FAITH FIESTA: The Faith Core

“And it came to pass afterward, that He went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God and the twelve were with him, and certain women which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils, and Joanna wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward, and Susanna, and many others which ministered unto him of their substance. And when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable: a sower went out to sow his seeds and as he sowed, some fell by the wayside; and it was trodden down, and fowls of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away because it lacked moisture and some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And other fell on good ground and sprang up and bare fruits an hundred fold. And when he had said these things, he cried ‘he that hath ears to hear, let him hear’. And his disciples asked him saying, ‘what might this parable be? And he said ‘unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parable; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. Now, the parable is this: the seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are they that hear, then cometh the devil and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. They on the rock are they, which when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no roots which for a while believe and in time of temptation, fall away. And that which fell among thornsare they which when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life and bring no fruit to perfection. But that on the good ground are they which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. No man when he had lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candle stick that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret that shall not be made manifest; neither anything hid that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have. Then came to him his mother and his brethren and could not come at him for the press. And it was told him by certain which saith, ‘thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee’. And he answered and saith unto them, ‘my mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it’.” (Luke 8:1-21)

We’ve discussed the attitude of a faithaholic earlier going through life like a prerecorded match because he has credible information about the end. He’s not moved by what he sees, whether there was an injury, a red card involved, the weather and so on because he already has the truth about the end.

“Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal…” (2 Timothy 2:19).

The foundation of a man of faith stands sure and this is why faithaholics can watch situation and circumstances in their lives without being moved. Faith is not just the response of your human spirit to the word of God; it is also the reaction of your spirit to the preset victory. A faithaholic looks forward to the sound of the final whistle which heralds the good report in his spirit. He is not moved by the process or the scenarios that play out because faith knows the truth about the outcome. Faithaholics treat every situation from the angle of faith as no other alternative is considered to be valid. However, the God kind of faith does not spring from motivational or patriotic speeches; it comes as a word from God. Faith is being aware of the agenda of God form His word revealed in your spirit.

So what does it mean to have faith? How do you identify yourself as one walking in faith? Many people are confused about whether they’re walking in faith or not. They’re not sure if their faith is working. But a man of faith should know that you are walking in faith, not confused or worried about it. First, the realms of faith must be understood.

v  Faith that is presented to all at salvation, “for by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2: 8). God gives us faith by giving us His word.

v  Faith that is dealt with “…according as God hath dealt to everyman the measure of faith” (Romans 12: 3) everyman receives a measure of faith from God, however the “everyman” here refers to a man who is born again, a regenerated spirit, someone who has confessed Christ as his Lord and not just every man in the world.

v  Faith cometh “so then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom.10:17), the word of God is the growth agent for faith.

However, there is a common denominator for these realms of faith. That’s why Paul would say “I delight in the law of God after the inward man”, the word of God is what stirs our faith, the word encapsulates all kinds of faith. That’s why in Romans 10: 8, the word of God is called the “word of faith”. Jesus said “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”. God’s word becomes the greatest blessing that God has ever given to man, I must warn that God’s word is not the same thing as the bible, a lot of Christians assume that once they have different translations of the bible in their home, bibles under their pillows, then they have faith and God’s word. God’s word (the bible) on your bed, in your living room, on your dining table will not break any yoke and is as useless as any novel in the same place that is not read. “…and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God”  (Ephesians 6:17), the word of God has to be converted to the sword of the Spirit before it can have any effect and the only way it can be converted is if it’s used by a spirit (in your mouth). The word belongs to the spirit realm, that’s why your human spirit has to be the first airport authority that the word lands on. The word cannot land on your mind or your flesh because it will blow you mind and be useless to your flesh, it must first be revealed in the spirit and that is when faith is stirred. God cannot speak to your flesh or your mind, He speaks to your spirit and this is where you can operate the potency of faith.

Nevertheless, faith is not agreeing with the word of God because your mind can process the truth of God’s word, for instance you listen to a word and start to think of  how you can make it happen by doing one 0r two things, this is your mind trying to work the word of God. When the word of faith is being preached and it lands on natural ears it becomes a mental accent, a mental confession, a 5-senses knowledge response to the word. Here, the effectual working of the word doesn’t come alive in them. Faith says “I believe it because God said it”, but when the mind begins to hope in the natural hope; thinking “if I bring this and that together, may be this can work, so I believe it”. People who operate mental accent struggle with symptoms because they can still see the symptoms; think they don’t have faith but faith is n0t a denial or absence of symptoms but faith knows that those symptoms are not symptoms of sickness anymore because they have been healed.

Jesus is a great example of one who had great faith because God gave Him to die for the world. The world never asked anyone to die for them; in fact no one felt anything was wrong but God knew differently, many believe everything around them is normal: poverty, sickness, death but it’s not because we’ve been delivered from these works of darkness. Jesus had to believe radically that three thousand years after He died, someone somewhere would believe in His sacrifice, that’s how radical your faith has to be. Looking at the disciples, the 12 of them left Him just days after He died and went back to their fishing jobs and had to be reminded that it was resurrection morning. Sometimes faith might not look so good, 12 men who had followed Him did not really believe and now its resurrection morning but faith is so potent and powerful that it would get at least a Mary Magdalene to check the tomb, faith was at work; Jesus did not just die in vain but in faith.

The works of faith are not dead works, as a man or woman of faith, keep doing what God said you should do, keep believing God even though it doesn’t look like it, you will see the results of God’s word, and resurrection morning will come. Faith sees the end and has ears but doesn’t hear the same sounds of fear you hear, faith hears the voice of words, hears the chants of victory and the reassurance about the transition  in the situation  Since the word of God is the basis of faith, then the word becomes the greatest threat to the kingdom of darkness. The name you bear (Peter, Elijah, Mary etc.) or the position you occupy (Pope, Bishop, Pastor, Prophet) does not constitute a threat to the kingdom of darkness. The word of God in your mouth does. The word of God is the only thing that breaks impossibilities. The word of God personified, Jesus, the menangenis, went into hell, and interrupted the victory of the devil over Adam. This is why David said “Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in” (Psalm 24:7). The “King of glory” here is referring to the word of God: anytime you introduce the word of God into any situation, you have introduced the King; He went in and battled, made the adversary and the host of darkness a public spectacle. What makes you dangerous is the word of God in your spirit and vocalised from your mouth. When the devil tempted the Son of God in Luke 4, the only answer Jesus had for him is “It is written”. The only thing you should care about is what is written concerning you, which is the word of God. Dissect and analyse your situations based on the word of God, not based on your feelings, public opinions or cultural belief. When you have the word, the devil cannot get you because he know his limit with a man with the word,  he knows God upholds all things by the power of His word, reader, did you know that He upholds your finances,  your marriage, career, family etc.

What is the actuality of walking in faith? Is it the songs we sing, the faith quotes we write down? The veracity and substantial dimension of faith breeds the art of taking on impossibilities. The God kind of faith turns your fantasies into reality. Faith moves away from the unreality of hope and gives you a guarantee deed on what you believe God for. This gets your confidence to rise higher even when there’s a challenge. When this word is threatened however, it is the beginning of failure. The word of faith may be threatened by the circumstances and elements of the world. But the word must be absent before the devil can penetrate your situation, being unaware of the promise denies its power. Your acquaintance with the word of God has got to deepen for you to operate the capacity of the kingdom. “For whatsoever is born of God (word) overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4), emphasis mine.

The word of God has always been in contest with the world. The world will be naturally antithetical to our faith; it’s a force on the other side of your faith that must be overcome. Child of God, the word of God in your spirit will always be challenge with persecutions and circumstances that seemingly looks natural to you but they are not. For instance, you confess today about your health and the next day you begin to have symptoms in your body, you should know that this is the element of this world contesting with your faith, and what do you do? Keep at your confession no matter the threats from the kingdom of darkness to the spoken word.

“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 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”.            (Romans 10:8-9).

Paul was explaining the righteousness that comes by faith here. It is the faith that you had in your heart as you confessed the Lordship of Jesus that saved you and thus confession took you out of the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of darkness still threatens the spoken word of God in your life. The rhema word is constantly being threatened by everything around you but you have to be radical enough to stand and get your result because faith operates from the end, it is not overwhelmed by the process, it understands the truth of the experience, it is not moved by what the circumstance looks like. For you to overcome that situation in your life and overwhelm the kingdom of darkness, you have to be that preacher of faith just like Paul said in the scripture above, the word of faith is in your mouth, preach it! According to the bible, the devil has something every believer must be careful about, that’s the world, you are not of this world even though you are in the world, you and the world are not supposed to be on the same level. The word says you are to overcome the world and its king by your faith, this means that the world is your enemy that must be subdued in your life. Many times, it seems that Christians are cheated by those of the world because there are certain things you cannot do (lie, steal), this is what prompted David to ask God “...Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper?” (Jeremiah 12:1). The reason is that the wicked are of the world and are being invested in by the world and its king. For you to overcome the world, you must know your enemy first: child of God, the world is your enemy but the world and its offers seem nice and pleasing to the flesh, what we do is fight against the pride of life, the lust of the eyes and flesh. This is why the devil had the audacity to show up to Jesus and offer Him the kingdoms of this world, because right now this world is not the kingdom of Jesus yet, the world will be restored back to our Lord Jesus but not yet as we see in Acts 1:6-7, “When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, it is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power”, (emphasis mine). Thus, we have received the faith to live as ‘sheep in the midst of wolves’.

The world is the legal ground for the devil to frustrate faith; he has the world at his disposal. Faith perceives the world as anything that threatens what you believe no matter what it is. A lot of Christians have the wrong idea of what the world is, they think its limited to fornicating, lying, stealing and other acts of sin, things which may take faith back to works, doing goody goody things to get results from God, but the new creation is called to ‘believe’ and nothing else.  Nevertheless, there are many other things in the world that frustrates and distracts your faith walk and this transcends being attracted to a man or woman but there is a core that every believer must understand to manage all the distractions. Paul is a good example of a man who understood the core of faith; many times he referred to himself as an ambassador of Christ, a bondservant despite the situations (prison, floggings and so on) he found himself in.

Jesus presents a powerful parable that explains the problem we have in the church today. He teaches us about four different kinds of hearts or spirits where the seed of the word is sown: the wayside seed, upon the rock seed, among the thorns seed and the good ground seed. The sower here is not just expected to sow seeds but also to determine where the seed goes to. A farmer does not sow by the wayside e.g. a major bridge would crush the seed and that’s the end of the faith. It’s just like a believer in church who shouts as he hears the word and immediately he leaves church, the first heat that comes by takes the word away.  You sow your seed where anyone can take it. Jesus tells us explicitly that the devil comes for the seeds; he comes for the word sown carelessly by the wayside through any means. The seed by the wayside was trodden. Many people like to say ‘it is the devil’ but these people take those decisions themselves, you decide to put the seed in a careless place in their lives, they sleep around, watch a pornographic movie, considered stealing from the purse and so the devil is not to be blamed, instead we look to the sower who did not allow the word go to its rightful place in their lives. This parable shows that there is a comfort zone for faith and it’s not the ways of our lives.

The seed that lands on the rock is the second kind, the word here is received with joy, and it springs up but then dies. Why? The bible says because it lacked moisture, so the growth of a plant can be likened to the growth of your faith. The moisture here refers to the heat underneath the earth that a seed needs to germinate and grow. A lot of times as believers we try as much as possible to withstand the heat in our faith walk, we often get to a place where ‘heat’ comes from everywhere (your mind, people around you) against what you believe in.

The seed sown among the thorns was choked; the seed actually brought forth results unlike the wayside and rocky sower but allowed some things to take out those results. In the realm of faith, you can have results and yet get choked. Don’t allow anything including your own words choke your results or pop your balloon of faith.

But there is also the seed that is sown on the good ground or heart that bears fruit in the hundred fold and nothing less. Faith targets hundred per cent results. Jesus proceeds to say ‘he that hath ears to hear, let him hear’ taking us directly to the problem of the three other kinds of hearts where the word was received. The problem is one of hearing and it’s a major issue in the realm of faith. There is an art of hearing; a way God expects you to hear his word. In the body of Christ, there is a hearing disease that has many believers just hear the word without any faith being stirred or hear the word and at the same time plan to disobey. Hearing the right way is very important because it always precedes your miracle just like the woman with the issue of blood who ‘heard’ Jesus was around and Martha who came out to Jesus when she ‘heard’ he had come to town.

“They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay, and opened his eyes. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them. They say unto the blind man again, what sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes? He said, He is a prophet.  But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight.   And they asked them, saying, is this your son, who ye say was born blind? How then doth he now see?  His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself” (John 9:13-21).

Did you notice the parent’s total denial of Jesus even though they knew who healed him. They denied what they had heard and seen, they had ears and could not hear. Why?

“These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue.  Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him.

Did you see that, their fear made them deny Jesus.

“Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner. He answered and said, whether he be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. Then said they to him again, what did he to thee? How opened he thine eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also be his disciples?” (John 9:22-27).

He told the Pharisees exactly what he saw and experienced and confirmed to them what Jesus had done for him. He went further to be the first man to preach the gospel to the Pharisees asking them if they would be disciples of Jesus! He was not moved by their position or regalia because he had just received his sight and did not know or care who they were. Like this man you need to respond hard when you get your testimony, shout it loud and make it glorious. He refused to receive the seed among the thorns.

“Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.  The man answered and said unto them, why herein is a marvellous thing that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes.  Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. They answered and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us?And they cast him out.   Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him” (John 9:28-38).

All the while this man was talking about Jesus, he thought him to be a prophet with miraculous power but Jesus is more than that, the blind man did not have a revelation of who Jesus was. This man is a classic example of those who have ears and cannot hear; he was healed of his blindness but had a hearing problem. He should have gotten the full information about Jesus first; many times, the problem of faith is the believer’s hearing. The man in the scripture was so affirmative in his statements to the Pharisees yet he did not know who Jesus really was?  His parents knew but would not stand up for it because of what they feared (way side seeds). Overcoming the world, the Pharisee in this instance, is the result of faith.

The wayside believer is the one that the devil comes to take the word out of his heart; this kind of believer is such that even before they leave the place where the word was heard, they begin to say things antithetical about what they believe, the word is easily crushed because they did not reverence the word they heard and by the next day cannot even remember what they heard, it’s time to read! And Mediate! And hide the word in our hearts but you cannot do that when you don’t remember what you’ve read. The ‘upon the rock’ spirit hears it and receives it with joy. Remember that joy is a fruit of the spirit, it’s not a display of emotions or happiness that is based on happenings around you, therefore, the bible must be referring to a Holy Spirit filled, tongue speaking Christian. They know the word has landed in their spirit and they receive it with all joy but they don’t have roots! The bible says there is no moisture or heat which can only be found at the root level not on the surface where winds blow the leaves of the plant. God gives you a word and all you want is the wind to blow, you want a chilled, refrigerated life of faith but what makes it grow is in the root, where it receives the heat. Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit” (John 12: 24), a seed dies when the heat in the ground comes on it, if the seed is in your hand, there is no germination. God has designed the moisture that nurtures your faith (the seed of the word) and brings it to completion, so anytime you try to use natural ability to make it work and look good, it’s not faith. The moisture/heat that the bible talks about are temptations that get men to ‘fall away’; falling away is a very dangerous phrase for a believer because he becomes like a seed that just falls somewhere and dies. Get rooted, get grounded; know exactly what you believe because the heat will surely come, your faith needs this heat to kill the seed and thus make it grow. The heat can be a Pharisaic spirit that threatens to ban you from the synagogue, it could be your heathen boss that threaten to sack you for what you believe, it could be a symptom that won’t go, it could be a cross road in your faith and you deny what you have seen or heard out of fear or shame, remember this kind of heat makes the root ready for a springing. Keep saying the word.

The seed that falls among the thorns is the kind of believer that hears it and goes forth, (an act of faith) and has results but does not bring his fruit to perfection. How? Because of the pleasures of the world. What are the pleasures of the world? It refers to the same thing spoken about in 1John 5:4, the pleasures of this world that must be overcome. Like Eve, many Christian wouldn’t let go of worldly things that chokes their faith, they allow things of the world to get them to do things antithetical to what they are believing God for, for instance a jobless Christian because of his love for money decides to take any job even though it’s not its doesn’t please God, a barren Christian goes to a herbalist to get concoction because that’s what the world does and she would be abused if she doesn’t do it. what would make a man buy shoes at the expense of paying his Of course it’s because of the lust of the, eyes, flesh and pride of life

The good ground/heart believer is the one who is honest, patient and keeps the word. Here, a lot of Christian would probably think ‘who cares about honesty when I’m talking about faith and getting results in my life?’ but clearly the word says dishonesty is a trait of the world; you have to be honest to operate the hundred percent realm of results.  In the scripture above the parents of the blind man who was healed were dishonest because they could not face the Pharisees with the truth about Jesus. You have to be honest with your tithing, with walking in love, with your vows, with your commitment to church and everything God tells you. The good heart or spirit heart is not the heart of anyone who wants to give alms and be nice to beggars; it’s the one that is honest with what you believe God for and the seeds you are sowing. The bible goes on to say that ‘having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit with patience’, keep it means put it in a barn or a store and lock it up, such believers have a store for the word of God. You need to keep the word because you will always be faced with one situation or the other and you will need a seed. Patience is a force that you need to operate faith. As a good ground believer you operate faith with four things: honesty, a good spirit, keeping the word in your heart and patience.

Honesty, good spirit, patience and keeping the word are things that you cannot see physically but cannot be denied in the world of faith either. When you walk in these things it shows in the way you talk and act concerning any situation in your life, for instance walking in patience gets you to act in a certain way even though you are tired of where you are now. Understand that patience is “delayed gratification”. Keep the word in your spirit and work it with honesty, patience and a good heart. This is the core of faith.

Finally, Jesus connects the hearing symptoms of faith to familiarity; notice Jesus’ response to the information about his mother and brother’s presence; “And it was told him by certain which saith, ‘thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee’. And he answered and saith unto them, ‘my mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:19-21)

The crowd must have been shocked to hear Jesus say these words to His own, but the intention here was for everyone to know that our faith could be weakened by familiarity and positions, this is a proclivity that knowing the is not necessarily a guarantee that we are working the word. In the faith core, experiencing the manifestation of the spoken word, is not for listeners, brothers or sisters, manifestation is for doers. Our hierarchies in church and position are not substitutes to testimony, I can’t but think that Jesus never said such to the other women whom worshiped Him with their substance because they responded in faith. Your faith is not measured by your positions in the church; it’s measured by your disposition to the Word no matter your position. Have you got this “core” or is there “a hearing problem”?

“So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed”. (Acts 19:20)

‘Bowale Abrahams,

Visionary Pastor, The Burning Church, Nigeria.