Faith to possess the nations

Ps. Anthony Kwesi Mensah
Sunday, July 10, 2022
Sunday Morning Joy Service at PIWC, Atomic

Read Hebrews 11:1-3, 29-34, and James 2:26.

Faith is central to the Christian life
The writer of the book of Hebrews devoted the whole of Chapter 11 to faith because he realized that faith is central to the Christian life. You must first believe that God exists and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him to be ushered into the life of faith. God is interested in his children releasing and activating their faith for the impossible.

As a child of God walking under faith, I shouldn’t be afraid of any situation. The vast array of examples of imperfect people who because of their faith have been canonized in the annals of faith is evidence that I can also do what they did.

Faith is absolute conviction of the word of God
The Greek philosophers thought of faith as a pistol. The Greek word is ‘pistis’, from which we get the English word ‘pistol’. Pistis is absolute conviction and absolute reliance on God and all his word says. You take the word of God as raw as it is without cooking or processing it. The more raw I take it, the more power it gives.

Further, faith is an implanted principle of inward confidence, trust, and reliance on God and all that he says in his word. Faith convinces the believer that the one whom he has believed is alive and shall deliver whatever he has said in his word. It gives us unwavering assurance and provokes our minds to be sure that whatever we believe is the truth.

The author of the book of Hebrews defined faith as the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith gives substance to your hope—that is, that whatever you are hoping for will become real and substantial by the exercise of your faith. Faith is that which holds everything we are hoping for together.

The substance is the essence—the reality and confidence of our belief. It becomes the support of what I hope for.

Two sides of faith—the legal and the vital
Faith has two sides, dimensions, or categories. Every type of faith falls under these two. The first is that it has a legal side—the law side of faith—while the second is the vital side.

The legal side of faith as the name suggests is the law dynamics of faith. The legal side of faith knows what the word of God says. It also believes that whatever the word of God says is true and really what God has said which is purely true and without corruption. We don’t get the full results of faith because we have abandoned the legal side of it. The answers to our prayers delay because we don’t pray according to the law of his word.

The vital side of faith is taking the word and putting it into action. You take what you know from the legal side and apply it. It comprises two parts—there is the testing side and the breakthrough side. The testing side is when everything is wrong and does not fall into alignment. Sometimes as you walk and it is as if there are lions on the path you are treading. However, after this period of testing comes the breakthrough. Your victory begins to break forth as you trust in God and his word alone.

Main references
Hebrews 11:1-3, 29-34, James 2:26