Thank God for the whole Scripture, our wonderful Holy Bible. But if we have true faith, we may need only one verse of it all. One verse could change the world. It is when we penetrate into the deep meaning of a Scripture that we finally have detonated its divine power. We can look at all the great sources of energy, but it is exploding an atom that releases the greatest sources of energy known. This illustrates exactly what God is doing with us. He is getting us into His Word. The deep Word of God, when it is expounded and opened to us, begins to explode. All my life I have meditated on Scriptures; and the great yearning of my heart is that a handful of them, which have meant so much to me by revelation, be exploded by a supernatural faith that could change the whole world. This explosion by faith could change the whole world!
Think about this: none of the men in the Bible had a complete Bible like we have. Some of them lived in generations that did not even have access to the revelation that came before them. How excited Josiah, the young king, was when Hilkiah the priest found a scroll in the Temple. They were both so excited about finding a few Scriptures, the Torah, that they read them to all the people (II Kings 22:8–23:3). About two centuries later, during the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the people gathered and kept that famous Feast of Tabernacles. Think how fascinated they were when they stood around a little podium and heard Ezra read the Word and other men expound it (Nehemiah 8:1–8). How precious the Word was!
In the early days of the printing press, the Gutenberg Bible was first printed, about 1456 A.D. If you could own a Gutenberg Bible today, you would be very rich, because these Bibles are very valuable. Two or three centuries after the Bible was first printed, it was still so restricted in some places by the Roman church that Christians had only pages they would pass around.
Before the days of printing, the early Church had only a few hand-lettered manuscripts. Think how rare it was to get hold of any portion of what we now call the Bible. Believers would urge that an epistle be read in the various churches until it made the rounds. How carefully the copiest tried to follow the traditions of the scribes to see that the Word could go forth.
Would it not be interesting to have a place of display under glass at Shiloh, somewhat like a museum? There we could perhaps have photostatic copies of the Book of Isaiah that came from the Dead Sea Scrolls, some of the cuneiform tablets that have been reproduced, and some of the old Torahs—the first five books of Moses on scrolls which can be purchased in Israel. Then people, especially our children as they grow up, could understand that there was another day in which the Word of God was not as accessible as it is to us now. In those days of lesser light, men of God nevertheless reached into many wonderful things; but “God provided some better thing for us, that they without us are not made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40).
The day has come in which we have a Living Word of over twelve thousand tapes of teaching of the Scriptures that is truly alive. This Word leaps at you, talks to you, moves you. We have books of this Living Word.
We have also an array of translations of the Scriptures that have brought the meaning of them into our present ways of thinking and of expressing ourselves. We even have Scriptures in Braille for the blind. When has the world ever had so much access to the Scriptures, and when have the Scriptures ever meant so little to most people? Having the Scriptures and so much of today’s Living Word available to us is somewhat like sitting at a table where there are so many entrees, so many main courses, that we are not able to digest them all. Appreciating the Word is like appreciating food. First, we should become really hungry, and then eat only some simple pure food we can digest.
My father tells me that in the early days in Iowa, a common lunch for children to take to school was cold, boiled potatoes. The children carried them to school in their pockets. This was all that some of them had, but they were satisfied to sit and eat those potatoes. Now, people would not even think of that simple a diet. Our schools today have milk and a variety of hot foods, but I do not know that children are always healthier for it. Hunger is wonderful to help you appreciate and digest what you eat. But hunger is not cultivated by viewing all that is set before you, and not appreciating a little portion of it. Hunger should generate an appreciation of one simple food.
I am comparing your hunger for food with your hunger for Scriptures; and I am suggesting that your attitude toward only a few verses should be, “How can I explode these few verses into miracles? How can these words become living works? How can these great exploits with God be accomplished?” If you have words of prophecy over you, you will do well to review them; but you should also summarize them until you know the main line to press in on.
Each family has a different style of eating. My mother was a good cook. She always insisted that if we had ham, we also ought to have beef, maybe a few pieces of chicken, a couple of salads, bread, vegetables, and two or three desserts. Finally, there were so many foods on the table that we could eat very few of them. If you want to really enjoy a meal in a restaurant, do not go to a buffet. Too many foods will be set before you. Go where there is one specialty. If you want steak, go where they have good steaks, but not much else. They may give you some bread, a baked potato, and maybe a salad; but they specialize in one main course.
Faith, like hunger, must have a single, simple focus. Faith must focus on one thing. The life that is effective is always the life that says, like Paul, “This one thing I do: forgetting the past, forgetting the things which are behind, I am reaching and pressing into the things that are before. I am going after that one thing” (Philippians 3:13). When Paul wrote to Timothy, he reminded him about the prophecies that came over him and the gifts that he had received: Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. I Timothy 4:15.
Everyone will see how it comes forth. I have already taught you something about faith. Faith does not merely quote the Bible by chapters. It reaches into a principle and holds onto just a few verses, confirmed by a prophecy of revelation over you; then faith focuses on them until they are fulfilled.
Abraham was a man of faith, though he lived before the Bible was written. He became the father of the faithful (Romans 4:16–22; Genesis 15:5–6) because God spoke a Word to him, and he listened to that Word. For many years he walked along, unmoved, undistracted, never turning to the side, because he had a Word. At times, God confirmed or reconfirmed that Word and gave him a little more. I think the Lord appeared to Abraham a few times and gave him a Word that started this whole thing, so that Christ, the seed of Abraham, could come forth (Galatians 3:6–7, 13–14, 29).
What is God doing for us? He is giving us a Word; and if we never lose sight of that Word, but we hold onto it, we will do well. Perhaps you have received many Words, and you wonder which Word you should follow. A good sailor knows which star he is following. He may know a lot about stars, but even on a clear night, when all the stars are visible, he looks them over and knows the one star that gives him the guidance; and that is the sighting he follows.
What is the one thing that the Lord has been speaking to us for years? “Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:10–11). The King is coming forth, and the Kingdom of God is being established upon the earth. He will reign until His enemies are made the footstool of His feet (Hebrews 10:13). He has given us one thought, one concept, one thing to focus our faith upon!
Did you think that our main focus was to be the restoration of the Church? While that is good, a restored Church is not the divine objective. It is not like rebuilding an antique car. You could spend a fortune trying to restore one; and finally when it is restored what will you do with it—put it in a showcase? In my opinion, this does not justify the spending of that much money. If I build a vehicle, I intend to go somewhere in it. The restoration of the Church is not to create some traditional, antique model of the Church so that we would be regressing to a pattern. We want to create the vehicle which will carry us into the Kingdom, something that can stand the stress that we will go through. The restoration of the Church and divine order are only incidental. The objective is the principal focus. We are becoming a restored Body of New Testament churches for only one purpose: to have the drive and the force and the vehicle by which we can move into the Kingdom. We are pressing into the Kingdom; we are not regressing to something in the past.
Do you wonder why we must have the Church to get into the Kingdom? By way of illustration, suppose that you want to travel overseas. You can go by airplane or by boat; or you can say, “Oh, I don’t want to travel on those things!” Then you can swim. Of course, there are sharks out in the ocean; and you are limited in strength and endurance. It may be a long way, hundreds of miles. But if you do not want to be a part of a boat or a plane, then swim; but you likely will never make it.
God is saying, “Let us move on into the Kingdom.” He is telling us about Body ministry, divine order, and the way He is setting things in order. He is bringing forth an apostolic company, with our submission to it, and we are learning how to build our homes according to a divine order. Do you say, “I don’t want all of that”? Then swim. See if you can make it by yourself. Divine order is only a vehicle to bring us now into what God has for us in this generation.
If you do not understand why God does not do something wonderful for us without all that New Testament order, then look in the New Testament. Why did Paul always go to a synagogue, though he was the apostle to the Gentiles? He had to start with what had been. Even though it was at that time defective, he started with what had been, so that he could go on to where God was moving.
It is always amazing that what has been is always persecuting what is to be. The sinners and publicans heard Jesus gladly (Mark 12:37). Always the religious pharisees say, “Where did God leave off?” He does not leave off; they leave God off. The place to start is back in the structure of what God has been doing. You will have more spring if you are on the diving board, the place that will send you forth and give you the thrust into what God has for you.
Let us learn something basic about faith: faith must focus on one thing. That focus is on the Kingdom of God coming forth and the Lord being glorified. Maybe you are in a desperate situation, and you would rather focus on your problems, your finances, and obtaining certain things which you need. Those answers seem all scripturally right, but what ultimate purpose do these answers to faith fulfill?
I have a car which at times I loan out, and now it has a tire that is flat. I watched that tire go down, day after day; but it did not bother me because I did not intend to drive the car. If I pump up that old tire, it will be because I plan to use that car. Probably there will come a time when I need to use it, and the tire may still be flat. The point is: what is the reason for correcting anything unless there is a purpose for it, unless we are going to use it? Why build a house unless you are going to live in it? Why sew a dress unless you are going to wear it? Why buy shoes unless you are going to wear them? This is the point: forget about the lesser things that could be done; sacrifice the lesser for the greater. Blessed is the man who has the kind of faith that focuses upon the true objective and does not let anything else distract him or take his time. In Philippians 3:7–15, Paul expresses this dedication to the true objectives so clearly.
Satan will distract you with many good things to do, many intriguing things. Many people who have a capacity to minister are still wrapped up in hobbies. They still do not have the true concept of the Kingdom of God in their thinking. Some people like to go sailing. When they have gone sailing and come back, it may have been refreshing; and a little of that could be fine. I am not saying we should not have recreation, but the people who actually live for secondary reasons will miss the best that God has for them, because the Word says, “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; the other things will be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).
You could seek for a lot of things, but anything you do should lead to the greater expression of the Kingdom of God somewhere. Live with that desire, not with any ambition for yourself or for your personal position. The fact that you might be expendable should not even enter your mind. Like Paul, say, “I am determined, whether it be by life or by death, Christ will be magnified in my body” (Philippians 1:20). Christ is to be magnified; the Kingdom is to come forth. All other personal considerations and ambitions are secondary. Mainly, keep your eye on what the perfect will of God is for you. Faith must have a focus. Forget your own current problems. What does God say He wants you to be to Him? What does He say you are to do? How are you to function in the Kingdom of God?
The problems that can defeat us come when we are distracted. The young people who are raised in the church may seem fine until they reach the age when the mating impulse comes. Then their physical impulses take hold of them, and they forget God. They forget the church and go out to find some son of Belial to marry, because that is all they have on their minds. Then what happens? They spend years in futility because they settled for what should have been a secondary motivation.
Churches also can have secondary purposes. Kingdom oriented businesses can be that way. Many people are eager to start a Kingdom business. For what purpose? If it is not for the Kingdom, it is monkey business. They might as well stay in the old game of the capitalistic system of Babylon. There is a better way, and that is to keep our focus on the Lord and do exactly what He shows us to do.
What is faith? Faith is a focused thing. Although you may purpose to do something, the bottom line is that faith is not humanly generated. The following Scriptures are keys to fix your focus on God with faith to go ahead into His perfect will for you. These are keys of miracle faith. Can you picture what will happen when you take hold of one verse and explode it? It will become the energy of God to create the perfect will of God for you, and the perfect will of God for you is doing His perfect will.
I Corinthians 13:13: But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Which is first? Faith—then hope, then love. This entire chapter magnifies love, but love is a torment and a frustration unless it has faith. Love can sit at the bedside of someone who is dying, and grieve and be frustrated and fall apart. But faith with love can lay hands on the sick and pray, and God’s provision will be focused on that situation. Love with hope, love with faith: we need them all.
Galatians 5:22–23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness (faith), gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. The fruit of the Spirit is faith too.
I Corinthians 12:4–9: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit.
In this list of the gifts, the third one is faith: wisdom, knowledge, then faith. I think that these three gifts represent the top in priority. The word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, and the gift of faith have been keys of this end-time walk in the Spirit. Wisdom and the opening of revelation to us are very important. We have enough wisdom and enough knowledge to know that wisdom and knowledge are not effective alone. We have enough wisdom to know that we do not have enough wisdom to advance on into the Kingdom. Wisdom is not enough by itself. We have enough knowledge given to us supernaturally to know that it is not enough either. We must have faith.
You may have enough knowledge to understand lions and their habits, but that is not enough if you are thrown into the lions’ den as Daniel was. You may have enough wisdom to tame a pussycat, but you cannot reason with hungry lions. You must have something more than that. Daniel had enough wisdom. In him was hid all the marvelous visions. He saw and prophesied about the times of the Gentiles, about every nation that would ever come up as a world power after him. He had fantastic revelation and wisdom, but it was worth little in the lions’ den. This was where faith entered in.
There comes a time when you think you understand all about walking with God. Then you get to the place where you understand that you can never understand—you are wise enough to realize that you are not wise enough to understand. This is a true paradox. You must have faith. When God reveals something to your heart, press in with faith.
Many people may turn away from today’s transitional period of entering into the Kingdom. Some wonder what will happen. I do not know. Maybe I should have that wisdom and knowledge to be a true door-opener. But at this particular point, we enter the Kingdom by an operation of faith more than by our reason.
Faith is a gift. Romans 12:3 says, For through the grace given to me I say to every man among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. We cannot just say, “Oh, I am going to believe now. I am going to have faith!” A mental assent, an optimistic conclusion, and being inspired by others to have faith produces something that seems so close to faith that it can be disturbing. True faith is given to us by God. For by grace are ye saved through faith (not by any works); and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8. Faith is a gift from God; a measure is given to you. You do not have to get some faith. You have it. You could not be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ if He had not allotted to you a measure of faith. God gave you the faith to believe with.
I cannot explain the sovereignty of God or the human initiative required for salvation. But in some way God speaks a Word, and with that Word He imparts enough faith so that there is a little seed, a measure of faith in the people who hear that Word, and they respond. If you have that measure of faith, from now on you can do something with it. Allow that faith to be focused on the Word, and you can abound in love; your faith can grow exceedingly, as Paul said (II Thessalonians 1:3). You are responsible for its growth, but you were not responsible for its first inception in your heart. God gave you faith.
Understand the nature of faith: it is a gift from God. But also understand the faith that God wants. It begins like a mustard seed that is planted, and that small seed becomes one of the greatest of trees. How can we understand this? We cannot understand it, but we know it is a process that takes place if we feed it. Like the man in Psalm 1, we must “meditate day and night” upon these things, and they will come to pass. That man is like the tree that brings forth his fruit in season; his leaves shall not wither; whatever he does is prosperous. He prospers because he is meditating on the Word, and he has that Word in his heart.
It is not how many Words from God that you hear—it is how many Words you hear! You can listen to several; but blessed is he that hath ears to truly hear one. He hears it, he takes hold of it, and he focuses on it until it explodes within him. All the creativity of God, the fulfillment of God in the earth, and the Kingdom of God will come forth because of a Word. When the armies of heaven come, Christ leads them; and He has a name written, “The Word of God” (Revelation 19:13–14). There will be no Kingdom, no triumph of God in the earth, without that faith in the Word. Have faith in the Word! Hold fast that faith in the Word! Grab hold of that Word and believe it!
Purposely I have eliminated any emphasis on speculative doctrines that lead nowhere. We do not argue about the traditional, speculative battlegrounds such as the intricate points of doctrines of eternal security, the sovereignty of God, or predestination. We have stayed away from the complicated little pinpoint doctrines. During the Middle Ages, there once was a debate on how many angels could dance on the head of a pin. Issues have been taken to such extremes. Avoid them. Focus on the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Think about extreme doctrines on the side if you want to, but remember that the churches which grow are the churches that emphasize Jesus Christ as the Lord. Little by little your faith will bring complete conformity to Him as “Lord of lords and King of kings” (Revelation 19:16). Faith eliminates things from your life that would be distractions, secondary interests, expenditures of your time and energy, and resources that you do not want. It is not how much your reserves and resources are; it is how much the miracle power of God activates them, and how much you are dedicated to the Lord.
We have the multitudes out there to feed, and all we have is five loaves and two fishes. But if we give them wholly to the Lord, and our focus is upon Him, the multitudes will be fed and much will be left over.
We are in the time of evangelism to the whole world. Also, we are in the time in which God has dealt with us deeply. Because of this, we may reach the place where we focus on the dealings of the Lord, instead of focusing on the purpose of those dealings. At times you may think, “I am being harassed. Which demon or principality is after me now?” It is necessary to identify the sources that are harassing you, but that is done in passing. More importantly, realize that they are trying to stop you from doing what God called you to do. In your heart, declare that you will not be stopped from doing what God wants you to do in order to glorify Him and see His Kingdom come forth in the earth.
These Scriptures on faith teach you one thing: When God talks about believing, He starts it. He plants the seed in your heart, but you must increase and abound in it. Faith can actually become so great that it can become a gift of the Spirit flowing in an apostle, a prophet, an elder, a little child, and even in every member. It becomes a fruit of your spirit until that fruit which comes forth feeds the whole world because you are a believer, because you are filled with faith. Therefore, you do not concentrate on meeting the whole world; you concentrate on believing God for His will to come forth. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10. Everything is to be focused with faith toward God.
What is your motivation for being an overcomer? Do you want to overcome, just so that people will think you are someone special? No, you want to glorify the Lord. Would you want to get rid of a habit or a sin or some wrong tendency, so that you would not have a bad image or get into personal complications or trouble? No, it is because you want to glorify the Lord. You do not want to have a discrediting testimony or witness, because you want Christ to be magnified in your body. You want Him to be glorified. The motivation of real faith is what we must see. Faith must have a right focus.
As Kingdom-oriented churches come forth, there will always be little problems. But problems should not be the issue. The big issue should be what God says. Believe and see that He gets what He wants. When God gives a Word, a promise, or a prophecy, start moving in it so that He will be glorified. If a prophecy comes, and you try to fulfill it only to please the pastor or leaders in the church, your motivation is mistaken right there. When the Word of the Lord starts flowing, we are committed to follow it through. A Word from God must have that focus of faith on it, and we must follow it through.
Focus, follow through, and say, “I will be what God wants me to be, not for my sake, but for God’s sake. I will say what He wants me to say, not because I just want to be an oracle, but because God’s Word must run swiftly in the earth” (Psalm 147:15). The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. Psalm 68:11.
Ask for more faith. Have the Lord lift you above your distractions. If you are focusing on problems, turn from them and glorify God. Worship Him as He should be worshiped; and there will be many times when you will not even pray about a situation, but an answer will come. If we focus on the secondary things that have to be done, nothing much will happen because we are not focused on our true purpose and function which is to glorify God and bring forth His Kingdom first in our hearts. He is to be Lord of lords and King of kings. Every knee is to bow to His Lordship. The main Word that has come to us for thirty years has been the Lordship of Jesus Christ over the whole earth. Let us keep our hearts set on it. Pray and start throwing off absorption with secondary things, which can lead you to wrong emotional reactions and a wrong emphasis in your life.
In the stories of the great men of God, have you noticed that you never think about what eminent, talented, great people they were? We think of them in terms of the things they overcame, and how God was glorified in that overcoming. We glorify God because we see what they came through. When we think of Daniel, we do not think how wonderful and wise he was; we think of the way God delivered him. We also think of how God delivered the three Hebrews. We think of how God delivered Peter out of certain trials. God brought all of them through victoriously.
Let us think about things we are going through, too, and see how God could be glorified. God does not want to present us as great, wise people. God has constantly brought me to situations where I need deliverances. The wisdom God has given me will not deliver me. I will break through as God delivers me. In it the Lord will be glorified. As great as wisdom is, it is not the answer for the glorifying of God in us. If wisdom stands alone without faith, then inevitably there is an attraction to the man who is the channel of the wisdom, and people will glorify him.
Look at the example of Solomon. People praised him for the great wisdom that he had. Yet we see the great folly in his life for which there was no deliverance. God did not deliver him out of his folly. He had a great amount of wisdom, but he did not have focused faith. His heart was turned aside to the idols of his wives. We see that the wisdom God gave him was not enough.
Today God is bringing wisdom to this generation; yet all the words and ministry that have come are not enough. Faith must bring deliverances from impossible situations, so that the wisdom of God is seen coming through frail channels. People without the capacity to deliver themselves can finally come forth for a great testimony to God. It is their faith that God honors. God honors their faith and reveals Himself in it.
Pray for the Lord to bring deliverances for His glory, for His Kingdom. Christ must be glorified. This Living Word must go forth. Is it because of our own personal situations that we are wanting deliverance? No, our motivation is for His Kingdom. We are saying with all our hearts, “For Your glory, Lord. We want to move with You. We want to do what You have set before us to do.”
Satan is trying to wipe out this vision. Therefore we pray for deliverance so that the Living Word can go forth. It is for the Word’s sake. It is for the Lord’s sake. The Word will go forth if we pray with a pure motive, without any fear, without any personal interest, just laying everything on the altar. Sometimes God will give us an Isaac, and then say, “Put a knife in him,” because our own ministry, our own fulfillment, cannot become so important that it ever rivals the bringing forth of the glory of God and His will in us and in the earth. They are all tied together, but we must not want anything principally on a personal basis.
Yearn after spiritual gifts for the edifying of the Body, for the bringing forth of Christ. But do not yearn and hunger after spiritual gifts, earnestly coveting them with a personal ambition. Lay everything on the altar, and your faith will be fixed on one focus: To the Lord be the glory! To the Lord be the glory in the deliverance! To the Lord be the glory in everything that comes forth!
Pray for the Lord to establish and strengthen your faith. Give yourself day after day to this battle of faith, and your faith will grow stronger. The assault of Satan comes to depress, to distract, and to have you focus on your own feelings, so that you feel inadequate and condemned. He would make you feel bankrupt, isolated, and defeated. Take dominion over the accuser of the brethren who would cause you not to see your position and heritage in the Lord.
The gift of God to us is the gift of faith: faith to the apostolic company, faith to the Body of Christ, faith to bring forth the living works of God through each one of us.