Section 05 - The Foot of Faith

Joshua 1:3 says,

Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon, that I have given to you, as I said to Moses.

Then James 2:20 says,

But do you realize oh foolish man, that faith without action is dead?

The Importance of Faith

We saw previously in Section 03 that we have the arm of faith. We showed you that with the arm of faith you can reach up into the heavenly realm to receive something from the Lord. Then you pull it back down to earth or into this realm in which we live.

God always moves by faith. So if you want to receive anything from the Lord, you have to receive it by faith. When you do that you tap into the Spirit of God.

What takes place is the Lord, by His Spirit, speaks to you deep down inside of you. There is a deep inner voice that goes lower than consciousness. This is what the Bible refers to as the rhema word of God.

The rhema word is the spoken word; a word that is fresh from the lips. And when God speaks to you in this way, that is how you get a rhema word from deep down inside.

The rhema word is the word that brings the faith that we need. In Romans 10:17 it says,

So then faith comes as a result of hearing, and hearing by means of the spoken [rhema] word of God.

And so faith is born inside of us. But unfortunately, faith is not enough to bring us what we need.

The arm of faith is not enough, which is why I have added a whole lot of additional teachings to the series, and in this section, we are going to put a cap on it.

Follow With Action

You need to follow your faith with some form of action. God's power has to be released into the earth in order for Him to do anything. And that power must always be released in this world by a person.

God always works through human channels. We see that He has given us keys as well as swords that we can use.

There are two ways to release the anointing which we have looked at many times in the past. The first one is by words that are spoken into the earth. And the second one is by actions that are carried out.

We have looked at the keys and the swords. And interestingly enough the keys are usually used with spoken words.

The swords can also be used by spoken words, as we saw that the sword can come out of your mouth. But the swords often involve more than words. It involves some form of action added to it.

So when you use words and actions, you are in actual fact taking your keys and your swords and using them together, to release the power of God into the world.

The Enemy Will Attack

The moment you do that, you will find that you are going to get opposition because you have an enemy. He is going to oppose everything that you ask for or anything that you desire from the Lord.

So before you can receive what you asked for, you are going to be in a fight, and you will have to overcome the attack of Satan.

Contrary to what many people believe, God doesn't do this. He did all that He is going to do on the cross of Calvary. He conquered Satan there potentially. But on a daily practical basis, it is in our hands to overcome the attack of the realm of darkness.

So God has already done His part. He has given you all the tools that you need to now do your part and make this happen.

Overcoming Satan in Spiritual Warfare

What does it mean? It means spiritual warfare. In Ephesians 6:12, Paul actually compares it to a wrestling match. He says,

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against authorities, against the rules of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].

In order to overcome, you have to do two very important things. Firstly you have to submit yourself afresh to the Lord and tap into His power.

Pick up your keys and your swords. Prepare your heart first. Then you turn on the enemy and overcome his attack.

James 4:7 gives it to us so nicely, simply, and clearly. It says,

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

So after submitting, you turn to the enemy, but you must do both. You can't just come and attack the enemy if you haven't first submitted fully to the Lord. They are both very important.

How Joshua Overcame the Enemy

How did Joshua do it? We looked in the Scripture at the beginning at the promise that God gave to Joshua. He said,

"Everywhere you put your foot, I have already given it to you."

You might say, "Oh yes, I used the arm of faith. God has given it to me. I have it. Thank you, Lord, you gave me what I asked for."

The Lord said, "Joshua, I have given you the Promised Land, but you will have to put your foot on it before it becomes yours."

That is the part we miss and the part we hope we can just avoid. We will just leave the Lord to do all of it.

We think we are just going to step across the Jordan as Joshua did, wave to all the people, and say,

"Yoohoo, we are here! We have come to get our land. Thanks for handing it over to us."

Use Words and Actions

It is not that simple I am afraid. Before Joshua could do that, he had to carry out certain actions. In Joshua 1:10 and 11 it says,

Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people, saying,
Pass through the host and command the people, saying, Prepare your provisions; for within three days you will pass over this Jordan to go in to possess the land, which the LORD [Yahweh] your God is giving to you to possess it.

Joshua had to make a proclamation. He had to speak words. He gave a command and said,

"Within three days we are crossing the Jordan. We are going to go and take the land."

Joshua in fact carried out three actions in order to get his foot on the land and to receive what God had promised and had already given to them.

After he made the proclamation he circumcised the men. This was because they hadn't been circumcised according to God's Law while they were in the wilderness. Then he crossed the Jordan and he proceeded to overcome the enemies.

This wasn't a once-off event. It had to be repeated. In fact, Joshua continued doing this for most of his life. Much later in his life God spoke to him and said,

"Hey, there is a lot of land that still hasn't been taken yet. You haven't finished your job, Joshua."

I am afraid the same thing applies to us. This is not a once-off event. We conquer the devil and it is over and done. We have victory and now everything goes smoothly.

Speak the Rhema Word

I'm afraid not. Because you see you have to do something similar. Firstly you need a rhema word. How do you get the rhema word? When you reach out with the arm of faith, God speaks in you and says,

"I have given you what you asked for."

That is the rhema word, and it brings you the assurance that God has said yes and has answered your prayer. But the manifestation is not there yet.

So the first thing you must do is make a proclamation. You must take that rhema word and you must speak it out loud. The Bible calls this confession.

You have to use the rhema word now as a sword. Ephesians 6:17 says,

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the [rhema] word of God.

You have to do something with that rhema.

Make a Fresh Commitment

You also need a fresh commitment to the Lord. When I speak about a fresh commitment, I am not talking about continual repentance of sins.

Some people seem to think that a commitment to the Lord means confessing your sins every day. But Jesus is interceding for us on the right hand of the Father and He dealt with your sin before you were even aware of it.

You don't have to keep confessing your sins in your commitment to the Lord. However, what you do need is to develop a closer relationship with the Lord Jesus.

This is all part of James 4:7. Submit yourselves then resist. So you submit yourself afresh to the Lord. And really the simplest form of commitment is to say,

"Lord, here I am. Here is my body. I give it to you. Come and take control and relive your life through me, Lord. I give you permission now to live your life through me."

That is the kind of commitment that the Lord requires from us on a daily basis. You could take it right down to an hourly basis or moment-by-moment. It is something you need to do all the time.

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