“Weapons of Spiritual Warfare Series, Part III: Great Faith”
This morning is part three of our 3-fold series on the weapons of spiritual warfare.
Allow me to introduce spiritual warfare weapon number 3: Great Faith. Not just faith: Great Faith.
All the other spiritual weapons are null and void without faith.
All of us here today have a degree of faith, and by that faith, we pray to the One true God, we come to church to worship Him, we believe in His Son Jesus Christ, we’re empowered by His Holy Spirit – Each to a degree, depending on your faith… But how many of us have what Jesus would consider to be Great Faith? Well, what is great faith?
Only a few times in the New Testament do we see Jesus commending people for their great faith.
One was a Centurion who had helped build the temple with his own hands. He was home one day when one of his servants fell ill and lay paralyzed and near death in bed. Because he was a compassionate leader, he stayed there at his servant’s side that he might comfort him, and sent messengers ahead to find Jesus.
That tells me at some point along the road he must have accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, because Jesus is the first person he turned to: not the doctors, and that alone took faith. When his messengers found Jesus, they told Him about their friend, who lay paralyzed in bed and pleaded with Him on behalf of their master, to come and heal him. So Jesus sent word back saying, “I’ll go there and heal the man. Tell him I’m on my way.”
When the centurion heard that the Messiah: Jesus his Christ was actually on the road to his house, he was overwhelmed and humbled. And seeing the state of his own unrighteousness, he said, “I’m not worthy to have Jesus in my house.” So he sent his servants to intercept Jesus on the way up and tell Him, “I’m not worthy to have you in my house. Just say the word, wherever you are, and my servant will be healed.”
When his messengers repeated this message to Jesus, the Bible says He was amazed and said,
“I haven’t seen such great faith in all of Israel.” And that very day, the centurion’s servant was healed: restored to new life by the power of Jesus Christ without ever seeing His face, because his master interceded with great faith. Intercession and prayer makes a difference! (Matt 8:10)
Jesus had a ministry of miracles, which certainly amazed thousands of people, but how many of those people would amaze Him? Not many. What was it about those people that amazed Jesus so much? It was Great Faith. Let’s take a look at what faith is today…
Heb 11:1-2, “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.” Great Faith is another ancient weapon, which the men and women before Christ’s time were commended for: having, using, obtaining Great Faith.
Faith is being certain of God’s Word without having to depend upon our natural senses to believe…
Great faith means I don’t have to see, or feel, or hear, or smell or taste something in the natural to know there is something powerful at work on my behalf in the spiritual.
Great faith is the power to demolish spiritual strongholds by being absolutely and positively sure that what we hope for will come to pass by believing in the power Jesus Christ.
It means, I keep praying, even when I cannot see the answer coming.
It means I continue to believe, even when everything else is contrary to my convictions.
When the world around me says, “It can’t happen and it won’t happen,” Great Faith says, “Never the less, it will happen.”
Great Faith means trusting in God’s Word and God’s promises, even when circumstances appear in the natural, to be out of control…
Believing the promises of God: “I will protect you”, “I’ve planned good things for you”, and “all things work together for the good of those who are called according to my purpose.”Do you believe?
That’s not just something God threw into the Bible to encourage people who are down and out. That’s a promise to stand on!
There’s a little cartoon that shows a boy kneeling by his bed at night for prayer.
As he kneels there, he says, “Dear God, Uncle Jim still doesn’t have a job; Sister still doesn’t have a date for the prom; Grandma is still feeling sick – and I’m tired of praying for this family and not getting any results.” A lot of us, when we get tired and weary, loose faith and forget God means what He says. But the promises of God are yea and amen! Amen?
Peter: Out on the lake: 4th watch. Matt 14:28-33, "Lord, if it’s you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water." "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith," he said, "why did you doubt?" [You could have done it Peter, if you had only believed.] And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, "Truly you are the Son of God."
See, Peter was one step ahead of the others. At least he believed Jesus enough to step out of the boat before the miracle took place!
His problem only came when he took his eyes off the Savior and onto the circumstances. When he began to see the situation in the natural, he doubted and the circumstances swallowed him whole!
By Great faith, I can see the light of a spiritual breakthrough even when I’m surrounded by darkness in the natural, because I know if I continue to press through in spiritual warfare, that spiritual strongholds (things that prevent lost loved ones from knowing Jesus, addictions, temptations, and maladies that need healing): will be demolished, and the circumstances I’m facing in the natural will be changed.
JESUS SAYS WE CAN DO ANYTHING IF WE WILL ONLY BELIEVE.
“Everything is possible for him who believes.”Mk 9:23
Doubt, on the contrary, kills our ability to believe, “And without faith it is impossible to please God,” Hebrews 11:6
Take a look at this commercial. (ROLL DOUBT VIDEO)
Doubt is the number one faith killer among Christians today. Satan uses doubt to crush your spirits and distract you away from spiritual battle. He wants to take your eyes off what is unseen so you’ll focus again on what IS seen, because he knows your involvement in spiritual warfare will slow down or even halt him in his progress: his advances against your life.
Peter wanted a test of his faith when he saw Jesus walking on the water toward the disciples boat late that night. He thought, “I can do that too!” (and Jesus wants us to). He said “Jesus, Tell me to come to you on the water.” The rain and the wind, the waves and the sea all agreed together, “That man’s going to sink.” But Peter’s faith in Jesus said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” – Until he shifted his attention to the natural and began to doubt.
Looking to Jesus, Peter was able to overcome fear and the circumstances, even when the natural man knew he was supposed to sink. Peter literally walked according to the spirit.
But when he started to look at the natural, when he began to listen to his human nature, his human instincts and see the circumstances according to the flesh, he realized he wasn’t supposed to be walking on water and he sank. The natural man doesn’t like walking according to the spirit, because that’s way outside of his comfort zone! It’s not practical and it’s not logical.
He began to doubt, and immediately he failed to really believe.
Doubt is the failure to really, fully believe!
In the same way, when we begin to doubt, we cancel out all that we are called to accomplish by faith in the Name of Jesus Christ. There’s no place for doubt in the heart of a Christian.
How do we get rid of the doubt? We can squash the power of doubt by the Word of God.
Rom 10:17, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Learn to develop your faith by hearing, reading, studying the Word of God.
If your faith is bigger than your doubt, your faith will squash your doubt, and if your doubt is greater than your faith, your doubt will squash your faith. So develop the strength of your inner man by the Word of God!
Practice believing God’s Word over and above your circumstances and you’ll begin to live your life over and above your circumstances. You’ll be like Peter walking on the water: overcoming the impossible by faith in the power of Jesus Christ. Friends, it’s time for us, here in the end of days, to start living like people who really believe: who rise above our circumstances by Great Faith!
The problem is frankly, that most of us believe only to a certain extent. For instance,
In Colossians 3:5-6, God’s Word says, “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.”
? How many here would welcome a healthy dose of God’s wrath this morning?
Then why, when it comes to staying away from the things that make God angry, do we ignore His Word and His precepts and continue in our sins? Because we really don’t believe God’s Word.
We may believe it here (head), but we don’t believe it here (heart). The distance between head and heart makes all the difference in our lives. That’s the difference between faith and Great Faith.
Most of us, if we have enough sense when we’re standing in the middle of the road, can see when a Mack truck is driving toward us at a high velocity, and know if it hits us, we’re toast…
Most of us take whatever time we have left to move out of the way of that Mack truck.
What perplexes me is that, when it comes to the wrath of God, most of us would prefer to be run over than step out of the way of danger. We prefer to do what we want to do, as if there were no judgment for the living.
It’s interesting how many of us understand what the spiritual dangers are: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed: placing anything before God, which is idolatry, and yet we live like there will never be a judgment. We can sit in church on Sunday, nod our heads at the Word of God, then go and do the very things God’s Word tells us not to.
We say, “I believe” with our mouths, but not with our hearts.
We believe only to the point of our own comfort level, but not always enough to obey.
But if we truly believe, then why don’t we live according to God’s Word, then we live to please Him. God’s Word says if we really love Him, we’ll OBEY Him.
II Jn 1:6, “And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”
Great Faith: absolute belief in what God says culminates itself in obedience.
Our love for God, and our faith in what He says is proven true by our actions: our obedience.
Obedience comes from truly believing the Word of God.
Luke 11:27-28, “As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."
Most of us have faith, but how many of us have Great Faith? Most of us believe Jesus is the Son of God, but how many of us are obedient to the Word of God when it comes to living a life above reproach, or exercising our faith in spiritual warfare?
This is a major concern Jesus has over our lives! If you read Luke, chapter 18, you find that Jesus was concerned about the condition He would find us in when He returns to take us home.
He’s concerned about our faith. He says in Luke 18:8, “…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” Will He find faith on the earth?
Jesus knew the condition of our faith would be compromised when He comes back, so He leaves a challenge for us: “Will I find faith on the earth?”
When Jesus comes, He will look for precious faith. He will search for it like a precious gem. He will amaze many, but how many will amaze Him by their Great Faith, by their steadfast belief and trust in Him, by their life of obedience and love for brother? How many will live a life, consistent and steadfast in spiritual warfare? How many overcomers will He find?
Faith is the jewel for which Christ is searching deeply in us: sincere faith. The question in His mind when He looks for you that day will be, “Where is your faith?”
Did you honor Jesus by trusting in His Word and in His blood, or did you not?
Did you glorify God by believing in His promises and living according to His Word, or did you not?
Did you persist in love for your brothers and sisters, to battle for their souls and pray fervently for their sakes? Did you follow Christ’s example, laying down your life for others because you BELIEVED it would please your Savior, because you knew in your heart it would make a difference some day, if you just persist and overcome?
? Where is your faith? Is it in your head, or in your heart?
What is you really believe to be true? That’s the standard you’ll live by.
? How much faith do I have?
If you want to know your level of faith, just take a look at the way you’re living.
Your lifestyle reflects exactly what you truly believe.
We went to Disneyland a few weeks ago and stood in line together for the 3-D movie, “Honey, I Shrunk the Audience.” I promised Thomas there was nothing in there that could hurt him when we walked in to sit down, because he was afraid of the dark and unfamiliar theater.
When we sat down, I noticed some round, metal grids on both sides of every chair in front of us… and I figured they must just be little surround sound speakers. Even I was curious about what to expect before the movie began.
An announcer asked everyone to put on the 3-D glasses and the movie made everyone feel as if we had been shrunken along with the whole audience. The problem was that Thomas was starting to believe that what he saw through those glasses was real, instead of believing what I had told him: that it was just a movie, and that nothing would hurt him. But as soon as the movie began, he was immersed in the illusion and started to believe he was really in danger, even though I assured him there was nothing to worry about.
Then, in the middle of the movie, they let out hundreds of rats and mice into the audience… Just a visual effect, right? That’s what I thought until I actually felt them brushing past my legs! That’s what surprised me most… I could feel those mice from the movie. I could feel the wet spray when the giant dog sneezed at the audience. The unpredictable effects were pretty convincing, which I realized even more so when I looked over at Thomas, legs up, cringing in his seat…
Those little metal grids weren’t surround sound speakers at all. They were pressurized air nozzles that blew on your legs to make you feel the mice brushing your legs as they ran by, and sprayed watery mist when the dog sneezed in 3-D.
It was all illusion. It was a false front. There really was nothing there that could harm us, but we humans happen to be so dependant on our natural senses that we will often times look through those 3-D glasses of the natural world instead of seeing our circumstances through the eyes of faith and we fall prey to our senses and loose faith in the promises of God.
Thomas may have believed what I said in his head, but he didn’t believe with his heart.
We’re the same way with God. When you get right down to it, there are 2 types of believers in every church: the head believers and the heart believers.
There are those, who come to hear stories, of which they are sometimes skeptical, but never the less, stories that may make them feel better. To some, I’m just a fool telling stories every week, which may or may not speak to you.
Then there are those, who believe the Word of God, which never returns void. To some, I’m speaking the Word of Life: God’s Holy scripture, and those people: the ones who really believe God’s Word would be changed, even if I just stood up here with my hands folded and read straight from the Bible.
Some believe with their heads: others believe with their hearts.
There is so much more to be had, by faith.
For the rest of that day at Disneyland, I couldn’t get Thomas to ride on anything more exciting than the rides at Toon Town.
Unfortunately, if you and I don’t learn to trust in God’s Word and lean NOT on our own understanding, we may find ourselves stuck in the spiritual equivalent of “Toon-Town” in our Spiritual Warfare.
By faith, God’s Word becomes so much more than a sermon: it becomes life and sustenance for the soul… (hand on heart) Only believe… Only believe.
It’s when you start believing with your heart that you will begin to rise up, above the torment of your circumstances.
That’s what made all the difference between the men and women of Jesus’ hometown, who wouldn’t be healed and those everywhere else who were delivered from their iniquities… They BELIEVED.
Only believe. “those who hope [who believe] in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
Isa 40:31
This is what Jesus meant, when He said, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Jesus and the disciples had spend the night in Bethany just a few miles from Jerusalem…
Matt 21:18-22, “Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked. Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ’Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
Many of us are facing mountains. But even Mt Everest is climbable. It just takes perseverance and faithfulness.
When you’re praying, fasting, engaged in spiritual warfare, trust God, BELIEVE, remember you are making a difference, regardless of what you can see happening with your natural senses.
Will Jesus find faith when Christ returns? Faith that refuses to doubt. Faith that perseveres, even when everything else contradicts conviction. Faith that manifests itself in obedience, faith that results in lives set free from bondage in the Name of Jesus Christ. This is the faith He’s called us to… LEAN NOT ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING…
