To be a believer today can mean different things. That is the way it was when the “Acts of the Apostles” was written. We can not read the word and always expect it to mean the same thing we think it should mean. The reason for this particular turn of thought is the difficulty some folks have in regard to the infilling, or receiving of the Holy Spirit. For instance, Paul said to a group of men, “Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?” Paul knew what he meant when he used the word believe, but the men didn’t. By this scripture, some feel that one shall first become a Christian and then receive the Holy Spirit. This group men believed, but their belief was based upon what John, the Baptist, taught. They believed that one should repent and prepare the way of the Lord. Paul taught them of Jesus Christ. Then they believed what he taught and received the Holy Spirit. There are several references about believers being added to the early church. Were these people Christians in the sense that we know Christians today, or did the word denote something else? The scriptures mention 3,000 at one time and 5,000 at another, then there are many lesser cases. Let’s look at a statement made by James about these believers. Talking to Paul, he said, “Ye see how many have believed, and every one of them are zealous for the law.” This does not sound to me like the Christ that sets free from the Law was very well known. But these people did believe in something that set them apart. What was it? Consider this: Israel was the only Nation on the face of the Earth that believed in one God. They had for centuries taught, and been taught that they were the chosen of God. Their history said that there would come a man, anointed of God, who would be their Ruler and Savior. Then it would be that righteousness would cover the Earth. Jesus came, and God made Him to be the Christ. These believers accepted this. They believed Jesus to be the Christ. Listen to the questions of the Disciples. “Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel? They accepted this Jesus as the Christ, and coupled it with what they had already been taught. They stayed in Jerusalem, and expected the momentary return of Jesus to rule supreme. They believed that Jesus was the Christ, and because of their belief, they were counted righteous. But God was to reveal a different life than they had expected. God appeared to Paul and revealed to him this “new Life”--the mystery of the Ages now revealed in us--Christ in YOU, a new creation. We have been transformed so that a new thing has been accomplished: man has been lifted out of himself and made to “sit in the heavenlies” with God. He has been made One with God so that his perfection is not of this Earth; it is not of himself, it is of God. So this is the Christ--this is the power, this is the newness that is ours when we believe in Christ. So there are differences to the word believe and the question is, “What do you believe?”

I read in the paper the other day about someone who was recovering from a case of poison ivy. It seems this party was hiking through the woods and coming to a shady green spot, decided to lie down and rest for awhile. The idea was all right, but the place was full of poison ivy and the results were bad. The article was captioned with a picture of the person swathed in bandages and reading a book on botany. That makes good sense. If you get into trouble because of something you do not understand, give it some thought and attention so you can avoid the same thing happening again. Spiritually speaking, we get into a peck of trouble because of the ineffectual operation of our faith. The thing that causes all this trouble is doubt, so let’s look at the culprit a little more closely and see it for what it is. The dictionary says that doubt springs from the intellect. If this is true, it means that our most serious enemy, insofar as the things of God are concerned, is the mind that man prizes so highly and spends so much time developing. The Bible says that the carnal mind sees no further than the natural things, but the Spiritual mind reaches out after the things of the Spirit. The carnal mind means death, and the Spiritual mind means Life and peace. And this is only to be expected, for the carnal mind is opposed to the purpose of God, and neither can nor will follow His laws for living. Men who follow after the carnal mind can not possibly please God (Rom. 8:6.8). So it seems plain that the source of trouble is allowing our mind to dictate to us. God says one thing; and our mind, being opposed to this Spiritual knowledge, says it can’t possibly be, that’s just not the way things are. If we follow the reasonings of our mind in this case, we are bound to doubt the things of God. Being creatures that have the ability of choice, we can think what we will, but this thing we must know: When our will is above God’s will, only one thing can result--doubt. God has given man a soul that demands the Spirit of God in order to live. It was this Spirit of God that made man a Living soul. It was with this mind that man chose to be contrary to the things of God. Faith is made strong by hearing the truth, and that truth is the message of Jesus Christ, not the reasonings of our carnal mind. So here is the situation as it exists. The soul desires the things of God, and our mind is contrary to these things. The soul is eager to live by the direction of the Spirit, but the mind says, “I’ll have my own way. There is war being waged within us in a very real sense. One of the acts in this warfare is to cast down imaginations (the original of this word means not to follow our own reasonings) and everything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We even fight to capture every thought until it acknowledges and is obedient to the authority of Christ (2 Cor.10:.5). When the mind is brought into captivity to the desires of God, there will be no more doubts; and then the faith that God has given us will have free and ample opportunity to bring the strength of God into our life. I beg of you that you present your bodies alive unto God--be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you might prove (live in) the perfect will of God (Rom.12:1-2).

Doubt is manufactured by the limitation of sense knowledge evidence. You have to see beyond your present experience. The only way you can see beyond your experience is by faith. You must look into the realm of the unseen in order to possess the things of faith. No matter how impossible or hopeless things may look, you can propel yourself beyond the limitations of your present circumstances by the faith God has already given you. He has already given you all things that pertain to life and godliness--it just doesn’t look like it. Unbelief is to be ruled and dominated by your senses. Faith is to be ruled by the Word of God. There are no limitations with God. Your physical experience may be totally contrary to what the Word says. It is up to you as to what you believe. You must project your thinking out of the realm of the impossible into God’s realm of the possible. Jesus said, “All things are possible with God and to him who believes.” To be ruled by your senses is to be ruled by unbelief. Faith has nothing to do with your senses. That is why the Bible says, “We walk by faith and not by sight.” What is there that is impossible with God? God is the God of the impossible. Project your thinking and believing beyond your experience and see things as God sees them. As a new creation in Christ, you are not tied to the limita¬tions of the flesh or your carnal mind. You are a creation of the Spirit. You are a believer like your Father who created all things by the Word of faith--“Let there be....” Boldly declare how God sees you through His Word. Boldly confess it with your mouth and believe it in your heart. You are what He says you are and you can do all things through Christ. He is your strength. Break the barrier your carnal mind would impose upon you by an open confession of the Word of God. God’s Word is truth. If God’s Word says you are something, you are. If God’s Word says, you already possess something, you do. If God’s Word says you can do something, you can. Therefore, no matter what your senses say, don’t make God’s Word a lie. “Let God be true and every man a liar.” You are a NEW creation in Christ by faith. You are not tied to the impossible. That is natural man’s realm. You are not a natural man. You are a Spiritual man. You are like God, the Creator. You boldly speak the Word of God about whom and what you are and you become what you say. Make your declaration of faith and God will stand behind your confession when that confession is based upon His Word. He says He watches over His Word to perform it; It will not return void. Don’t waiver. “He is faithful who has promised.” Hebrews 4:14 says, “Let us hold fast (secure) our confession of faith.” We are to hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. Call the things that are not as though they were and they will become. Do not speak words of doubt, fear, and unbelief. Force your mouth to speak the Word of God. Remember Proverbs says, “A lying tongue is but for a moment, but the lip of truth is established forever.” Don’t let your dead carnal mind rob you of God’s truth. “All things are yours and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.”--1 Cor.3:21-23 Amen.

When we listen to thoughts of fear and discouragement, we might just as well face it--we are listening directly to the devil. There are only two sources of thoughts according to the Bible--one good, the other evil. Jesus said that God is good and that Satan is evil. Can you find any place in God’s Word where God says to be discouraged? Can you find any place where He says to let your heart be troubled? Can you find any place where He says to be afraid? Can you find any place where God says He will leave you or forsake you? Quite the contrary! Jesus says in John 14:1,“Let not your heart be troubled. You have faith in God, have faith also in me.” How many times has Jesus said in various ways not to worry or be fearful? I dare you to count them. You can read it for yourself. Jesus doesn’t want us to be discouraged, lonely, or fearful. His word speaks peace to the troubled heart and calms the mind. He is still the Master of the sea. We might be surrounded on every side by the storm, but Jesus is in the center of that storm and we are safe in Him. The enemy might be on every side, but Jesus still says, “Be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.” It is your mind that doesn’t believe God and is fearful. That is because your mind is uncertain and doesn’t know how things are going to turn out. Your mind doesn’t trust God. Your mind doesn’t even know God. That is because it is not capable of knowing Spirit. We can believe and know God only in the realm of the Spirit. That is because God is Spirit and your heart is Spirit. Your mind is of this world and has been trained by the devil. But don’t forget--Jesus is Lord of the devil. The victory and the peace that Jesus gives are not conditioned upon circumstances. The only condition it is based upon is whether you believe His Word or not. But even if you do not believe Him, He won’t forsake you. “If we believe not, yet He abides faithful.” You can either believe what you see (remember Peter when he sank in the water) or you can believe Jesus. Faith wouldn’t be faith if there were not contrary winds. Can you imagine Jesus saying, “Now believe me,” when there would be nothing facing you that would challenge your faith? There wouldn’t be anything else to believe. Faith can only be faith when there is no other proof of God’s integrity, but His Word. If there is even a hint of some other way, then there cannot be faith. God doesn’t compromise His Word. You either believe His Word or you believe the devil’s word--but never both at the same time. I rather like it that way because that is how I become more certain of God’s love and care for me. I know it is God then, and my mind can’t take the credit. The more hopeless things become, the more I know God is with me in that thing. But God isn’t hopeless! Moses had the Red Sea before him and the Egyptian army behind him. He was in a real spot--that is until he heard the Word of God. You see, faith comes when we hear the Word of God and God’s Word always brings peace-- always! If what we are thinking about doesn’t, it isn’t God's Word. So, Moses didn’t have to sweat it--He just did what God told him to do, and the Red Sea parted. It is the same with us--all we need do is what the Word says, “Let not your heart be troubled.” The choice is ours!

We hear a great deal today about faith and all the things faith can do. We hear how we need faith, and if we believe, we can have almost anything we desire. Truly faith is a great power and can do mighty things. Nothing within the realm of God’s will is impossible. Our churches pride themselves in their doctrines, creeds, and articles of faith, but I believe that faith is taught today in such fashion that it has almost become selfish. It is as though one can have all the benefits of faith without the personal responsibility that true faith brings. Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” Therefore the main purpose of faith is to please God, not ourselves. The personal responsibility that faith brings in simple terms is obedience to our heavenly Father. The Bible mentions “obedience” to the faith in Romans 1:5 and 16:26. Faith and obedience are tied together. They are inseparable. We err if we try to divide them. For instance, we have heard many sermons about faith in regards to the children of Israel not entering the Promised Land. Hebrews says, “They could not enter in because of unbelief.” But what is unbelief? Is it just a lack of faith? I would like to look at this text in a little different light than what is commonly taught and understood. The children of Israel did not enter the Promised Land because of disobedience. Sounds different, doesn’t it? “Disobedience,” you say, “but what about faith?” Well, to hear the Word of God and not obey it is to disobey. To do nothing is to disobey. Simply stated it is a failure to believe the Word of God. But the real problem is not theological--it is practical. Jesus taught that if a man loved Him, he would keep His commandments or do what He said. In other words, He would obey. Paul said that this kind of faith works by love. John said that God is love. So, you see, faith, love, and obedience all work together. They cannot be separated and anyone who tries to do so does not understand the basic nature of God. It is very difficult to believe someone you do not love. But if you truly love them, there will most naturally be trust between you. If you trust them, you will believe them; and if you believe them, you will obey them when obedience is required. We cannot truly say that we believe in someone and not give credibility to their word. Today we make a very big issue over the word “faith” but hear little or nothing about obedience to that faith. Man tries to manipulate the Word of God until he shapes its meaning after his own desires. Like James says, “We ask amiss that we might consume it upon our own lusts.”--James 4: 2-3 The faith God has given us is not something to be used selfishly or according to our own will. Yes, Jesus did say, “Ask what ye will,” but even a second grader must know that Jesus also said He came to do His Father’s will, not His own. True faith is a response to the Word of God, not the initiator. It is an obedient action to a Word given by God and no one can fake it and make it work. There is both a human and a Divine element, but the Divine comes first. God’s Word comes to you, and then you respond. You either respond by obeying or you respond by not responding. That is your obedience or disobedience. There is no in-between ground. Not everyone who hears the Word of God believes it, and not everyone who says they believe it obeys it. To not obey the Word is to not believe the Word. There is where your test of faith comes. Jesus says, “Why do you call me Lord and do not (obey not) the things I say.” To keep his commandments or to do His Word is to demonstrate our obedience. Love, faith, and obedience--you can’t have one without the other. There is not such a thing in God’s eyes as faith without obedience. James says, “Abraham was justified by his works.” His work of faith then was to obey what God told him to do. The scripture says, “His faith was made perfect (complete) by his obedience.”-- James 2:23 Many today will never know the completeness that faith can bring. Like the children of Israel, they stop short of the Promised Land. They hear the Word, but they are not willing to obey it. How could the children of Israel possibly enter the Promised Land unless they did what God told them to do? They were told that every step they took was their possession, but they had to take the necessary steps. Obedience to the Word is the vehicle which carries one into their Promised Land. In God’s view, there is no such thing as faith without personal responsibility to His Word. Look at the word “responsibility”--response (our part)--ability (God’s part). We can both read and hear the Word of God taught many times, but we must act upon that Word to truly benefit from the Word. That is what obedience to the faith means--doing the Word. Everything within us must bow to the authority of the Word of God. As in Abraham’s case, our obedience must be fulfilled in order for the scriptures to be fulfilled in our lives. We must walk in the faithful steps of Abraham. (Read James 1:22 and 2:14-26.) James said two key things in regards to this subject: “But be ye doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves.” “Faith without works (obedience) is dead.” It stops short. It is a dead (inactive) faith. It is not complete. Jesus isn’t the God of the dead, but of the living. He gave us a living faith--his own faith, an obedient faith. There is only one real faith--the one that conforms to the Father’s will. Anything else is a counterfeit lie from the devil!

The only way you can believe God is through His Word. No one can truly say that they believe God if he does not know what His Word has to say. If a person does not know the truth of God’s Word, there is no way to exercise his faith, simply because he will not know what to believe. It is only possible for faith to come into our lives through the Word of God. No word, no faith. A man must have something to put his faith in; he cannot put his faith in nothing, so God gave us His Word. The Word of God then becomes the vehicle of faith. He is the author of our faith because He is the author of His Word. If we put our faith in God’s Word, we are really putting our faith in God, because God and His Word are one. God cannot be separated from His Word. In fact, John’s gospel introduces the Word as God! There are many who profess to believe in God, yet they do not know what His Word has to say. It is utterly impossible to have faith in God without His Word. According to the Bible, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.” That’s why it is so important to know the Word of God. No wonder many Christians are so spiritually emaciated. They are dying of spiritual malnutrition. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” So taste and see that the Lord is good! Try some manna from heaven. Unless we eat of His flesh and drink of His blood, we will have no life in us. Both bread and blood are life sustainers. Many complain today that they lack faith, but the real problem is that they do not know the Word--the Word of faith. Faith is a gift given us through the Word. No wonder David hid God’s Word in his heart. God lives in His Word and where God lives, faith lives. There is no such thing as a faithless God!