ALMOST EVERYTHING REGARDING THE LIFE OF THE CHILD OF GOD IS IMPOSSIBLE WITHOUT FAITH
PRAYER WITHOUT FAITH IS EXERCISE IN FUTILITY
FAITH IS NOT THE DOCTRINE OF THE CHURCH, FAITH IS THE LIFE WIRE OF THE CHILD OF GOD
THE CONFIDENCE TO APPROACH GOD IS ANCHORED ON FAITH
IF YOU CAN SHOW ME THE QUALITY OF YOUR WALK WITH GOD, I CAN SHOW YOU THE EXTENT OF YOUR FAITH IN GOD
WHERE FAITH IN GOD IS GOING FLAT, PEOPLE BEGIN TO CONSIDER OPTIONS TO GOD
THE RUGGEDITY OF YOUR FAITH ASSISTS THE VIBRANCY OF YOUR CHRISTIANITY
UNTIL FAITH IS IN PLACE, LIFE IS AT RISK
FAITH ENHANCES BOTH QUALITY AND DURABILITY OF OUR LIVES IN THE EARTH
WITHOUT FAITH, LIFE ENDS AS A SHADOW AND IN TRIAL AND ERROR
WE LIVE IN A WORLD WHERE THE ENEMY IS ON RAMPAGE, SO YOUR FAITH MUST BE SHARP
FAITH IS THE PERMANENT ANTIDOTE TO FEAR
FAITH AND FEAR ARE MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE, THEY DON’T EXIST TOGETHER
ANY DAY FEAR KNOCKS ON YOUR DOOR, SEND FAITH TO ANSWER THAT DOOR AND YOU’LL REALIZE THAT THERE’S NO ONE
WHEN FAITH IS IMPOTENT, RECEIVING IS IMPOSSIBLE
FAITH ON ONE HAND, PATIENCE ON THE OTHER HAND CAUSES YOU TO INHERIT THE PROMISES OF GOD
WITHOUT FAITH, THE BELIEVER EXISTS WITHOUT THE REALITY OF THE PROMISES OF GOD
LIFE IS A BATTLEFIELD, NOT A PLAYGROUND – Bishop David Oyedepo
A CHILD’S FIRST CRY IS A CRY FOR SURVIVAL, NOT AN ORDINARY CRY
FAITH IS NEEDED IN ORDER NOT TO END AS VICTIMS OR CAUSALITIES OF THE BATTLES OF LIFE
– Dr. Pastor Paul Enenche on “THE INEVITABILITY OF FAITH” || March 2024 Anointing Service || Dunamis International Gospel Centre || Glory Dome, Abuja.
Hebrews 11:6. “The INEVITABILITY OF FAITH”. The fact that faith is inevitable. Our objective is to understand that:
1. Why faith is both inevitable and indispensable for the life of a child of God.
The passage we just read said, “without faith, it is impossible to please Him”. And I can tell you, if you left it and put a fullstop at ‘impossible’, that’s alright, “without faith, it is impossible”. Church Gist. Almost everything regarding the life of the child of God is impossible without faith. Things are possible on the grounds of faith. There are so many things in the life of a child of God that only faith can handle. For example, prayer without faith is exercise in futility. Godliness outside of faith, you don’t steal, you don’t cheat and all of that, outside of faith will end in frustration at the end because there are things that only faith can achieve. Church Gist. Please bear in mind that faith is not the doctrine of the Church, faith is the life wire of the child of God. As a matter of fact, Christianity is called the Faith. Acts 6:7.
So, question is, why do you need faith? Why is faith inevitable?
1. Faith enhances the quality of our relationship with God. Hebrews 11:6.
It is faith that causes us confidence to approach God. Church Gist. The confidence to approach God is anchored on faith. Also, faith imparts to the heart the clarity of the reality of God. By faith, it is clear to you that God is real. Also, by faith you know you’re not guessing the existence of God. God is, God exists, it takes faith to walk in that realm. Church Gist. Fourthly, it’s faith that causes you to take your spiritual life seriously. By faith, you take your spiritual journey seriously. If you don’t believe in God or your belief in God is not strong, your spiritual walk will be weak. It’s faith that makes you take your walk with God seriously. Fifthly, it is faith that causes you to serve God willingly and excitedly, not coercively, no one coerces you, you’re not encouraged to serve God. Church Gist. That is why, if you can show me the quality of your walk with God, I can show you the extent of your faith in God.
Faithless people are unserious people spiritually. That’s why Christianity is called the Faith. Church Gist. You cannot have faith and not be serious with the Faith. It is people of faith that have a stand in the Faith. Anytime you begin to see people say, “what is all this? I’m about to backslide. All these years I’ve been serving God with nothing to show for it. All these years, God can’t give me a husband or a wife. I’m just going to do my thing”, that is where faith is going flat. Where faith in God is going flat, people begin to consider options, options to God. Church Gist. Where faith in God is running out, they begin to consider alternatives to God. You won’t see a real person who knows God exists and believes that God is to talk about going back to the world even in his dreams. It is a kind of faith of people like Job, “even if He slays me, I’ll trust Him”. Job 13:15. It is the kind of faith of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Daniel 3:16-17. “I know God too much, I know that He exists to consider an alternative”. Faith. Church Gist. Can you see how critical faith is? So, it is not just what I use to claim things like they used to do in those days, “I claim this, I claim that”. The ruggedity of your faith assists the vibrancy of your Christianity. Church Gist. The intensity of your faith is linked to the vitality of your spirituality.
2. Faith enhances the quality and durability of our lives in the earth.
We are now talking about why faith is so inevitable, why we can’t do without faith. Church Gist. We are saying that faith enhances both quality and durability of our lives in the earth. Habakkuk 2:4. Romans 1:17. What are we talking about?
2a. Life answers to faith. To live and live well, it takes faith for the Just.
2b. Meaningful, quality, purposeful and durable life on earth is a product of faith. That is the kind of life that Jesus came to give in John 10:10. Church Gist. If your life is going to be meaningful, when you don’t think you’re wasting your life, it’s going to be quality, it’s going to be purposeful and directed and if that life is going to be durable, it’s a product of faith.
2c. Without faith, life ends as a shadow, in trial and error or at random. The life of a child of God can end as a shadow, in trial and error and at random.
2d. Until faith is in place, life is at risk. “The Just shall live by his faith”.
– somebody say a loud Amen!
We live in a world where the enemy is on rampage, so your faith must be sharp. Church Gist. What this is saying to you is, if you’ll live well, you need faith and if you’ll live long, you need faith.
Ten years ago the Doctor was fully convinced that a tumour that was a cancer, what organ was that (talking to a Pastor), it was the colon, large intestine. Church Gist. He’s on his feet today and testified in January because the symptoms and everything said yes, faith said no. Gross anatomy said yes. When they eventually took the specimen or the biopsy to the laboratory after prayer and the biopsy said no, the Doctor said “it’s impossible, that was cancer. still be on chemotherapy”. Church Gist. There are many we would have forgotten since. If you’ll live well so that you’re not pitiable, it requires faith. And if the devil of your father’s house won’t cut you off before your time, it requires faith.
Somebody was opening the laboratory’s refrigerator and suddenly drank concentrated hydrochloric acid without knowing and that was going to finish him at the spot before he realized what he was speaking. Church Gist. “Wow, you just drank acid”, his colleague said. He said, “no, that cannot be water, I just drank water”. They tested everything, it was hydrochloric acid. “No, that couldn’t be acid, I just drank water”. That was how faith turned the acid to water in his body, no symptoms, no consequence. Woman was taking children to school this Thursday, had a terrible accident on the road, she sent me a text message from the hospital, this other child, the hand is like this, the other one, the head, whatever, they didn’t know but they were all admitted. Church Gist. I think she had a fracture on the shoulder and I think she had this and that. I said, “alright, let’s pray. In the name of Jesus, I declare divine intervention, I declare the neutralization of every agenda of hell”. The children were discharged the same day, no fracture, nothing.
– somebody say a loud Amen.
So, don’t leave your life to chance. There are some people who shook hands with you, it’s evil hand. Church Gist. This man almost passed, they put a seat for him that they charmed. He sat on that seat and collapsed on the spot. Rushed to the hospital, they never expected him there. God and his power brought him back alive.
– you shall not be cut short before your time!
– every demonic arrow of your father’s house that is looking for your life, that arrow is retrieved and refired back to hell!
– you shall fulfill your days!
3. Faith rescues God’s people from existence in fear. Hebrews 11:27.
Listen, faith is the permanent antidote to fear. When somebody is injected with snake venom, you give him a counter injection of anti snake venom. Church Gist. If somebody is infected with the plague of fear, you counter it with the injection of faith. You will understand why this is important.
Secondly, it’s important to note that faith and fear are mutually exclusive and diametrically opposed. They don’t exist together. Matthew 14:30-31. Church Gist. Peter walked on the water by faith, when he saw the wind and became afraid, faith disappeared and his results disappeared and he began to sink. The meaning of that is the third point; the presence of faith is the absence of fear. If only you can get faith to be around.
I believe it was Bob Montfort, I can’t remember who now who said, “when fear knocks on your door, send faith to answer the door and you’ll realize that there’s nobody at the door”. Church Gist. Any day fear knocks on your door, send faith to answer that door and you’ll realize that there’s no one.
There’s a lady here in our Church, ancient, old member of our Church, her daughter for whom she went for the antenatal just graduated from the university with First Class. Church Gist. She went to the antenatal clinic, routine check and they said, HIV positive and she looked at the laboratory scientist and said, “I am not HIV positive. Can you give me my results? This is not my result”. When fear knocks on the door, send faith to answer that knock. Once you open the door, you’ll realize that nobody is there. It’s like when darkness arrives, send light to respond and you’ll realize. Church Gist. That was how the suggestion of HIV was sent back to hell. Later on, they truly checked and realized that there was a letter or so that was the difference between the result they gave her and her own name, something like that. Church Gist. Once you accept it, it is established and once you reject it, it is ejected. Just remove ‘r’ from the ‘reject’, it becomes ‘eject’.
– somebody say a loud Amen!
See, there are people who have no business with some symptoms, there are people fear killed them in the middle of an accident, it wasn’t an injury. Vehicle is going, “so, I’ve just died like that” and the hearts goes. Church Gist. There are people who took off from their bodies before the calamity that will kill them happened. Fear. Job 3:25. That is why your faith must be in place so that you don’t give the devil license for operation.
– I stand here today by apostolic and prophetic mantle of God and I declare, every spirit of fear that is the plague of anyone here, that spirit is arrested and sent back to hell!
Fear is critical to keep fear at bay and prevent the catastrophe that fear brings. Job 3:25.
4. Faith grants us access to our promises and inheritance in God. Hebrews 6:12.
Faith on one hand, patience on the other hand causes you to inherit the promises. Take note of these:
4a. Faith is needed to take what God gives. God gives it, man takes it by faith. Church Gist.bFaith is needed to receive and to take delivery of what God gives.
4b. Faith is the arm that the saint uses to receive the goodness of God.
4c. When faith is impotent, receiving is impossible. When faith is impotent, receiving is aborted. Church Gist. You only receive things by mercy, just mercy but to actively receive, faith. This leads to point 4.
4d. Without faith, the believer exists without the reality of the promises of God. Making it look like Christianity is not authentic. Church Gist. Without the promises of God, promises of divine preservation, promises of wholeness, promises of supernatural supply.
– I declare today that everyone here hearing the sound of my voice and it appears as if your Christian journey is like a mockery to the world, today, that mockery season is over!
Faith grants access to our promises and inheritance in God.
5. Faith is necessary for handling the battles of life. Ephesians 6:10-12. 2 Corinthians 10:3-6. 1 Timothy 6:12. It takes faith to fight. 2 Timothy 4:6-7. Church Gist. You didn’t look for anybody’s trouble, all of a sudden, you saw a text message from a demon saying, “I’m so and so person and they have given us your name” and all of that, you just introduced to a fight that must be killed. Church Gist. You slept last night healthy, woke up in the morning with a symptom, just got confronted with the fight. God’s servant, Bishop David Oyedepo said, life is a battlefield, not a playground. Even from childbirth, children start fighting. A child has to cry to breathe. You thought it was just an ordinary cry? It’s for the opening of the lungs otherwise he’s not signing for life. Church Gist. That first cry opens up the lungs, throws in the first oxygen and causes the surfactants to become active on the surfaces of the alveoli. Are you following what I’m saying here today? So, that cry is a fight to live. I don’t have the time to tell you all that and it has to keep on like that. Church Gist. So, he said life is a battlefield, not a playground. It’s a warfare, not funfare. You don’t have to look for anybody’s trouble, you might just run into a fight that is not your own, you didn’t look for it.
Now, listen to this:
5a. You need faith to fight the fight and win the battle. The battles don’t serve warning, you need the faith to win the fight.
5b. Faith is needed in order not to end as victims or casualties of the battles of life. Young man brought me a report, I think bronchogenic carcinoma, all the signs are there, laboratory evidence, everything. Church Gist.bHe was already losing breath. I spoke fire into his body, “hold on in faith and curse that devil”. By the time he went for further review, about four specialists, consultant cardiothoracic surgeon, pulmonologist, two others, anaesthesiologist and somebody else, they examined him and then did the ultrasound scan and all the other things. Church Gist. They could find where it was before but it was no longer currently there. There was a residue like a fibrotic tissue or something to show that this thing was there, it disappeared. As the thing disappeared, the symptoms disappeared. He’s alive and well on his feet, a Pastor in one location currently. Hallelujah.
– I decree today, the last time they pursued and you were running shall be the last time forever!
– the next time they see you and they try to pursue, they are the ones that will run away and you’ll be in the pursuit!
– somebody say a loud Amen!
– look at your neighbour, say, “you’ll not lose the fight! No devil will bury you before your time! You’ll win the fight!”
6. Faith is necessary for saying it, believing it and seeing it. Hebrews 11:17,20-21.
Now, this is the meaning of it, it is faith that causes you to say what God is saying and believe what you said in order to see. Church Gist. You know, people that don’t have faith, there are things that are too big for their mouth. It is faith that causes you to say what God is saying, what God wants you to experience, faith makes you say it. Then, the same faith causes you to believe it, at the end of it, you’ll see it. I stood at the National Stadium in 2007 July and I said, “we will build our own stadium in a time to come. That the difference between that stadium and this stadium is that this one will be covered so the rain won’t fall on us”. Church Gist. That was too big for a tiny man like this to be talking. Do you understand what I’m saying? It takes faith to speak with such authority and it happened later. Church Gist. So, to say what God wants you to say or what must be said in order for you to see what must be seen, it takes faith.
In the course of this construction, at a point, what we were spending a month is unbelievable in today’s money. And the people come and they say they need cement, I say, “go and get it”, they need this, “go ahead”, they’re afraid to say, “where’s the money?” (Laughs). Church Gist. Because here, you’re not permitted to say no money. Who told you? The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof. There’s money just that you haven’t seen it yet. (Laughs). When we had 10 days to the dedication of this place, Papa Adeboye, Oyedepo, everybody had been invited, 10 days, we had hundreds of millions. We had money in our accounts in seven zeroes reserved and they said, “can we remove it?” I said, “if you remove this, it can’t scratch anything”. What was in the reserve at that time wasn’t up to 10 percent of what was needed to finish the place. Church Gist. So, I told them, within these 10 days, we shall not touch what is there, yet, what will complete it will come. It came and it came in excess before the dedication. 2 Corinthians 4:13. That is why faith is necessary to cause you to be able to say what you need to say and to believe what you need to believe in order to see what you need to see.
– somebody say a loud Amen.
In Area One when Church started under one year, I said, “in a short while, everybody will be carrying phone”. At that time, there was no GSM only Nokia nine knots of those days, big cellular. Church Gist. Anybody knows it? I said very soon, everybody will be carrying phones. They said, how? That in fact, we may have to tell people, “off your phone” during service. It was very strange to the ear. One phone was 120,000 naira. 120,000 naira of almost 25 years ago. One phone, big phone. And you’re saying, everybody… So, does it mean that everybody will have such money? What will happen? It over happened sef. Church Gist. Even in my village now, in my Hamlet, people have phones. Old women, small children. Hallelujah!
– I declare liberation for somebody!
– if you see God changing your story, can you stand up your feet and make some declarations! “I will fulfill my days! The purpose of God for my life shall come to life! I am the head and not the tail! Above Only and never beneath! I shall reach where God wants me to be! I shall do what God wants to do!” Open your mouth and speak something.
I will just give you two counsels and we are through:
1. Do all it takes to understand the mystery of faith for a delightsome spiritual journey. 1 Timothy 3:9. Faith is a mystery. For most people, “how do I walk in faith?” That is what the whole month is all about. Church Gist. From service to service to service, we shall be defining, x-raying different dimensions of faith and operating in the realms of faith. Do all it takes. You know there are different laws that work in this spiritual journey, faith is central to all of them. Church Gist. Somebody said that if prayer is the way to, for example, Kingdom wealth, prayer warriors should be billionaires. But there are things that you do that is beyond just praying. That’s how faith it takes. You do all it takes to understand the mystery of faith.
2. Do all you can to grow your faith to the point of handling life’s necessities. Church Gist. Do all you can to grow or build your faith because faith can be built in order to handle the necessities, the urgencies, the eventualities of life. 2 Thessalonians 1:3. So, faith grows.
– somebody who is trusting God for an exceedingly growing faith this morning, stand up on your feet and give the Lord a big clap and a shout of praise.
—-PRAYERS.
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