Faith
and Ministry # 2
The
Faith of Abraham
Romans 4:17 ¶ (As it is written, I have made
thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who
quickeneth the dead (corpses),
and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
q Greek translation and also my own paraphrase; Abraham once and for all, (aorist tense) believed God. Who is the God whom he believed in?
q Abraham believed in the God whose nature is to continuously give life to the dead i.e. (Greek; Circumstances which are so dead that they are corpse like).
q He is also the God who continuously calls the things which are not, as if they are. (The word “as” is a very interesting word. It means in the same manner as, or having the same content).
q This tells us that the nature of our God is to call forth the things, which are still not physically in existence as having the same reality and essence of things, which are in existence. This is one of the facets of faith!
q
Think
of it; Abraham’s faith in God was so great, that out of corpse like
circumstances, and out of things, which in reality do not exist, God made
Abraham into a father of many nations and millions of people. This is called
the faith of Abraham. Most believers
today, especially in the United States, know little about this measure of faith,
which in reality is the normal
operation of faith. Because our comfort and security levels are
too high, our faith is dysfunctional.
q
Let us look at another aspect of Abraham’s
faith. In Romans four and eighteen we
find that normal faith functions in the realm of hopelessness. What I mean to
say by that is that the Lord must bring us to a point where He destroys our
dependency on everything that is around us and that we can grasp and forces us
to depend solely on His rhema word. Abraham, when all hope was gone, founded
His life on hope. The hope that he had lost
was that every circumstance around him around Him was corpselike. The only hope
that He founded His life on was the rhema word of God. This is the faith of God
Romans
4:19 And being not weak in faith, he
considered not his own body now dead ( now in a permanent state of a corpse) , when he was about an hundred
years old, neither yet the deadness ( the corpse-likeness) of Sara’s womb:
Romans 4:18
Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of
many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.
Greek: Abraham, with
all hope gone, believed on a foundation of hope, that he might become the
father of many nations, in relation to the rhema word which was
spoken, So shall thy seed be.
q
Abraham’s
secret is found in Hebrews eleven and one. Most of us at one time have had in our possession a title deed to
an automobile or a home at the time that we purchased these items. Though we may not have actual physical
ownership of these objects for a season of time after closing on them, we know
without a shadow of doubt that they belong to us because of the title deed. Therefore faith, is the title deed of what
we have hoped for thus giving us a full
assurance of that thing that is ours but that we presently yet cannot see.
q
Faith’s title deed
is the rhema word of God. Every time that God gives us a
rhema word we have obtained a title deed to what God promises. This is the hope that Abraham based his
whole life upon when God had stripped all hope of what he could discern with
his natural senses.
Hebrews 11:1 ¶ Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Greek: Now faith is the title deed of things hoped for, and the full
assurance of things that it is impossible for us to see in the present.
Romans 4:12 And the
father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who
also walk(Greek: march as a soldier )
in the steps ( footprints)
of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised.
q We are commanded to march (in Romans four and twelve,) as soldiers whose duty is to keep in line with the footprints made by the type of faith that our father Abraham had. If we do so, God will make us spiritual fathers and mothers of the multitude of things that pertain to His kingdom. The reason why we are spiritual fathers and mothers of so little is because we do not allow God to strip us down to the point where we hope and live out of His rhema word alone.
Mat
4:4 But he answered and said, It is
written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every rhema word that proceedeth
out (from moment to moment)
of the mouth of God.
Mat
8:8 The centurion answered and said,
Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word ( Greek:
a word)) only,
and my servant shall be healed.
9 For I am a man under authority, having
soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go (aorist), and he goeth; ( present ) and to
another, Come,( present) and he cometh;(
present) and
to my servant, Do this (aorist),
and he doeth it(present)
10
hen
Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto
you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.
q
The
centurion had a deep understanding of the faith of Jesus, and this is what made
the Lord marvel at, and honor his faith.
q
In verse
eight of Matthew eight, we find the centurion dialoguing with Jesus and
acknowledging that His rhema word spoken in regards to the sickness of
his servant would result in hiscomplete healing. The phrase “shall be healed”, is in the indicative
mood.
q
If you can
remember from our previous studies, this Greek mood describes a statement of
fact, an absolute certainty, and a done deal.
The centurion is in fact relaying to Jesus that he is cognizant that the
Lord’s rhema word will accomplish with absolute certainty all that it intends
to do. This is what deeply touched the
Lord.
q
In verse
nine, the centurion goes on further to describe his faith in the word of the
Lord Jesus, by comparing it to his relationship with men that are under his
authority. Let us refresh our memories
from past studies by including a paraphrased excerpt of the aorist tense.
q The “aorist tense”
in the Greek, can be compared to our “past tense” in the English.
Simply speaking, it describes a past occurrence. However, the Greek aorist tense is stronger than
our English past tense.
q This verb tense has the
element of “punctiliar
action.” This fancy
word in reality means nothing more than a “punctuation” or “punctuation
mark” in the succession of time.
Can you see the similarity between punctiliar and punctuation? Whenever
we place a question mark, a period, and a comma as we write, we insert one mark
with our pens in the sequence of time and go on with our writing. This one
single event jotted down in one moment of time, is called punctiliar
action. I call the use of the
aorist tense, “punctuation in time.”
q The present tense describes
action which is presently and continuously occurring in the hear and now i.e.;
“at this very moment.”
q If you would take a look at
verse nine you would observe a bunch of aorist and present tenses working
together. The gist of what is happening
here is the following.
q The centurion has to speak
the command to his men only once, as he utters it in one moment of time. At that very same moment, in the “here and
now”, his commands at once are carried out to completion. By this explanation, the centurion is
describing the operation of the rhema word of the Lord.
q In every scriptural study of
faith (that I can remember) the progression of faith is always the same.
The rhema word is spoken in a specific
circumstance, in one moment in time. The
response to it by the circumstances that it affects, is immediate, it is always
in the “here and now,” and is carried out to completion at the very instance
that the rhema word was spoken out.
q You would remonstrate by
saying that you have likewise spoken God’s rhema word into a circumstance and
have seen nothing happened.
q “Mountain moving faith” is
the believing of our heart, founded upon the title deed that is brought by the
specific rhema word. To have “the faith
of God”, is to believe that all circumstances pertinent to the rhema word have
immediately obeyed; they have acted in the here and now, and are likewise
immediately accomplished, so that this title deed of faith is now secure our
hearts. Any time that we can recieve a
title deed of faith , God will remove every obstacle and mountain in our lives
and accomplish His word. He is the Lord
who does His greatest works out of corpse like circumstances and call things
into existence, which are presently non-existent.
1 Cor 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains (Present Tense: one mountain after another after another), and have not charity, I am nothing.
John 3:27 John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven.
John
15:7 If ye abide in me, and my rhema
words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
q I must now throw out a note of
caution. Please observe with me the two
verses above.
q In
John three and twenty-seven, John the Baptist admonishes us that a man or woman
will not have the power to take something for him or herself unless the Lord
has given it to them to begin with.
q In John fifteen and seven the exhortation
is similar. We are only promised by the
Lord to receive all that we ask for, if it is done in strict accordance to the
rhema word describing God’s title deed for a particular situation.
q I believe that confession is scriptural
and that there is power behind it.
However, we must be very careful when we get into confession, and the
“claiming and framing” of things that we selfishly desire, and which do not
line up with the rhema word of God. At
best we will only get part of what we desired, and it will only be the part
that lined up with the rhema word of the Spirit of God.
Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith(Present) in ( Have the “God kind” of faith, or the faith OF GOD!) God. (God is in the genitive Greek case of “ God possessing something”, hence His possessing faith)
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever
shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed(Aorist), and be thou cast(Aorist) into the sea; and shall not doubt(Aorist) in his heart,
but shall believe(Aorist)
that those things which he saith shall come to pass(Present); he shall have
whatsoever he saith.( future
indicative)
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever
ye desire, when ye pray, believe(present)
that ye receive them(present), and ye shall
have them.(future
indicative)
q
Let’s
take a look at Mark eleven twenty two through twenty-four.
q
Jesus commands us to have the faith of
God. Simply speaking, we know
this to mean that the Lord commands us to seek for, and obtain His rhema word
in every particular circumstance. Let
us take a ministry encounter where we are asked to pray for a person that is
totally blind. My rule of thumb is to
always seek for, and obtain a rhema word, in every circumstance that I am
required to minister in.
q
In
this particular instance, as we wait on the Lord, in the spirit we see this
person as seeing normally. This is the
rhema word of the Lord, describing His level of faith for this individual’s
sight. We can now speak into, and
rebuke the mountain of blindness with all authority, and know that the effect
of our rebuke is immediate and permanent. We command the blindness to be removed and planted in hell. We must believe in our hearts that our
orders have been presently and immediately carried out, and the blindness at
once is presently removed.
q
The
Lord tells us in verse twenty-three that whatsoever we say shall come to
pass. The “come to pass” is in the future
indicative. The indicative mood
tells us that without a shadow of a doubt the person will see normally. It is a done deal. The future tense is in God’s hands. Whether the Lord desires to restore the person’s sight in the
next one second of the future or twenty years later, He has His own plans and
reasons. Our responsibility is to keep
the level and the content of God’s title deed in our heart as long as it takes,
and regard it as a done deal. Mountains
are not always removed in one second. I
can guarantee you; this qualityof faith based upon the rhema word of God will
remove every obstacle from the way and bring every last thing promised by the
word of God to us.
John
6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and
him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
Faith and Ministry
Two Qualities of the Rhema Word
Hebrews
11:3 Through faith we understand that
the worlds were framed
(equipped) by the rhema
word of God, so that things
which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
Greek: The worlds were framed by the rhema word
of God, so that the things that we presently see with our eyes were made out of
things that cannot be seen by the eye.
In other words, God always creates what is physically evident to us, out
of things which are physically invisible, through the rhema word. This is the title deed of the rhema word.
q The
word “framed” is the same word used for the mending of the fishing nets by the
apostle Peter. It is also defined as
the full equipping towards the successful carrying out of a mission. The “framing” of the United States
armed forces in the Persian Gulf Crisis tells us that they were furnished with
the quality and quantity of armaments, food, gear, and clothing that were
needed to furnish them a total victory.
q We
can see the supreme importance of the rhema word in ministry, and why ministry
must be always done within its realm. The rhema word of God always creates out
of what does not exist. Once that we
know this, we can believe for a person that has failing kidneys. If God has given us the rhema word that
pertains to the healing of the kidneys, we know that from what has no reality
and no physical essence, God will create what has content and essence, even if
means creating new kidneys. If we can
believe the rhema word of God at this spiritual level, we shall obtain the spiritual
title deed and see the miracle happen. This is part of the key to a signs and
wonders ministry.
q Secondly,
we know that every rhema word discerned and executed in a ministry encounter,
will completely equip and furnish all circumstances pertinent to the encounter
with the victories and blessings of the Lord.
If it is a deaf and dumb person that we are dealing with, we now have
the faith to believe that by the rhema word, the individual’s ears will be
totally equipped and furnished with all that is needed for the restoration of
normal hearing.
Hebrews
6:5 And have tasted the good rhema
word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
q
Greek: The rhema word of God brings the dunamis
power of the coming ages into this present one.
q
The
more that we can operate by the rhema word, the more will be the availability
of the glory and power of God that pertains to the coming world for us now, in
our ministry. Hallellujah!
God
Bless You,
Jose
Alvarez
The Complete
Greek New Testament Library
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