A STUDY IN FAITH

 Chapter The Eleventh 

A STUDY IN FAITH 

One cannot grow in Righteousness. He may grow in Righteousness Consciousness, but he already is the Righteousness of God in Christ. 

One cannot grow in sonship. One may grow in sonship consciousness and learn to enjoy his privileges and rights in the family. 

We can grow in Grace. Grace is the first fruits of love. Grace is love bearing fruit. 

"I am the vine; you are the branches." The vine is love, the fruits are grace. 

We are the grace of God unveiled. We are sons of God, and as such we grow in fruit bearing. 

We increase in usefulness. We can grow in gentleness, in tenderness. In the beauty of the Master. We may grow in love. 

Our love at first has little selfish streaks through it. It is marred again and again, but we keep studying the Word, keep fellowshipping with the Master, keep walking in love until by and by love gains the absolute supremacy in our lives, so that we only do love things, say love words. 

We are growing in love, We steadily move on up in our growth until we actually believe in love. We believe that love is the solution of every problem in life. We believe that love is better than force, better than going to law, better than the whip, better than argument, better than fighting. 

We believe that the love way is the sure way, the success way. 

When Jesus said, "I am the way," He meant He was the love way. This new way is the best way. We grow in knowledge of our Father and of our rights, of the finished work of Christ: 

Then we take wisdom to use this knowledge. We do not grow in wisdom, for Jesus has been made unto us wisdom. 

We grow in the ability to use knowledge wisely.

You cannot grow in Redemption. You may grow in the knowledge of what that Redemption means. 

You may grow in fellowship. You may grow in faith. Your fellowship will be measured by your personal sharing with the Master and with one another the riches of His grace. 

Faith is a tender plant. It cannot stand the harsh winds of Sense Knowledge. It cannot be crowded out of its seat and out of its place without suffering. 

lt must be fed continually upon the Word of God and upon our acting on that Word 

Simply reading the Word, meditating on the Word, will not build faith. It will build a capacity for faith, but faith is only built when that Word becomes a part of our daily use, our daily conduct-a part of our daily speech. 

As faith grows, Satan's dominion over us wanes. Circumstances are less formidable. Fear is destroyed. As your faith grows, you begin to possess your rights in Christ. You begin to take what belongs to you. 

At first, you take the things over that you have merely hoped for before. You have hoped for money, now by faith you have it. 

A second thing, you begin to enjoy what you formerly "mentally assented" to. 

You have said, "Yes, by Ilis stripes I am healed, but I am sick." You have agreed with the Word, but vou have not acted upon it ..you have merely assented to it. Now you have reached the place where you no longer hope for it, but you look up and say, "Father, I thank Thee that I am what you say I am.' 

What you have mentally assented to, you now possess. 

Believing is possessing. What you assented to for years, you now enjoy. Faith grows in the atmosphere of confession of the Word. 

We are not speaking of confession of sin. It is our confession of what we are in Christ, what Christ is in us, and what the Word is in our lips. 

The Word in your lips becomes a living thing, just as the Word in Jesus' lips could rule the sea, the winds and the waves (even the fish in the sea), so His Word now in your lips will take the place of Christ on earth.

There is a sick one. The Word in your lips now will take the place of Jesus. If Jesus were here, He would say, "Son, you are healed." You say, "Son, by His stripes you are healed." You are using His Word. That is your confession, that His Word now has become the healer in your lips 

There is another one who is held in bondage by Satan. You remember what He said,"They that believe shall cast out demons." Fearlessly you speak the Word, "Satan, in Jesus' Name leave this person. Go off into the abyss where you belong." 

You are quoting the very words of Christ. Your lips become the pulpit of Jesus Christ. 

Faith grows with this confession. Faith is no greater than your confession. 

Everytime you break the silence caused by fear with an open confession of the integrity of the Word, and you act on the Word, you destroy the very roots of fear and unbelief in your life. 

Fear and unbelief grow with confession, the same as faith grows with it. You confess that you are sick, and unbelief grows in you. 

If you confess that you have been prayed for and have not received your healing, you are confessing that Satan had made the Word of God ineffective 

And we know. "that nothing is impossible to the Word of God" in our lips. That is a literal translation of Luke 1:37, "No Word from God is void of power." 

  It makes no difference what the environment is, what the association, the limitations, the mental attitude of folk; here is the Word that liveth and abideth, the Word that cannot be broken, the Word that said, "Let there be" and there was, and the sun, moon and stars leaped into being. 

The Word has not lost its ability. Its ability is measured by its Author's ability. 

His Word is full of creative ability now. He lives in His Word. His Word has given life to creation; to man, and to the animal and vegetable creation. 

"In Him was life (that was the Word) and that life has become the light of men." John 1:4. 

You understand that faith, in the sense we are using the Word, is letting the Word of God function through you. It is the Word of God doing business. 

Matthew 19:26 "And nothing is impossible to Godl." 

Mark 9:23 "All things are possible to him that believeth." 

There has come the union of man with God. God's ability has been linked with man's inability and has swallowed it up. His very weakness is God's opportunity, "When I am weak, then am I strong." 

"Nothing shall be impossible unto you." God is speaking in person to you. Just as food rejuvenates the body: so the Word rejuvenates faith in our spirits. 

When will we ever learn that He and His Word are one. He is the surety of the New Covenant. He watches over His Word. He lives in His Word. His ability is in His Word. 

It is Jesus speaking through your lips when you use the Word. Let us think of the vine for a moment again. You are the branch, the miracle bearing part of the vine. 

You and the vine are one. 

You are the miracle part of the body of Christ. The fruit grows on the branches. Love fruit, healing fruit, grow on the branch. 

We are sharers with Him and the bearers of His fruit. 

Your fruit bearing is the measure of your confession. Your confession determines your faith life, so hold fast to your confession in the face of all opposition. They cannot conquer you. You are the unconquerable one. 

Remember that your lips give expression to your faith. Your words are your faith. You say,"I believe; I have." Then you thank Him for it. 

You do not need to see or hear or feel. The Word is your evidence. 

He says you are, and because He says you are, you are. 

WHAT I CONFESS, I POSSESS 

It took me a long time to see this truth. After I saw it and thought I understood it, I still could not act upon it. 

Christianity is called "the great confession." The law of that confession is that I confess I have a thing before I consciously possess it. 

Romans 10:9-10 giveş vou the law for entering the household of faith. "Becausc if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Tesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thv heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt he saved: for with the heart man believeth unte righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

You sce, with the heart man believes that Jesus is his Righteous-nes, and with his lips he makes a confession of his salvation. 

You notice that confessiom of the lips comes before God acts upon our spirits and recreates them. 

I say, "Jesus died for my sins according to scripture, and I now acknowledge Him as my Lord," and I know that the instant I acknowledge Him as my Lord I havc Eternal Life. 

1 cannot have Eternal Life until I confess that I have it. I confess that I have salvation before God acts and recreates me. The same thing is true in regard to healing. I confess that "By his stripes I am healed," and the disease is still in my body. 

I say, "Surely He has borne my sicknesses and carried my pains and I have come to appreciate Him as the one who was stricken, smitten of God with my diseases, and now I know that by His stripes I am healed." (Literal translation.) 

I make the confession that "by His stripes l am healed"; the disease and its symptoms may not leave my body at once, but I hold fast to my confession. 

I know that what He has said He is able to make good. 

I know that I am healed because He said I was healed, and it makes no difference what the symptoms may be in my body, I laugh at them, and in the Name of Jesus I command the author of disease to leave my body. 

He is defeated, and I am a victor. 

I have learned this law, that when I boldly confess, then, and then only, do I possess. 

I make my lips do their work. I give the Word its place. God has spoken, and I side with the Word. 

If I side with the disease and the pain, there is no healing for me. But I take sides with the Word, and I repudiate the disease and sickness. 

My confessioym gives me possession. 

I want vyou to note this fact. Faith is governed by our confession. If I say I have been prayed for and l am waiting now for God to o heal me. I have repudiated my healing.

M confession should be this: the Word declares that I am healed, and I thank the Father for it, and I praise Him for it because it is a truth.

You remember Philippians 4 :6 -7 "In nothing be anxious; but in every thing by praver and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be madle known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard vour hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus." 

Why must prayer be made with thanksgiving? That means that I know the thing is done. I asked for it and now I have it, so I thank the Father for it. 

The seventh verse says, "And the peace of God which passeth all understanding will fill my heart." 

I am not worrying any longer. I have it. I am not going to get the money I need...I have it. It is just as real as though it were in my pocket. I am not going to get my healing...I have my healing because I have His Word, and my heart is filled with rapture. 

Your confession solves the problem. 

A wrong confession hinders the Spirit's work in vour body. A neutral confession is unbelief. It is just as bad as a negative confession. 

It is the positive, clear cut confession that wins. "I know in whom I have believed." 

''I know that no word from God is void of power or fulfillment." "I know that He watches over His word to make it good." 

These are the confessions of a victor. 

I want you to notice several facts about the relation of confession to faith. 

Your confession is your faith. If it be a neutral confession, you have neutral faith. If it is a negative confession, it is unbelief dominating your spirit.

Unbelief grows with a negative confession. A confession of failure puts failure on the throne. If I confess weakness, weakness dominates me. If I confess my sickness, I am held in bondage by it. 

These negative confessions are acknowledgments of Satan's do-minion over God's tabernacle. 

Your spirit always responds to your confession. 

Faith is not a product of the reasoning faculties, but of the recreated spirit. 

When you were Born Again, you received the nature of the Father God. That nature grows in you with vour acting on the Word, and your confession of the Father's perfect dominion in your body, and it causes your spirit to grow in grace and ability. 

You remember that your confession is your present attitude toward the Father. 

In some special testing that may come to you, vour confession is either in the realm of faith or in the realm of unbelief. Your confession either honors the Father or Satan...either gives Satan or the Word dominance in your lifc. 

Now you can see the value of holding fast to your confession. Your confession either makes you a conqueror, or it defeats vou. You rise or fall to the level of your confession. 

Learn to hold fast to your confession in the hard places. John 8:36, "If the Son has made you free you are free indeed." The Son has made you free, now stand fast in that liberty. 

Gal. 5:1 is of vital importance to every believer."For freedom did Christ set us free; stand fast therefore." 

The time to make your confession is when Satan attacks you. You feel the pain coming in your body, You repudiate it. You Command it to leave in the Name of Jesus. 

Romans 8:31-37 "If God is for us, who is against us?" Your Father is for you. 

Disease cannot conquer you, nor can the author of disease. Circumstances cannot master you, because the Father and Jesus are greater than any circumstances. 

You have learned that in whatsoever circumstance or condition you are, to rejoice in your continual victory.