Ephesians 2:8-9
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Romans 12:3
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”
2 Peter 1:1
“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Savior Jesus Christ:”
What do all these scriptures have in common? They talk about faith; our faith. Peter says we have obtained like precious faith. This is through receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, becoming His righteousness. What does ‘like precious faith’ mean? It means that everyone has been given identical faith (of equal value.) What does this mean? It means the faith that we have been given is the same for everyone. It also says that we have been given “the measure of faith.” It never said, ‘a measure of faith’. Romans 3:3 says that we were given the measure of faith. If we were given a measure then everyone would have different equivalents of faith. Not only do we have like identical faith but we also have the same equal amount of faith.
The book of Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ: Nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. If you notice, it did not say by faith in the Son of God. It says, “the faith of …….”
When we were given faith, it was not just a little or some. We were given perfect faith. The faith of the Son of God. Christ did not operate in shabby faith. He operated in perfect faith. That faith is in your spirit. Your regenerated spirit. Someone may say, how could that be? Jesus had the Spirit without measure. Yes, that is the truth. Remember He was still God but He did not tap into His Godly nature. He operated as one hundred percent man. The book of Philippians 2: 6-7 says, “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” So, you see, Jesus was just a man. Just like you and me. Let me go even further: 1 John 4:17 says, “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” He is speaking about this world. The same way Jesus operated in this world with perfect faith so are we. We have the same identical Spirit as Christ did when He was in this world. Hallelujah!! You just need to understand how this faith works.
We are always saying that our spirit needs to grow but if you have the same Spirit as Christ and I am speaking about the Holy Spirit in your regenerated Spirit then your spirit is perfect. It has to be to enter heaven. The only part of you that needs to grow is your mind. It is un-regenerated. Paul says in Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Why would your mind need renewing? Why would you need to be transformed? Because even though your spirit is saved (re-generated) your mind is not. It still operates as a natural man (five senses). It cannot know the things of God because the things of God are spiritually discerned. It can only be understood in your spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
Paul urged the Romans to give themselves a living sacrifice so that their minds and bodies would line up with their spirits to know the knowledge of God which was already in them but could only be accessed through their re-generated spirit.
Do you realize when Paul prayed he would pray that believer’s eyes be opened or for the spirit of wisdom and revelation. He never prayed that God give them more faith or more blessings. In fact, he told the Ephesians that they were blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ. His prayers were centered around the fact that God would open their eyes to what they already had. He wanted them to have the revelation of who they were. We serve an awesome God who has given us everything we need in this lifetime. We, however, must access it. To do that we must line up our mind to our spirit.
We all have this belief that we have little or no faith. That is not true. All these scriptures I have given you prove that you have the same faith as Jesus did when He walked this earth. Then what is the problem? Why is faith not working for you? Your faith isn’t working because there is a problem that overrides our faith. It is called doubt. Let me ask you a question? Can you believe and doubt at the same time? The answer is yes you can. The book of Mark chapter 9 gives an account of a father whose child was troubled with demons. The disciples were not able to cast the demons out so the father brought him to Jesus. Now it must have taken faith for the father to bring him for deliverance but after witnessing the disciple’s failure, of course his faith would have quickly disappeared. When you read verses 19,20,21 after the child was brought to Jesus it seemed like the symptoms got even worse. As you can see it started throwing him into the fire.
Now Jesus could have simply commanded the demons to leave but instead he made the father take some of the responsibility of his son’s deliverance. He knew the father had faith but his doubt was overriding his faith and Jesus had to get him to let go of that doubt. Verse 23 says, “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.” What was the father’s response? Verse 24, “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” His problem was not that he didn’t believe, his problem was that his doubt was overriding his faith. He believed but he doubted more than he could believe.
Remember the ruler of the synagogue whose daughter was dead in Mark 5:35. Verse 36 says Christ told the ruler of the synagogue, “Be not afraid, only believe.” Why did he tell him only believe? Because you can believe and doubt at the same time. What Christ was saying was that I know you have doubts but just hold on to the belief.
Your faith is perfect. It’s potent but can be rendered void by unbelief. Gen. 17:1-7 speaks about God blessing Abraham but the word of God says in Romans 4:20, “He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.” Abraham would have had a head filled with Satan’s lies but he chose to believe God promises. What would you choose?
Pastor Karen Bruce.