The spirit of faith: By James Lantz
The spirit of faith is the spirit of victory! This overcoming victorious spirit has become ours through the Lord Jesus Christ. 1 John 5:4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Jesus’s triumph over Satan, sin, death, and hell has become our victory! The life and nature of God has become ours by receiving Jesus as the Lord of our life. 2 Cor. 4:13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak. Every Christian has this world overcoming, conquering, victorious spirit of faith and they have already believed God for His biggest gift which is eternal life. The truth is that every other blessing and gift from God is already included in the Zoe life of God free for the asking. Rom. 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 2 Cor. 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. The devil could not comprehend the goodness of God, how God would have Jesus die for us and pay the penalty for our sins, and freely raise us up together with Christ to rule and to reign with Him. The only reason the devil comes around is to steal, kill, and destroy so you know his mind is only on stealing, killing, and destroying. People who have fixated their minds on getting what they deserve and wanting others to suffer for their wrong doing have difficulty in receiving God’s grace through faith. We certainly do not want to get what we deserve. We deserved to go to hell for our sins but by faith in Jesus’s substitutionary sacrifice we don’t have to go. Evil thinking people refuse to act on what God has said thinking God is not that good. All the blessings of God belong to us in Christ Jesus! The difference is that Christ has qualified us to be partakers of God’s grace. Realizing that we only qualify for God’s goodness and grace because of Jesus will help us to be thankful. Col. 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet (able) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. The prodigal’s older brother endeavored to earn his inheritance and therefore the ability to receive
The spirit of faith takes what God has granted us by His grace!
his inheritance was reduced in his mind by his own limitations. Luke 15:31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. The heavenly Father is telling us that everything He has is already ours through Christ Jesus and is to be received through faith. In Father’s house, or you might say, in the kingdom of God it’s yours by inheritance and you take possession through faith and constancy.
The Spirit of God reveals two major components of the spirit of faith in Second Corinthians four thirteen which are believing and speaking. The very nature of faith is believing and saying before we see it come to pass. When the Apostle Paul wrote that we have the same spirit of faith he was referring to the saints of old who believed God and won victories. God said that He would bring Caleb into the promised land because he had another spirit about him. This spirit of faith became evident after ten of the spies magnified their enemies strength, their walled cities, and the giants that were in the land. Caleb jumps up and says, let’s go get our inheritance right now because we are well able to overcome them. Num. 13:30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. This pleases God when we believe what He said and go do it right away! Their is a certain unbelief that God is merciful towards when people genuinely don’t know how powerful God is but this group had witnessed God doing miracle after miracle for them. This unbelief is nothing but stubbornness and rebellion against what God has said. Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes and pleaded with the people not to reject God’s good plan of entering Canaan’s land but they refused and called for them to be silenced (stoned). Today the silencing is done by turning away, living for yourself, flipping the channel, refusing to hear, refusing to give into God’s projects. The psalmist says, they turned back and tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. (Ps. 78:41)
God has said about David, he is a man after my own heart who will fulfill all my will. During the time that Goliath was belittling the army of Israel, David spoke up, don’t let your heart fail, I will go and fight with this Philistine. The Lord delivered me from the lion and the bear and He will also deliver me from this Philistine! David drew near to Goliath and Goliath cursed him by his gods. David declared that he was coming to fight Goliath in the name the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel. Today the Lord will deliver you into my hand and I will take your head off and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts that all the earth may know there is a God in Israel. 1 Sam. 17:51 Therefore David ran, and stood upon the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of the sheath thereof, and slew him, and cut off his head therewith. And when the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled.
Faith is multifaceted having many distinguishing attributes. Faith is a law meaning that it works every single time just like the law of lift or the law of gravity. Rom. 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Faith knows ahead of time how things will turn out. We do not know how God is going to save, heal, deliver, protect, and prosper us but
Faith knows ahead of time what God will do!
we know that He will if we don’t quit believing. Heb. 10:39 But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Caleb held on to the word that the Lord had spoken over him for forty five years and then took possession of Hebron where the sons of Anak (giants) lived in their walled cities. Joshua 14:11 As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to come in. When it was time to take the city of Debir, Caleb said,whoever takes it first will be given my daughter for their wife. Caleb knew that an overcoming spirit of faith was important for their family to continue their legacy of pleasing God. Believing in your heart and speaking with your mouth are the two crucial ingredients of the God kind of faith. Rom. 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. As soon as a person believes in his heart that Jesus is the Christ and confesses Him as their Lord he is saved! The Bible says that faith without action is dead. In becoming a child of God, speaking is the initial action and you are born again immediately! God expects us to take the rest of the steps of action that He has commanded like being baptized in water, baptized in the Holy Spirit, throw away your idols, love your brother like Jesus loves us and so on. Many times faith must be expressed with words and actions along with believing in our heart. Noah acted on his faith, preaching and building the ark day after day, month after month and year after year. Abraham acted immediately in faith when God asked him to offer his only son Isaac for a burnt offering. Two days later Abraham is still acting and talking his faith as he tells his servants to wait for he and the lad to return. Gen. 22:5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. Faith expects to see the things or results believed for. Jesus told Martha, if you will believe, you will see the glory of God! David the psalmist, declared, I would have fainted if I had not believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. After the fire from the Lord fell, consuming the burnt sacrifice, the wood, the stones, the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench, Elijah said, there is a sound of abundance of rain. 1 Kings 18:43&44 And said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. And it came to pass at the seventh time . . . . Faith has a boldness about it because the God of the universe is backing you up with His power! Daniel’s three friends boldly declared to King Nebuchadnezzar, if you do throw us in, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. We are to approach the throne of grace boldly because Jesus gave us His righteousness! There is joy in believing because we know that we will soon be experiencing that blessing that we have asked God for. Rom. 15:13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost. The spirit of faith has a tenacity that never quits! Jesus told a parable about a tenacious widow woman who received a favorable judgement from a wicked judge because she would not give up. The faith man believes in his heart, speaks it from his mouth, steps out immediately and boldly with confidence obeying what God said. This spirit of faith is joyfully expecting the promised blessing to show up just as God has said. It does not matter how long it takes because faith is steadfast, determined, persistent, and consistent when the pressure is on. We have been given this same spirit of faith to establish the kingdom of God in the earth and highlight satan’s defeat!
