Faith is of the heart
Faith comes to your heart by repeatedly hearing God’s Word, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17) MEV. Everything in the kingdom of God starts with a seed of the Word of God. You take the seed; you plant it, and it grows into a harvest.
Things in the spirit domain grow the same way: You find God’s Word on the subject, believe His promises, speak His Word, and receive what God has promised.
Faith is released by believing in your heart and speaking with your mouth. What you have faith in will happen as long as what you believe in, is in line with the scriptures, “For truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, he will have whatever he says.” (Mark 11:23) MEV.
When the Scripture uses the word heart, it doesn’t mean the physical heart; it means the spirit of a man. The moment your body dies, your spirit goes somewhere; either to be with God or separated from Him.
Consequences of unbelief
God doesn’t send people to hell; their destination is determined by whether or not they believe Jesus is Lord. The natural man doesn’t know anything about faith, so he doesn’t understand what it means to be born-again; and doesn’t believe there is an eternal life after death.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead to sins, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and He raised us up and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one should boast.”(Ephesians 2:4-9) MEV.
Faith is a spiritual power, and not a power of the mind. The natural man refuses to believe because he chooses a closed mind. Therefore, he is not allowing the Lord to open his heart to receiving salvation and eternal life with Him. The consequences will be disastrous for him because there will be a judgment day after death.
“(Hebrews 9:27). Jesus Christ will return to judge the world where he will separate born-again believers (who will go to have eternal life Him in Heaven), and unbelievers (who will be sent to eternal tormented life in hell). This is where the fire does not consume and never quenches. It is also a place of complete darkness and separation from God.
By grace through faith
You received God’s faith when you accepted Jesus as your Lord. “Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for the obedience of faith among whom all nations for His name, among whom you also are called by Jesus Christ.” (Romans 1:5-6) MEV. God wants you to have His faith, “Jesus answered them. “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22) MEV. When you received God’s Word, faith came into your heart, and you were born again.
By grace through faith you are saved, it is the gift of God. Grace did the work for what you need. Your faith is the power that helps you receive it. The growth and maturity of your faith depend on your commitment to seek God, read and study His Word, and think about how His Word applies to your everyday life.
Hearing God’s Word is what builds your faith, and it is faith that makes the connection between what God provided and what you receive. “Therefore, the promise comes through faith, so that it might be by grace, that the promise would be certain to all the descendants, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abrham, who is the father of us all.” (Romans 4:16) MEV.
Faithlessness and Faith
Your flesh and your born-again spirit put pressure against each other. Your flesh wants you to live by sight, not by faith whereas your spirit wants you to live by faith not sight. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.”(Galatians 5:17) MEV.
Two examples of #1 faithlessness and #2 faith:
- Thomas had spent 3 years with Jesus and still was faithless, he made a decision to not believe until he could see before believing. “So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail prints, and put my hand in His side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25-29) MEV.
- Jesus said the centurion had greater faith then all Israel, he stated he wasn’t worthy to have Jesus come to heal his servant he believed Jesus only had speak the Word. “The centurion answered and said, “Lord I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. But speak the word only, and my servant will be healed.” (Matthew 8:8) MEV.
The power of the Holy Spirit
When the Scripture talks about the “fruit of the spirit,” it is talking about the power of the Holy Spirit which will work in all areas of your life. When the Holy Spirit came to live in you, He brought with Him that fruit and He will work in your born-again spirit to help you mature in applying the fruit to your life. There is spiritual power in each element of the fruit of the spirit. All of them functioning at the same time produces holiness. “For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, and self-control, against such there is no law.”(Galatians 5:22-23) MEV.
Faith is a spiritual power and is evidence of what is not seen. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it men of old obtained a good report. By faith we understand that the universe was framed by the Word of God, so that things that are seen were not made out of things which are visible.” (Hebrews 11:1-3) MEV.
Believe God to develop His character in your spirit. You must believe and not doubt, and you will have what you say.
Effective faith
Be a doer of God’s word, not just a hearer. To have effective faith you must not only believe, but you must also release it out of your spirit in the form of words. “Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man viewing his natural face in a mirror. He views himself, and goes his way, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. (James 1:22-24) MEV.
Speak in love. Put the Word in your eyes, ears and heart, and it will come out of your mouth. “But, speaking the truth in love, we may grow up in all things into Him, who is the head.” (Ephesians 4:15) MEV. When the Word is in your heart you will have a heart full of joy which becomes medicine to all your flesh “A merry heart does good like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.”(Proverbs 17:22) MEV.
Your faith will not work if in your heart you are unforgiving, because an unforgiving heart is not a loving heart, and faith only works by love. You can choose to forgive anyone who’s wronged or offended you as an act of your will (and not by an act of your emotions). “And when you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, So that your Father who is in heaven may also forgive your sins.” (Mark 11:25) MEV.
And lastly
Don’t seek only miracles, seek first that which will change your whole life for the better. The most powerful miracle is God’s gift of your new birth and it’s received by faith. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.”(John 3:16) MEV.
Spend time developing your faith by listening, hearing, praising and thanking God for His promises and manifesting His love in your life.