FAITH

Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and Urge you to contend for the FAITH that was Once And For ALL entrusted to the saints. Jude 1:3

Phrases:
Faith is not the result of effort. It is the result of surrender.
It is Not an expression of striving. It is an expression of yielding.
The Spirit of God is within you, do Not imprison Him any longer.
If you hang around one who is FAITH FULL, Faith is natural.
Hope is the atmostpher where Faith grows.
You are a Miracle waiting to happen.
You can only give, what you have.
Expectation is grown in Faith.

The RELEASE of God's Power in your life is directly proportional to your Faith. It is not directly proportional to your holiness. For All have fallen short and we can not obtain this Power through our own works but He that is within us. However one may look at "works" in the light of working to obtain something. Grace has been freely given, we need no works to obtain it. We do however have a certain amount of "works" involved in maintaining a relationship of any kind. Not to mention the most Holy kind. What does this have to do with "Faith"? Well we believe but are unsure of a lot of things. It's through the growth of a relationship that one can grow in faith. Faith is like a gallon of water. We are all given that same gallon, but many of us have dirty, muddy, mirky water. Our gallon isn't crystal clear. It is within that purity of faith, that I believe, we connect to God. When we build our relationship with God, our faith grows, or at this point I could say our faith gets cleaner. We start to view things as God intended, instead of our own human standards (thinking). Our faith takes on a whole new meaning. There are a few people out there who are gifted, maybe they don't have wounds that restrict them, I don't know. But those are the ones who grab onto something with their Faith and make the Power given inside them to work.

I want to clearify if I may, there is a difference between walking in Faith, and having a Moment in Faith. What I just wrote was walking in faith. There are those who don't even believe in Christ yet they become healed because they have a moment that they grab a hold of and their faith that heals them. Then on the other hand there are those who heal other people and they themselves are not healed... WHY? I do not think their faith is in question. I've heard a few stories of folks who healed others of deafness and yet themselves were deaf, and a few nearly blind folks healing others who were totally blind. What shall we say then? Heal your-self! NO! Jesus said "Surely you will quote this to me, physician heal your self." And if these folks are walking in a manner which Christ said to, and it is Christ Power in them that makes others well. Then one should not question Why, but rather press on. Just know when Jesus was here He Healed ALL!

I find it funny that we are told to lay hands on folks to heal them, yet we cop out by saying I'll pray for you (at home). We are afraid to do it right there! We've been doing this for years and what's been the result? Same thing. Some healed, mostly not. It's in OUR boldness to reach out and touch someone that allows the Holy Spirit to flow through us. Some might think, well there were a few cases in the bible where they didn't lay hands on some folks. Yes, that is true, but those where the cases that those folks had great faith. Do You? Do you believe that what you see before you, a broken leg, blind eyes, deaf ears, an open gash wound will be healed right then and there? Or do you believe with the right doctor and medicine they will be healed? If that is the case, that's carnal. You see it, so you believe it. Faith is beyond ourselves, we must believe beyond our 5 senses and allow Faith to dominate us. I LOVE the prayer requests we post all the time, but if we are not willing to lay hands on someone, then it's a cop out to say I'm going to pray for you (if it is a healing they need). When you turn on a light, do you by saying a word? Or do you by ACTING, flipping a switch, turn the light on? Funny how that power is so powerful, yet it is only by the hand that allows the power to flow. WELL, OK the technology is out that we can speak and it could happen (We'll just put those folks in the catagory of GREAT faith.)

Why is it easier to have faith for something that we don't see, (like when someone prays for someone they are born-again) but when you pray for their healing to manifest, that becomes another issue. Funny isn't it. Jesus said it's all inclusive. (not in those words or in that manner) But you can read about it in the Luke 8:22-25 Jesus rebukes the storm and says "where is your faith?" Jesus was with them! If you read the verse above that one verse 21, Jesus says, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word (NO, it doesn't stop there) AND PUT IT INTO PRACTICE!" (Now look at Matthew 10:8 again) Jesus says, "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepor, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give." Do we not believe we have been "freely given?"

Do you have Faith? .... Faith to walk into a firey fernus? Faith to stand against a giant with no armor? Faith to walk on water? Faith to stop a squal storm? Faith to heal? Faith to raise the dead?

GREAT FAITH - The woman with blood had FATIH, the soldier who had a sick girl at home had FAITH, Peter. One of 12 walked on water, had FAITH. Do we believe these stories or are they just good teachings? To believe is to live, to live is to show, to show is by acting, by acting allows the Holy Spirit to flow!

FAITH can control Nature- Luke 8:22-25 ("Where is your faith?" he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, "Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.") Jesus Knew they had the Power within them to do it themselves and yet they did not. Now some may argue that Jesus meant that they knew Nothing would happen to them if they were with Jesus. But there are several verses that show us that we now have the same Power and even greater Power than Jesus had since He died for us. The sorry greater truth here is that we are dominated by our senses. We SEE a huge storm that we are in the middle of and we panic. Same thing happened to Peter. Learn to close your eyes and connect to Jesus so His voice is louder then that what seems to be around you. Know that Power that is within you is greater then natural realm and even greater then the other realm we don't see.

What kind of Faith do you have? If your afraid to talk to anyone about Jesus, you will fall into doubt, because fear will rule you. But if you are BOLD, nothing will stop you.

SOZO is the greek word for Healing, Wholeness, Recovery and Salvation. (Healed, Saved, Delivered) When Jesus used the word He was not talking about a short-term solutions but long-term restorations. Christ offers a new life. A new start. But this is the beginning of a wonderful journey. When we start afresh with Christ, we are committing ourself to a process of santification. To be whole (one) clean for Him and with Him.

What does the Word say about Faith? Let's see...
Romans 10:17 (How do I get Faith?)
(NIV) Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.
(NKJ) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
--------------
Hebrews 11 (FAITH CHAPTER)

Hebrews 11:1 (What is Faith?)
(NKJ) Now FAITH is the SUBSTANCE of things Hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things not seen.
(NIV) Now faith is being SURE of what we Hope for and CERTAIN of what we do not see


Hebrews 11:3 (Another realm, Faith florishes in)
By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which ARE SEEN were NOT MADE OF things which ARE VISIBLE.
-------
Hebrews 10:38 (What if I don't have Faith?)
But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him.
Hebrews 11:6 (What if I don't have Faith? Can anyone get Faith? How?)
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who EARNESTLY SEEK HIM.
Matthew 7:7 (Earnestly? How? KEEP ON...Asking, Seeking and Knocking)
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
-------
Matthew 17:20 (How much faith do I need?)
He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.
Matthew 21:21
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.
-------
Luke 18:8 (Jesus Questioned mans Faith upon His return?)
"However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?"
Jesus' question to us... Will I find FAITH on the earth? This should be a LARGE warning label to us.
--------------
Romans 4:17
17As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations." He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed—the God who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were.
--------------
Hebrews 6:19 (HOPE)
We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
Hope
--------------

Pulled from web-

One of the three main elements of Christian character (1 Corinthians 13:13). It is joined to faith and love, and is opposed to seeing or possessing (Romans 8:24; 1 John 3:2). "Hope is an essential and fundamental element of Christian life, so essential indeed, that, like faith and love, it can itself designate the essence of Christianity (1 Peter 3:15; Hebrews 10:23). In it the whole glory of the Christian vocation is centred (Ephesians 1:18; 4:4)." Unbelievers are without this hope (Ephesians 2:12; 1 Thessalonians 4:13). Christ is the actual object of the believer's hope, because it is in his second coming that the hope of glory will be fulfilled (1 Timothy 1:1; Colossians 1:27; Titus 2:13). It is spoken of as "lively", i.e., a living, hope, a hope not frail and perishable, but having a perennial life (1 Peter 1:3). In Romans 5:2 the "hope" spoken of is probably objective, i.e., "the hope set before us," namely, eternal life (comp 12:12). In 1 John 3:3 the expression "hope in him" ought rather to be, as in the Revised Version, "hope on him," i.e., a hope based on God.

Definition:
1. A desire of some good, accompanied with at least a slight expectation of obtaining it, or a belief that it is obtainable. Hope differs from wish and desire in this, that it implies some expectation of obtaining the good desired, or the possibility of possessing it. Hope therefore always gives pleasure or joy; whereas wish and desire may produce or be accompanied with pain and anxiety.