WHAT WALKING BY FAITH REALLY MEANS
2CORINTHIANS 5:7 (New King James Version)
7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.
This scripture shows to us how a Christian ought to live his Christian life. A Christian is supposed to live his Christian life PRIMARILY by the God-kind of faith and not by his natural senses. The word “sight” as used in the above scripture, implies the act of seeing with the physical human eyes, and receiving information with other natural human senses apart from the sense of seeing. So, a Christian is supposed to primarily live his life by another kind of information that he has through the God-kind of faith, and not by the kind of information that he has in his natural human senses.
If God explicitly mentions two things in His Word, and He says you should do one of these two things, but you should not do the other one, then it is a wise thing for you to know what doing the one you are told to do really means or indicates. In the scripture above, God mentions these two things: walking by faith and walking by sight. And He goes further to say you should practise walking by faith, but you should not practise walking by sight. Therefore, it is a wise thing to know what walking by faith really means or indicates. That is, it is a wise thing to know the PRACTICAL DEFINITION of walking by faith. Below are some things that explain what walking by faith really means:
WALKING BY FAITH IS WALKING BY YOUR SPIRIT TO CONSIDER GOD’S WORD WITHOUT CONSIDERING THE CONTRARY INFORMATION OF YOUR BODY
ROMANS 4:19 (New King James Version)
19 And not being weak in faith,
he (Abraham) did not consider his own body, ….
The above is on Abraham while he was taking the stand of faith to get the promise of God. Abraham did not consider his own AGED BODY and hence his physical senses, while he was taking the stand of faith. What then did Abraham consider? And how did Abraham consider what he considered? What Abraham considered was God’s Word. That is, what God spoke to him to give him the divine promise. And how Abraham considered God’s Word was using his SPIRIT (working together with his soul) to primarily consider the information produced by the divine Word in his spirit, without giving attention to any CONTRARY information he had in his physical senses.
In walking by faith, this is how every Christian should use his spirit to primarily consider God’s Word, without giving attention to any contrary information of his physical senses. I was once discussing with an elderly woman on the subject of faith. In the course of our discussion, she mentioned the case of a Christian lady who had cancer of the breast and who she believed was exercising faith to dominate this cancer, but still died from the cancer during the time she was hospitalized because of the cancer. When this elderly woman said this, I told her that there must be something that was lacking in this Christian lady’s faith that made her to die despite her use of faith to dominate the cancer. The Word of God says that something could be lacking in the faith of a Christian (1Thessalonians 3: 10).
Medical science could not primarily solve the health problem that the Christian lady had. If medical science could primarily solve her health problem, why did she die in the course of being hospitalized? Before she died, the Christian lady who had cancer ought to have spiritually discerned through the knowledge of God’s Word that medical science could not primarily solve her problem, based on the results she was getting from medical attention. It could be that the absence of this spiritual discernment that is obtainable through the knowledge of God’s Word was one of the things that were lacking in her faith.
You see, walking by faith is HIGHLY DEMANDING! In walking by faith, you have to function according to GOD'S DEFINITION OF A MAN, using your spirit in the knowledge of God’s Word to do many things, one of which is getting spiritual discernment. Now, what is God’s definition of a man? God’s definition of a man is that man is primarily a spirit, who has a soul and lives in a body. For example, Paul said “… I keep under my body,…” (1Corinthians 9:27, King James Version). Who is the “I” that would keep under the outward man body, in what Paul said? The “I” was Paul’s inward man, his spirit (working together with his soul) to put his body under subjection. This is a demonstration of functioning according to God’s definition of a man to control the human body.
WALKING BY FAITH IS BELIEVING, SPEAKING, ACTING, AND RECEIVING WHAT GOD’S WORD SAYS
MARK 5: 34 (New King James Version)
34 “… your faith has made you well….”
Jesus said the above to the woman who had the disease of a flow of blood for twelve years, after the woman heard about Jesus, took certain steps, and got her healing. What Jesus told this woman could be said this way: “your walking by faith has made you well,” because the woman walked by faith to get her healing. Now, at the time of Jesus’ earthly life and ministry, Jesus’ words and deeds were based on the divine will or revelations of God the Father, and this made these words and deeds to be in agreement with the scriptures or the divine Word of God (John 4:34; John 8:26,28; John 6:63). So, when the woman who had the flow of blood heard about Jesus, what she heard was the will of God in manifestation through Jesus, and she walked by faith, taking the following steps to get her healing:
(a) BELIEVING THE WORD: This woman believed God’s Word, because she heard about Jesus and she was convinced in her heart to act to receive her healing through Him (Mark 5: 27).
(b) SPEAKING THE WORD: This woman confessed God’s Word, because she spoke with her mouth her conviction on receiving her healing through Jesus (Mark 5: 28).
(c) ACTING ON THE WORD: This woman acted on what she believed and confessed on Jesus, by touching the garment of Jesus. This implies acting on God’s Word, that is, taking a bodily action that corresponds with what is believed in the heart and confessed with the mouth (Mark 5: 27).
(d) RECEIVING WHAT THE WORD SAYS: This woman received what she desired that made her to believe, confess, and take bodily action. This implies receiving what God’s Word says or promises (Mark 5: 29).
Walking by faith is yielding to the URGE OF FAITH in you, and this involves believing, speaking, acting, and receiving, like the woman who had the flow of blood. For example, if you need divine financial provision, study what God’s written Word says on this, then believe, confess, act, and receive, what God’s written Word says. Do not stop believing, confessing, and taking bodily action that corresponds with what you believe and confess, until you receive. This is how to walk by faith to experience the promises of God that are in His written Word!
The COMBINATION of believing, confessing, acting and receiving as described above, forms a FLOW OF FAITH and these believing, confessing, acting and receiving are the COMPONENTS of this flow of faith. This flow of faith must not be broken in order to fully walk by faith to achieve a desire. In the course of walking by faith, if a Christian omits ONE OR MORE of the components of this flow of faith, the flow of faith will be broken, making the ultimate purpose that makes this Christian to seek to walk by faith not to be achieved.
For the woman with the flow of blood, THE FLOW OF FAITH STOPPED THE FLOW OF BLOOD in her life! And as I end this message, I pray that the flow of faith will stop the flow of any problem that may be confronting you in your life. May the Hand of God rest upon you in a special way to help every effort you make to walk by faith, every time in your Christian life, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
