Faith

Sometimes we act as if the way we are mature [as Christians] we excel in faith. If Jesus could say “with faith as little as a mustard seed you can say to the mountain move and it moves”, why is it that we cannot move mountains in our lives? Jesus did not specify which mountain we can move, and there was a reason for that. Your struggle, your sickness, failure is a mountain, it does not matter what is it, as long as it fights you it is a mountain (see Matthew 17:20). The only time God spoke about a mountain was when He was addressing faith and Zerrubabel saying “Who are you o’ mountain?” Meaning it has become nothing before Him because there was a continuous connection between him and the two olive trees, a ceaseless supply. Zachariah 4:6-7, “This is the Word of the Lord to Zerrubabel: Not by might, nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts. Who are you, O’ great mountain? Before Zerrubabel you shall become plain.” Therefore, everything is done by the Spirit. Verse (3), “These 2 olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and others at its left.” These two trees are supply oil; The Spirit. Christ means the anointed one but what is He anointed with? By the Spirit of the Lord and we see this where He says “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”, He has anointed me (see Luke 4:18). When Jesus was baptized, He was not yet anointed, but when He went out of the water a voice spoke and said “this is my Son in whom I am well pleased.” After the Spirit like a dove came upon Him and then He went on to open Isaiah 61, which speaks about what He was anointed with.

When it says “not by power but by the Spirit”, this power is your own zeal and strength and not the strength of the Lord that is why the bible says “the Israelites had zeal but not faith” (see Romans 10:2). Faith is the Spirit. The moment it is by the Spirit then you are able to say who are you o’ great mountain? The mountain becomes like it is nothing because it is by the Spirit. It does not become nothing to just anyone but only when it faces Zerrubabel. When we pray, we pray by the Spirit at all times. There is oil flowing into the bowl and then it goes to us. When the Spirit comes to us, we pray back to God into the bowl. That is why Paul says we must constantly pray. When the Church prays, it must pray above because where it prays there is oil (Spirit) and because of this, the mountain becomes nothing. The church is full of the Spirit and because of this it means it is anointed and nothing can stand before it. To the world, the mountain is huge yet to the church it is nothing. Your mountain is your struggle, everyone in this world is trying to fight this mountain but the Church has been given a solution. Not by might but by the Spirit and because of this the mountain becomes nothing, it gets to be under our feet. Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In faith there is no postponement, when you live by it you can’t say the doors will be opened, you can’t speak in the future tense. When faith is now, you say all things are good, you speak in the now, you say it like the financial breakthrough is now. I have heard a lot of ministers teach about the ‘Now faith’ but the Church is still failing the now part. If you are to ask a student what they will be doing right now, they will say “If I pass…” That is not faith, because faith is now. But now, you can speak in the now without the Spirit of God.

You hope for what you don’t see. When you have faith you stop hoping. There is something you are hoping for but faith draws it to the ‘now’ moment. Here is a question, what is substance? It is a tangible thing. When you say I am going to have a car, that is hope but when you say I have a car that is faith. Faith gives you assurance of what you have hoped for it is your title deed. Your car is in the spirit, not with you but now you have a paper, substance that assures you that the car is yours. When you have a title deed, it is up to you as to when you will be occupying that house. It is the evidence of things that are unseen, things hoped for, it’s a guarantee that tells you that you own something. You must understand that the first step is to know that it is yours, you have the title deed. God has given you something that is spiritual yet tangible. What you see is not yours, what you don’t see is yours. There is a thin line between envy and faith. You must not claim what is not yours because you saw someone having it. Some claim what is not theirs, not because they saw it in the Spirit and that’s envy. We claim things that belong to the next person while God is saying you just have to claim what is yours. Envy is not faith, you have to see in the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 5:5-7, “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee, so we are always confident knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For, we walk by faith and not by sight.” Paul was speaking about immortality but in this I caught something about faith. The Spirit as a guarantee, a Title deed. He (Spirit) is your surety. When you make a business loan the bank holds your assets as surety. Now imagine God saying His Spirit is your surety. It continues to say He is our guarantee.

Verse 6, again, it says we are always confident which means that we cannot have faith without confidence, you must be convincing even in your speech. Confidence leads you half way, your faith cannot be complete with this. Some people have already decided that they will fail before they could even study. Some people are good at stealing your confidence. It can easily be taken when you listen to negative things. You applied and they told you they are looking for a diploma which you don’t have and you suddenly get discouraged? Someone has stolen your confidence. A person who has low confidence achieves zero out of ten, but someone with confidence and ambition has a chance to achieves eight out of ten. Verse 7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight…” To complete or fulfil this, we need not to live by earthly senses. Therefore, while you are in the body you are available to your senses. We are confident and rather pleased to be out of this body. You cannot have faith while you are in your body because it is the evidence of things not seen. He says “I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” He is not saying He is going to do this tomorrow. When I have children and say “I am building a future for my children”, it means I have something to build with and that plan begins now. God told me that the plan He is having is not only for me but even for generations to come. The problem is that we are seeing harm and we see harm when we are still in your body. In actual fact, what is faith, how will you know that you have faith?

Romans 10:17, “But they have not all obeyed the Gospel.” There was disobedience. “Lord who has believed our report?” Therefore, there was a report that had to be believed. “Faith comes by hearing.” How do you have the substance of things hoped for, the title deed, you ought to hear. You must now see what you have heard. That is; to see it by faith, see it in the Spirit. How do you see what is in the Word? Through meditation. You must meditate, see what you want but do not see what is of your neighbour because that would be envy. “It is God who gives power to generate wealth.” You must stop thinking about other billionaires, the Word is sufficient, the Word tells you that you are rich. We don’t live by sight, we live by the Word. Jesus says to them, “You will say to this mountain move.” But how do you get there? Even if you can just meditate about the mountain not being there then God will make it a reality. As long as you are sick in your mind then you are sick. Whose report do you believe? When a good report comes, you start believing in a bad one. If I tell you that you have a job, are you going to believe it forever or you will just believe it for a moment? We listen to many voices and not one voice of the Lord. You must be absent in your body, so when it is like this, you will only be speaking about what you see in the Spirit. This is the kind of faith we need to have, the kind that moves mountains. I sometimes say, if you are still weak in faith, let your faith be as though you are ignorant. You believe as though it exist.

Your Father through the Gospel
Abraham Unknown