Faith is spiritual eyesight.
Faith is designed by God to make the invisible become visible to our inner man. Faith is a gift from God so that we can see what He sees.
Faith is totally about the invisible realm, and how we interact with that realm as part of our normal life.
We walk by faith not by our natural sight. We look not at the things which are seen, that is the situation, the circumstances, or the natural world around us, we look at the things which are not seen, the heavenly provision for our life.
Faith is a gift from God to enable us to see in the invisible realm what He is seeing.
Elisha could see the spiritual realm; therefore, he had faith.
Elisha’s servant could only see in the natural realm, so therefore he was fearful and afraid.
Faith is a gift from God; therefore, Elisha asked the Lord to open the eyes of his servant so that he could see the invisible realm. When God opened his spiritual eyes, he could see the chariots of fire all around them. Before this all he could see was the natural realm and the army of the enemy sent to capture his master.
2 kings 6: 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
When Peter saw the Lord walking on water, he said lord bid me to walk on water, but when he saw the strong winds, he became afraid and began to sink and called out Lord save me. The Lord laid ahold of him and said, why did you doubt ye of little faith- Mathew 14:31
Little faith sees only the natural troubling situations, but the gift of faith sees the hand of the Lord to save.
What do you see? If you look at the natural situation you will begin to doubt. If you look to who God wants to be for you, in this situation you will grow spiritually and intimately in your relationship with the Lord.
2kings 6: 13 And he said, Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. 14 Therefore sent he thither horses, and chariots, and a great(heavy) host: and they came by night, and compassed the city about. 15 And when the servant the minister of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how shall we do? 16 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. 17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. 18 And when they came down to him, Elisha prayed unto the LORD, and said, Smite this people, I pray thee, with blindness. And he smote them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. 19 And Elisha said unto them, This is not the way, neither is this the city: follow come ye after me me, and I will bring you to the man whom ye seek. But he led them to Samaria. 20 And it came to pass, when they were come into Samaria, that Elisha said, LORD, open the eyes of these men, that they may see. And the LORD opened their eyes, and they saw; and, behold, they were in the midst of Samaria. 21 And the king of Israel said unto Elisha, when he saw them, My father, shall I smite them? shall I smite them? 22 And he answered, Thou shalt not smite them: wouldest thou smite those whom thou hast taken captive with thy sword and with thy bow? set bread and water before them, that they may eat and drink, and go to their master. 23 And he prepared great provision for them: and when they had eaten and drunk, he sent them away, and they went to their master. So the bands of Syria came no more into the land of Israel.
All the servant can see is the natural, the army surrounding the town. But Elisha is seeing something different than what his servant is seeing. Elisha has a gift from God to see into the invisible realm, what God is seeing.
This is what faith is, faith is the ability to see what God is seeing in any of our circumstances. He sees the armies of the host of heaven and chariots of fire. He is seeing what God is seeing and calls it the way that God calls it, there is more with us than there are with them.
This is a man who has a gift of faith; faith is the ability to see into the invisible realm what God is seeing. God is in the invisible realm, and we are in the visible realm, and something is occurring in our natural world and God wants us to get a picture of how He sees our circumstances, so He gives us faith. Faith is the ability to see into the realm of the invisible. Faith is the assurance of things expected, and the conviction of things not seen in the natural realm.
What we see in the spirit is ours to release in the natural. Elisha became convinced of what he saw strongly enough that he could go walking out towards the enemy and He is the one they are looking for.
He goes out to meet them because he is so convinced of what he sees in the invisible realm, that he can go and say who are you looking for, I know where he is come with me. He takes them on a 14-mile hike to where the king of Israel is waiting.
He confessed what He saw; there is more with us than there is with them. And then he prays for his servant, lord would you open his eyes that he may see.
Faith is an eye opener. Faith empowers us to see what God sees and be fully persuaded of its reality. Faith is also about our conviction concerning the nature of God when things are difficult in the natural realm.
FAITH IS A GIFT
The most important question we will ever ask is who is God for me? Who do other people say that I am? Who do you say that I am? Who am I for you in these circumstances? Faith is God’s gift to us so that we can see in the present and future.
In the present he gives faith in the form of promises so that we can become like him in His nature. When God gives us a promise, He gives us Himself. He gives us a promise so that we can see what He sees. So that we can confess it to Him and rejoice, so that we can walk towards its reality, and we can cooperate with God in the circumstances that we are in.
In the future He gives us a prophecy, so that we can see what He sees. We can confess it to Him in thanksgiving, we can plan in accordance with its reality, and we can walk towards it in a process knowing that we are going to meet an outcome that is already settled in the heart of God. And we can bring the future into today as we partner with God.
Often those promises and prophecies can come in vision or dream form, so that we can see into the invisible realm.
Promises and prophecies are faith triggers, they get us ready to see and believe. They are a window into what heaven is seeing. So that heaven’s reality can now become our reality.
Faith allows us to see in the spirit and bring that conviction into the here and now so that we can act on it.
What has God been showing us recently about himself?
What has He been showing us about ourselves, our identity?
What is He showing us about our present circumstances?
What is He declaring to us about our future lifestyle? The things that we are moving into.
Faith is currency that means we have to use it; we have to spend it. Faith is the dynamic interaction of our spirit man with God. It empowers us to look beyond what we can see with our natural senses. It is the assurance of things expected and the conviction of things not seen.
Faith looks beyond oneself. We believe in what God has promised because we have faith in the nature of the one who said it. Faithful is the one who has promised, who also will do it. Faith means to be persuaded by what we can see in the spirit so that we become convinced by its reality.
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FAITH AND BELIEVING
There is a difference between faith and believing, they are two expressions of a God given reality and our response to that.
To believe is the internal process of agreeing with our inner man all that God is for us. Faith is the external process of moving forward in action. Belief is internal and faith is an external action.
Faith must produce works. Faith if it has no works is dead being by itself. Faith is an external act. Faith is perfected as a result of works. The enemy believes in God but he has no tangible faith in action. So it is possible to believe and take no action. Faith is action, it is stepping out towards what God has shown us is ours in the invisible realm. If we believe then we must make an action consistent with that belief.
Faith is an external action, based upon an internal belief. Noah believed God’s warning about a flood and so built a boat. Because he believed, he acted externally. He believed something, there was an external action that went with that belief.
Abraham believed in his inheritance and went out to find it, even though he really didn’t know where he was going. He did not stand there and wait for it to come to him. He went out to look for it because he knew it was out there, God had told him.
Sarah believed that God was faithful and received the strength, the ability to conceive beyond her years, beyond her physical ability to do so.
Joshua believed the prophesy about Jericho’s walls falling down and by faith marched around the walls seven times for a week just as God instructed.
When we believe but don’t act, we doubt, and we are being influenced by our circumstances. When we doubt, we are double minded.
When the internal and the external are in partnership we become single-minded. Our inner belief depends upon what we know to be true about the nature of God.
When God promises us something, everything in His nature is on the line. When we believe implicitly that God cannot lie, that the promise that He has given to me is true, if we believe that then we must step out towards the provision. There must be an action consistent with our believing.
God has given us faith so that we can see the invisible and move towards it. Therefore, faith is not a demand it is a help, it is a gift. Faith is a gift in two forms. Firstly, there is a measure of faith given to us so that we can be in relationship with God in our circumstances.
The coolest thing about having circumstances is that God is with us in life and he has given us a measure of faith for our circumstances so that we can see what He has planned and what He is promising.
We have a measure of faith to be in relationship with God now in the circumstances that we are in. There is also a gift of faith, for bigger things, so that we can function in partnership with God in the supernatural.
Faith is both a relational and a functional gift. The measure of faith is relational so that we can relate to God in the circumstances we are in, and we know that we have a capacity from Him to see into the spiritual realm.
FAITH IS A RELATIONAL AND FUNCTIONAL GIFT
So, when we are having contrary circumstances and situations, we need to stop, we need to step back into our spirit, we need to worship God because worship preps our spirit, it gets us ready to see something.
And what we will see is who God wants to be to us in this circumstance and situation. This gives us the opportunity to grow spiritually, because when we see who God wants to be to us this moment, we become it when we act accordingly.
So, we need to stop and worship God before we pray because prayer stands between rejoicing and thanksgiving.
1 Thessalonians 5: 16 Rejoice always. 17 Pray without ceasing. 18 In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
We enter a place of rejoicing because that clears our thinking, it preps our spirit, gets us in the right place before God, so that we are ready to receive something in promise or prophesy, vision or dream form, God is going to say something about our circumstances.
And when that occurs and it will occur because He is faithful, he will give us a measure of faith so that we can see what He wants us to see in the circumstances that we are in.
Faith is seeing into the spiritual realm; what God is seeing, and it works when we know the Love of God which passes our natural understanding towards us.
When we see that, then we confess it, we embrace it we lay hold of it and our rejoicing goes to another level because what we are saying is that I know you, Lord. You don’t lie, you’re full of truth, so that what you promise me is as real as your nature.
We speak it out loud, the inner man of our spirit grabs hold of it, we use it to rejoice and then faith empowers us, because when we have that inner belief, we can take a step of faith, we can take an action that is consistent with what we are believing.
We can step out. We can do all of that in a fraction of a second, when we learn how to hear God and act on it.
Peter took one look at Jesus walking on the water, and Jesus said come, just one word and he stepped out of that boat and stepped on a substance that he had no business being on except that he had permission from the Lord, and he walked on water for a second, he took a step of faith and it worked, but then all of his senses got overwhelmed because he looked at the natural troubling circumstances.
The principle holds good even though Peter didn’t follow through on it, as perhaps he could have done.
Whenever we think about faith, we must think of taking an action with God.
FAITH HAS A VOICE
Mark 11. 22And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 23For 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. 24Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
Don’t doubt in your heart, act, and speak to the problem or the obstacle. We believe in God’s capacity; we step out in God’s ability.
Doubting in our heart is having a contrary vision of what God is seeing in our circumstances.
God is for us, He believes in us, and He has given us the means to see Him in action before the event. We are so created for the supernatural.
When we know God and understand His character, we realize that everything He says is true. Our faith then becomes the evidence of things not seen. We are usually limited by our mind, our experiences, circumstances, and people around us or the enemy.
There is no coincidence that the enemy attacks our faith probably more than anything else. He tries to get us to look within our self to convince us of our own lack of power. Believing is about being with God in fellowship. Faith is about doing things with God in relationship and partnership.
Jesus said my father works and I work. Faith partners with God. Faith is about action. If we do before we get it, what we would do if we had it, we will be sure to get it.
Faith anticipates God, faith expects God to be there. Faith takes a step prior to receiving. God gives us faith so that we can see what He sees. It is invisible to us, but His permission is our confession.
There are three principles of faith. First it must be something that is unseen, I must believe that it is true for me, and I must walk towards it.
FAITH IS ACTION
God tells us to do something, but we do not have the money so we are waiting on God, but God is waiting on us to act.
We can be talking and praying about something for a couple of years, and nothing is happening. Just waiting for God to do something. We ask the Lord when are you going to do this, and He says when you believe. All you are doing is talking.
The Lord is waiting on us. We must do something about what we believe. What action have we taken towards it?
We are to confess that we have it. Then we are to set things in motion. So, we take all the steps as if we had the money. When we get going with everything, then God will give us the money.
Faith is an action; we need to walk out to where God is. He will meet us while we are in motion. We need to confess what we believe for as if we already had it with confidence.
Many times we think that believing is faith. believing is where we settle ourselves before God, I believe what you told me is true, I believe in your nature, I believe that you are faithful, and then we think that confessing what we believe is going to get us someplace.
But that is only first base, that is to get us settled and in tune with who God is for us, then we have to take an action that is consistent with that belief.
We believe in what we are doing, we believe that God is in partnership with us, and when we take a step out there, God will meet us. We have to learn the consistency of that.
Most of us want faith to be an event, rather than a lifestyle; we want it to be an occasional thing. It may start as an event, but God will transfer it to a lifestyle of faith.
Every week we take a step that is bigger than we are. We learn the joy in this way of life. We use the principles of faith consistently.
Faith is belief in action. And it is focused on something that we can’t see from our current position in the natural. We never see the provision in the natural, but in the spirit. We don’t see a pile of money lying at our feet. we step out in faith towards a promise that God has made. And we step out knowing that He is faithful, who called us and He will do it.
All things which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and they shall be granted to you. How do you believe that you have received? We can’t stand still and say, we’ll I believe that God has given it to me.
If we believe that God has given it to us we have to go out to meet it. We have to take an action consistent with that belief. We have to go out to where the provision is, because it is not coming to meet us.
When God speaks, He gives us the word in the present, and we believe in His nature that He does not lie, therefore this is true.
At that point before anything visible occurs, we receive it as a fact and we step out in it, knowing that we will experience it as a result. Our faith becomes the evidence of things not seen.
God gives us a promise and that promise is like a window into what God is doing that we look through. God is in the invisible seeing what He sees; we are in the visible realm only seeing what we can see in the natural.
God gives us faith so that we can see what He is seeing. So He gives us faith, and faith is like standing in His shoes and looking at what He is looking at. So, we are in the natural able to see what God is seeing in the invisible realm. When we are convinced that what we are seeing in the spirit is bigger than what we are seeing in the natural we will move out.
When we are totally convinced that it is impossible for God to lie to us, we will move out. We will have confidence in Him. Faith is belief in action. Believe that you have received it in the present and it will be granted in the future.
Our part, what we are doing is refusing to look at the temporal; we are refusing to look at what can be seen in the natural. We are choosing to look at the invisible. That is the choice that our inner man is going to make.
Abraham believed the promise of God more than His physical ability. Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body. With respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God and being fully assured of what God had promised he was able also to perform. He expected God’s will for him to come to pass. He took some form of action. He attacked the negative, and he grew in faith. He worshiped God as part of His faith walk; he took care of his own confidence.
It is important that we look beyond the immediate circumstances, to what God has promised. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
Faith is currency, it is the coin of the realm, and it must be invested. When we deposit faith in God, there is always more given to us than we can see.
God has given us a measure of faith, so that we can be in relationship with Him in our current circumstances and see what He is seeing. We must complete the three principles. We must make an investment in the nature of God and the word that he gives us.
When somebody says you can have this money and hands it to us, it doesn’t take any faith to take it. It takes no faith when the gift is visible. We do not need faith for what we can see in the natural.
When we live by faith we always get more than we bargain for. We see the invisible, believe it is for us and move towards it, which is faith.
Faith touches the invisible. Faith is the currency that we invest in God’s name and nature. His word is enough-we move out on it, we make an investment.
Faith is a doing, action, partnership with the Father based on who He is for us and based upon his own incredible nature.
Faith is a gift from God to enable us to see what He sees in the invisible realm. Every one of us has received a measure of faith so that we can be in relationship with God now in the circumstances that surround us.
What is the provision or the breakthrough that we need in the circumstance that we are in? Is there a promise or a prophecy that we already have? We need to declare that to the Lord. Faith is the ability to see in the invisible realm what God is already looking at.
Whatever that situation is that is engaging our attention right now, there is a provision, there is a promise, and God is seeing something about it, what is that? That is the thing that we need to be confessing. What is God seeing right now?
What is the internal belief? What is it that we believe about the nature of God towards us? This is the time to upgrade our confidence. We need to confess that this promise is actually true for us. and God is true, therefore it is going to happen.
The third part of the activation is to take action. What step of faith must we take as an action partner with the Lord? We need to identify it verbally. Take hold of the promise, believe it is true internally, take hold of the action required and we need to physically walk out to meet the Lord. And as we are walking out some rejoicing will be really useful. Express our faith as an investment in thanksgiving. We have to remember to take the faith walk, to do something physical because it is an action.
If we want to live a life of active faith, there are some questions that we should consider. Are we a risk taker? Or do we seldom seek a new challenge? How does our personality training and background limit or stimulate our trust in God? How will we change and upgrade that? Is God calling us to step outside of our comfort zone? If so, what relationship must we build with the Holy Spirit as comforter?
What is the next phase of our identity in Jesus and how will that affect our faith walk. Since we reap what we sow, what are we sowing into the kingdom of God? What are we investing in regarding this current season of our destiny unfolding?
The father gives us faith as a gift so that we can see what he is doing. We thank you for the gift of being able to see into the unseen realm, we have a measure of faith so that we can be in relationship with you in our current circumstances and interact with what you are seeing about them.
Father bring us each to a place where we believe totally in who you are, in what you are like and in who you are towards us, that you would enable us and empower us to see what you are seeing and to walk out towards that because that has a greater reality for us than the things which are visible in the natural realm.
We ask that our believing will be in line with our faith, and that our faith will be in line with our believing so that we take action with you and we step out towards you in all that you are doing, in all that you are seeing, that we would develop a partnership with you that would cause us to grow in the spirit and bring incredible honor to your name.