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Coming Soon. Sue's New Book, "Faith as
Simple as A, B, C".
Introduction to Faith Teaching
Sue E. (Cunningham) Wood
*WARNING*
You must read the introduction to this
book before reading the book itself. It
will keep your perspective straight.
INTRODUCTION
"FAITH" is not a bad word. It was and is
God's idea, not man's.
Hebrews 11:6 "Without Faith It Is
Impossible To Please God"
Romans 1:17 "For therein is the
righteousness of God revealed from faith
to faith: as it is written, The just
shall live by faith."
Galatians 3:11 "But that no man is
justified by the law in the sight of
God, (it is) evident; for, The just
shall live by faith.
Hebrews 10:38 "Now the just shall live
by faith: but if (any man) draw back,
my soul shall have no pleasure in him."
Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance
of things hoped for..." the evidence of
things not seen."
Or Sue's Translation * Hebrews 11:1
"Faith is the substance (essence or
thing), that grabs hold of your hope
(dream) the thing you can’t see with
natural eyes, and pulls it into
manifestation (your world) where you can
see it with your natural eyes."
Without hope, there can be no faith
exercised.
I want to challenge you to begin to live
a life of faith. That does not mean that
you do nothing. It means you will be
more involved with God, Himself, than
you have ever been before. It means you
begin to live and make your decisions
according to God's Word and nothing
else. It means you will have to get into
the Word and study to see what God's
desires are in all your circumstances.
It means you will have to get neutral,
giving all your own desires over to God,
when making a decision. Your desire is
not necessarily God's desire. It is true
that He places His desires in our heart.
But if you are not neutral, your own
selfish desire will almost always win
out. Where the Word does not give
specific instructions for your
particular situation, you apply the
principles of God that are based on His
character. You can only do that if you
really know Him and His character well
enough to make the decision that He
would make.
In order for true, Bible faith to work,
there must be a close relationship with
God, maintained. You must recognize Him
as your Father and the initial giver of
faith. Your main focus must be on the
giver of your faith, not on the results
of the giving. Otherwise you have
entered into a carnal way of thinking
and living. A faith walk is not a blind
walk. It is deliberate and takes effort
on the Believers part. It is not "blind
trust."
Every human being that has ever been
born has a "natural" kind of faith. All
"born again believers" are born again
with a spiritual kind of faith. It is a
supernatural (supercedes natural,
unregenerated) faith planted in the
spirit of a believer the moment he is
born again. That makes it spiritual
faith, not natural faith. You do not
pray for it. You already have it if you
have been born again. It is not
available to the unbeliever. The
unbeliever can operate in natural faith,
following God's principles and achieve a
measure of success. But because he is
operating in the dark and only has
natural understanding of God's Word, the
unbeliever can never achieve what the
believer can. Miracle, spiritual faith
is only available to the born again
believer. It is the faith of God, given
to His children.
To operate in the God kind of faith as
spoken of in Mark 11:22, you must be
born-again. That passage says, "Have
faith in God." It actually translates,
"Have the God kind of faith" or "the
faith of God." You can only have the God
kind of faith if you are a born again
believer. It is a seedlike faith (having
been planted within you at your new
birth) that must be nurtured and
developed. You can even say, "I believe
God's Word" and still not be developing
your faith. Undeveloped faith will leave
you in unbelief. If you live in
conscious unbelief long enough it will
result in doubt which is much more
serious. Doubt is actually a contention
against something. Unbelief can just be
very weak faith.
Faith Is A Force and must be released to
be effective. Strong faith must be
developed through exercise just as you
would exercise a muscle to strengthen
it.
From this point on when we refer to
"faith," we will be talking about the
born again believers faith unless
otherwise stated.
Many people say they have "blind faith."
They think that ignoring a situation or
not worrying about something means you
are walking in faith. Not so. You can
refuse to think about something, not
worry and still not be trusting God's
Word. That is complacency or passivity.
It is indifference and self-satisfying.
To be complacent is most assuredly not
the same as faith. There is no such
thing as blind faith. Faith is based on
the truth of God's Word. You know it's
true because God has said it. No matter
if you think you heard God telling you
something (you would even stake your
life on it) if it doesn't come into line
with His written Word, it is not God.
Therefore you act and react according to
His written Word. You must know how to
make Godly choices.
Neither is just accepting everything
that comes along, saying, "I am trusting
in God," walking in faith. There is no
force of faith released in that. It,
too, is complacency and is very
dangerous. We have a real enemy (satan
and his cohorts) who will manipulate you
if you allow it and get into a
complacent mode.
To say, "God, just do whatever you want
to do," is not faith. It is ignorance of
His word. If you don't know what He has
said, then you cannot release your
faith. You release your faith by knowing
what God has said and then saying it
with your mouth, in sincerity. You
cannot release your faith beyond what
you know and understand. Proverbs 4:7
"...with all thy getting, get
understanding." You can say it but there
will be no force of power to cause it to
come to pass if you don't understand
what you are saying.
FAITH IS A FORCE AND MUST BE RELEASED.
YOUR FAITH IS RELEASED THROUGH YOUR
MOUTH. The force will only be released
as the word comes up from your spirit
and is released through your words. This
releasing of God's word with your mouth
will cause your spirit to be more
energized as you continue to confess it.
It will cause you to act accordingly,
knowing it is already taken care of.
After you have done that, from this
point on, you continue to thank God. You
no longer need to ask Him.
Your actions must now line up with your
confession. If your actions do not line
up with your confession, you are not
walking in faith. Be careful where you
place your faith. Do not place it in
your faith. Place it in God's Word. It
is truth.
Do not do things foolishly. Where
healing is concerned, do not throw away
your medicine. Your faith must not be in
whether you take medication or not. That
would be faith in your medicine (or lack
of it). I repeat, do not throw away your
medicine until your healing has been
confirmed. That would be very foolish.
Medicine alone cannot heal you. It may
aid in your healing but only Jesus is
the healer. Discontinuing your
medication will not cause your healing
to come any faster and in actuality may
cause you more problems until the
symptoms of your illness subside. Taking
it will not cause Jesus to withhold
healing from you. When the manifestation
of healing comes, a doctor can confirm
it. You can walk as a healed person and
still take medication. Sometimes an
aspirin can help you walk as a healed
person without a headache.
I believe if you will take these A to Z
principles and make sure that you have
not left any one out, and begin to
consciously apply them in your life, you
will see your situations change for the
better. After a while, they will become
a part of your life. Remember, keep your
eyes on Jesus and His Word and be sure
He is the focus of all you do and want.
You cannot compromise to suit your
lifestyle or feelings. His word is the
final authority. These principles are
only possible because of the cross of
Jesus and all he did for us. It is the
faith of God working in us.
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FAITH AS SIMPLE AS A B C
IDLE FAITH IS AS USELESS AS IDLE WORDS.
1. Agree with the Word of God.
2.
*I John 5:8 = Spirit, water and blood
agree, these three in one.
*Matt. 18:19 = If any two agree. Agree
with God.
*II Tim = "All scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable."
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