Faith & Confidence

As I begin to think on the vision that the Lord showed me in previous chapters, He led me to a passage in the script that expressed his mind and heart in such matters.

Luke 21:12-15

12 But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.

13 And it shall turn to you for a testimony.

14 Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer:

15 For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist.

Here in the midst of persecution, the Lord instructs the disciples not to meditate on what they should say in such cases. He promises to give them a mouth and wisdom. This promise was to settle their hearts. Take careful note, the Lord said, “settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what you shall answer.” This is a commandment to trust the leading of the Spirit of God. He is the one charged with declaring the will of the Father in the earth. You and I are simply the vessels he will use to accomplish His mission. The ministry of Jesus Christ is His mission and it is his intent to reveal the mind of God in all that befalls the sons. Before the vision, I was sitting there thinking on how we would come to know the will of the Father in praying for others, casting out devils, or ministry in general. His response was that He wanted to teach me confidence in him. Then I began to look into the scriptures and see that his response was always the same.

FAITH & CONFIDENCE

Summary Scripture:

John 11:41-42

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

Mark 6:2-5

2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands?

3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.

5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.

These men saw Christ after the flesh. Therefore, they were not the recipients of the mighty works of Christ. However, the principle is the same, as all truth is parallel. With the church, it is not that ordinary people don’t believe in the power of God; it is the people of God who are struggling in unbelief. The sons of God see themselves even as these people saw Jesus. He was without honor in their synagogues, just as He is without honor in us. The house in which he lives has not believed nor trusted him. Therefore, He has not been able to do mighty works.

Mark 6:6-9

6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.

7 And he called unto him the twelve, and began to send them forth by two and two; and gave them power over unclean spirits;

8 And commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only; no scrip, no bread, no money in their purse:

9 But be shod with sandals; and not put on two coats.

In this discourse we are told that Jesus could not do many great miracles in this place, because the people did not believe in him. The truth is, they saw him after the flesh. To them he was Joseph’s boy, the carpenter. In spite of all the wisdom he shared and the mighty works of which they had heard others speak. They were offended by him.

They were priests and Pharisees, who had no such wisdom, nor the anointing to do as he did. Beloved, as I said earlier, the same is true of the church today. We don’t always believe in the Jesus living in us. When we come to some situations, it is as if he was not there. We marvel at the power of satan in the earth, and minimize the power of God - yes, the very God that is in us.

From God’s perspective, this doubt is iniquity and sin. The miraculous transformation at salvation and the witness of the Holy Ghost within should be enough for us to believe in all that the Father has said. But our doubt and unbelief is a snare and sin that provokes God. It declares him to be a liar and impotent in the presence of darkness. Our doubt is the iniquity that separates us from a manifestation of Christ in the earth.

And now I want to look at two passages that have been the subject of controversy. It is the story of a man who had a son vexed by a demon. He brought the child to the disciples, who at that time could not cast the demon out of the child. But later that day, the disciples wanted to know why they were not able to cast the devil out.

Mark 9:28-29

28 And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?

29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

Some have concluded, the reason the disciples were not able to cast out the demon was a direct result of them not fasting and praying. However, before this incident took place, the Pharisees inquired of Jesus concerning the issue of fasting.

Mark 2:18-19

18 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?

19 And Jesus said unto them, -- Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

The disciples had the personage of the Lord with them. Therefore, there was no reason for them to fast for power or direction. The Lord had verbally instructed them; and had given them power over unclean spirits. I do not think this evil spirit was exempt from the power he had given them. Yet they could not cast him out. Now if you don’t adhere to the rules of biblical interpretation (allowing every scripture to provide another witnessing scripture), then you will no doubt be confused in trying to explain the true meaning of this passage. Therefore it is necessary to read the account of this event in Matthew.

Matthew 17:15-21

15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.

16 And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him.

17 Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me.

19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?

20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

This passage gives us a more detailed account of this event. The first thing out of Jesus mouth was, “O faithless and perverse generation.” He had to be speaking to the disciples because when they pointedly asked him in private, as to why they could not cast that devil out, he again said, “Because of your unbelief.” He had given them power over unclean spirits. He would never set them up to fail by not giving them power over all the spirits they would be likely to encounter. The subject of this passage is unbelief. And it is this kind of unbelief that can only leave by fasting and prayer. It would not have been necessary for them to fast and pray for such power, if they had only believed in the power he had given them.

Mark 16:17-18

17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;

18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.

The criteria is to believe. To have faith and trust in the workmanship of our Father in us. We are his offspring, children of the Most High. We must believe in our relationship with him and the bond of the Spirit into which we were baptized. There is an absolute truth here; the Lord gave the disciples power over unclean spirits. Is it not safe to conclude that he, being all knowing, and having all fore-sight, would not have given them less power than was needed to deal with whatever they would face? This includes the demon in the little boy. Jesus said the problem was their unbelief. Well, what is it that they did not believe? That is the real question. Undoubtedly, because of the horrible things the demon did to the child they became doubtful of the power Jesus had given them. They doubted in their heart; and the devil knows that it is a sin to doubt God. Therefore, they were walking on his turf. He had something to accuse them of before the Father.

Mark 11:21-24

21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

This scripture demands confidence in the God within us. It calls for obedience and trust in our Father. We must believe in the power of our relationship with him. That is where confidence is developed. We must know that our relationship with the Father is of such that pleases him. Sin and unforgiveness breeds doubt. Yes, beloved, we must have confidence in our relationship with God. We doubt because we know that our walk is not in the Spirit. We doubt because we know that our walk is not always pleasing to God. We also doubt because we have not fully accepted that God is the same in us as he was in the early church. He will do great signs and wonders today, even as he did from the beginning. But I dare say to you that this confidence we are lacking, will not come about from just speaking those things we want to have happen. It will not come by momentary belief. It will come when we know in our spirit that we have pleased God in all things at all times. We must know that we have not offended the Holy Spirit in word or in deed; but have obeyed from the heart all that the Father has commanded. In essence, this confidence will come when we have given the Father all that he requires.

Deuteronomy 10:12

12 And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

1. To fear him

2. To love him

3. To obey him

4. And to serve Him with all our heart.

My dear saints, to walk in these four requirements, is to manifest our faith in the Christ within us. I have a promise from the Lord. If we give him the things He requires, Jesus will do great and marvellous things through us. We will be able to reach our generation with the gospel of the kingdom. Signs and wonders will follow us, simply because we believe and obey. When FLOS (fear, love, obedience, servitude) is manifested in our walk, that is the walk in the Spirit and nothing will be denied us.

We will purge ourselves of this unbelief. We will fast this year as never before. We will fast until our soul is at peace in God. We will fast until we feel the emotions of the Spirit every moment of every day. We will fast until we are able to see into the spirit world, hear the voice of God and to know the will of God in all things. Finally, my friends, the Lord’s response is, “fear me, love me, obey me, and serve me with all your heart.

This is perfection and faith. You don’t fear me because you override your conscience and do and say things that I am not pleased with. You don’t obey me in all things. You obey me in not doing what you think is backsliding. But I say unto you, all disobedience is sin; and a little leaven, leavens the whole lump. I have told you of the things I require. It is your choice to give or to deny. But if you deny me of things I require, you will never truly know me, and I will deny you in that day of judgment. But if you choose to walk in faith and perfection, I will work mightily in your life and ministry. I will manifest myself to this world through you. I will exercise the powers of the world to come even now. You will speak a thing and I will perform it, for my name’s sake. I will cause you to know my will and you will not be made ashamed of your faith in me.”