by Gloria Copeland
Everyone needs a refresher course on faith, even if things seem to be going well. Maybe things in our lives seem to be going too slow for us. Perhaps we are in a hard place. Whatever the case, we need to be sure we are actually walking by faith. We need to be sure we have all the things working for us that it takes to walk by faith and not by sight. You may say, “Oh, yes, I’m a faith person. I go to a faith church.” But just take a few minutes to examine what your life has been like recently. It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been a faith person, or how long you’ve been in a faith church. The real question is: Have you lost your “edge”? Is your trust and confidence in God still so strong that nothing the enemy throws your way bothers you? Or do you approach negative situations with less assurance that you can overcome them than you used to? The truth is, we all need to be sure we are always walking in faith—fearless faith. Ken and I have walked by faith for a long time, but we go back and refresh ourselves on the principles of faith so we don’t let things slip. We make certain we’re not missing some of the elements that bring the power of God into our lives. The Amplified Bible says it this way: “Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves…” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Live by Faith
You see, living by faith is neither an option nor a part-time activity. Habakkuk 2:4 says it and Paul repeats it in Hebrews 10:38, “The just shall live by faith.” By faith is the way God planned for us to live out our lives, day in, day out, minute by minute. When you were born again, you were born into a new way of life…the faith life. Faith simply believes what God says about any circumstance in our lives rather than believing what we feel, what we see or what we hear. One of the greatest challenges to this new walk is that most people don’t live there. When you begin to walk by faith, you may face opposition from the people in your life. Most people believe they just have to take what comes and that’s the way it is. They don’t know about faith so they are not going to encourage your faith walk. They don’t know God has the plan for everything in life. They don’t know He directly addresses the issues of life in His written Word, and gives guidance from our born-again inner man. But even those who do know He has a solution to every situation we encounter in life, must still answer a very important question: How do we get to the place where we totally believe and rely on the Word of God? The answer is this: You have to start where you are and let the Lord help you.
How Do I Do It?
The good news is God is not going to tell you to live by faith then fail to tell you how to do it. We simply have to continue to keep His Word in front of our eyes and in our ears. What you hear and see gets down into your heart. Whether good things or bad things, what you focus on becomes what you believe. Focus on what the Word says and you will have victory in every situation. Because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). You are the one in control of what goes into your eyes and ears. You are responsible for what gets into your heart—for what you believe. Put your eyes and ears on the Word of God. Receive it and believe it. This is how faith comes. Once you begin to focus on the Word, faith develops within your spirit. Faith in the Word becomes the first response in your heart when challenges come. Faith is activated when you speak from your mouth the Word that is active in your heart…your words begin to agree with God’s Word. Good things happen! Agree With the Word and Don’t Quit!
When you say from your heart what God says about anything in your life, you can be sure the thing you’re believing for will manifest. Just don’t quit! Hebrews 10:35 tells us, “Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward” (The Amplified Bible). I like to call it “fearless faith,” because fearless confidence in God’s Word is faith. When you get so full of the Word that it becomes bigger in you than the situation, where you are not moved by what you see or what you hear, you have moved into a place of fearless faith. How do you develop fearless faith? Well, you grow up into it. Ken and I grew up in our faith and today it is easy for us to walk by faith when needs arise or challenges come. We have no doubt or fear even when the answer to our challenge seems to be delayed. We know it’s coming. In the early days I knew that from the Bible, but today I also know it from experience. Faith in God’s Word always produces results! The Word you continue to place in your heart through your eyes and your ears—the Word that you speak in agreement with God—will increase your faith. You may have been the world’s worst worrier. You may have been someone who believes things won’t change unless you change them yourself. Or you may have even been someone whose tendency has always been to just throw in the towel and give up. Don’t fall back into your old ways. Keep on the Word. Replace worrying with believing. Agree with the Word of God, and don’t give up. Stand fast and be patient. Eventually, you will receive what God has promised. You will inherit the promise! Faith keeps us moving in the direction and on the path God has planned for our lives. We hear, we believe, we speak, we receive—we get there!
The good news is God is not going to tell you to live by faith then fail to tell you how to do it. We simply have to continue to keep His Word in front of our eyes and in our ears. What you hear and see gets down into your heart. Whether good things or bad things, what you focus on becomes what you believe. Focus on what the Word says and you will have victory in every situation. Because “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). You are the one in control of what goes into your eyes and ears. You are responsible for what gets into your heart—for what you believe. Put your eyes and ears on the Word of God. Receive it and believe it. This is how faith comes. Once you begin to focus on the Word, faith develops within your spirit. Faith in the Word becomes the first response in your heart when challenges come. Faith is activated when you speak from your mouth the Word that is active in your heart…your words begin to agree with God’s Word. Good things happen! Agree With the Word and Don’t Quit!
When you say from your heart what God says about anything in your life, you can be sure the thing you’re believing for will manifest. Just don’t quit! Hebrews 10:35 tells us, “Do not, therefore, fling away your fearless confidence, for it carries a great and glorious compensation of reward” (The Amplified Bible). I like to call it “fearless faith,” because fearless confidence in God’s Word is faith. When you get so full of the Word that it becomes bigger in you than the situation, where you are not moved by what you see or what you hear, you have moved into a place of fearless faith. How do you develop fearless faith? Well, you grow up into it. Ken and I grew up in our faith and today it is easy for us to walk by faith when needs arise or challenges come. We have no doubt or fear even when the answer to our challenge seems to be delayed. We know it’s coming. In the early days I knew that from the Bible, but today I also know it from experience. Faith in God’s Word always produces results! The Word you continue to place in your heart through your eyes and your ears—the Word that you speak in agreement with God—will increase your faith. You may have been the world’s worst worrier. You may have been someone who believes things won’t change unless you change them yourself. Or you may have even been someone whose tendency has always been to just throw in the towel and give up. Don’t fall back into your old ways. Keep on the Word. Replace worrying with believing. Agree with the Word of God, and don’t give up. Stand fast and be patient. Eventually, you will receive what God has promised. You will inherit the promise! Faith keeps us moving in the direction and on the path God has planned for our lives. We hear, we believe, we speak, we receive—we get there!
Keep Company With Strong Believers
One of the ways to develop your faith is to watch the company you keep. You have to make sure you don’t surround yourself with people who think and speak negatively. The smartest thing you can do is to keep company with people who are more turned on to and tuned in with God than you are. Those are the kind of people who will help you develop your faith. Choose friends who believe God and know how to stand fast—even in the hardest of times. If you want to develop fearless faith, seek out people who are full of faith and led by the Spirit—then stick with them! You have to help each other. Once you have developed strong faith yourself, you will be in a place to help other people who are growing. But always be connected to someone who has stronger faith than you. You can grow by yourself if you have to, but when the Lord brings people into your life to help you grow, hang on to them and learn all you can about the fearless faith you see in them.
Preserve Your Soul
Hebrews 10:39 says: “We are of those who believe [who cleave to and trust in and rely on God through Jesus Christ, the Messiah] and by faith preserve the soul” (The Amplified Bible). Do you see that? We believe and preserve our soul by faith! What is our soul? It is our mind, will and emotions…what we think, how we make decisions and how we express ourselves. Our faith in God’s Word changes our soul to agree with Him. Our way of thinking, making decisions and expressing ourselves begins to line up with the Word of God. Our changed soul is where “walking by faith” is played out. Our soul should come into agreement with our reborn spirit and allow God to direct our steps every day. Before we were born again we weren’t even thinking about God, or how He would do things. We didn’t know, and we didn’t care. Now that we’re believers, things are different. We have His Word in our hearts and we’re growing in faith. Our soul has been changed and everything we do now, we should do in line with the Word. We know things change by faith. And much of it has to do with your soul changing and being obedient to the Word of God.
You change and things change! Blessing Comes
When Ken and I began to live and walk by faith over 40 years ago, things changed for us! As we took hold of God’s Word and became students of faith, everything about our lives began to move in a different direction. We began to hear from God, both in His Word and in our hearts, and we began to walk in His direction for our lives. Today, we are still walking by faith and learning. The blessing of God gets bigger for us every day. And every day we wake up knowing God is good. He has the best for us when we get in step with Him. We know He will continue to change us where we need to be changed, because He loves us. We also know He will keep us going in the right direction. Blessing comes when you walk in His direction. And faith is required for the walk. Without faith you can neither see nor hear God. But by His Word and by His Spirit speaking to your heart, you receive faith, direction and blessing. When we stay in the Word—studying and meditating it—it makes adjustments in our lives. The Word changes things and changes us. It Starts With a Choice
Habakkuk 2:4 says, “The righteous will live by their faith” (New Living Translation). There are actually two meanings we can get from that verse. For one, it means the way you live or your manner of life. In other words, your way of living is faith thinking, faith talking, faith acting. It also means your means of life—your very life and well—being is by faith. To live by faith, you have to give God His place in your life. He’s not going to barge into your life and take over. He doesn’t operate like the devil does. The devil is a liar and a thief. He comes into your life uninvited to kill and steal all he can from you. He will do everything he can to keep you from the life of faith. The choice is yours. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). John tells us Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). If you don’t choose Jesus and go the direction God has for you, you’re choosing to walk right into the plan of the devil to destroy your life. The starting place for your life of faith is to say, “Come into my life, Lord Jesus. I accept You as my Savior. I want You to lead and direct my life. Take my life and do something with it.” Receive Him and all that He has in store for you.
Habakkuk 2:4 says, “The righteous will live by their faith” (New Living Translation). There are actually two meanings we can get from that verse. For one, it means the way you live or your manner of life. In other words, your way of living is faith thinking, faith talking, faith acting. It also means your means of life—your very life and well—being is by faith. To live by faith, you have to give God His place in your life. He’s not going to barge into your life and take over. He doesn’t operate like the devil does. The devil is a liar and a thief. He comes into your life uninvited to kill and steal all he can from you. He will do everything he can to keep you from the life of faith. The choice is yours. Jesus said, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). John tells us Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8). If you don’t choose Jesus and go the direction God has for you, you’re choosing to walk right into the plan of the devil to destroy your life. The starting place for your life of faith is to say, “Come into my life, Lord Jesus. I accept You as my Savior. I want You to lead and direct my life. Take my life and do something with it.” Receive Him and all that He has in store for you.
Grow in Unwavering Faith
As Christians, we should believe what God says more than what we see with our eyes or what the world or the devil says to us. We refuse to be moved off our faith. Paul declared in Hebrews 10:23, “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised).” The key is to never let go, never give up and never stop growing in faith. You keep faith growing by staying in the Word of God. Keep faith alive in your heart by relying on God to be true to His Word. Lay hold, and don’t let go! Nothing on this earth can take your faith, and you certainly are not going to give it up. If you hold fast to your fearless faith, you will receive the reward—because He is faithful who promised! You are born again to live a life of bold, fearless and unwavering faith.
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