to have a divided heart.
Leads to instability
Faith without works is dead
Transformation
3 Questions:
What is God saying to you?
What are you going to do about it?
How can I pray for you?
Souls, Souls, Souls!!!!!!!!!
