FAITH IN JESUS NAME!
By Victoria Michaels
Heb. 11: 1(NTV) “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
John 14: 1, (NTV) “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me.”
James 1:2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Philippians 2:9-11, “Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. “
1 John 5: 4-5, (NIV) “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
The name of Jesus is the ultimate name. This is the only name that guarantees answers to prayer. The only solution producer. This is the only name that can save; deliver; heal; made whole; make and unmake. This is the only name that when is mentioned in the heavens, on earth, underneath the earth, creation must bow. This is the only name that the devil recognizes and trembles. The most powerful result-producing name-JESUS.
God has a three-stage “human resource development” program for believers. Stage one involves trials-as many as we need, as hard as they need to be. That leads to stage two, patience-waiting for God with trust and perseverance. The final result is stage three, WISDOM, which is God’s goal of growth for personnel in His kingdom.
What is Faith?
Faith is dared to believe God regardless of the appearance of the situation.
Faith produces the conviction that God is who He says He is: “I AM THAT I AM” It launches your mind to see tangible victories that have not yet surfaced but convinced that they have been won.
Faith is also described as evidence. God moves for people with evidence. Your belief (substance) produces results (evidence). For it to produce evidence it has to be unwavering.
It is as a result of our living faith that brings total lasting transformation. Faith is part of who we are. It is a lifestyle. (walk by faith and not by sight) It is not something you pick up only when you feel like, you live by it daily.
There are three things every child of God must make a lifestyle.
• Believe the Word- John 1: 1-3, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.”
Roms. 10: 17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
• Confess the Word- Roms. 10:8-10, “The Word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart, (that is, the word of faith which we preach); that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
• Act on the Word: James 2: 26, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
So we too can bring into existence the supernatural as we believe in our hearts, then speak the word and whatever we say will come to pass if we simply believe in our heart.
Faith is based upon the knowledge of the word of God. You will dare to believe and then ask God when you know what is available to you through His word. The knowledge of the word of God produces tangleable results. God cannot be separated from His Word. If you want to get result, you got to know the word and you have to make it a habit of speaking the word to God. God is more eager to answer than we are eager to ask.
John 14: 14, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”
• Faith in Jesus will cause you to pray- Luke 18: 1, “that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.
• Faith in Jesus will cause you to stand upon the word
• Faith in Jesus will cause you to depend on God completely-Isaiah 50: 7-9,
• Faith in Jesus will cause you to fight the good fight of faith-
• Faith in Jesus will cause you to speak the word of faith- Luke 18: 27, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God”
• Faith in Jesus will cause you to put on the whole armor of God. Eph. 6: 10-11, “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
• Faith is calling forth those things which be not as though they were.
Faith is that inner trust that makes you to depend solely on God because He is the Supreme Being, self-existing, faithful, dependable.
Faith in Jesus will transform your entire life.
The woman with the issue of blood in Mark 5:25-29
A young lady in her twenties came to one of our prayer meetings (Breaking the cycle of limitations) and after service came into my office. Her story was similar to the woman with the issue of blood. The doctors could not help her; as a result her aunt in Dallas referred her to our church. She prayed during the intensive prayer service and I was not lead to lay hands on her or pray again. I felt the leading of the Holy Spirit to give her oil to drink and asked her if she believed in the healing power of Christ, she said yes. She left and went home, three days later, God had healed her completely and today, she has a baby. This is what faith in Jesus Christ can produce.
I felt very sick and almost died in 1997. Some doctors gave up on me because they could figure out what was wrong with me. Every test proved negative, yet, my blood cells were dieing. I could not walk, or feed my self. I just lay on the hospital bed helpless. Some nurses will come and ask me if I was not afraid to die, I will always reject the notion of death. I knew the power in spoken words, so I spoke the word of life instead. Even though the situation looked very bad, I believed in the healing power in Christ, therefore, I held on to my faith. I knew that without living faith, the devil was going to kill me. After a long stay in the hospital, one night while lying on the bed around 9pm, a spirit in the form of a man came to my room while the door was closed because I was kept in isolation. As the spirit lifted his hands as if he was going to choke me, I cried out the name of Jesus, before I could finish mentioning the name Jesus, the demon fled and I got my healing. Faith in Jesus will change any situation.
We also read the account of Abraham in Gen. 12: 1, how his living faith in God transformed the whole world.
Lessons of faith to learn from Abraham:
The question we should ask ourselves is: Am I living by faith? (Habakkuk 2:4, The Just shall live by his faith.)
When you live by faith, you make your decision on the basis of the word of God. Roms. 10: 17 and you seek to glorify God alone (Roms. 4: 19-21. “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”
True faith is not in a hurry, it is willing to wait (Isaiah 28:16, “Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; whoever believes will not act hastily.”
Heb. 6:12, “that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
Faith obeys God in spite of circumstances or consequences, and it is not afraid of what others may say or do. Heb. 11: 29-30
God’s word leads to faith. Gen.12: 1-3; Abram was an idolater when God called him. (Josh 24: 2), revealed His glory to him and spoke to him. Abram turned from vain idols to walk with the Lord, and all of this was by God’s grace. The hearing of the word creates faith (john 5:24; Roms. 10:17)
Faith leads to obedience: in Heb. 11: 8, “By faith Abraham obeyed God” God said “I will show you, I will make you, I will bless you were God’s promises, and Abram believed. It has well been said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence; it is obeying in spite of consequences. The proof of faith is obedience, for true faith always leads to works (James 2: 14, “ Hearing leads to heeding.
Obedience leads to blessing Gen. 12: 7-9; We are told nothing about the journey, which must have been very difficult; but we are told that God met Abram when he arrived and gave him a new promise. God always goes before us and has His Word ready to encourage us.
Blessings leads to testing: (10-20) Faith is always tested for at least three reasons; to prove whether our faith is real; to help our faith grow; and to bring glory to the Lord ( 1 Peter 1: 6-9; James 1:1 -8) Imagine a famine in the very land where God led him! We can be in the will of God and still suffer trials. It has been said that “faith is living without scheming.” But Abram began to scheme. He was walking by sight and not faith, and it cost him his testimony-and almost his wife. Note that Abram had neither a tent nor an altar in Egypt. “Going down to Egypt” is Bible language for getting out of the will of God.
God blessed Abram that he might be a blessing. Through Abram and his descendants, the whole world has been blessed. Whenever God gives you a blessing, it’s so that you might be a blessing to others. God’s blessings are not luxuries; they are opportunities.
1. God is a covenant God: Deut. 7: 9
2. God will do anything He sees fit to bring to fruition His plans for your life, even if it involves breaking ties with friends and family.
3. Obedience is better than sacrifice. 1 Samuel 15: 22-Abraham obeyed God after He was instructed.
