Faith and Obedience

Many, many years ago, the Lord taught us that Faith, for the sons of God, is the Holy Ghost. The Holy Spirit is the substance of all we are hoping for; such hope being relative to the things we have been promised, but have not seen. Let us consider the following issues surrounding faith. For instance, can you imagine Jesus operating like us? Praying for people and nothing happens. Have you ever asked yourself, Is faith based upon obedience to God’s will or fellowship with God? What is the connection between faith and obedience? Is Faith an act of obedience or an act of fellowship? Should we already know the will of God? Does God give us a favorable answer based on our faith or just because it was His will?

There was never a time wherein Jesus prayed, and God did not answer. It is also safe to say that Jesus always knew the will of God in a situation. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, He had already testified beforehand that He had come to die for the sins of the world. Therefore, His prayer was asking if there be any other way, allow this cup to pass; nevertheless, thy will be done.

Jesus continually said, ‘The words I speak they are not mine, they are the Fathers.’ (John 12:49) He also said I only do that which I see the Father do (John 5:19). He was always in fellowship with the Father. There was nothing and no situation that was off limits to their fellowship. He did not have to come to a situation and then try to invoke the attention of God. He was in constant communion with His Father. However, He was not supposed to be unique in this level of communion. He said man ought to always pray. We should be in constant fellowship with our Father. He longs for it. It is the place of great peace and power. At Lazarus’ tomb, Jesus made it quite clear that the Father always heard Him. This goes beyond the Father listening to Him. But the implication here is that the Father always responded to Him. Therefore, He was able to walk up to the tomb with confidence that the Father would do as He asked.

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.

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.

CONFIDENCE AND COMFORT

Jesus’ confidence came because the Father heard Him and responded to His need to raise Lazarus from the dead. Comfort and confidence comes inside of what God has said and that which He reveals as evidence of His personage.

ABRAHAM: God promised Abraham a son whose name was to be Isaac. The child was born when Abraham and Sarah were well stricken in age and past childbearing. This was a miracle in itself. God made a covenant with Abraham, promising that He would be the Father of many nations; and that a great king would come through the line of Isaac. Nevertheless, a few years later God instructed Abraham to offer the child as a burnt offering unto Him. Abraham obeyed by binding the child and placing him on the sacrificial altar. The Angel of the Lord stopped him.

Obedience is the act of doing the thing God told you to do. Abraham’s obedience was an act of faith, but Abraham’s faith is a response to his fellowship with God. His fellowship with God provided him with a comfort in doing what God commanded.

We try to use the Holy Ghost as a Comforter because that is what He is. However, we never experience His comfort and assuredness because we are lacking in fellowship with God. Therefore, we are blind to the heart and mind of the Father, which makes us fearful to obey all things. Hence, we count the cost. Faith, on the other hand, started to manifest itself for Abraham at the foot of the hill where he told his servants that he and the boy were going to worship, and they would return. Abraham believed and trusted in the Word of God; which brought him comfort and confidence in what was about to happen on the mountain. God promised him Isaac and a generation through him. He even told him of Jesus, the righteous Seed that would come through the lineage of Isaac. It was this comfort and confidence in God’s Word that led Abraham to sacrifice his son.

OUR FAITH SHOULD NEVER BE MISPLACED

We cannot perceive or discern the instructions of God because we are blinded by their impact on the body, our self-image or the selfish desires we harbor.

Hebrews 12:2

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

This has been our failure. We are unable to look beyond the cross and its effect on the flesh and our fleshly desires. First of all, we have usurped the control of the flesh. We have taken it back to use as an instrument to enjoy or pursue the pleasures of this world. We are unable to despise the shame of loss, pain or disappointment. Wantonness overpowers Godly reasoning and commitment. When the will of God reveals suffering of any kind, we are blinded by our focus on the cross we are instructed to bear. We cannot see past it. Therefore, the revelation of joy and peaceable fruit cannot be seen. It is this revelation that is the comfort, strength and power given to us by the Holy Ghost to enter into the fellowship of our Lord’s suffering. But we will never experience the Comforter as long as our focus is on the cross.

Genesis 18:17-19

17 And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham

18 Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?

19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

Fellowship allows you to flow with God’s heart. You can speak those things that are not, as though they are and God will perform what you say because you are merely speaking His heart, mind and intent. Fellowship is not just praying in the morning and then in the evening. It is a lifestyle of constant communication with the Father, and this communication works both ways wherein God also talks back to us as we speak to Him.

ACCORDING TO THE WILL OF GOD

I. There was a young man in a ministry in South Florida; his wife was a singer who fell sick. She was known and loved by everyone in the area and they had been praying for her healing. During this time, I was on the radio and was a voice in South Florida and after a while they called me and asked me to pray. They had faith in the fact that God would raise her up. My response to the family was that they should prepare for her death. I had told them that she would surely die. After that, they did not want me to be anywhere near the hospital. They thought I would be a hindrance to their faith. Nevertheless, as it turns out, the woman died a few days later.

II. There was a young woman in the ministry for more than twenty years. She had suddenly become ill. Two of my members were very close to the situation and were faithfully praying for her recovery; certain that God would indeed raise her up. I traveled to her home, much to the excitement of the prayer council. The Apostle was in the house. They had just prayed again and were trusting God to heal her. However, I told them to prepare for her death. They went ballistic. They refused to believe that this was the will of God. But God had not told them He would raise her up. In that situation, they were performing a ritual. They were doing what most of the Body of Christ does. This is someone they loved, so they were praying for God to heal her, void of fellowshipping with Him. It was a lack of fellowship with God that caused them the anguish in their hearts.

We think faith is simply to believe and trust God to do a thing, without any assurance that it is the will of God. We think God will move based on our belief and trust in Him. But sometimes we are believing and trusting for things that are not in His will. We cannot continue to have misplaced faith. Having your faith misplaced is the same as praying amiss: praying things that are not the will of God. Doubt will destroy our fellowship with God. Doubt says, “I wonder if God is truthful,” and leaves room for God to be a liar.

Hebrews 2:4

God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

The excellency of all power is according to the will of God. Every fallacy and misplaced faith is based on a lack of fellowship with the Father. In order to pray in faith, we must first believe we have received. This assurance and confidence will only come as it came with Jesus, when He lifted up His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.” Fellowship with God is our most precious gift. Cherish it and never let it go.