Walking by Faith - Part 2 - Skilled in the Walk

The walk of faith.

It's a mystery to some people.

It's been misconstrued by some people.

It has been misapplied by some people.

What does it really mean to walk by faith?

All month on the Faith Builders Broadcast, we're dealing with the walk of faith and walking by faith.

We're believing that God's gonna minister to you and show you things from the Word of God that are gonna take your faith life to a whole nother level.

We're believing God for good things.

Join me in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 7.

2 Corinthians 5:7

Grab your notepad, grab your pen, grab your Bible, and let's dig into the things of the Word of God.

2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7.

2 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

The Apostle Paul by the Holy Spirit makes this statement, very brief statement, for we walk by faith and not by sight.

The Amplified Bible says we regulate our lives, all right, according to our conviction, which is what faith means is to be convinced or a conviction that something is true.

So we regulate our life by faith.

When we talk about regulating our life, that word regulate means to control or maintain the rate of speed of a machine or a process so that it operates properly.

All right, to control or maintain the rate or speed of a machine so that it operates properly.

All right, so we want faith operating properly in our lives.

All right, we want our lives operating according to the word of God.

And the Bible says that the way we do that is we regulate our lives by faith.

If we don't regulate our lives by faith, it's impossible to not walk by what is seen.

Right?

The Apostle Paul says, for we walk, we conduct our lives, we regulate our lives by faith and not by something seen or not by sight.

Many try to walk by what is not seen without regulating their lives by faith.

If I'm not regulating my life by faith, it's impossible to not walk by what is seen.

For the things which are seen are temporary.

The King James says temporal, right?

One translation says subject to change.

But notice what it says.

For, and here's why.

Because the things that are seen are temporary, they are subject to change, but the things that are not seen are eternal.

All right?

The things that are not seen are the things that the word of God promises you, the things that the word of God says belongs to you as a believer in Christ.

And many times those are the things that are not seen.

All right.

They're not seen in the temporal realm.

They're not seen in the natural realm.

The way that we get them into this natural realm is by walking by faith.

All right.

I have to be convinced that what I cannot see is more real than what I can see.

And so many try to not walk by what is seen without regulating their lives by faith.

In Hebrews 11 and verse 1, probably the most quoted scripture concerning faith in the Bible that people use.

And it says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and we could say the evidence of things not seen yet.

They're not seen yet.

One translation says, faith is the title deed of things hoped for, the proof of things which are not being seen.

Another says, now faith means that we have full confidence in the things we hope for.

It means being certain of the things that we cannot see.

Notice these words.

Title Deed, full confidence, being certain.

All of those ideas are contained in faith.

All of them are contained in faith.

Faith, by definition, is the conviction of the truth of anything or being convinced that something is true.

When I have the title deed to an item, it regulates the way I interact with that thing.

All right?

If I have the title deed, I'm fully confident and completely certain.

You can take it in, uh, for example, with your home.

If uh you own your home, I don't have to ask anybody if I can paint the walls, change the, take a wall out, do something different because I own the home.

I have the title deed.

I can do whatever I want to to that home.

I don't I don't have to ask anyone.

See, it changes the way and regulates how I interact with that.

If I'm living in a home that I do not own, I have to check with the owner to determine if I can make changes or what I can do.

When I have the title, I have full confidence.

All right, I have complete confidence of what I am able to do.

We regulate our lives through this confidence, this conviction, this certainty.

And we're not focusing on any one uh promise in the word.

Whatever you're dealing with, whatever uh you may need, whatever you're believing God for.

The scripture concerning that is what regulates your life.

I regulate my life through this confidence, this conviction, this certainty.

When you understand this aspect of faith, what it does is it makes not walking by sight not only doable, but normal.

It makes it normal.

All right?

Uh in the world, you hear statements like, seeing is believing.

I'll believe it when I see it.

Right?

Um the the people that are from Missouri, I pastored in the Kansas City area for uh almost 30 years.

And you'll hear this a lot.

I'm from Missouri.

What does that mean?

That's the show me state.

Show me and I'll believe it.

You gotta show me, buddy.

You gotta show me.

Show me and I'll believe it.

Well, but that is absolutely contrary to faith.

Because faith requires that you have a conviction of what the word said, and that you are more convinced concerning the word than you are the situation.

So no matter what I see, I'm convinced that the word of God is the truth.

I have the title deed for my healing, I have the title deed for my victory, I have the title deed for whatever I am believing God for.

So what you have by title deed is yours, it's yours now.

And here's the issue: and you conduct yourself as if you possess that thing.

I conduct myself as if I possess it.

Hallelujah.

Walking by faith is walking in confidence and conviction that you possess the thing that you desired.

It says faith, this conviction, is the substance, the grounds, the confidence, the title deed of the thing hoped for or the thing that I am expecting.

Hallelujah.

And so I walk as if I have it now.

I regulate my life as if I have it now.

Now we're not talking about words, but words and faith, you really can't talk about faith without talking about your words.

And you really can't talk about the power of your words without talking about faith.

The first thing that you're gonna begin to do when you regulate your life by faith and you start living and acting as if what you desire is yours, that you have the title deed to it, is it's gonna show up in your words.

All right?

If you're believing God for healing in your body and you're standing in faith where your healing is concerned, all right, your response is I am the healed of the Lord.

When someone comes and says, How are you doing?

I'm healed in the name of Jesus.

I'm healed by the stripes of Jesus.

I'm well and whole, I'm healthy in Jesus' name.

Now that doesn't mean that every symptom is gone.

It doesn't mean that you've received uh an exemplary report from the doctor.

You are declaring what you have become convinced of.

If someone was to ask you, oh, so you don't have those symptoms anymore.

No, I didn't say I didn't have the symptoms.

I said, in spite of the symptoms, I'm healed.

In spite of the report, I'm healed.

Because why?

I'm convinced that according to Psalm chapter 107, God sent his word and healed me.

Psalms 107 · chapter mention

See, the walk of faith has received a lot of negative press, if you will, because of people that walk in denial and people that walk in mental ascent, and they read a scripture and ran off with it, or they heard something and ran off with it.

I remember one time we were ministering on faith in our church, as we do, and we were talking about calling those things that be not as though they were.

And a lady uh heard that, and uh she didn't grab a hold of the word, she heard a statement, and she did this.

She was in charge of the finances in her home.

And so when uh the bills would come, she would take them and say, You're paid in Jesus' name, and put them under the rug.

Right?

Put the light bill under the rug, put the gas bill under the rug.

And one day their lights got cut off.

And her husband said, What in the world are you doing?

You know, we we've we've uh got provision for that, and I've been giving you money to pay these bills.

Well, she'd been taking the money and putting it in on other things and just declaring over those bills that they were paid.

Well, see, that's not the walk of faith, obviously.

That's not how you call things that be not as though they were.

All right?

The walk of faith is not a walk of denial.

The walk of faith is not a walk of denying what is.

All right?

You are stating what you're convinced of.

Hallelujah.

I am dealing with this, but in the name of Jesus, this is what I believe.

And you're regulating your life by faith.

In John chapter 17, in John chapter 17 and uh verse 1, Jesus says something that will help us illustrate this.

John 17 · chapter mention John 17 · chapter mention

Verse 1, these words spake Jesus, and he lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is come.

Glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you.

And as you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.

And this is life eternal, that they might know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Now here's the question: When did you receive eternal life?

When you were born again.

I received eternal life when I was born again.

So that means as a believer, we do not walk as if we are going to receive eternal life.

You walk as if you've already received eternal life.

Not like I'm going to.

See, that conviction determines how you live your life.

I am convinced that I am born again.

I am convinced that I have received eternal life.

I am convinced that God loves me, and I live my life that way.

You get up every day concerning your salvation and having eternal life without even trying.

You don't even try.

Why?

Because you're convinced, you are confident that you have received eternal life.

And so the walk of faith is this conviction, I have received what God said to me.

I found it in the Word, I took it, I received it, it is mine, it is now working mightily in my life.

All right, 2 Peter says, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, has given.

All right?

Every promise that God made, there was a time that he made it.

All right, when he made that promise, it was for all of his people for all time.

When God said in the book of Exodus to the people of Israel, he said, I am the Lord that heals you.

All right.

I have been brought into that covenant.

You have been brought into that covenant when we are born again.

So I receive that.

The Lord is the Lord that heals me.

Hallelujah.

He takes sickness and disease from my midst.

He blesses my bread and water.

Hallelujah.

He takes sickness away from me, the number of my days I will fulfill.

I'm convinced of that.

I'm convinced of that.

And so when I take what I am convinced of and I get up every day, then whatever I'm dealing with, I'm convinced and I regulate my life by my faith.

Hallelujah.

And it shows itself in what I say, it shows itself in how I act, it shows itself in how I respond in the name of Jesus.

Hallelujah.

And so I get up every day and I'm declaring what the Word of God said to me.

Now take that same knowing and superimpose it over every area of your life.

You are so convinced that you are saved.

You are so convinced that you are born again.

Take that same knowing and superimpose it over every area of your life.

That's walking by faith.

That's the walk of faith.

In 1 John chapter 3 and verse 2, 1 John 3, 2.

1 John 3 · chapter mention

It said, Beloved, now are we the sons of God.

And it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know this: that when we see him, we know that when he appears, we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is.

Hallelujah.

We are born of God.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God.

One translation says, you are born ones of God.

Hallelujah.

We know absolutely that we're born of God.

What else do we know that we'll be like him?

When we see him, we will be like him.

We don't see it, but we know it.

That's faith.

I don't see it, but I know it.

I don't see you fill in the blank, but I know it.

I don't see all the provision, but I have it.

I don't see all the healing, but I have it.

I don't see all my loved ones living for God, but I have it.

I don't see it, but I know it.

That's faith.

I'm absolutely convinced that's walking by faith.

One minister made the statement, God healed him on his deathbed.

And he said, it became so real to me that I was healed.

He was bedfast, paralyzed from the chest down.

And uh he said, I became so convinced, it became so real to me, he said, you could not have beaten it out of me.

I was absolutely convinced that I was healed.

Absolutely convinced.

Hallelujah.

You are absolutely convinced.

When you're absolutely convinced, that's walking by faith.

That's the walk of faith.

Walking by faith is not so much looking for something to happen as it is receiving what's already happened.

I'm receiving what's already been made mine.

I'm receiving what's already been given to me by the word of God and by the promise of God.

I've noticed over the years that if I can move people into receiving by faith, the manifestation occurs much more easily and quickly.

Because there has to be this receiving by faith.

I have already received it.

It's not so much looking for something to happen as it is receiving what's already happened.

You see something in the word and you're confident that you have what you have seen in the word of God.

All right?

That's the importance of feeding on God's Word.

This is what God's Word says, and you see it, and the Holy Spirit convinces you, the Holy Spirit quickens you that that belongs to you, and you take it, and you grab it and you receive it.

All right?

Now, once I receive it, whether I see it or not is of little or no consequence because I already have received it.

I've already taken it.

Oh, hallelujah.

Amen.

Do you see that?

When you order something online from a vendor, whoever it may be, all right?

And you go through the process and you go to the cart and you click on it and you pay it and you give your form of payment, that thing belongs to you.

Now this sounds simple.

It belongs to you.

You own it.

You have paid for it.

You've not seen it yet, but you have it.

It belongs to you.

If someone says, Do you have one of these?

You can say, I have paid for it.

It's mine.

I bought it.

I have it.

If they say, have do you have it in your physical possession?

It is on the way because I have received it, it's been paid for.

Everything Jesus paid for is received by the believer.

We receive it sight unseen.

I don't see it in the natural, but I receive it.

It's mine.

I have it.

Hallelujah.

The word says that he has bestowed on us all things that pertain to life and godliness.

Not will bestow, has bestowed on us.

All things that pertain to life and godliness.

That's walking by faith.

All I need has been given.

It's mine.

I take it.

I have it now.

Alright?

It's not trying to work something up.

It's not trying to get a fervor going.

It's not trying to get someone else to believe it.

It's just you receiving it.

As you receive by faith, you find it in the Word of God and you take it.

You receive it by faith.

You receive it now.

I am healed when?

Now.

I am blessed.

When?

Now.

I have it now.

I receive it by faith.

Hallelujah.

Why?

There was a song that was written that said, I'm not under the curse.

I'm not under the curse.

For Jesus has ransomed me.

For sickness, I have health.

For poverty, wealth, since Jesus has ransomed me.

Did he pay the price?

He did.

He paid the price.

I receive what he paid so that I could have.

That's walking by faith.

And when you take it by faith and you're convinced, then whether I see it or not is not the issue.

I have received it.

In my heart, I know beyond the shadow of a doubt, I have it.

It's mine.

It belongs to me in the name of Jesus.

Father, I just pray for those watching today that they would take this into their spirit and that they would see that what you have done for them is a finished work and that it belongs to them now.

And all they have to do is receive it by faith in Jesus' name.

So glad you joined me today for Walking by Faith.

I hope you'll join me next time right here on the Faith Builders Broadcast.

Until then, please remember to build your faith and frame your world by the Word of God.

God bless you.

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Statistics say that those in that age group are more hungry for the move of God and the power of the Spirit of God now than at any other time in church history.

God has taken this time to give Life of Faith Church a commission to clothe the next generation.

Our conference is going to be October 7th, 8th, and 9th.

Our speakers are Pastor Happy Caldwell, Prophet Leonard Ford, and myself.

And we're believing God that the anointing and the wisdom from our fathers will be passed to this generation.

It is crucial.

It is a mandate from God.

It is a time that God has reserved to clothe the next generation.

Go to lifeoffaith.net for more information.

Our address is 116-20 Rainwood Road, just one block off Rodney Parham, near Green Mountain Drive.

Our Sunday service begins at 10 a.m.

and offers classes for children and youth, in addition to the adult service in the main sanctuary.

On Wednesdays, we have an hour of power as we dive into Bible study.

We have a place reserved for you and your family at Life of Faith Church.

For more information, visit lifeoffaith.net.