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HOW TO AVOID WEAK FAITH

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KEY SCRIPTURE: Romans 4:19 “And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb”:

Our key scripture gives us a good clue on how to avoid weak faith. It says Abraham was not weak in faith; how? He did not consider or look at his body, which was as good as dead when he was a hundred years old, and neither did the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

This is a very important lesson to learn so we do not weaken our faith. Faith, although very potent and can achieve amazing feats, can be easily weakened and brought to zero if you look at the naturally negative things.

The lady who is trusting God for a husband must not look at the wrinkles on her face. She must not count the years rolling by. The couple expecting a miracle baby must stop looking at their age and other negative symptoms. Don’t look at your weak and hurting body if you expect to receive a miracle healing. They would weaken your faith.

In Matthew 14:30, the Bible says” But when he saw the wind boisterous he was afraid and beginning to sink he cried saying Lord save me”. The preceding story is about Peter. He started walking on the water when the Lord asked him to come. He walked quite a distance because when he called on the Lord to save him, the Lord just stretched his hand to lift him. Peter’s faith was deflated by what he saw. Faith is strengthened by the word of God. Abraham kept considering the promise of God and gave glory to God. This made his faith strong. He called himself the father of many nations. Please learn that once again, faith is a spiritual supernatural virtue. It has nothing to do with physical natural situations. Whether the condition is improving or delaying it adds nothing to faith. Faith ONLY thrives on the word of God. It should never be on how things are improving or not improving.

Tell yourself I will not look at the natural conditions. Even if it is improving, my sole consideration is the word of God. Listen faith COMETH by hearing and hearing by the word of God(Romans 10:17). Faith is not a product of the natural state of affairs.

Get your faith firm and strong by focusing on the word.

Note: the faith that is solely dependent on the word is real and can’t fail.

  CONFESSION.

The word of God is the only source of my faith. I feed on the word, talk about the word, and act on the word. This always brings me amazing results.

THOUGHT: THE FAITH THAT IS SOLELY DEPENDENT ON THE WORD IS REAL, AND CAN’T FAIL

FURTHER STUDIES
Romans 4:20-21 ” He 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”.

2 Corinthians 3:18 ” But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord”.

FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH

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KEY SCRIPTURE: 1 Timothy 6:12″ Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses”.

This verse (1st Timothy 6:12)reveals the real fight of Christians. Our fight is not against demons. Demons work to ground our faith, but we must work to keep our faith active. So long as your faith is active, no devil can stop you. (Mark 9:23). All things are possible to Him that has faith.

Every child of God must focus on building his faith strong in the Lord. It is your faith that overcomes the world, including devils and Satan himself (1st John 5:4). Our key scripture says we must fight the good fight of faith. It is a good fight. It is the kind of fight that gets you hooked up to God and brings His help and power to you. It is called a good fight.

A look at our key scripture from the Greek gives a different meaning for the two words fight. The first fight is”agonizomai” in the Greek language,
. It means “to enter into a contest” and the second fight is ” agon”which also means a place of a fight or an ‘assembly’ as an arena for a contest. What that scripture suggests is that as a Christian, you are in an arena for a fight, and you have no option but to fight. Many children of God are doing nothing about their faith, and as a result, the enemy is having an advantage over them.

To fight the good fight of faith means to keep your faith alive and active against contrary situations that seek to put you down. The essence of the fight of faith is not to cast away your confidence in the Lord in times of trials and difficulty. Hebrews 10:35,” Cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward”. Our faith is expected to triumph in every encounter that we may face. We are advised not to cast away our confidence but to fight to maintain our faith.

We engage in this fight as we feed on the word of God and declare with our mouths what the Bible says about that particular situation and then take a stand on what the Scripture says. It could be a persecution of your faith; you must maintain your declarations of the scriptures to keep your faith standing. It could be any other challenge that the enemy may raise against you. In all these, declare God’s word boldly to yourself and the devil, keep your faith alive and you will ultimately triumph. Do not complain and murmur. If you do so, it would be suicidal to your faith.

CONFESSION

I keep my faith active and alive in all times of challenges by declaring God’s word to myself and the situation. My faith continually triumphs over all difficulties.

FURTHER STUDIES.

1 John 5:4 ” For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith”.

Hebrews 11:33-34 ” Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens”.

SOME ACTIONS TO MAKE FAITH EFFECTIVE

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KEY SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 11:13″ These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth”.

The apostle in this instant reveals to us a very powerful principle to make your faith get results.

Within our key scripture are certain words that show positive actions that made their faith produce results. The words are:

  1. Seen
  2. Persuaded
  3. Embraced
  4. Confessed

For one’s faith to be potent and effective, one must employ these principles. First, you must be able to SEE your end or the answer: When the Lord God wanted Abraham to receive His promise, He made him have a picture of what He had for him; Genesis 15:5 “And he brought him forth abroad and said look now toward heaven, and tell the stars if thou be able to number them, and he said unto him, so shall thy seed be”. Your faith is made stronger when you can see what you anticipate. You must first have a picture or be able to see what you hope to get. The sick man must stop seeing himself as sick and see himself as healthy and strong. The unmarried woman or man who aspires to marriage must see himself or herself married. Your vision would either lift your faith or kill your faith. You are praying for a meeting place, start seeing yourself meet in a new hall with all that you desire to be there, available.

Secondly, you must be persuaded about what you are seeing. To be persuaded means to induce one by words to believe. This implies you start saying words like “Indeed I see myself healed and well or I can see myself married” or “I see us meet in a five thousand seated hall”. You induce words that excite your faith. Your faith is strengthened by what you hear. Refuse to say any negative word.

The third act of faith to be taken to make your faith produce results is to embrace your answer. This means to receive joyfully or welcome” the answer. In more simple terms, you celebrate the answer. You rejoice in your heart about your answer. Thank God that you have your answer. Abraham, according to Romans 4:20, glorified God for making him Father. of many, although he had not physically seen the promise.

The final step of faith is to confess that you have the answer. You keep declaring that everything is alright. Abraham started calling himself the father of many nations, although he had no child.

Please understand that before you make your confessions, you would have first, seen the answer, persuaded yourself of it, and then embraced it excitedly. If you do these things rightly, your answer can not elude you.

CONFESSION

Thank you, Father, for your word. I see my answer as I persuade myself of it, embrace it heartily, and boldly confess it.

THOUGHT: YOUR FAITH WILL NOT FAIL, KEEP WORKING IT.

FURTHER STUDIES.

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”.

Hebrews 11:11. “Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised”

FOLLOW THE FAITH OF THE FATHERS

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KEY SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 6:12″ That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”

One great lesson of all times is to learn to follow. Following makes things easier because you are not the starter but a follower or learner.

Our key scripture teaches us not to be slothful or lazy but to be alert and diligent to learn from those who have succeeded. The Bible says they inherited the promises through faith and patience.

Hebrews 13:7 has the following to say “Remember they which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God; whose faith follow, consider the end of their conversation”. We are to remember those who have taught us the word of God. He says we must follow their faith. To follow the faith of somebody is to consider the steps of faith taken by an individual as well as the outcome of these exploits, so you do likewise resting on the fact that if it went well with them it will go well with you.

The Holy Spirit gave an all-time statement after Heb. 13:7 as follows “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever”.(Hebrews 13;8) This scripture means the Lord Jesus who did not fail, these men who taught us the word of God and honoured their faith stance would likewise honour your faith stance for He does not change. Note the man with an example to follow or learn from him.

You can never be a failure following successful people. In the worst-case scenario, you would become like them. And remember, these are successful men. The Bible said we must not be slothful to follow such people.

In our times God has raised a number of generals who have achieved so much for God and we would do good for ourselves and the next generation after us to learn from the life, faith and experiences of such men. An example a of some of these men who have passed on into glory are Dr Billy Graham, Kenneth E Hagin, Archbishop Benson Idahosa, Smith Wiglesworth, Rev Mckweon and many more,

Some of those who are living in our times are men like our pastors and other leaders who taught us the word of GOD and many more. Get to know their stories and learn from their examples.

PRAYER

O heavenly father help me to learn from the examples of all those who have taught me the word and jow their faith-made exploits.

FURTHER STUDIES:

Matthew 4:19. “And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

2 Timothy 3:14. “But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learnt them”

BELIEVING WITH THE HEART

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KEY SCRIPTURE: Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

Once again, the Holy Spirit unfolds a very important truth about partaking of our salvation in our key scripture. Salvation is an all-inclusive word. It means to be saved from sin, healed from diseases, preserved from trouble, be at peace, deliverance from demonic activities, as well as any form of comfort that a man would need.

We learn from our key scripture that it takes believing in our hearts that our Lord Jesus was raised from the dead, and confessing with our lips, the lordship of Jesus to be saved.

The heart is the centre of the human being. I am not talking about our physical heart. The word heart is at times used interchangeably to mean the mind and emotions, which is the soul or to mean the spirit of man. “For the word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thought and intents of the heart”(Hebrews 4:12). Our heart is the seat of thoughts and decisions. The heart, therefore, controls the direction and general state of every man.

How do we believe with the heart?

Without believing with the heart, our salvation can not be complete. To believe with the heart means you are ready to throw your whole weight or life into what you have believed. One may believe with his head. In this instant, he is not ready to cast his life on what he claims to believe. It is called mental assent.

Believing with the heart is to let the word settle in your being without giving attention to other opposing or conflicting situations. This piece of scripture of promise becomes your meditation and rejoicing. For example, if the Bible says “Himself took our infirmities and bore our diseases…..” (Matt 8:17). Within you, you focus on this scripture, thanking God and rejoicing that there is no more disease in your body. You no longer accept any contrary symptoms, although they may be showing up.

You keep this scripture at heart, and you do not attend to any other contrary thoughts. The Lord said in Mark 11:23 as follows “Whosoever shall say unto this mountain be thou removed and be cast into the sea and shall not doubt in his heart but shall believe that those things he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith”. This simply means accepting the word as it is and acting on it. This is what it means to believe with the heart.

CONFESSION

With my heart, I believe all that the word says. I cast my whole being on what the scripture says without any hesitation or negative anticipations. All things are always possible with me because I believe with my heart.

FURTHER STUDIES:

Psalms 112:7-8 ” He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the LORD. His heart is established, he shall not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies”.

Romans 10:10 ” For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation.

GROWING STRONG IN FAITH

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KEY SCRIPTURE: Romans 4:20 “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God”;

Our key scripture once again reveals a truth that was rather silent in the story of Abraham in the book of Genesis.

Abraham did not grow weak in faith through unbelief but rather became strong in faith, giving glory to God. Giving God the glory always strengthens faith. True faith in God always celebrates the answer before it materialises. Anybody who claims he has faith yet is worried or complains does not know what he is talking about.

Faith in God is the answer to worry, fear, anxiety, and most of the emotional mishaps that most people go through.

What made Abraham so joyful, although the answer seemed not to come to pass? Abraham understood the significance of covenants. He knew that in a covenant relationship, there was no room for unfaithfulness. He therefore did not consider all the negatives that were with him and his wife. (Rom. 4:19). Faith is always weakened when one is overtaken by the negative situations that may be showing up.

When Peter walked on the water in Matthew 14:25-29, it was the billowing waves and the high winds coupled with the knowledge that water does not hold anybody up. These natural reasons killed his faith, and therefore, he began to sink.

This wrong reasoning or negatively being conscious of the potential for failure is overcome by voicing out praises unto God. Speak forth what the Lord says. Thank God for victory through his word. Declare boldly what the word says. Positive words would likewise stir up positive faith. Abraham gave glory to God. He said words like’ God, you have made me the father of many nations, and my wife is the mother of princes. You are the strong and faithful one. I thank you that I have my Isaac’. This was the daily declaration of Abraham. Now note this don’t say words like I know God would make all things beautiful in his time. This statement is a postponement of your answer. Faith always takes hold of the answer in your heart, not anticipating that the answer will come one day but rather, it is with you now. The words one says in such a moment matter a lot. They either strengthen your faith or erode it.

CONFESSION,

I praise the Lord for his everlasting faithfulness. I have whatever promise God has given me by faith. I thank and celebrate my answer today. Praise the Lord, Hallelujah!

THOUGHT: STRONG FAITH IS A FUNCTION OF RIGHT WORDS AND RIGHT ACTIONS

FURTHER STUDIES:

Psalms 23:1 “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want”.

John 16:33. “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

WHAT IS FAITH?

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

Our key scripture is the best definition of faith. It is also a very powerful revelation that the Holy Spirit gave us. Faith is a very important subject to study and to live by. The Bible said by it the elders obtained a good report. (Hebrews 11:2) One cannot be ignored and missed up in the crowd when one walks by faith. Without faith, one cannot please God. (Hebrews 11:6)

Our key scripture teaches that faith is a present-moment assurance or possession of something hoped for. It is a title deed of something that is not physically at hand. A celebration of an anticipated answer. Faith in God is a confident assurance of a promise that God has given. Faith focuses on the promise of God and not the challenges around. Faith in God is spiritual and supernatural, so it is always superior to every natural opposition.

Hope is an anticipation or an expectant
ion and faith take hold of that which hope has obtained.

Faith and hope are partners. Hope always goes ahead, and faith comes along to take hold of that which hope has had. Without hope, standing up faith is paralyzed.

Although faith always dares the impossible, it rests on the mightiness and faithfulness of God. It is always the reliability of God that makes his words give birth to faith. Romans 10:17″So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God”. If your faith is getting weak, what you need mainly is to give yourself a high dose of the word of God.

Faith’s achievements in a man are as God himself, for faith is God acting through a man….. The Lord said all things are possible to him who believes. (Mark 9:23)

The scripture narrates a few of the works of faith in God in Hebrews 11:33-34 “Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouth of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness was made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to fight the armies of the aliens”

These feats are continually being wrought by all those who take the path of walking in faith. Faith in God and faith to dare the impossible is normally not popular, yet those who stand for God are always celebrated. Be among those who would be celebrated for their faith in God.

CONFESSION

My faith in God is forever alive. By it, all things are possible to me. Life is exciting and beautiful because of faith in God. Faith in God always pleases him.

FURTHER STUDIES:

Matthew 14:29. “And he said, Come. And when Peter down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus.”

Mark 9:23 “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth”.

HOW GOD FUNCTIONS BY FAITH

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KEY SCRIPTURE: Romans 4:17 “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were”.

The Holy Spirit once again exposes a truth that we all need to pay closer attention to. It was said about Abraham in Gen 17:5 as follows “Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram but thy name shall be called Abraham for a father of many nations have I made thee. Abram means exalted father, but the Lord changed his name and called him Abraham. Abraham means the father of many nations. It implied God had made him a father of many nations. Apostle Paul, through the Holy Spirit, said that God calls those things that are not as though they were, and he also quickens the dead.

These truths reveal a very important fact about the nature of God. We realize that what God promises to happen in the future must be treated as having happened. He also gives life to that which might be dead. What he (Paul) is saying is that when dealing with a promise of God counts, it is done. God has no impossibilities. It is men who have impossibilities.

Two things are impossible for men:

  1. The things that do not exist.
  2. That which is dead. From our key scripture, the Lord teaches us how to handle these so-called impossibilities of men. He calls that which is not as though it was. This is what we call faith. Faith always sees what should be in the future now. Faith does not know it will happen tomorrow, but it has happened. (Hebrews 11:1)This is the realm of God. If that which God is relating with is dead, He gives life to it.

We must approach God’s promises on this principle. We must believe that what we hope to have in the future is present with us now. The word “impossible” is not in God’s vocabulary. It is in the vocabulary of fallen men. Now that we are born again, we are alive unto God(Ephesians. 2:1)

To partake of the promises of God, you must also go into God’s realm and call that which should be in the future now or today. If some condition is dead, declare that life has come into it. Praise God about it. You can not be disappointed. Keep acting that way till you finally see it in reality. Abraham kept calling himself the father of many nations, although physically he was not. He was functioning as God does, calling those things that are not as though they were.

CONFESSION

I live in the realm of God, and that is the realm of faith. I do not live in the future concerning God’s promises. They are all now with me. In this way, I always experience the reality of His promises.

Further studies.

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

Romans 10:10. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation”.

THE CROSS: OUR PLACE OF GLORY

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KEY SCRIPTURE: Galatians 6:14 ” But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world”.

Apostle Paul declares in our key scripture that God forbid that he should glory or boast, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This is very revealing. Human nature tends to be proud of their achievements. In this scripture, we are told that every form of boasting outside the cross of our Lord Jesus is an empty boasting. Why is this so? The Bible reveals that men, by our lineage from our first father, Adam, have all inherited a nature of death and condemnation. Romans 5:12 “wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”. This nature is also called “the law of sin and death”(Romans 8:2). Every person born on this Earth has this power called the law of sin and death at work in him: Every human experience outside Christ and the cross is pure misery and failure. All achievements of any man and his subsequent boasting are futile.

The Lord Jesus’ death on the cross was a deliverance for all mankind. His death was the crucifixion of this power that ruled mankind. On the cross, we were all set free. The law of sin and death made us slaves to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that ruled the world. Ephesians 2:2 ” Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience “:

Dear child of God, because of the cross of Christ, we are crucified to the world and the prince of the power of the air. This spirit does not have the power to dominate us. Any Christian who lives in sin either does not know the truth or has willingly yielded himself or herself to this prince of the air. The cross of Christ spelt our deliverance. The cross is our place of glory. It is God’s instrument for our deliverance into the new life. We do not glory or boast about any achievement of ours but only in the cross of Christ.

Dear reader if you have not given your life to Jesus then you have not passed through this ‘door of deliverance’, you are still a slave to the world, ruled by the prince of the power of the air. If you refuse to make Jesus Lord of your life, you will be with this evil prince in hell. Choose to accept the Lord Jesus today.

PRAYER

Thank you, heavenly Father, because of our Lord Jesus who died on the cross for us. Today, l am free from Satan’s dominance and am an instrument to set others free. In Jesus’ name, I have prayed.

FURTHER STUDIES.

Galatians 2:20 ” 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”.

Romans 7:24-25 ” O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then, with the mind, I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh, the law of sin”

RIGHT ATTITUDE TO RESTORE A FALLEN BROTHER OR SISTER

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KEY SCRIPTURE: Galatians 6:1 ” Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted ”.

Our key scripture shows us the right attitude when helping a brother who has been overtaken by a fault.

The Lord once admitted that we would always have the poor with us. (Matthew 26:11). In the same understanding, we would always have brothers and sisters who would be overtaken at fault. We must accept that we all don’t have the same understanding towards the bible, and neither do we all respond to the scriptures in a similar way. How do we handle such a person who has been overtaken at fault?

Our key scripture shows us the attitude we have to take. We must approach them with the Spirit of meekness. Meekness is humility in action. This implies you must not attend to him or her with an ‘I am a better person’ attitude’. A humble mind is the one who accepts that I am whatever I am not by my efforts but by the grace of God. It is approaching the brother, not with a condemning attitude. He said in the key scripture, “considering yourself lest thou also be tempted”.

Whenever a brother approaches a fallen one who has been overtaken at a fault and condemns him or her, this person who condemns has thrown away the grace of God. Without the grace of God, everyone is incapable, unqualified, and guilty. To handle a brother without God’s grace is like using your bare hands to handle a life wire You would surely be electrocuted. How does this happen? When you approach with a condemning attitude, you have no divine protection, and the very power or demon that deceived him would easily overpower you and cause you to do an even worse act than the victim.

Never act in any moment as a Christian without the grace of God. This implies you should not be legalistic and condemn others. (Luke 6:37). What did those men who brought the lady who was supposed to be caught in the act of adultery do, after Jesus had asked them to cast their stones if they had not sinned before? None could cast their stone because every man had an area where he or she fell short. (John 8:3-11). Don’t cast any stone at anyone. Do not add your voice to accuse another brother or sister in their absence. If you do any of these things, you are judging and condemning others.

Dear one, be very considerate of people. The following scripture shows us, how to handle various kinds of people. 1Th 5:14 ISV” We urge you, brothers, to admonish those who are idle, cheer up those who are discouraged, and help those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.”

PRAYER

I pray for all those who have been overtaken by a fault or sin. May the Holy Spirit open up their eyes and strengthen them to rise above whatever has caused their fall and never go back into sin again. If it be a demonic bondage, may that power be broken in Jesus’ name.

FURTHER STUDIES.

Luke 6:37 ” Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven:”

James 5:20 “Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins”