The Scripture says: The just shall live by faith.

Jesus said to the Devil: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

The two Scriptures, Man shall live by faith and Man shall live by the Word seem to refer to the same thing don't they? That is because they are linked together as we will see shortly. 

What is faith? It comes from the Greek verb 'pisteuo' which means 'to believe'. 

We have seen that the Scripture says: All things are possible to him who believes.

You could put it this way, "All things are possible to him who has faith." It is the same root. 

What does pisteuo mean? It has two main meanings.

Firstly it means to be fully convinced of something. To be convinced of something means that you have heard something that you are convinced of. So it links with words. 

Can you see now why the two are linked together? 

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word...
The just shall live by faith.

Faith Based on Words

The Scripture says that: Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

[Romans 4:20-21], speaking about Abraham says: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

Faith is based on words. It involves believing words. It involves being fully persuaded, fully convinced, and knowing without a shade of doubt that what the words say is true. 

Faith Involves Trusting

Faith also means 'to entrust oneself'. That means faith is based on a person. Because when you entrust yourself to someone it means that you have the fullest of confidence and trust in that person. 

You will find in the Amplified Version of the Bible that the word 'believe' is normally translated as 'to trust, to cling to and to rely on'.

Faith is based on words, and it is based on confidence in a person. If you have confidence in a person and you trust them implicitly, then you believe the words that they speak. 

We do not always have that do we? Somebody comes to you and says, "Will you do this for me? Will you trust me?" 

We usually say, "Well um, I'm not sure if I can trust you." 

Someone comes and says, "I'm going to do this for you." 

We usually look at them and say, "Well it would be nice. But I'll wait and see." 

You must be fully convinced before you can be said to have faith in a person. 

Supposing I put my little child on a table, and I stand away and I say, "Come, jump. Daddy will catch you." 

The child looks down at the ground, and looks at my arms and says, "Uh uh, you might drop me." 

If he does that he doesn't have faith in me does he? He does not believe my words. He thinks that I am telling a lie. Maybe he thinks I am joking. Either way he does not jump. 

But when he looks at me and says, "Yes, I believe that when daddy says he'll catch me, he will catch me. I believe daddy is strong enough to catch me and he won't let me fall." 

Then the child says, "Sure," and he jumps. 

Usually a child does not have that problem. That is why Jesus said, "You need to become as little children." 

It is when we become a little bit more mature, more adult and grown up, that we begin to realize that sometimes people will let us down. 

It becomes a case of, once bitten, twice shy, and we are afraid to trust people. We do not have faith in people anymore, and we do not believe the words that are told to us, because we have heard lies so many times. 

What You Have Faith In

But we are not talking about faith in people here are we? We are talking about faith in God. 

You see, it is the same thing. It is the same force. But you need to identify exactly what is it that you have faith in.

You have faith in the words that you hear continuously. As you listen to them over and over again, you eventually come to believe them. 

For example, you have faith that a certain washing powder is going to take every stain out of your clothes. And so you walk into the shop and you buy it, no matter what it costs.

It is brilliant stuff. It makes the colors come out. Can't you see it? They show it to you on TV all the time. 

You believed the words did you not? You had faith in those words. It is all part of the spiritual function that is based on words. But where is your faith in the Word of God?

Where does faith come from? The kind of faith that God would have us to exercise comes from the Word of God. Romans 10:17 says: So then faith [comes] by hearing, and hearing by the [rhema] word of God.

Logos Versus Rhema

There are two Greek words that are translated word in the New Testament. The one is 'logos' and the other one is 'rhema'. 

What is the difference between the two?

Well logos is a tangible word like the written word. Your Bible is the logos. It is written down and it is tangible and available. 

The rhema words are the words that come out of the mouth, fresh on the tongue; spontaneous words. The words that I speak are in a rhema form in that they are the active words of my mouth. 

So when I speak to you as an individual my words are addressed specifically to you. If they are coming to you from me specifically in direct communication, that is rhema. But when I write it down in notes, and anybody can pick it up, it is logos. 

When I pick up a note that somebody else has written, and it is not specifically addressed to Les Crause, I look at it and I begin to wonder whether it applies to me or not. 

People open the Word of God and they read, My God shall supply all your needs.

They say, "Yes, but Paul wrote that to the Philippian church." 

By His stripes you were healed.

They say, "Yes, but Peter wrote that to the early Christians. Isaiah wrote that to Israel. It's not to me." 

You see, it is still logos. In order for it to become rhema, it has to become, "Thus says the Lord to you, John Doe: by His stripes, you John, were healed." 

Now it becomes God taking the Word afresh and speaking it in His lips to you specifically as an individual. That is what produces faith. 

All Things Are Possible

We all know that God can heal. We all know that God can provide our needs.

We all know that God can make a mountain jump up and be cast into the sea; that He can make a fig tree die from its roots, and a sycamore tree be plucked up and cast into the sea.

He is God so He is able to do it. The problem is that I do not know if He will do it for me. Jesus said, All things are possible to him who believes.

If you read the context of that verse, it actually comes even stronger than the way we read it, because the verse that we read earlier says: If you can, all things are possible to him who believes.

That seems to give us the idea that believing is a very difficult thing, and Jesus was saying, "Well it's really hard to believe. But if you can... if you just can... then all things will become possible to you." 

You need to read the whole context of that verse. This person had brought their child to the disciples to cast the demons out, and they could not do it. 

They came to Jesus and said, "Your disciples have tried to do something. Now, if you can do something, would you also try please, and help us." 

Jesus looked at them and He said in effect, "If you can? What do you mean, 'If you can?' All things are possible to him who believes. Of course I can." 

Can you see the difference? 

Jesus was saying, "If you can? There is no 'if' in believing. There is no saying, 'Maybe if you believe, we might be able to handle something here.' " 

He was saying, "If you believe, all things are possible." 

You say, "All things? But you don't know the problem that I have. You haven't seen the situation we're in. It's impossible for anything to be done." 

"All things." "But ..." "All things are possible, no exceptions."

"To him, who really works hard; who walks so close to the Lord and lives a holy life and prays every day for hours?" 

"No, to him who believes."

Jesus walked down the street and He saw a fig tree in the distance. He thought, "A fig would be great right now." 

He walked up to the fig tree to see if there was a fig. Well Jesus was not too clued up on gardening, because it was not the time of figs. He should have known there would not be any figs on the fig tree. I am not being irreverent. 

The Scripture says, It was not the time of figs.

He was expecting a fig to be there and it was not fig season. 

Jesus looked at the tree and He figured, "If this tree is not bearing fruit it is not much use being here anyway," and He cursed it. He said, You will never bear fruit again.

You say, "Well there was a spiritual reason for that, brother. You see, the fig tree is Israel, and Jesus cursed the fig tree, so He cursed Israel." 

No, He simply got mad at the fig tree. Jesus showed us that all things are possible to him who believes.

That is why He gave that Scripture in [Mark 11:23]: For assuredly I say to you, That whoever shall say to this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe ...he shall have whatever he says.

He believed and had no doubts, that if He told the fig tree to die it was going to die - and it did. 

Afterwards when He was trying to explain this to His disciples they said, "Lord, do you know what? The fig tree that you cursed is dead." 

I think Jesus must have looked at them and said, "So?" 

"Yes, but you spoke to it and it died." "Well what did you expect? Of course it died."

Then He turned to them and He said: Have faith in God.

The Greek there says, Have the faith of God.

The Power of Faith

All Jesus showed us there was the power that there is in this force of faith. All things are possible to him who believes. The force of faith is able to accomplish anything. 

The Scripture says: By faith we know that the worlds were framed ...

If you read Hebrews 11 you will see again and again it says, "By faith..." somebody did something. "By faith..." this miracle was performed. "By faith..." that was accomplished. 

Faith and Doubts Cannot Mix

All things are possible to him who believes. There is nothing that is impossible to faith. It is a very powerful force, and it comes from the intuition of the spirit, where you know that you know that you know. 

That is why Jesus said, "If you will believe and do not doubt, you will have whatever you say." 

If there is doubt there then there is no faith. You cannot believe and doubt at the same time. 

You say, "But that's impossible." "Well that is why you have not seen any results yet."

"But how can a person believe and not have doubts? Doubts are there all the time." "That is why you are not getting any results." 

How do I know that faith is there? When I am fully convinced that the Word is true and I have no doubts. 

In Romans Paul is speaking about people who have a conviction about eating certain foods. Some do not think it is right.

Some think it is wrong to eat meat, and others think it is right to eat meat. Some think it is wrong to drink coffee, while others think it is right to drink coffee. 

We have all these arguments over externals. But Paul said in [Romans 14:23]: And he that doubts is condemned if he eats, because [he does] not [eat] from faith: for whatever [is] not from faith is sin.

The just shall live by faith.

Be a True Believer

Faith should be as natural as breathing to a child of God. Do you know what we call ourselves? We call ourselves believers. 

You say, "You're a believer?" "Yes, I'm a child of God. I'm a believer." 

"That's great. Do you have any doubts?" "Yes, well we all have doubts." "Then you are not a believer." 

The Scripture says: These signs shall follow those that believe. They shall cast out demons.

You want to deal with a demon in a person and say, "Demon come out." 

However maybe in your mind you are thinking, "I sure hope it comes out."

If that is the case then you might as well forget it. 

These signs shall follow those who believe... they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover.

You pray, "Lord, please will you heal this person of their sickness." 

But in your mind you are thinking, "Oh Lord, please do it. I sure hope they get healed." 

You can be sure it is not going to be happening. You did not believe. 

What if you say, "Well, if we take up deadly serpents they will not harm us. These signs shall follow those that who believe. So I'm just going to pick up this snake and hope that it doesn't bite me." 

You are going to die. 

And if you were to say, "Well I'll just drink this poison because the Bible says I'm a believer, and these signs shall follow those that believe. It will not affect me... I hope." 

You are a dead man. 

Dealing With Your Doubts

You need to understand that faith is something that comes from your spirit, and doubts come from your mind. The one originates in the spirit and the other in the soul. 

This is a problem, because the enemy has access to your soul, and he is able to put doubts in your mind.

Of course the main reason that he will do this is to neutralize your faith. So it is important that you understand how to deal with your doubts. 

We said earlier that faith exists when you believe. And we saw that believing involves being fully convinced without any doubts. 

The Scripture also speaks about unbelief, and often Jesus rebuked His disciples for their unbelief.

Remember when Peter tried to walk on the water and Jesus had to reach out and catch him? Jesus rebuked him for his doubts. It says in [Matthew 14:31]: And immediately Jesus stretched forth [his] hand, and caught him, and said to him, O you of little faith, why did you doubt?

You would think that Peter had great faith to walk out on the water in the first place, so how could he have had doubts? 

But if you read the account you will see that Peter started out in faith and ended up in doubt.

He heard the words of the Lord telling him to come, and this produced faith in him. He stepped out in faith both in Jesus' words, and in His ability to protect him. 

What happened next came about because of Peter focusing on what his mind told him. He saw the winds and the waves, and his soul became filled with fear and doubt. 

By allowing this to become his emphasis, he neutralized the faith that had come up out of his spirit. Instead of walking on the water easily by faith, he began to sink. 

In a nutshell then, believing is when you allow the faith that comes up from your spirit to fill your mind. Unbelief is when you allow the doubts of your mind to rule. 

This explains why Jesus could berate the disciples for their lack of faith, as He did when they woke him because of the storm. [Mark 4:40] says:

And he said to them, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?

If faith were simply a gift of God that we receive at His sovereign will, then the Lord could not command us to believe or demand it of us. 

But since faith comes automatically out of our spirits, it is up to us to cultivate it by listening to our spirit instead of our mind.

God is a Faith God

The Scripture says that: Without faith it is impossible to please Him.

Faith is the spiritual force in the life of a believer that causes us to succeed as Christians. It is our very lifeblood and the air that we breathe.

If it is not there, then you are walking in fear and doubt. You are not walking in faith, and you are not going to receive the blessing of God in your life. 

You will not accomplish what God wants to do in you, because God is a faith God and He works through faith.

Unless that force of faith is at work, and unless you are sending forth that force of faith from your life, you will accomplish nothing for God in this world at all. 

God can do nothing with you or through you, because He works through that power in your spirit.

God works in your spirit and the power of faith is released within you. That power must go forth from you to accomplish what needs to be done in the earth. 


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