Key 14 - Faith

• 1 Kings 17:8.  It is the beginning of the story of Elijah and the Widow.

• Notice here that God told Elijah to go to Zarephath and that He commanded a widow woman to sustain Elijah.  So right away we see that God had commanded the widow to take care of Elijah.  We also see that Elijah trusted God that if he went to Zarephath that this widow would have the means to take care of him.  Faith IS action.  There was no faith in the situation UNTIL Elijah went to Zarephath.

• So let me paint the picture here.  Here’s this strange man that shows up on this widow woman’s doorstep.  She didn’t really know Elijah.  But God had told her that she was supposed to take care of him.  However, she’s only got a little food in a barrel and a little oil to make maybe a small loaf of bread with and somehow she’s supposed to feed this other grown man whom she doesn’t even really know as well as herself and her growing son.  Then, on top of that, she has to give him water, which is scarce here because there is a drought in the land.

• Elijah hears the woman’s story and his response is, if you think about it, quite appalling.  In verse 13 he says, “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.”

• Elijah wasn’t really testing her.  He was teaching her, much as Jesus would later teach the disciples.  He was teaching her that faith is absolutely crucial if you want to see a miracle.  Elijah knew that God had told them both that she was going to take care of Elijah, so they both had to SHOW that they had faith; to DO something to prove they trusted that God was going to use what little she had to accomplish it.

• Therefore, we find that faith - putting belief into action - is absolutely required for a supernatural miracle.

• Faith is only a belief until it is put into action.

• Faith - belief in action - is the first ingredient to a supernatural move of God.

• Faith is not necessarily destroyed by doubt as some might believe.  This is a common misconception.  The woman here was obviously doubting God’s words because she told Elijah her story.  If she hadn’t doubted at all then Elijah would have asked her for food and water and she would have simply given it to him without making any comments.

• Elijah did not let her get away with her doubt.  And there’s the key.  He trusted God would keep His word.  Therefore, he expressed to her that she should go and make bread and let HIM have some first.  In this way, she would put her belief into action as well.  Elijah understood what James 2:19-20 says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! 20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?”  What this means is, if you never put your faith into action, you don’t actually have faith.  Faith REQUIRES action or it is dead.  It is not faith.  So, Elijah was reminding her of what God had commanded her.  If she trusted in God and obeyed His command, God would take care of her in return.  Living faith - faith in action.

• Faith of the supernatural kind is taking an action where if God doesn’t come through for you then you will lose something very important to you.  It’s taking that blind leap into the dark hoping that God WILL be beneath you to catch you.

• Faith is acting in spite of how much you may be doubting God or how crazy you think His way might be.  This is true courage.  Courage isn’t the absence of fear but the ability to act in spite of your fear.  Courage, therefore, IS faith.  Faith is acting in victory in spite of fear.  This is what moves mountains.  It is pushing past the fear and responding in spite of what it looks like.

• What Jesus was trying to teach them is that in truth there is no such thing as “increasing faith”.  You either have faith or you don’t.  WE are the ones who view faith as being a substance that you can have more and more of.  But faith isn’t actually a quantifiable, measurable substance.  Faith is all about perception.

• When you get into your car and drive somewhere, are you scared for your life? You either have faith in your car or you don’t.  If you have faith, you get in and drive.  If you don’t, you go nowhere.

• It isn’t how much faith, then, that is the problem.  It’s what you are willing to have faith in that’s the issue.

• We practice faith every single day.  The problem is that we fail to perceive - to truly accept and believe - that God can and will take care of our situations and answer our prayers.

• Let’s combat this thinking.  What kind of faith did it take for you to be saved?  Think about that for a moment.  Why do we find it so easy to believe that with such simple “amounts” of faith we can be saved?  Our eternal souls can be saved simply by saying, in faith, “Jesus, I’m sorry.  Please forgive me.  Be my God and Savior.”  The salvation of our souls is FAR more difficult than God taking care of our mortal issues.  And yet, we perceive that for some reason it is easier for God to save our souls from Hell than it is for Him to protect us, provide for us, heal us…

• That’s all the faith it takes, though.  Determining that you will do what you know you should do even if it’s tough and painful.  This is why I wanted to talk about Praise and Worship first.  Because when you Praise and Worship even though things are tough and painful, you are exercising your faith and saying, “I am going to do what is right - No matter the pain; No matter the cost.”

• So the BEST thing you can do, the BEST way to show Faith, is to pray, meditate on your issue for a set period of time so you can provide opportunities for God to guide you in what ways you need to be guided, and then walk away and do something else.  The key is to set a specific time to dwell on it and then immediately walk away and do something else to get your mind off of it.  And whenever it pops back in your mind, consciously say, “No.  I’m not going to think about it.”  Then go do something else.  You have to make a conscious effort to battle things like this; to capture your thoughts.

• Before we conclude on Faith, I want to be sure to give some warning.  It is considered advanced because it can be dangerous.  A person who is not wise with faith could potentially destroy their lives instead of receiving the miracle they were hoping for.  Misplaced Faith can literally kill.  It’s that powerful.

• Here’s a real life example.  A woman I knew at a previous church had many health issues for a long time.  She started listening to preachers who were encouraging people to start acting upon their faith in extreme ways.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but again, if you misunderstand how to wisely use faith, you could endanger yourself and others.  She decided to stop taking her much needed medications which regulated many aspects of her mind, emotions and body.  Long story short, she almost died.  If the pastor and his wife hadn’t taken her to the hospital for treatment immediately, she would have.

• So how do we wisely use Faith? Corporate Guidance, the 15th Key to Power.