When we compare the various interpretations of the Word of God, it becomes evident that the true and the false are not that far apart. The religious world will explain a Scripture such as James 2:26, which says, “Faith without works is dead,” with the kind of interpretation and application which spurs them on to a great deal of activity. But dead works are never really an expression of true faith. Their activities may be an expression of religion, but dead works do not express faith. People can occupy themselves with religious works-they can crawl on their hands and knees up the steps of St. Peter’s Church and light candles and do a lot of things for penance; or they can become more sophisticated than that in their piety. But whatever they do, it scratches a religious itch. They become very religious in their own concept. Though they practice a very studied humility with it, it still is dead. It is dead works based upon a religious approach.
The whole world is full of religion. There are many different religions, but a person can even have the right religion and still be dead. Didn’t the Pharisees have the right religion? They had the prophets, and they had the Word. But when Christ spoke of them, He used the phrase, “whited sepulchres, full of dead men’s bones” (Matthew 23:27). Death was in them because even though they were right and orthodox, they were spiritually wrong. On the other hand, you could become a spiritual person, yet one who is not necessarily so religious in the expression of your efforts or works. You could become a spiritual person and find that your faith has to be expressed with actions that correspond to it; but your actions will not be necessarily religious works to merit favor. They will not be some activity that you do, thinking, “I have to be very religious now, so that I will be approved of God and of man.” If you think that way, your piety becomes very dogmatic in its expression. But that isn’t what we are really after, is it?
Weymouth’s translation of the New Testament is a translation that comes up with some very good spiritual understanding. He said, “Faith without corresponding actions is dead” (James 2:18). If we believe, then we begin to act on our faith. We do not become religious and therefore filled with religious works; we become true believers in a Living Word from God, and we act accordingly. The true believing which is in our heart does not die because it is passive and unexpressed; instead, we get into it—and the next thing we know, we are doing things that express the miracle power of God. We find that our faith brought us into a revelation, and the revelation brought us into the exploits. Daniel said, “They that do know their God will be strong and do exploits” (Daniel 11:32). Unless your heart has a real revelation of a Word that comes, you do not really break through into the miracle works of the Lord. You can hear the Living Word; but your response to a Living Word, your faith, has to be a very living thing.
In this country there is a lot of futility, a lot of traditionalism, which originated in the East Coast, where our country was first established. In a city such as Washington, D.C., you see the restraining influence of traditionalism which remains from our founding fathers. Every generation should test the traditions of its fathers, and find out whether each tradition was some Babylonian innovation that crept in, or whether it is a true tradition that God would teach us. I have been a product of conservativism myself. But even so, there is something within my spirit which wars against that satisfaction which comes by virtue of conformity (if conformity is a virtue). When we analyze the traditional interpretations of this generation, we will find that they are more wrong than the interpretations of the Pharisees in the days of Christ.
Religion tends to settle into a mold of inflexibility, until it becomes an old wineskin, incapable of the new wine of the Kingdom or of a new age. “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.” Luke 5:37–38.
It is a tragic thing that as far as its spiritual life is concerned, a denomination’s creative life lasts about thirty-five years. By that time it has become well-organized, with the attitude, “Thank You, Lord; but now we don’t need You anymore”; and then it proceeds to operate as a business. It proceeds by an inflexibility, and yet it often becomes very, very prosperous.
It is amazing how quickly we can build monuments to the prophets that our fathers killed. “Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and it was your fathers who killed them. Consequently, you are witnesses and approve the deeds of your fathers; because it was they who killed them, and you build their tombs.” Luke 11:47–48. We can accept somebody as a prophet as long as he has been buried for a hundred years; then we will accept him. By contrast, how difficult it is to listen to the Living Word, and to listen to an oracle of the Living Word! How difficult it is to be confronted with the truth of God that challenges all of our comfortable applications which we have made in the name of “the truth”!
But let’s probe still deeper. Behind all of this, even behind everything that is living and everything that dies, are principles and laws of God. I prefer the term “principles,” because the term “law” describes too much of people’s religious efforts. They are legalistic: “If I obey the rule, I get the blessing”; and yet that is not necessarily true. I know there are conditions to God’s promises, but most likely we could search through your city with a lamp like the Greek philosopher, Diogenes, and find many men who love the truth. They are probably as dedicated to it as you are; maybe more so. And yet it is true that many of these do not have any spiritual life at all within them!
It is amazing how God takes people who seem to be inferior by worldly standards as far as education, culture, and even dedication are concerned, and blesses them—and they, like babes, speak the Word of God. At that very time He rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight.” Luke 10:21. And the world marvels and says again as it said before, “Are not these all ignorant and unlearned men?” (Acts 4:13.) They said that of Christ, too: “Where did this wisdom come from? Where did He learn letters?” The Jews therefore marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? John 7:15, ASV.
God’s creation is governed by principles. Some of these principles can be used by anyone, because they work automatically. Even witchcraft is just Satan’s use of the laws that God established in His own universe, His own creation. There are things that people can learn to do because it is a matter of set laws and set principles. When a principle is used in the physical realm, the psychic realm, or some other realm, it will work. In the physical realm there are certain things that you know are true. For instance, you know that you can walk on water—provided that the water is colder than thirty-two degrees. If it isn’t, then you will need a miracle! And what is a miracle but an application of another principle, higher than the principles that govern the physical world?
The realm of faith is governed by principles. The application of real, diligent faith is necessary to explode many things into being. Don’t think that there are not enough of us, and that we are just a little people. What was it that Jonathan said when he decided to tackle the whole garrison of Philistines? “God is not limited to save by many, or to save by few” (I Samuel 14:6–13). So he and his armor bearer went up into the mountain; and they conquered and destroyed the Philistines and liberated their people. God is not limited. He has enough believers to turn the whole nation, if we believe for it. Let His Word create that faith in your heart. Actually believe to see everything change in your attitudes! Instead of having a blind faith, have an acceptance that this Living Word will do more than create an understanding in your mind; believe that it will impart to your spirit, that you will reach in to more of God than you have ever had before.
All of us have our problems, steeped in our traditional responses. But the need for all of us is just to break out of this trap that we’re in and to walk with God, because this definitely is another age! Another whole dispensation of the Lord is opening up to us. And the quicker we begin to think Kingdom, instead of thinking “traditional church,” the better off we will be! If we have the vision, our visions will become history tomorrow (Kingdom Proverb).
God’s creation is governed by principles; and these principles work. For example, we know that at a certain temperature water freezes. But there are other principles that function only when you trigger loose the initiative of faith; and these principles will supersede, or seem to contradict, the other principles which work automatically.
Let me show you what I mean by that. I believe the miracles in the Bible quite literally; and every one of those miracles seems to contradict natural principles. Scripture tells us that the Lord piled up the waters of Jordan, way back at a certain level, and the people could see the water standing up there in a mountain. According to natural law, you do not pile up rivers. But they did. Joshua said, “Now then, take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. And it shall come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, and the waters which are flowing down from above shall stand in one heap.”
So it came about when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant before the people, and when those who carried the ark came into the Jordan, and the feet of the priests carrying the ark were dipped in the edge of the water (for the Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), that the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho.
And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan. Joshua 3:12–17.
They parted the seas also and then they walked through on dry land with walls of water on either side: Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. And the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Exodus 14:21–22.
Jesus walked on water. And in the fourth watch of the night He came to them, walking upon the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were frightened, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.” Matthew 14:25–27. He rebuked the waves as though they were individuals, and immediately they lay right down at His feet. And they came to Him and woke Him up, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” And being aroused, He rebuked the wind and the surging waves, and they stopped, and it became calm. Luke 8:24.
Many miracles that we read about in the Scriptures deal with water. Have you ever seen how barren and dry it is in the Sinai wilderness? Then imagine what Moses did, and if you don’t believe how difficult that miracle was, you should try it some time. Get your stick, hit a rock—and see what happens! Just imagine water coming from the rock as it did there for Moses when he struck it with his rod. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Exodus 17:5–6. “He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint.” Deuteronomy 8:15.
Of course, you are aware of the fact that there are natural laws which work in certain ways. But when you reach into the realm of faith, things begin to happen in other ways. Things happen which supersede the physical laws with which you are familiar. The Lord Jesus Christ said, … all things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23.
If you have faith, you can say to this mountain, “Be removed hence, and be cast into the sea,” and it will obey you: And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith, and do not doubt, you shall not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it shall happen. And everything you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.” Matthew 21:21–22. A mountain will obey you? Yes! The faith-factor supersedes even physical, psychic, and spiritual laws. And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, ’Be uprooted and be planted in the sea; and it would obey you. Luke 17:6.
By faith you can move mountains: And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you.” Mark 11:22–24.
By faith you can walk on water: And He said, “Come!” And Peter got out of the boat, and walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But seeing the wind, he became afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and took hold of him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Matthew 14:29–31.
By faith you can make the sun stand still: Then Joshua spoke to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the sons of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon, and O moon in the valley of Aijalon.” So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation avenged themselves of their enemies. Is it not written in the book of Jashar? And the sun stopped in the middle of the sky, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. Joshua 10:12–13.
By faith you can shut lions’ mouths: “My God sent His angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you, O king, I have committed no crime.” Daniel 6:22.
By faith you can part seas and rivers and pile water in piles: Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. And the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Exodus 14:21–22.
By faith you can multiply food substances: Jesus therefore took the loaves; and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. And when they were filled, He said to His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments that nothing may be lost.” And so they gathered them up, and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves, which were left over by those who had eaten. John 6:11–13.
By faith you can restore severed members to a body: And a certain one of them struck the slave of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “Stop! No more of this.” And He touched his ear and healed him. Luke 22:50–51.
By faith you can subdue storms: And He got into the boat with them, and the wind stopped, and they were greatly astonished. Mark 6:51.
By faith you can reverse all of the trends of a whole age! By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. Hebrews 11:3.
Our destiny need not accidentally happen. Faith can determine what it will be. God’s law declares that if the Kingdom is our priority and our dedication is to that Kingdom, then the things pertaining to our natural state will be given to us too. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.” Matthew 6:33.
The whole world is struggling for food, clothing, and shelter. The problems of shelter and the high prices for food are a great oppression to many people: “Where am I going to live? And wherewithal shall I be clothed?” (Matthew 6:31.) People are looking for an answer! The sixth chapter of John describes how the miracle of loaves and fishes came. The people were so absorbed with the miracle that they wanted to make Him king, because it would be good to get bread and fish every week—especially if that bread and fish were to come by the hand of the Messiah, who was chosen to be king and who would overthrow the Romans (John 6:4–15). No doubt they were thinking, “All we have to do is knock out the Roman empire, and then we’ll have bread and fish every Friday. We can live on that. We can exist with that.” And for us too, there are actually times in which we become so materialistically-minded that we forget that the control over material things comes by having higher priorities. This is where the whole Sermon on the Mount starts.
God grant that soon we will start believing the Sermon on the Mount. Why do you labor? Consider the lilies of the field. Why are you sweating it out? Why are you worried about what you will wear and what you will eat? Your Father knows you have need of all of these things.
“Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory did not clothe himself like one of these. But if God so arrays the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you, O men of little faith! And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying. For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom.” Luke 12:27–32.
This is the bottom line; this is what the Lord says: Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. Matthew 6:33a. But what about the other things we need? They will be added; it’s a “package deal.” The Lord is so concerned about the people who will serve Him; and when He is really their King, He will take care of them. They are His responsibility. When His Kingdom has priority and our dedication to it is complete, then the faith-factor is released. And this is the faith-factor: I believe; I’m a believer; and because I believe, these other things will happen to me, too.
All things are possible to him that believeth. Mark 9:23b. Do you remember the fellow who came to Christ with an epileptic boy? Peter, James, and John had just come down with the Lord from the Mount, where Moses and Elijah had appeared and Christ had been transfigured and glorified. This had been a wonderful experience; but then they came down from the mountain. There in the valley the man sought the Lord’s help: “I brought my son to Your disciples, but they couldn’t do anything. But Lord, if You can do anything, have compassion on us.” Because he was so identified with his son, he said, “Have compassion on us. Heal my son.” The Lord’s reply was very explicit: “`If You can!’ All things are possible to him who believes” (Mark 9:2–23). His answer was incisive.
When the man said “If You can,” he was putting all the responsibility on God, but God doesn’t want that; He made the promises and He made the provision. And if you come crawling and begging, “Oh, if You can; please, please, please …,” you will not get much that way. Jesus turned the emphasis the other way: “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes!” And that puts it right back on you, where it really belongs.
God has provided … all things that pertain unto life and godliness … II Peter 1:3. He has given us “exceeding great and precious promises,” Peter tells us in verse 4, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. In other words, we can change. We can change. We can be anything that God is. We can become a partaker of the divine nature. We can accomplish anything. There is no limit to what this realm of faith can bring us into (Matthew 17:20). God made the provision! But if you are begging, “Oh, please, Jesus—if You only will,” then His Word will return to you: “If you can; if you can believe! All things are possible to him that believeth” (Mark 9:23).
We want to see a release come to liberate the people of the Lord. But not much will happen if we passively hope, “Please, Jesus, bless us!” Why not? Because He said that there is a faith-factor that we can move into. We can act upon it.
The faith-factor is just as established as any law of nature. But other natural laws will continue working as usual until you enter into that realm of faith. When you get into that realm of faith, you must understand that God is saying, “The faith principle is the highest law in all of My universe.” Take a loaf of bread, break it, and pass it around to everyone, and soon nothing but crumbs will be left—unless there is a faith-factor in action, and then there won’t be any end to that bread! Then you can take those loaves and fishes and keep breaking them, again and again. There is a way in which division multiplies. You can do what they did: they divided those loaves and fishes and passed them out to everyone, and still they finished with twelve basketfuls of the untouched fragments which the people were unable to eat (John 6:1–13); there was no human capacity for all of it. Once you break through into the faith-factor, you can know that the only limit you have is your human capacity to receive.
God makes this evident at times. He said, “Now try Me. Prove Me! See if I’ll not pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (Malachi 3:10). You won’t be able to hold it! (Remember those twelve baskets, all full.) Even David, when he was just a little boy, sang in his psalm, “My cup runneth over” (Psalm 23:5). God pours out His blessings into the heart of a worshiper who has faith, who believes Him, and who believes His Word; and that Word becomes alive. The worshiper always says, “My cup isn’t big enough. It’s running over. I cannot hold it all. I have not the capacity to hold God!” Always before, you may have looked for a lot, but you received only a little. “A little bit too little, and not soon enough, and too late” applies to our lives as far as the realm of all natural and physical law—until you move into the realm of faith. And when that happens, you have opened the valve on God’s abundance. His abundance will fill you until there is more than you can receive. Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. Ephesians 3:20.
There will be a people who will know their God and be strong and do exploits (Daniel 11:32). At the close of this age and the beginning of another, a people will come forth on the earth who will move in the realm where they believe God, and they believe in His principles of truth, of faith, and of love, with results that will be overwhelming.
We say, “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10); and this is stated in the imperative mood. We are to demand this! The Kingdom will come to the disciples who pray that way. You are not to say, “Please let Thy will be done on the earth.” Stand there; shout; insist, “Thy Kingdom come!” It is a demand because there is something within your heart which believes, which will not be denied, and which insists upon seeing the perfect manifestation of what God has said in His Word. We will not accept anything else. We refuse partial answers! Of course, we will not be irreligious or sacrilegious, but neither will we be content to be merely religious; we will be spiritual sons of God, and in being spiritual we will insist, “Lord, do all that You promised in Your Word, nothing short of it!” Faith anticipates that. All of our effectiveness and our fruitfulness, everything in our life, comes according to the measure in which we move with the initiative of faith.
Judgment will come upon the earth at the initiative of God’s people, too. It is not being bitter or vindictive when you believe that there will have to be some changes in the world system. For God’s will to come forth in the earth, there must be a binding of the strong man first (Matthew 12:29), a binding of the demonic forces, the principalities and powers which have come to govern in governments, whether they be in the realm of politics, in the realm of the sciences, or in any other realm. Wherever people are locked in by demonic control and oversight, wherever the restrictions are upon people, there will have to be deliverance. When Christ came, He began to show us something about that.
When we talk about this realm of faith, it sounds so simple. Yet this realm of faith is not without a ruthless determination, too. In Psalm 137 the psalmist said, “Our captors required of us a song of Zion.” (It was beautiful music that came out of the Temple worship.) But they answered, “How can we sing the psalm of Zion? We hung our harps on a willow tree. We can’t sing the Lord’s song in a strange land; we can’t break loose from God!” (Verses 1–6.) The last verse, however, is the most bloodthirsty verse in the Scriptures: “Blessed will be the one who takes Babylon’s children and dashes their little ones against a rock” (verse 9). This is symbolic. Why take the babies of Babylon and dash them on the rock? If you don’t, those same Babylonian progenies will grow up to be your oppressors.
The governments of the world can produce many things that at their inception look beautiful. In their infancy most young things look good. A human baby looks beautiful, but every baby will grow up according to its nature. And right now there are many things and ideas being born which will be the oppression of the next generation—unless in their spiritual authority a people of God in this generation dashes these things in their infancy upon the rocks and destroys them. You must realize that we are making a spiritual application here. Faith must be exercised to stop the self-destructive systems in our nation. For instance, wherever there is bureaucracy, nobody wants to make a decision, because if he does, then his job will be on the spot. Nothing is as indecisive and as destructive to creativity as a bureaucracy where nobody knows, or nobody wants to take the initiative or make a decision.
Frankly, do you see much hope for the system, unless God intervenes? And God has raised up us believers to be the arm of intervention! Are we talking about a type of social and spiritual revolution? Yes. Let God’s will be done on earth. Let us believe to see things change! And if we have the faith, we do not have to dictate the way God will do it. But I want to believe that when the Kingdom of God fills the whole earth, the Stars and Stripes will still be flying over the United States.
Years ago, several self-styled prophets predicted that on a certain day the whole western end of California would have an earthquake and slide into the sea. People asked me, “What are we going to do?” I said, “We’ll stay right here, because we’ve sought God, and God put us right here and told us the things we were to do—and we haven’t finished them yet. We will stay right here and believe God until it happens!” The predicted day came and went. That was years ago, and the people are still being led by the Lord. They know that they are living there in the will of God, and they have set themselves to do the will of God. When He wants them to move, He will lead them.
The prophets of gloom make predictions about what will be happening. Actually, worse things than they can dream of will probably happen, unless there is an intervention. And I believe that we can intervene! You can intervene in your own life. You can open your heart to God and say, “I am going to believe the Word. I’m going to believe to change. I believe for my life to be effective and fruitful. I will listen to the Word that God is speaking.” Romans 10:17 explains it: So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. And when His Living Word is alive to you, a quality of faith comes; it is the faith-factor, which turns loose principles and actions and brings forth results that nothing else will bring forth. Be a believer. Believe the Word; live with it; speak it with all your heart!
In time certain things will happen and then there will be changes; that is true. But time causes things to deteriorate rather slowly, and time brings forth new things rather slowly. We do not know all that our technology could produce; but I imagine that we would be amazed with what could be, right now, in inventions, a better life-style, if we would just apply what technology we know already. We would be fascinated with what might be introduced to our way of life if civilization could go on for another two hundred years without destruction. It is incredible that a better way of life could not have been already produced through our science!
In our own country, just look at the housing situation with all the building and loan associations. Many people are paying on loans, some of them for houses so old that they are not even fit to be called antiques anymore. With all the taxation and various financial restrictions, we have a system that we are locked into. And time does not seem to change it. In times to come the building and loan associations will be bigger; the banks will be bigger; and the houses will be older. The new homes will be out of reach of the average family. How do we change these things? How do we reverse the trends, and the seasons, and the ages?
By faith we understand that the worlds were created by the Word of God (Hebrews 11:3). I do not believe the way people interpret the Scriptures when they say, “Isn’t it wonderful how the prophets in the Old Testament prophesied and they predicted? And now we can look back and see what a miracle it was, that these men had the foreknowledge to predict what was going to happen.” But this interpretation completely misses the truth. Without those prophecies of the prophets, many of those civilizations would have continued on for centuries beyond their termination point. The prophets did not predict their end; they precipitated it by a Word from God. They brought it down. They destroyed ages, and they brought forth new ages. There is no explanation that you can make otherwise.
Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Jeremiah 1:9–10.
Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I Send me!” And He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking, but do not understand.’ Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and repent and be healed.” Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered, “Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, houses are without people, and the land is utterly desolate, the Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. Yet there will be a tenth portion in it, and it will again be subject to burning, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump. Isaiah 6:8–13.
“And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.” Daniel 2:44.
One of the finest periods in English history occurred when the corruption in England and the corruption in France paralleled each other. France did not turn to God in that situation, but they did turn against the corruption which was in their political and religious background. The result was the French Revolution. At the same time John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield came forth in England, and because of their faith the whole situation changed. Men of God precipitate the changes that come! The salt of the earth: What is the salt of the earth? (Matthew 5:13.) It is the believing heart, the heart that believes God’s Word.
What about America? It is just as doomed as any country can be for the judgments of God to hit. The deterioration within us, the moral decay, and dry rot of spirit in America is just absolutely unbelievable! It is difficult to understand that in two hundred years a nation could rise and fall so fast, as far as real values are concerned. We are doomed, except for one thing. Abraham asked God, “For ten righteous people, would You spare Sodom?” and God responded to his faith (Genesis 18:32). Abraham stopped with ten, but I believe that if he had finally said, “God, I’m the only one who is praying for them; will You still spare Sodom?” then God would have granted it just for his sake. But we have His Word in Matthew 18:19: “If two or three can agree,” just agree, “touching anything they ask in My name, I will do it.”
The problem is that although we often go through the motions of worship, we need to believe God more. Put great faith into your worship; put faith into your songs. Beyond your rituals and forms of religion, make everything an explosive expression of faith within your heart, so that when you say, “Praise the Lord!” you mean it. When you say, “Thy Kingdom come,” and you shout it with all of your heart, mean it!
Believe that His Kingdom will come. Turn loose the power that God has already provided for His people in this generation to move in. Some will do it. Babylon is going to fall; you can read about it in chapters seventeen and eighteen of Revelation. Revelation 18:20 tells us, “Rejoice, O apostles and prophets, for the Lord has granted you judgment over her.” You must see that Babylon will never fall by itself; it is too deeply entrenched. If you don’t think so, then just try to buck the system, and you will soon see that there is no movement in the world today, there is no government, there is no ruler that can buck the system. In fact, most of them would never even be there in the first place, unless they were in full accord with the system. Then what are we to do?
We must put our faith in the Word that He has spoken. People often have such an implicit confidence in their unbelief, such total faith that they are unbelievers, that as a result, they are non-miracle workers. Or if they did work a miracle, it would be in reverse; they would lift their wineglass, and the wine would turn into water! Something wrong would happen for them. Our faith is being challenged. God is leaning on us. He is insisting, “Believe My Word. Be a believer.”
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. Hebrews 11:1–2. In verse 39 we read about the role of faith: And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised. In verse 40 God gave to us who follow them, subsequent to their times, the greater thing. He gave us something better, so that even they will not reach perfection apart from us.
Notice the role of their faith: Through their faith, they gained approval. The steps that men take in order to gain approval from their peers, or to merit approval from God, are amazing. But here is what God’s Word says that approval really is: If a man wants to gain approval, it will have to be through God.… Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Galatians 3:6. God opened the ledger and erased anything that was against Abraham. And certainly, Abraham could have done better sometimes! For instance, there were the times that he left Sarah vulnerable because of his lying, because he was afraid for his own life (Genesis 12:10–20; 20:2–11). It does not seem as though he was being the father of the faithful at that time (Romans 4:16; Galatians 3:9). But God said that Abraham was righteous. And whatever God says is true! God said that He counted it to Abraham for righteousness (Romans 4:3). Put it down for that: Men gained approval by faith (Hebrews 11:39).
Until they become believers, many people will never even approve of themselves: “I don’t like myself. I’m always walking in self-condemnation.” Most religion has a high percentage of that deep ingredient of self-condemnation in it. Did you know that? But get rid of that! Get into the realm of faith where you start believing God. This is the way men gain approval. You are not being arrogant when you say, “I am approved of God because I believe Him. I believe in the blood of Jesus Christ. I believe in the work that Christ accomplished on His cross for me. I believe in all of the promises that He has made and the declarations of what He declares that I, as a believer, am in God. I believe that I am who He says I am. And because He says it and I believe it, I gain approval. I can finally approve of myself, even though I may have been the most miserable of failures, because I have finally done the one thing on earth that God approves of. God approves of me because I believe His Word.”
“What shall we do? O dear Master, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God?” Isn’t this what the Jews asked Jesus? And this was His answer: “This is the work of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent” (John 6:28–29). The Lord Jesus Christ did not enumerate any great works. Just believe. This is the works of God. There isn’t anything greater in the world than becoming a man or woman of faith and becoming a believer. When you say, “I’m a believer,” then you are working the works of God; you are out of that dead religious trap!
Are you still a little religious? I have to keep hitting away at that, because sooner or later, you will have to face the fact that without faith, it is impossible to please Him! 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. Hebrews 11:6. And when you believe that with all of your heart, you say, “I’m a believer!” This is the way people gained approval. They gained approval from God; they came to approve of themselves; and they gained approval before men. Gideon with thirty-two thousand people could never have prevailed over the Midianites. But by being a believer he did it with three hundred (Judges 7:2–7). Astounding!
Let’s go further in Hebrews 11, beginning with verse 32: And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness (this is better translated, “performed righteousness”), obtained promises … They obtained promises. What does that mean? Let’s imagine a believer coming to God and saying, “God, You promised You would do this.” The angel Gabriel answers, “Just a minute, here—God never made any such promise.” But the believer pursues it: “Well, if He hasn’t, He had better make it anyway, because He’s the kind of God who would promise that!” That believer will get a promise from God. Isn’t that good? Get a commitment from God; obtain the promise. No promises? Then get one!
Continuing at verse 33, read further about these believers, who by faith shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith (all of this is still about faith!), who for the Joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. Hebrews 11:33–40; 12:1–3. These verses are about the great faith which all of these people had who went before us. As fantastic as the Scriptures say their faith was, yet the Scriptures themselves also declare that they were not made perfect. They did not receive the total fulfillment of what was promised. God has provided that for us. And Christ becomes the author and the perfecter of that faith. This means also the perfecter and fulfiller of that faith.
I believe that this time remains to be, according to the Word of God, the greatest period of faith in the history of the world! This is the day of miracles, the age of miracles. Miracles seem to come in waves. Down through the years there have been times which were barren; there were no miracles. In the Old Testament days there were periods like that; there were generations in which there were no miracles. Then God moved on the earth through Elijah and Elisha, and the miracles of that period came forth. Another period of miracles was in the days of Moses and Joshua. But in Psalm 74:9 the cry came, “O God, where are Thy signs? Where are Thy miracles?” because there were barren periods without any signs and miracles, until Christ came. Then the signs and miracles were so great that multitudes of the sick were brought to Him, and in some cases He healed every one of them (Matthew 8:16; Luke 4:40).
There have been periods of miracles down through history; there were many miracles in the early New Testament church. What about those who talk about the day of miracles and say that it has already passed? For the people who believe the Scriptures and who believe the provisions and the promises of those provisions which God has made, the greatest day of miracles is just before us. According to the prophets of God, there has to be a specific, reserved time in which there will be miracles and signs and wonders. But we must do one thing: we must jar ourselves out of our unbelief. We must get ourselves loosed from unbelief, once and for all. We must determine to be believers.
It shall please God to bruise Satan under our feet (Romans 16:20). The defeat of Satan was accomplished in fact by the Lord Jesus Christ. He will reign until His enemies are made the footstool of His feet (I Corinthians 15:25–27; Acts 2:34–35; Hebrews 10:13). But God has reserved the execution of that to us, to bruise him under our feet shortly. And the quicker we stop thinking of Satan as a powerful foe and we begin thinking of him in light of the Word as a defeated foe, the quicker we will see manifested what Christ said. He came to destroy the works of the devil. The one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil. I John 3:8.
Spiritual battles are not won by our power; they are won by our acceptance of His authority over all power. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God … John 13:3. When we are believers, we are not struggling up to a place of victory; we are moving from a place of victory, to execute the judgments of God in the earth.
“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toll is not in vain in the Lord. I Corinthians 15:55–58.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. I John 5:4.
Judgment is coming; Satan will be brought down; oppressions in your life will be broken—the day that you believe and say, “Christ defeated this enemy, but He gave me the privilege of stomping on him.! It is my privilege to bruise his head. It is my privilege; it is my prerogative!”
And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. Romans 16:20.
“Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall injure you.” Luke 10:19.
This has to be done, too: Any bitterness, anything wrong in your spirit which shouldn’t be there—you can be rid of it; you can change. You don’t have to be that way! There is no use being bitter or frustrated, when God has made a means—and made you the means to His ends. You are created in God as a means to an end. All you do is believe and act upon it. Put Satan right under your heel and grind him. Believe God!
We will see things change, because God will grant it. He will receive the glory; He will have all the praise, but we will see it happen!