Discerning Faith

This Word that God has given to me is not just for Bible Teachers International, but it is for the entire Body of Christ; and if it is embraced, it will change the course of the church. It has the potential to turn the church in the right direction, and it is my sincere hope that my articulation of it is worthy of God’s intent. I firmly believe that if we embrace this Word, we will be a part of end time evangelism. Jesus is coming back soon, and all the pieces are falling into place. The anti-Christ is alive today and preparing to take his place as a world leader. I am very excited about God's word being the authority, God is a God of integrity, If He says something He will do it. Because of the way I came into the Body, sighting God’s word, I believed from that moment onwards that I could trust the Word of God. I believed that if God said it in His Word, then it would be manifested.

Nevertheless, the Lord spoke to me in response to questions that I have been asking Him, and this is the essence of the request: “Lord, this ministry has tried our best to obey You. We minister whatever You tell us to minister in the Word; it does not matter how controversial it is in the Body of Christ. We say what You tell us to say and have remained faithful at that. There are some people in ministry who really believe Your Word and want to serve you. They also want to make it to Heaven. But God, where is the Jesus ministry? Not just as it relates to this ministry, but in the entire Body of Christ. We see every now and then the gift of healing, people working miracles, televangelists doing great things, but where is that body of people that the world can see? The world is not looking at one or two persons, but the world needs to see the Body as Christ. So where is that? I don't see it! Yes, we work and we do what you tell us to do; and we have had a lot of successes, but I know that there is still a place that we have not gone in ministry or in our walk.”

The Lord’s reply to me was: “You have not discerned faith!”

I want to first caution you not to assume that you know what I am about to minister in the proceeding pages; simply because you have heard so much about faith. The truth we received over the years, set us on a trail, but our own presumptions did not allow us to truly comprehend the message. Nevertheless, the Lord is faithful. It is His intent that we know and understand the operation of faith. When the Lord said, “You have not discerned faith” - it was not so much what faith is, but how it operates (or what causes faith to operate).” When God was explaining this to me, He let me know that the fact that faith is the Holy Ghost is still the truth and will always be, but there are some dots that we have not yet connected. We did not connect the dots that caused that faith to operate in us. I am going to start with the perspective of faith which was taught by tradition.

Matthew 14:31

And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?

Now, this scripture is taken from an account where Jesus sent the disciples to cross the sea ahead of Him. While in the middle of a storm they saw Jesus walking on the water. When they discerned that it was Christ, Peter said: "bid me to come to you". Peter then stepped out of the boat and began to walk on the water approaching Christ. But when the wind got stronger and the waves got higher, he became fearful and afraid; and began to sink. Jesus stretched out his hand, caught him, and said: “Oh thou of little faith? Wherefore didst thou doubt?”

Scriptures like this were used to set our perspective of how faith was to operate in us. The take away that the church has from these scriptures is: “believe God and don't doubt.” On the surface, this sounded righteous to us, however, the error of our teachers was to acknowledge and institute a doctrine of belief for those who were already born again. In other words, theologians treated us as if we were of the same sort as Peter, when he stepped out on the water. Follow me here. At the time, Peter was a natural man, following another man who might be the Son of God. He had to believe that Jesus could grant him to walk on water, in spite of the circumstances around him. He was not sure of anything, thus he said, if it be you Lord, then allow me to come hither. He was not a believer.

Therefore, when he stepped onto the water, he had to not allow himself to be distracted by the roaring of the waves or the howling of the wind. He had to remain focused on Jesus and not allow doubt to overtake him for one moment. If the others tried to discourage him from getting out of the boat, he had to ignore them and force himself to believe Jesus could sustain him. Thus, we have the doctrine of belief. The church devised from an erroneous interpretation of scripture, numerous teachings on faith, trust and belief.

Numbers 14:11

11 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?

In the Old Covenant, God performed signs and wonders so that the people would believe Him. He worked many wonders in bringing them out of captivity so that the people would know assuredly that he would fulfill every promise. But when they came to the promised land, they refused to believe God would drive the enemy out. They became fearful and afraid of the tribes occupying the land. This unbelief came in the face of all the signs and wonders God had performed beforehand. But now let us look at the New Covenant.

Mark 16:14-16

14 Afterward, he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

This is where the line is drawn that separates the saint and the sinner. Those who believe become sons of God. They are also known as born again believers. In order for one to be saved, he must first believe God.

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.

Again, the born again are believers. We believe God; if we had not believed, we would not be saved. At salvation, our human belief became spiritual knowledge. We know God and the things that pertain to godliness. There is no need to teach the saint how to believe God. He knows that God is; and that God will.

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.

These are the signs and wonders that will follow those who believe. They themselves will be used to show forth the power of God in great exploits. The signs are for the unbelievers. They are the ones that need to be convinced of God. But for the sons of God, there is no need to convince them, they have already been persuaded. For us, belief was replaced with obedience.

Philippians 2:12-16

12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

We were simply commanded to do the works of Christ. Go into the hedges and highways. Compel the unbeliever to come to God. The Father wants to work through you. The works are according to his will and his doing. This means that we must be led by the Spirit of God without murmuring or complaining. Otherwise, he will rebuke us in the midst of this crooked and perverse world. We saw this rebuke performed when the disciples could not cast the demons out of the boy that was brought to them by his father. Jesus said, "Oh, ye perverse generation, how long must I suffer you". It was clear they had been given the power to cast out devils because they had already done so. But now they were in the midst of ministry and the power of God was not working with them. This is a great rebuke. But it came because of the mindsets they had developed while working with the Master. Let us look to this example and make sure we do not follow in their error. Do not rebel against, or grieve the Spirit of God, who lives within you. Honour his presence and he will honour you, by working through you. By this, the Father and his Son Jesus are glorified in you.