Faith!

What Does It Really Mean?

By Randy Roussie

Faith!
What Does It Really Mean?
Introduction Section 1 - The Mystery Called Faith

3 4 5 6 7 11 12 13 14 20 23 24 30 34

Chapter 1 - You Gotta Have Faith Chapter 2 - How Do Most People Explain Faith? Chapter 3 - What Is Faith?

Section 2 - Growing In Faith

Chapter 1 - Yes You Can Grow Your Faith

Section 3 - Faith Up Close

Chapter 1 - Hebrews 11:1 Chapter 2 - Understanding Hebrews 11:1

Section 4 - Whose Faith Is It?

Chapter 1 - Passive or Active Chapter 2 - What Must We Do?

Summary

This publication is designed to be informative. It is given with the understanding the author is not making specific claims to any doctrines. The author is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services. The reader is advised the content discussed in this book serves only as a recommendation. This publication may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Randy Roussie. All rights reserved. 2

Introduction
Hi Saints Faith now theres a mouth full! What exactly is faith? Thats what this book is all about. And by the time you are finished reading it you will find faith very easy to walk in from this day forward. Enjoy! Randy Roussie P.S. It is in the spirit of 2 Timothy 3:15-17 I write this e-book. And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

I am not a Greek scholar. I have simply used various study aids in coming to a more accurate understanding of faith. Holy Spirit has be very kind in helping me to better understand the Scriptures. I simply must thank Him for His grace and patience.

Section 1 The Mystery Called Faith

Chapter 1 You Gotta Have Faith! If you have been a Christian for any length of time then you already know faith is a rather important truth. It would make total sense to understand exactly what faith is so you can walk in all the blessings of Abraham. And this is what I will do for you in this e-book. When you are finished reading you will walk away knowing exactly what faith is and be able to walk in it with ease on a daily basis. Are you excited? If so then quickly turn to the next page!

Chapter 2 How Do Most People Explain Faith? You probably already know as many people use the following statements as a way to define faith.

Trust in God Believe in Jesus Dont doubt Believe in something you cant see Things will just work out A feeling Invisible stuff Prayer Insight Act

Sounds So Right Doesn't It!

But what if I told you there may be an easier way to understand faith? Would you be shocked? What if faith was so easy to understand a kid in grade 1 could operate in it?

Well guess what? It is! So I encourage you to take your shoes off, grab a cup of coffee, sit yourself in a comfortable chair and discover what faith really is and then enjoy its many benefits!

Chapter 3 What Is Faith? I think you are going to be pleasantly surprised with the following discussion on faith. Lets begin with a lesson on grammar. Is Faith A Noun or A Verb? It is a noun. Who would have ever thought faith was a noun! Most people think it is a verb. Most people think faith is an action. But it is not! I challenge you, go look up faith in a dictionary and you will discover it is indeed a noun. What Is A Noun?

A word that can be used to refer to a (1) person or (2) place or (3) thing

So Then, What Is Faith?

Faith is God. Faith comes from God. Faith is manufactured by God. Faith is given to us through His Word and Spirit.

What Is God Doing Through Faith? Since faith originates from God, and is not a verb, action, we need to answer this question.

What exactly is God doing when considering faith is not a verb? (action)

Faith Then Must Be Something Other Than Action! So exactly what is this something? The answer to this question is the key that will unlock the mystery of faith for you. Lets Take A Look At Salvation I think we will be able to understand faith a little better by taking a look at your salvation for a moment.
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Ephesians 2:8

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

To understand this verse we need to ask two questions. 1. Whose grace was operating in your salvation? The obvious answer is Gods personal grace.

It certainly was not your grace that saved you.

2. Whose faith was operating in your salvation? Was it your faith? How could it be your faith when you were a sinner? Sinners do not have faith. Ephesians 2:12

Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.

Well that pretty well clears up any argument about sinners having faith. If they had faith then they certainly would not be hopeless and without God. Then whose faith was given to the sinner at the moment of salvation? It was Gods faith. Just like He extended His grace in salvation, He also extended His faith for salvation.

This is why the verse clearly teaches both grace and faith are of God.

Now if grace and faith were of us then some people could claim they had more or better faith than another person. Actually they could go as far as to suggest the reason for their salvation is their own personal faith. Of course this idea would make salvation a work an ability within the realm of man, and only available to a special few who could somehow muster up their faith. Paul made it very clear this was not the case.
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Ephesians 2:9

Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Your Faith Is Always Gods Faith Yes you have the faith of God Himself! It is not your personal faith at all. Yes we can say my faith, I have faith, your faith, etc., as the Scriptures say this about faith.

But the point I am making here is who manufactured the faith we operate within? Said another way who is the author of our faith?

Hebrews 12:2

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;

Clearly it is Jesus. He is the author of faith. If I say I am the author of a book, this would mean I wrote the book. It would mean no other person could make claim to being the author of that book. It Is The Same With Your Faith Jesus is the author of faith. No other person is the author. He simply is allowing us to say it is our faith. Isnt absolutely wonderful to know He considers His faith to be our own faith.

Its the same as eternal life. We never have eternal life in and of ourselves, it is in and of Jesus. Yet He allows us to say we or I have eternal life.

This is the same with our faith. It really is not ours at all, but a gift from God Himself. For Him to allow us to call His faith our own faith is incredible! What About Expectation? For those who think faith is the confident expectation that what God says in His Word will happen you too are right.
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However once again it is not your own confidence but rather the confidence contained in His faith.

Jesus really is the Alpha and Omega. His faith lacks nothing and therefore we never need to add anything to His faith we simply need to grow in His faith. There Is Never A Disconnect I understand how difficult this may sound but really it is very simple. God has provided His own personal faith to you and His faith never lacks. You must stop seeing it as your own faith, for this creates a disconnect from Jesus. This disconnect then causes you to think it is your own personal faith separate from Jesus. This then adds pressure to your walk, pressure that simply does not need to be there at all.

You can never get more faith. You can only grow in faith. Your growing in faith can be more and more. (2 Thessalonians 1:3) It is your growing that is more not your faith.

When I minister, I can cause people to respond if I ask them to come forward to receive more faith. Why do they respond to the more faith pitch? Because most saints think it is their own faith and they are lacking in it and therefore need more of it. But once you understand it is not your own personal faith but rather the faith of Jesus Himself, then you will no longer feel the need to get more of it since you already have His faith. You simply need to grow in it, which means to learn more about it and what it is based upon. Summary 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Faith is never of us or by us. Faith is not a commodity we can manufacture. Faith is a gift we receive from God. The faith we have is Gods personal faith. Faith is a noun. Faith is not an action. (It is not a verb.) We can grow in faith. (2 Corinthians 10:15)
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Section 2 Growing In Faith

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Chapter 1 2 Corinthians 10:15 Neither do we go beyond our limits by boasting of work done by others. Our hope is that, as your faith continues to grow, our sphere of activity among you will greatly expand, Yes You Can Grow Your Faith! Now this sounds like a contradiction. If the faith we have is not of us then how can we grow in something that is not of us? This is an excellent question.

The answer rests in understanding what faith is. Once we do we will then understand how to grow in faith.

So lets do this in the next section.

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Section 3 Faith Up Close!

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Chapter 1 Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". What Does That Mean? What were they thinking when they translated it this way? What average person would ever understand what this means! Why not make it simple to understand? After all, God said not many wise are called. So lets do just that! Lets try to make some sense out of this nonsense. To do so we will need to use an example. Lets take your salvation as an example. What Happened When You Were Saved? Here is what went down.

Someone witnessed to you. Someone told you to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus and to believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead.

What Did This Person Give You?

Information just some information.

Before you got this information you had no idea whatsoever on how to get saved. In fact, maybe you did not even know you needed to be saved. So someone had to tell you of your lost condition and how to get saved.

They gave you nothing more than information.

You then simply acted on the information this person presented to you.

Now where did this person get, locate, this information to tell you?

It was from the Bible. They certainly did not get it from a newspaper. So all this person did was to quote the Bible to you. All this person did was present you
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with the Word of God. Next Question Who Inspired The Bible? It was God Himself. (2 Tim 3:16) So God is the author of the Bible and the Bible is the Word of God. (The information of God.)

A person gave you the information, the faith, required to get saved. You then acted on that information, the faith, and were saved. Your acting on the information, the faith, is personal belief.

You Really Never Had Any Personal Faith At All! Do you see the difference?

You had personal belief not personal faith. You acted, had personal belief, on the information, faith, of God.

Remember we said faith is a noun and believe is a verb? When you heard Gods information, faith, you then personally acted, verb, on that information.

Your acting is to believe Gods information you acted upon is faith.

Allow Me To Ask A Question What personal information, faith of God, did you have before this person gave Gods information to you? None at all. Until this person personally brought Gods information to you, you were hopelessly lost in this world. But I Do Have Faith I Really Do! I understand how you feel. And you are right you do have faith. However it is not your personal faith. It is not a faith you developed on your own. It is not a faith separate from God.

Faith only comes one way Gods way which is His Word.
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Romans 10:17

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

And that one way is by hearing the information of God. His information, faith, is contained exclusively in the Word of God. So you hear about it and then you act on it. Its kind of like reading an instruction manual on how to fix an engine. You hear the instructions and then you do what those instructions said to do. The specific instructions is the information you act upon.

Without information you have nothing to act upon!

The Schemes of Satan Now you know the reason why Satan has attacked the Word with such force, as he knows the Word is faith. He knows it contains the information you must act upon to secure the promises of God. Satan wants to get you off of the Word any way which he can because when he does... he wins and you lose. This is the reason why he quoted Scripture to Jesus during the temptation. (His quotes were not truthful, as he slightly altered the Word to try to deceive Jesus.) If Satan cannot get you off the Word, then he will get you off faith by seducing you into thinking your faith is of you. Next he will convince you God has given some people great faith while other people little faith. (So God dealt you a bad hand so to speak.) In no time at all, you will think your faith just does not cut it. This will cause you to either quit all this faith stuff or to have you remain stuck and disappointed for the rest of the walk. But I Have Good News For You!

Yes you do have faith and the faith you have is the personal faith of God!

A Cool Example Now allow me to give you a cool example of faith being nothing more than the
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information God provides to us in His Word. These two examples will greatly benefit you in terms of faith being information and not some fuzzy feeling of sorts or something you need to muster up on your own. Example 1: Naaman The Leper 2 Kings 5

Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean. But Naaman became furious, and went away and said, Indeed, I said to myself, He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy. Are not the Abanah and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, Wash, and be clean? So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

A Few Points About Naaman To Consider 1. Verses 3 & 4 Then she said to her mistress, If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy. And Naaman went in and told his master, saying, Thus and thus said the girl who is from the land of Israel. Did you notice what happened to Naaman? A. He heard from someone about a man of God who could heal people. B. This is nothing more than information given to him. C. So he acted on the information. (He went to see the man of God.) 2. But Naaman Did Not Like The Information The Man of God Gave When the man of God told him what to do, Naaman had an issue with it. He did not want to do what the man of God told him to do. Naaman had a better idea.
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Now What Does This Tell Us About Naamans Faith? If faith was of Naaman himself a faith he himself had to some how work up, a faith separate from the Word, a faith of his own doing, he certainly was not showing any. What Does This Tell Us About Gods Information? That it produces results when we follow it even when we disagree with it! You know disagreement is not the same as unbelief. This is what Naaman did. He was in disagreement with it. Even though he was against what the man of God told him to do when he did finally go along with it he was healed. Gods Information Is Power Packed With Built In Faith! All Naaman had to do was to follow the directions all he had to do was act upon the information of God! The result when he did he was healed!

This kind of proves faith is not of us but rather is contained inside the Word of God the information of God the faith of God.

Why Did Naaman Argue? He did so because his thoughts were contrary to the information given by God. Thoughts comprise our understanding. After all, we are what we think! This sounds a lot like this verse of Scripture. Proverbs 3: 5,6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Please Notice This Closely! The Word reads lead not on your own understanding. Wouldnt Naamans understanding be nothing more than the information he had accumulated himself be it from personal, social, or religious experience?

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Wouldnt it be his own thinking, his own thoughts, his own words, and his own natural abilities?

Yes indeed it would be.

This is why Proverbs 3 instructs us NOT to use any other form of information outside of the information of the Word of God.

We are not to lean on personal wisdom. We are not to lean on personal faith. We are not to lean on personal experience. We are not to lean on religious doctrines. We are not to lean on the facts of the world.

What Must We Do? We must simply lean on Gods Word, which is His faith, which is nothing more than information information we act upon in order to walk in the awesome blessings found in the Abrahamic Covenant. Now We Can Go Back To Hebrews 11:1! Now we are ready to discuss faith. Lets turn to the next chapter to begin.

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Chapter 2 Understanding Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Why Have I Underlined These Words? The reason is we need to take a closer look at each word so we can understand this very important verse. 1. Faith We have already discussed faith. It is the information God gives you in His Word about His covenant He made with Abraham.

This information is about His will for our lives.

So faith is information we know of in advance that is contained in the Abrahamic Covenant. 2. Substance The Greek word translated substance is Hupostasis. Here is its definition.

a setting or placing under, thing put under, substructure, foundation

So substance is better understood as foundation. 3. Things The Greek word translated things is PRAGMA. Here is its definition.

An actual fact, an accomplished act or deed.

So things means accomplished facts.

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4. Evidence The Greek word translated evidence is ELEGMOS. Here is its definition.

The noun means proof while the verb means conviction.

So evidence means proof with absolutely no doubt. Lets Now Put This All Together! Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Lets substitute the underlined words with our above discussion so we can have a more accurate understanding of this verse.

Now (the information given to us in advance by God that is contained in the Abrahamic Covenant) is the (foundation) of (accomplished facts) hoped for, the (proof with absolutely no doubt) of (accomplished facts) not seen. (not manifested in our lives quite yet.)

What Are The Accomplished Facts? 1. The accomplished facts are the blessings of Abraham. 2. They are the very covenant promises of God that He Himself swore He would give to Abraham and his descendents. 3. The facts are the promises of the Abrahamic Covenant. 4. God only answers yes to all His promises. Please note God only answers yes to His promises. (2 Corinthians 1:20) What Are Those Promises? It is not the scope of this book to outline each in detail. So what I will do is summarize them for you.
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Summary Of The Promises Given To Abraham. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Wealth Health Salvation Well being in every part of your life. Protection

Now Lets Put It All Together A Second Time!

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You can read this way for a better understanding.

Now (the promises contained in the Abrahamic Covenant is the information we are to act upon) is the (Sure foundation we stand upon) of (each promise of the Abrahamic Covenant is an accomplished fact you now have as a Christian) hoped for, the (Abrahamic Covenant is proof with absolutely no doubt) of things (each promise is an accomplished fact you now have as a Christian in the spiritual realm) not seen, (even though you may not have each promise in experience, you still have each promise and you have the right to walk in each promise during this life.)

Wow, That Was A Mouth Full! So guys that is what Hebrews 11:1 means. All the above is found in the one word faith.

You must not disconnect substance, things, evidence, and things from faith for they are all contained inside of the word faith.

Example Faith can be likened to a seed and inside that seed are all the Abrahamic Promises, the foundation, the substance, and the proof. The faith you have is Gods personal faith and inside of His faith are all things contained! Lets now turn our attention to another important truth of faith.
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Section 4 Whose Faith Is It?

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Chapter 1 Passive Or Active? Next we want to discuss the ownership of faith. Said another way is it your faith separate from God or is it Gods personal faith? To answer this question, we will once again return to the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 11:2

For by it, (faith), the elders obtained a good testimony.

Hebrews 11:4

By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.

Hebrews 11:39

And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise,

I Call Your Attention To Obtained. In the above verses please notice the word obtained. Upon reading each verse it would seem the elders obtained a positive testimony because of their faith.

So in essence these verses seem to suggest it was their personal faith in God that caused, or is the reason, for their great successes.

But Is This The Case? Please also note in Hebrews 11:39 although they obtained a good testimony through faith THEY DID NOT receive the promise. It is important to see this for the reason they did not receive the promise, which is Holy Spirit, was that Jesus had yet to die! Once again, it is not the intent of this book to discuss their lack of receiving the promise so lets continue.
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Introducing Passive & Active Into The Picture! In the above three verses of Hebrews

the word obtained is from the Greek word MARTUREO. The meaning of the word is testimony, bear witness to to affirm that one has seen or heard or experienced something, or that he knows it because taught by divine revelation or inspiration

However if you will notice the translators added the phrase obtained a good report and obtained witness. For us English speaking people, when we obtain something it is because we do something.

So these phrases give us the impression the elders did something on their own to receive this good report and witness. (And that something was personal faith.)

But Is This The Case? The impact of this translation is due to this poorly translated phrase and when you read these verses it seems as if these people spoken of in Hebrews 11 had a personal faith of such great impact it accomplished a specific task. Said another way

It seems this special personal faith allowed them to achieve their tasks and obtained honour as men and women of great faith.

Unfortunately This Is Not The Case! These men and women did NOT have special personal faith. They did not have a faith in and of themselves. The Greek proves this conclusively.

In order for it to be their personal faith, the Greek would need to be active. However absolutely none of these verses are in the active in the Greek. On the contrary, all are passive.

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What Does This All Mean? (1) First of all, passive changes the entire meaning of the verses. (2) Secondly, passive means they had nothing personally to do with it at all. 1. Active Voice

In the active voice the subject of the sentence does the action in the sentence.

2. Passive Voice

In the passive voice the subject of the sentence does absolutely nothing himself and the action of the sentence is done to him by someone else.

Well This Sounds Confusing? It only does since we speak English. Remember these verses were written in Greek. So allow me to clear the confusion away with an example. A. Active

You hit a golf ball.

This of course is active with you hitting the golf ball. You did something to hit that golf ball. (You swing a club.) B. Passive

The golf ball hits you.

You did nothing to cause the golf ball to hit you. In fact, someone else did something to cause the golf ball to hit you! Do You Now Understand The Difference? Its not all that hard is it? The only people who make it hard are those who teach you yourself must have faith. Its crazy! Its like saying to a lost person before
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they can get saved they first need to acquire faith. Its kind of like asking them to go over to the corner store, buy themselves some faith, then come back over and with this personal faith they just purchased use it to get saved. Oh no not at all! It puts all the pressure on you to have faith. On the contrary

We are saved by grace, Gods ability, through faith, Gods information, we act upon. It is not a work in or of ourselves at all.

What Impact Does Passive Have On These Verses In Hebrews 11? Significant! Here is the impact.

It means the elders DID NOTHING to obtain these great reports! It means they had NO special personal faith at all!

Now I know this really upsets many people lacking this knowledge about faith. I understand they think it is their own faith. After all, they have been taught it is their own faith. Its kind of like being taught 1 + 1 = 3. So all their lives this is what they have thought. Then suddenly some guy comes into their lives and lets them know 1 + 1 = 2. Now its going to take a little time to get comfortable with this understanding of faith. People like to hold onto their traditions. (I do too. I am no exception. It took Holy Spirit 15 years to teach me this about faith.) Unfortunately The Elders Did Not Hit The Golf Ball!

This is what it means when it is passive in the Greek.

Sorry (1) Noah never hit the golf ball. (2) Neither did Moses. (3) Neither did Abraham. Then Who Hit The Golf Ball? God did and He made a hole in one at the same time! This is what it means
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when it is passive in the Greek. It means God hit the elders yes He hit them! What Did God Hit The Elders With?

Information.

What Did The Elders Do?

The elders then simply acted on this information given to them by God.

Why Did They Act On The Information? James 1:21-25 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. What Is James Telling Us? 1. To act on the information of God. 2. To act on the Word of God. 3. To act on the faith of God. Information Is The Faith of God! This information comes from God and not from man. There is not a single person on the planet who has faith, information, in and of himself. If he does, it is not the information of God. Rather it is either the information of man or the information of Satan. Both of these pieces of information would be better called witchcraft. A Few Examples 1. Noah Had No Idea! Noah had no idea the flood was coming until God told him the flood was coming.
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2. Moses Had No Idea! Moses had no idea about the exodus from Egypt until God told him about it. 3. Abraham Had No Idea! Abraham had no idea about the blessings God gave him until God told him about the blessings. These man of God has no special faith at all. They were just like us. If there is a difference the difference is as James said they ACTED on the information God gave to them in advance! We Can All Learn A Valuable Lesson! So many of us have too much head knowledge and not even acting. If we will become doers of the Word instead of note takers imagine how much better off we would be and the people we come into contact with each day! Summary None of us have faith separate from God. None of us have any idea whatsoever about anything until God tells us! But thank God for the Word of God. We now have the information. All we need to do is read the Bible. When we do, we find the information, faith, of God! Faith is nothing more than the information God gives you in advance concerning His will. That information itself is faith and is the foundation of the Abrahamic Covenant. In time, you will walk in every single one of those promises.

And yes there is something we must do since we need to act upon the information which is the personal faith of God.

We will discuss all of this in the next Chapter.

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Chapter 2 What Must We Do? This is the one question I hear most often when discussing faith with people. They simply want to know what they must do to bring the promises of God to pass in their lives. So allow me to address this question beginning with Hebrews 10:36.

For ye have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise.

Did You See How? Please read this very slowly

After YOU have DONE the WILL of God.

Who Must Do The Will of God? You must... thats who!

It is your responsibility to do the will of God. Once you have done His will then you will receive the promise.

Do You Know What The Will Of God Is For Your Life? Sadly in every church I have ever ministered in, or visited, time and time again people simply do not know the will of God for their lives. Allow me to clear this up right here and now for you. The Will of God For Your Life Is

The Abrahamic Covenant.

This is the will of God for your life. Nothing else is the will of God for your life!

Walking in the promises contained in the Abrahamic Covenant is the will of God for your life.

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What Is The Thrust of The Abrahamic Covenant? 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Personal wealth. Personal health. Personal well being in every area of your life. Personal salvation. Personal Protection.

Now how can this be any clearer?

Gods will is for you to be abundantly successful in every area of your life.

How Do You Make This Happen? You must know His will, which are the promises of the covenant. You must know your right standing. You must know God is NOT your enemy. You must know you have an enemy who is doing all he can to stop you from walking in the blessings. 5. You must take personal accountability and responsibility for your walk. 6. You must engage the enemy. 7. You must have patience. 8. You must use the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God. (Gods faith.) 9. You must know that God is battling for you. 10. You must never give up in time you will walk in every promise. (You must know you already have won the battle before you even begin the battle!) But This Sounds Hard? I can hear some of you saying this right now. You know I agree with you, it is hard. But guess what?

1. 2. 3. 4.

The hard is also the will of God.

I encourage you to read Hebrews 12:12. This verse, and the verses around it, are discussing the hard part of walking in His blessings. This hard part is considered the discipline of the Lord. So rejoice, for when the going gets tough you know you are only steps away from walking in the promises!

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Where Do You Start? I suggest the following as a good place to start. 1. Gain The Knowledge of The Blessings Philemon 1:6

that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.

This means you must come to know the promises and to acknowledge each and every one of them as having been already accomplished in your life even before you see them active in your life. 2. Gain The Knowledge of Your Standing In Christ Ephesians 1:3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

You must come to know who you are in Christ. You must come to know you are a member of the family of God and as a member you have the right to walk into Gods office to get His grace to secure the victory in the battle! Hebrews 4:16

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Notice why you are going into His throne?

To get the grace to get the job done and that job is to war until you win every promise of God!

Grace is Gods ability and this is what we all need as we march into the battle. Also note the word mercy.
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Lamentations 3:23

Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each day.

God is on your side, so go to battle! It is His will you do and it is His will you win! Romans 8:31

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

3. Get Into A Close Personal Relationship With Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 2:11

For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

Your pastor can only take you so far. So many saints have a close relationship with the wrong person. Understand what the role of your pastor is to help you develop a close relationship with Holy Spirit. Allow me to now summarize what we have discussed in this e-book.

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Summary
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Lets substitute these underlined words with the discussions we have had so we can have a more accurate understanding of this verse.

Now (the information given to us in advance by God that we are to act upon) is the (foundation) of (accomplished facts) hoped for, the (proof with absolutely no doubt) of (accomplished facts) not seen. (not in our lives quite yet.)

What Are The Accomplished Facts? 1. The accomplished facts are the blessings of Abraham. 2. They are the very covenant promises of God Himself that He swore to Himself that He would give to Abraham and His descendents. 3. It is the Abrahamic Covenant. 4. God only answers yes to all His promises. What Are Those Promises? Here is a summary. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Wealth Health Salvation Well being in every part of your life. Protection

Now Lets Put It All Together A Second Time!

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

You can read this way for better understanding.

Now (the promises contained in the Abrahamic Covenant is the information we are to act upon) is the (Solid foundation we stand upon) of (each promise
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within the Abrahamic Covenant is an accomplished fact you now have as a Christian) hoped for, the (Abrahamic Covenant is your proof) of things (each promise is an accomplished fact you now have as a Christian in the spiritual realm ) not seen, (even though you may not have each promise in experience, you still have each promise and you have the right to walk in each promise during this life.) Lastly... The Just Shall Live By Faith! You find this statement in Galatians 3:13 and Hebrews 10:38

But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith. Now the just shall live by faith;

The Greek word translated 'by' in The Just Shall Live By Faith is EK which means 'Out Of'.

This word EK is always used with the Ablative case which describes both the origin and source of something.

Here is what Jesus said in Matthew 4:4.

But He answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Do You See The Connection? Jesus told the devil what man ought to live from and that position is from every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The same applies to Galatians 3:13.

The just shall live by (every word that proceeds from the mouth of God).

We can also say it this way.

The just shall live by (information coming from the mouth of God.) The just shall live by (the information God has given in advance to act upon)
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Conclusion

It is not your faith you have but rather the faith of God Himself. Faith is information located is His Word. The Abrahamic Covenant is His will for our lives. We are to do the will of God. (Hebrews 10:36) We are to engage the enemy in battle. The Lord fights on our behalf. The victory is already won. We just need to hang in there until we get it by using the sword of the Spirit. The sword is the Word itself.

Hebrews 11:1 Here is what I have found to be the easiest way to understand this verse.

Now the promises contained in the Abrahamic Covenant is the foundation of accomplished facts we have in Christ, the covenant itself is the proof that can be submitted as evidence in God's court, of the certainty each promise will be fulfilled in our lives.

You Know... Faith Is Like An Orange! If you squeeze an orange out comes orange juice. The same with the Word. When you squeeze the Word out comes faith. How do you squeeze the Word? Simply act upon it.

Act on the Word, information, and then you will walk in the fact!

But I Do Find It A Little Off The Wall! Think about it. I had to write a 44 page book discussing faith. Dont you think this is a little off the wall? Why saints think faith is of their own doing while all other good stuff is from God really shocks me. A Few Examples 1. Righteousness We know it is not our righteousness but the righteousness of Christ.
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2. Blessings We know they dont come from ourselves but from God. 3. The Gifts We know they do not come from us. Whats The Problem With Faith? We know the above comes from God. So why all this confusion about faith? Why all of a sudden do we want our own faith and initially reject any discussion that our faith is actually the very faith of God Himself? I think we now know why. And now we can walk in faith with ease due to a more accurate understanding of faith! Lets Take A Look At Peter & John! In Acts 3 we find Peter & John on their way to the temple to pray. While on their way they meet a man crippled from birth. Peter, the Scripture reads, healed him. When this happened the crowd gathered and began to be amazed with Peter and John. Peter took issue with this kind of personal praise and responded by saying the following about faith and the name of Jesus.

And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which [comes] through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

Did Peter or John claim some kind of great personal faith, a special kind of faith they personally held? Absolutely not! On the contrary, Peter told them bluntly whose faith healed the man!

It was the faith of Jesus and NOT the personal faith of Peter or John!

Well now how can anyone honestly argue about faith when Peter and John themselves said it was not their own faith but the faith of Jesus Himself? Heres the bottom line:

There is simply no room for argument... the faith we Christians have is not of us, by us, or through us it is the Personal faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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But Yes You Do Have Faith! Isnt it awesome to know the faith you have is the very faith of Jesus Himself! Doesnt it take all the pressure off of you? It sure does! Our task as Christians is not to try to work up faith or to manufacture faith, but rather to simply act on the Word of God. Thats all just DO what the Word tells us to do.

Then we simply leave it up to God to release the faith out of the Word to bring our actions results.

Closing Comments So now you know a little better what faith is, how to grow in faith, and to enjoy the many benefits of faith. It has been my pleasure to bring this faith teaching to you and I know you will experience the fullness of the blessing of Abraham through Christ as you fight the good fight of faith! 1 Timothy 6:12 and 2 Timothy 4:7

Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.

You Have Already Won! Randy Roussie P.S. Please send your family and friends to this site to download a copy of this book. http://www.howtolivebyfaith.com

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Contact Information
For Ministry Invitations If you are interested in inviting me to minister in your church, fellowship, or organization please feel free to contact me at this email address.

randyroussie@gmail.com

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