Lesson 12
GROWTH OF
FAITH
Part 2
By Ruth
Mahoney Swaim
An Adaptation
of a teaching by Ralph Mahoney
As was stated in Part 1 of this
teaching, we are concentrating on developing faith or maturing faith.
In a later teaching we will discuss the Gift of Faith which is one
of the nine Gifts of the Spirit (I Corinthians 12).
One of the first things you learn at
Bible College in the Hermeneutics class (interpreting the scripture)
is that the Bible is the best interpreter of itself. You use the
Bible to interpret the Bible. You find out all that the scripture
says on a subject and see how it unfolds the subject.
Jesus is the best example to study in
interpreting the scripture. For example, study all He said on faith,
look up all the scriptures He Himself quoted from the scripture and
then weave together His thread of thought.
Faith Grows by
Obedience
In order to grow in faith and do the
works Jesus commanded, you must be obedient. Obedience contains
three essentials to growth:
1. Fertile Soil – Nurtured in
God’s Word
Ephesians 1:17:
“that the god of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may
give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of Him…”
2. Water – Watered by
Obedience
II Corinthians
10:5, 6: “…casting down arguments and every high thing
that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to
punish (or have no fellowship with) all disobedience when your
obedience is fulfilled.”
3. Sunshine – Bathed in the
sunshine of God’s love
Galatians 5:6:
“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails
anything, but faith working through love.”
Faith Grows by Hearing
Does God Speak Today?
2. Don’t refuse His voice
Hebrews 12:25: “See that ye refuse not him that speaketh.
For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much
more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from
heaven;”
3. Be ready for His voice.
Hebrews 12:1: “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed
about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every
weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run wit
patience the race that is set before us…”
4. Tune in to His voice John
10:3: “To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his
voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.”
Heed His voice and obey. Disobedience
damages your hearing. If you continue to ignore His voice and do not
obey the gentle promptings, your hearing will become dull and even
deaf.
Remember, “My sheep know my
voice.” John 10:4 and 10:27.
What does that mean?
If you belong to Him (have been born
again) you have been given the ability to hear Him. It’s a
maturing process. You develop this acute hearing by reason of use.
Lambs do not hear so well, but sheep have walked with him a while,
they have become familiar with the masters voice and hear it
immediately. They know His voice.
Note: Fasting can sharpen your hearing.
Fasting will make you sensitive to His promptings and nudging. He
may speak to your heart directly, through the scripture, through
someone else in conversation or through prophetic utterance.
In any case, He still speaks and He
still hears when you speak.
SPEAKING FAITH
Faith Grows by SAYING
“…have faith
in God.” Mark 11:22 and 23. The literal translation is:
“Have the faith of God…For verily I say unto you, that whosoever
shall say unto this mountain..” The
implication here is that the faith of God is a faith that speaks.
Gen. 1 – “Let there be Light”.
God SAID “Let there be…”
Joseph Garlington: “Nothing happens
in the Kingdom of God until something is SAID.”
SAYING faith is a higher faith that
ASKING faith. It takes faith to ask. In ‘asking faith’, Lloyd
Ogilvie has a wonderful structure to remember. He says “Ask God
what to ask for, then ask, then praise Him for it.”
But there is a faith that goes beyond
asking to a faith that speaks.
“For Verily I say unto you, that
whosoever shall say unto this mountain… he
shall have whatsoever he saith.” Mark
11:23
Original Greek: “Whosoever
believes that those things which He says have
already come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says.”
Hebrews 11:3 “ Through
Faith we understand that the worlds were formed by the WORD of God so
that things which are seen were not made of things which are
visible.”
Examples of Speaking Faith:
Abraham – Romans 4:17 –
22 “Abraham staggered not at the promise. He
believed what had been spoken and it was imputed to him for
righteousness.”
God – Romans 4:17 We love this commentary on God “..he makes the dead alive and calls those things which be not as though they were.”
When God says something “is” though
it appears not to be, HE believes that it “is.” God has no doubt
in His heart, thus exactly what He says happens.
If God does this, shouldn’t we?
Should we not, as Gods children, do as God does?
Jesus – At this very moment,
Jesus Himself is sitting in faith, calling those things that be not,
as though they were. God the Father said to Jesus “Sit thou at
my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool.” Psalm
110:1
Jesus has had that promise from
eternity. The Bible says He is seated at the right hand of the
father expecting in faith that his enemies be made his footstool. He
is in a position of rest and repose knowing that He will see the
fruit of his faith manifested on this earth though the outworking of
the promise has spanned centuries.
Take Your Stand In Faith: If
God has given you a word, stand, confess it, speak it, and believe it
in your heart. No matter what storms come against you or what
battles ensue, speak it. When you’ve done all to stand…STAND.
KEY: Understanding Hebrews 3:1:
“Therefore, Holy Brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling,
consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Jesus
Christ.” (“Profession” is the same Greek word as
“confession” or “testimony.”)
Ralph Mahoney tells his testimony of
the day when light was shed on this truth for him:
“When I discovered this truth one day
while reading in Hebrews, I suddenly saw the scene in Heaven. Jesus
was there in the presence of God as High Priest of what I said.
“The scene enlarged and I saw before
me a courtroom with God the Father, the Judge of all the earth,
seated behind the bench. On either side of the witness-stand stood
the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney, listening intently
to the testimony of the defendant.
“Each attorney then rested his case
with the final Judge, based on the statements made by the defendant.
“Now the prosecuting attorney is the
‘accuser’, or the devil. In Revelation 12:10, he is
described as accusing the brethren before God day and night.
“In the first chapter of Job, satan
came along with the sons of God before the Lord, just waiting for the
chance to accuse Job. In all the torments and trials that Job
suffered as the devil was accusing him, he never charged God
foolishly, nor questioned His wisdom, nor sinned with his lips (Job
2:10).
“In the courtroom scene, Jesus is the
Defense Attorney. I John 2:1 states: “…if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”
This word for “advocate” is “Lawyer” in modern English. It
is the Greek word paraclete, that is translated “comforter” in
John 14:16 meaning “one called alongside to help.”
“John 14:16-17 “I will
pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (lawyer)
that he may abide with you forever; even the Spirit of truth.” This
means we not only have a lawyer with the Father in Heaven, “Jesus
Christ the righteous” but we also have one with us here on earth,
the Holy Spirit. We’re well represented in God’s courtroom.
“Now we can apply this courtroom
scene. Sitting in the witness chair is the defendant – YOU; Jesus
is the Defense Attorney; Satan is the Prosecuting attorney; and God
the Father is the Judge. All who are present wait to hear what YOU
will say – your testimony.
“In pleading your case, your
testimony is the greatest weapon which the Defense Attorney (Jesus)
has against the accuser (the devil). What you say determines the
outcome of the case.
“Your attorney presents his case
before the Judge based on your positive, sound testimony. The
prosecuting attorney, by the same token, presents his accusations to
the Judge based on any contradictory statements on your part.
“Both the defending attorney (Jesus)
and the prosecuting attorney (satan) work with what you say. You
should give Jesus, the High Priest of your confession, a testimony
that He can repeat for your defense.
“Your profession should be a good
confession of faith. If you give a negative confession, you load the
devil’s gun to shoot in the face of God.
“God the Judge can acquit, preserve
and protect you only by hearing you say what He Himself says. What
God says is always true. If you say what God says, your testimony is
true. As the just Judge, He then stands behind His own word to
perform it. (Jer 1:12).
“You say what God says and you will
overcome the devil “by the blood of the Lamb and the word of
(your) testimony.” Rev. 12:11
“Now you may be thinking: ‘No one
is present to hear it.’ Oh yes there is! Jesus is waiting to hear
it, that He might become High Priest of your confession.
“The devil will hear it and tremble.
“God will hear it and bring you the
victory over the devil, and bring you right into Jesus’ victory.
So shout it out for all the host of Heaven to hear it. ‘The
word is very nigh unto thee (even) in thy mouth…” Deut
30:14. “…while they are yet speaking, I will hear”
Isa. 65:24.”
“Jesus is the High Priest of what you
say.”
Conclusion: As you confess Gods
word and learn to walk by faith, not by sight, your faith increases.
Remember, mountain moving faith is
different from mustard seed faith. In 1 Corinthians 13:2,
Paul comments on faith that moves mountains: “And though I have
the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all
knowledge; and though I have ALL faith, so that I could remove
mountains…”
Paul recognized that it took all
or total or full-grown faith to move mountains. You don’t move
mountains with seed faith; you move mountains with all faith.
It takes fully developed faith to relocate a mountain! Paul
recognized this and Jesus taught it.
In Matthew 17 we read the
account of Jesus discussing with some of the apostles why they
couldn’t cast the demon out of a child. In Matthew 17:20
(King James version) “And Jesus said unto them, Because of your
unbelief…”
That word, however, is not ‘unbelief’
in the original Greek, but rather ‘little faith’ or ‘undeveloped
faith.’
Jesus was not talking about unbelief (a
negative force). These disciples would not have tried to cast out
devils if they had been in unbelief.
Unbelief is a negative thing that
disbelieves, whereas the problem of these nine apostles was ‘little
faith.’
They were trying, but with not enough
faith to do the job. So then the disciples were not unbelieving;
they simply did not have sufficiently developed faith to cope with
the problem. They had ‘seed-faith’ with a ‘tree-sized’
problem.
Jesus further taught them that even
though their faith was undeveloped, if they would allow it to grow as
a grain of mustard seed, they could eventually “say unto this
mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove and
nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Matthew 17:20.
Nothing the Lord speaks to you will be
impossible to you if you have faith that has grown and continues to
grow.
Growing faith is a scriptural concept.
We are “changed from glory to glory” and “from faith
to faith.” 2 Corinthians 3:18; Romans 1:17.
Faith comes by hearing Gods
word, obeying what you’ve heard out of a heart of love
for Him and confessing in the face of adversity exactly what
His word says.
HEAR His voice
OBEY His voice
LOVE Him
SAY His promise
Rom 4:20, 21 “He
(Abraham) staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but
was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded
that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”
What God promises, He is able to perform, and not only able
but He WILL do what He has promised.
Ralph Mahoney: “As your faith grows,
your ability to trust God grows.”
Do you believe God has spoken a word to
you? If you are unsure, ask Him for a confirmation. God is not
insecure. He will be happy to confirm His word to you.
Then when you receive that
confirmation, SHOUT IT OUT – BELIEVE IT -- and when you’ve done
all to stand (or when you’ve done everything you know to do) –
then STAND.
Satan is a usurper. Don’t give him
any ground. Everything he does is illegal. He has no rights. Stand
– Stand – Stand and watch the salvation of the Lord!
PRAYER: My Heavenly Father, you and
I are a majority. I now take my stand with you and declare my rights
and your victory. You have already gotten me the victory. I now
take my place in your army, under your command and march into battle.
I acknowledge you as Lord and demons and principalities must fall at
the sound of your Name. Jesus is Lord over ___________________. I
declare victory in this situation in the name of Jesus.
Copyrighted by Ruth Mahoney Swaim to protect it from commercial or other non approved use.
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