The Simplicity of Faith

The quality of light is clearly communicated to us when contrasted to its opposite, darkness. Likewise, faith comes across crisp and distinct because it can be contrasted with doubt, appearances and opposing circumstances. Faith is explained by what it is not, and its opposites are its food.

Faith’s relation to the invisible is perfectly illustrated in the visible. In the natural faith begins in something desirable which is available to us. On this foundation we speak our word of faith: “I want to do that”, “I am going there”. When we are doing the thing or have arrived at our destination faith has become substance. Every truth in the Bible or whatever desire that surfaces in us is approached in like manner.

What is set before us in the invisible we take by our word of faith, and the substance or inner knowing is communicated to us by the Spirit in His time, but we don’t know how the Kingdom buds in us. Faith is like a muscle. It is exercised by its opposites until it is mature and strong. Also emotions, feelings and reason will all in various degree contradict our word, but we remain in what we have taken by affirmation and our repeated confession. Kirkegaard captures all this perfectly:

“If I am capable of grasping God objectively, I do not believe, but precisely because I cannot do this I must believe. If I wish to preserve myself in faith I must constantly be intent upon holding fast the objective uncertainty so as to remain out upon the deep, over seventy thousand fathoms of water, still preserving my faith.”

Faith’s prime moments are in its exploits of the impossible. The birth of Jesus, Abraham receiving the son of promise and Joseph’s dream coming through all testify to that nothing is impossible to God, and these instances communicate hope and faith to us in our circumstances which quite often carry a flavor of the impossible.

Faith is simple. Jesus expressed faith’s pristine purity and simplicity when He said: “Only believe”. The difficult part is to make that leap of faith that takes us upon the deep treading seventy fathoms of water.

In the Classroom

As a math teacher, I deal with facts every day. Faith is also dealing with facts, and earlier today I made some observations concerning how some of my students relate to math and given challenges. The parallels to the spiritual are quite striking.

There are those who refuse to leave behind former patterns which they learned on a lower level and which on a higher level are pretty ineffective and will only in rare instances lead to the desired solution. The new procedure is in fact simpler than the old one, but the resistance towards receiving something new is great and the old in a sense provides a sensation of safety. Perhaps it was taught by a favorite teacher on the lower level.

Some dismiss perfect and valid answers because they cannot believe that the calculated solution in fact is the right one. They have done everything right, but feel the given number is wrong. It somehow doesn’t fit into their outlook - the fact doesn’t fit. It is as if they do not trust what the calculation yielded. The feeling is given greater weight that the actual fact. What do they do then? They make up a random number they feel is better and replace it with the right one.

Then we have those who in utter disbelief say that a given way towards a solution doesn’t seem logic and cannot be possibly true. “If I do this then that will happen? Nooo, that cannot be!” “If I speak a word of faith something will happen in accordance with that word? Nooooo! That cannot be.” In this state of denial they apply their own “homemade” method on a problem and that only produce frustration.

Math delusions are very common. Their origins are many and varied. They can stem from teachers whose lectures are confusing and unclear. Pupils can be taught dubious “doctrines” by teachers on the lower levels who themselves do not master all the ins and outs of math. Most common is, however, that students misunderstand and mix together various procedures, algorithms or ideas.

Just like the Spirit is flexible math is a flexible science because many problems can be solved in several ways. Not few times have I been surprised by students who have used three lines in order to arrive at a solution whereas I have strictly followed the procedure and perhaps used 10 lines before I arrive at the solution. To my defense: This works both ways, and in all humbleness mostly in my favor.

Like faith math can be likened to learning a new language. Diligence, persistence and patience will always pay off. The path towards the insight, knowledge or answer is a huge part of the solution or manifestation, if you like. The doubt whether you will actually make it, the disappointments, the wrong answers and the feelings of defeat and loss are all vital in the learning process. The main point is that the answer exists, the solution exists. It is a fact and existed even before you were thrown into the math or faith adventure.

It is those who give up who will never learn the new skill and who will never see the solution to the given problem. Math is merciless in this regard. Faith is in a sense also, because God is a rewarder of faith. What we take, we get.

In all this the teacher plays a key role as a motivator, driving force and faith injector, but he is limited by those who don’t want any help and those who sink down in apathy and self-pity. Some of those are, however, loved and encouraged back to “life”. What joy, what thrill when that happens!

The First Evidence

The centurion who Jesus praised for his great faith knew a thing or two about spiritual realities. He knew that when he spoke a word the thing was done. His spoken word was the first evidence of whatever he wanted done. His soldiers and servants would come and go and do in accordance with his word. It is not far fetched to say that he knew the power of words.

He also had a clear idea about that the reason why his words had power was because he himself was under authority and that this authority had endued him with power. His words would be void and of no effect if his authority wasn’t sanctioned by a higher authority. And because of this higher authority he never had to doubt whether his words would accomplish what he pleased or not. They would never return to him void.

How he had been able to transit this knowledge into an understanding of how spiritual laws work we do not know. Based on how he saw these things being worked out in his own office he evidently didn’t find it absurd that Jesus could only speak a word and his servant would be healed.

The centurion recognized that Jesus operated by the same principles as he did. His servants and soldiers didn’t basically obey him, but the authority of which he was subject. In a sense he was saying: “I can of myself do nothing.” The centurion’s nothingness (I am not worthy to have you come under my roof) was made into a somethingness by the power that operated by him, and which he had learned to operate in freedom. This further means that he didn’t lean on his words alone, but on that which was greater than him. The substance wasn’t so much in the words as it was in the authority above him.

The centurion’s humbleness comes clearly to expression by the fact that he boldly and without hesitation spoke his commands and wishes into existence and hence used the authority he was given as an ambassador for the higher authority. This in stark contrast to the disciples who at several occasions floundered when they could have spoken the releasing word. More than once Jesus disappointed and exasperated exclaimed: “Oh, you of little faith!”

The centurions “I” was in the forefront in whatever he did. “And I say to one....” He took things in the stride seemingly never wondering if he was speaking “out of himself or the Spirit”. That division didn’t exist in his consciousness. From his own words it seems pretty clear that he didn’t stop short because of the following question: “Wonder if I am in the will of my authorities now?” He was the will of the authorities just like Jesus was the will of the Father.

“Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” was Jesus’ final words to the centurion.

Cycling Downhill

Cycling home from work I met a little boy, perhaps five years old, on his bike going downhill. He had a strained expression in his face, his eyes looked scared and very concentrated and the entire bike was unsteady and his body seemed stiff.

I thought about myself with which ease I handled my bike. Nothing strained about my cycling, save I could have been in a better shape. In contrast to him I have plenty of experience and am a seasoned cyclist.

Then lightning struck and the little boy became an example of me when the Spirit is teaching me a new thing like for instance speaking words of faith concerning things I would like to see happen. I am just as unsteady as that little boy often scared of making mistakes or falling off the “bike”.

But, the point is: The little boy was on the bike! He was “there”! He was doing it!

Substance

That I died with or in Christ must be taken literally. However, I didn't notice any death on the body and soul level. So, it must have been my spirit that died, and in the same now it died it was resurrected to newness of life (the time aspect is perhaps of less interest since in the fourth dimension there is no time). This clearly proves that it is our spirits that run the whole machinery, and that what takes place on that level is too deep for us except in rare glimpses.

No wonder we are called to live by faith since everything spring forth from the spiritual realm which is somehow hidden from us, but we penetrate it by faith and we operate it by faith and by the words we speak. In the midst of this symphony we find the Holy Spirit as the Great Conductor joined to our spirits causing us to walk in His ways.

Dying with Christ means that all the old were cut off by the root, but I am still me. Seemingly nothing has changed, but all is changed. It isn’t an improved me. It is something completely new - something never seen before. Life has become an eternal exploration journey in order to find the depths of this change only to find it is bottomless.

We learn from the Bible that faith is substance. Substance is something that exists. When I became saved something took place too deep for me to see or understand. It was true that I was saved - it was substance - it was a fact. However, in the beginning I was still wavering often doubting wondering whether I was saved or not. I held it fast in faith, though, and my confession was that I was saved. One day the substance I had taken in faith came back and took me and it became an inner knowing. That I am saved is never an issue anymore.

Then I learned I was free from the law. It was true - it was substance, but again I went through the same motions of doubt, wavering and confessing. It took a while but suddenly one day I knew that I was absolutely free from its demands and ordinances. And when I took that I am righteous in Christ exactly the same pattern repeated itself. It was true - it existed in the spiritual realm - I took it by faith and confessed that it was so until it was settled in me. That I am in a union with God operating as one person is no exception from this way of taking something in faith, and what I take in faith will ultimately come back and take me because it is substance.

It should be pretty evident from the above that this also is the way of faith for every need, or whatever desire that wells up in us or whatever promise we receive. We take that thing in faith because it exists ("Before you call I will answer") and we call it into existence. But, there is a struggle involved - the struggle to enter His rest concerning whatever we stand in. And there is doubt - plenty of it. Furthermore, we experience minor or great setbacks in the natural, but in faith we see the thing as done and we confess it is so against all appearances, and when we are faithless God is faithful.

Judges 20 tells the peculiar story about Israel being promised victory of the Benjamins, but nevertheless had to endure two major setbacks and defeats before the great victory. Their confusion and sadness is almost tangible after each defeat, but God pushed them onwards because God is always upwards: Life swallows up death, faith swallows up doubt, the positive swallows up the negative and victory swallows up defeat. Always is He tempting us upwards to see that we are two operating as one. His promise to the Israelites is our promise: What He has begun He will finish.

No word of faith is spoken alone, no prayer prayed as apart from Him. He is the Alpha and Omega - the instigator and finisher. Praying isn’t our souls reaching up to Him, but He reaching down moving our souls into action by this or that word or prayer. His great delight is to operate by His sons and see them in action. We do so always with a wink, because we know it is Him by and as us.

Confession is important because words are important. Jesus is called the Word for this precise reason. Our spirit attitude will manifest in what we speak or say. That’s just how it is. God is a rewarder of faith exactly because faith takes hold of substance as witnessed by our words.

On the spirit level every word, every promise Jesus left us is true. For instance I can say that I have peace and joy because that is substance - it is true, without having any peace or joy on the soul level or appearance level.

I am a spirit.....I am.

Hearing the Still Small Voice

Something stirs in me when I see sisters and brothers in Christ still caught up in law no matter how subtle it is. God is constantly calling us to come up higher - to leave behind the elementary teachings and enter new mansions in faith as the Spirit opens up our inner eyes to new and unchartered spiritual sceneries.

I notice that many still see God as apart from them, and one of the consequences of having this inner outlook is that we strain our ears to hear God’s still small voice. We are taught that in order to be obedient to God and His voice that somehow comes to us from outside ourselves we have to learn to be quiet, take no thought, there must be no fear in us because it overrides God’s voice (ergo our fear is greater than God which is nonsense) etc etc. We all start out here, because this is how God comes to us in the beginning, that is, as apart from us. But, there is a better way. It is what Paul called the obedience of faith. Simply put it is doing the next thing and trusting it is God.

In John 8 Jesus outlines what hearing is and how this hearing is spontaneously, without any effort on our part, expressed by our lives in every now. “I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father” (John 8:38). The Pharisees trouble was that they were completely blinded to that they expressed what they heard from their father (the spirit of error). A hearing hidden from them, but nevertheless, operative in them. Jesus even said that their desire was to do the will of their father. Something they of course vehemently denied.

Since the Pharisees heard without hearing, as it were, this evidently must be true also about those who belong to Christ. We hear and see what our Father speaks and is doing and by faith we speak and do accordingly. It is a very spontaneous thing. And like the Pharisees, our desire is to do the will of our Father whether we know it is so or not. The Pharisees were blinded to this, and so are we when we start out on our faith walk. Appearances and sense-knowledge are the beacons we navigate after in the beginning. But these things have to be brought down by the Spirit as we are brought to faith only.

Not few of us face difficulties with our prayer life and we find it also hard to speak words of faith often afraid of the results, and we are also wavering because we think that it is “only us.” This has been a lifelong battle for me, and I find only one way out of this battle and that is in simple obedience of faith saying that it is all Him by me.

My present outlook is thus: God is responsible for the results, not I. And if He wants to look like a fool because I see no results in the visible that is His problem, not mine. My stance is that He prays by me and He speaks His words of faith as me. Anything less than that causes unrest and confusion in my consciousness. To step into the obedience of faith when it comes to these things can be a bit unnerving in the beginning, but the Spirit pushes me onwards.

Paul encourages us to cast our burdens on God which of course means that the burden of prayer, words of faith and results are on Him. The heat is on Christ, not the vessels. It is very tempting to say that something is wrong with us when the answer lingers or the result seemingly fails to appear. Please don’t take that! Christ is working His faith by us, and we cannot say that His faith has failed in accomplishing whatever we have prayed or spoken. The faith heroes of old are our example if we are seemingly confronted with a “failure”: These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar (Hebr 11:13). And then we have Abraham who waited 25 years for God to fulfill the promise He had declared to him.

I do not pray because I have to pray. I do not listen intently in order to know what my Father is up to. If I pray or not pray it is Him. What I do next is Him. This is the oneness Jesus spoke about which was true about Him, and which is true about me too because I am also a son. That God in a sense has made Him available to us is beyond comprehension. Likewise, that He lets His sons be an active part of running His business. Grace upon grace – love too grand to comprehend.

As we are increasingly established in our oneness with God another way of listening comes into play. The Spirit begins teaching us to listen to what we say as a way of finding out what God is up to. God spoke this universe into existence by a word. The foolishness of God is this very thing that we speak substance into existence by our words or confessions. Of course, it is not us, but God speaking as us, yet it is us calling things into existence that are not as if they were. Words that expand the universe and penetrate the invisible. Words that move God. Words that activate all the power of God. Words that open up a way where there is no way. Words that call the impossible into existence.

By faith, just like Sarah, we receive power to conceive (Hebr 11:11).

Becoming Settled - An Exchange between Harriet Wearren and Ole Henrik

Ole Henrik: When you had spoken your word concerning your marriage did you often wrestle with doubt in regards to that you actually had heard from God and had spoken His word?

Harriet: I did, but the same words of faith kept coming back in my head so finally I became settled that the word was from God!  But, you know it went on for a long, long time, so I had a lot of practice in replacing what appeared to be with the word God had given me. And I might add it was not all bliss!! Sometimes I was berserk with all that was going on with us, but would go back to my word. It was very up and down in the appearance realm. It took me to hell and killed me!!! Eventually it was settled in me and I rose!!!

OH: Standing in faith for something is a very lonely affair, isn't it?

Harriet: Right, but it makes us stronger and things learned there, can be gotten no other way!!! It is walking through the valley of the shadow of death or going to the Promised Land, do we see the giants or do we see God!

OH: What is faith actions? Is it to believe against appearances? Is it to do a particular thing?

H: A specific word is to believe against the appearances. We live by faith and we walk by faith, so how the Holy Spirit lives through us is His business. I usually just take no thought or notice unless he gets my attention to something. Simply believing never seems like we are doing enough, because we are used to doing and fixing things. But when you think about it, when we stand on a word of faith, we are activating the power of the Holy Spirit or all the power of God!!! That is doing the most!

OH: What about all these hard days we go through? The sadness etc?

H: Just know that your tough days and rivers of sadness and crying are designed by God for you! It is through these times that God fixes us in what we believe! Norman used to talk about....commission ,cost and completion. Commission is the word we get from God to believe for something, the cost is our tough days, sadness, etc. - the price we pay, and completion comes from the other side, from God. Your faith is swallowed up in knowing that it is finished, before you even see evidence. We do know the voice of the shepherd....trust Him. You are not just you, you are a spirit joined to Him, so it can't be just fooling yourself. He is bigger than we are, He will get His point across!

OH: I have noticed one thing: I am stretched far beyond my comfort zone concerning the things I say. I can for instance not say "if" "what if" or "but", I can only say "when" and that really takes me out on "thin" ice.....And I feel discomfort when I am that bold and say..."When I..." "When this happens....".....and I feel this discomfort because I am far outside my comfort zone....my safety zone......

H: Funny how God loves to get us outside our comfort zone, or sometimes we say outside our zipcode!

OH: What about doubt?

H: The wonderful thing that we know and can trust is that we are no longer for ourselves, we are for others!! And, of course doubts do come and further down the road you will see that they are what make us stronger. When we stand against appearances we become more solid in our word of faith. The gates of hell will not prevail against it! He will not let you sink!!

When I am doubting, sometimes a verse will pop in my head and quite often it is the one in Timothy....."Even when we believe not, He abideth faithful, for He will not deny Himself!" (In me).  And I also know that the doubt is for something constructive..  Because God is always upward!!  "If I ask my father for bread, He will not give me a stone!"

Binding and Loosing

By DeeDee Winter

This was originally written to a friend who asked about a spouse….

You asked about “binding and loosing”…it is simply what we 'say' about a person or situation. We either hold/bind them or free/loose them by our word...what we say about them and their situation. An example would be a friend with a drinking problem. I can say, "She is an alcoholic and that is all she will ever be" or I can say, "She is not an alcoholic...Christ is her life and He knows the way through for her". The first holds her there...binds...and the second frees her to the Life within her and Christ revealing the freedom in His finished work of the Cross that is hers.

We may have many more times when outward evidence (the appearance) screams at us that what we said and are believing for her is rubbish. Never mind that. It is good practice and only strengthens our word. As we come to know the “still small voice” within ourselves and begin to truly 'hear' His voice we understand that our word is really agreeing with what He has spoken in our heart. His voice and our desires, which are His also, accomplish all He has for our friend.

How does this apply to our unsaved ones? I think we would begin by stating the basic truths. Even if a person is unsaved the Gospel of John in the first few verses states that there IS “the light that lighteth every man who comes into the world” residing in him. That light is Christ. For the born-again we see Christ as their life; for those who have not yet received Him we see Him in His un-lit, so to say, form….like a pilot light verses a full flame.

See nothing less than the truth about that person. It is very difficult to say that a person is unsaved…unless they would say that about themselves. We can never know just what goes on in a person’s heart and mind. That is totally between him and the Holy Spirit. So many churches judge by standards that are far from Biblical standards. Don’t be held by any denominational teachings….God is not! He judges the heart. There is even a passage in Romans 2:14-16 where Paul gives a wide birth to folks of many different religions or no ‘religion’ at all. It was transformative to me when the Spirit illuminated this Romans passage to me some years ago.

You also pose the question about our spouses who are His, but who do not ‘see’ their union with God. For your husband or wife stand that he or she IS in union with Christ Jesus and that he or she is only expressing the life of Christ…sometimes even in a negative form. “There You are, Lord.” The Spirit will reveal his or her oneness/union in due time…when he or she is ready. Many times they are held in their unknowing in order that we might get settled in faith. Meanwhile know that God is accomplishing eternal glories in these negatives …nothing wasted…all meant for good!

I was raised Catholic and came to know the Lord through the baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1974. God revealed union to me in 1980. My husband has been a Christian since he was a young child, but wanted little to do with Catholicism or the baptism of the HS. But when God took me the next step into union Gary saw something different about me. Since then he has been fully supportive of me in every way, but is not one to go to Bible studies or sit around and talk doctrine…but he LIVES Christ. From the day that I saw Christ as my life, I had to say the same about him…that Christ was his life and the fact that he did NOT want to go to Bible studies or sit around and talk about what he believed was God’s way/life in Gary. As I began to see him rightly he became even more fully his wonderful, God-created self! My judgments of him had held him in some places that were less that what God had for us both.

This is a perfect example of binding and loosing. I was well-trained in the deliverance ministry in my charismatic days and my new understanding of binding and loosing was far superior to what we had been taught. Our statements of FAITH bind OR loose a person.

A brilliant truth Norman Grubb imparted to us was “the greater the negative, the greater the positive”. Just as a pebble in a slingshot is thrust forward farther (positive) when it is pulled farther back (negative) so are our circumstances of life. As we begin to see this and trust God in these right negatives, we will begin to be excited when they surface. We will begin to say, “Well, Lord, here You are. Now let’s see just how You are going to bring good from this!!!” WE will be transformed as well as the object of our faith!

That's Called Grace

The following is from an email exchange.

Q: I would like to know your thoughts and advice on the following.

We have a new spirit and a new heart, so our souls are a pure expression of the indwelling spirit. So we should never say that we constantly sin in many unconscious ways during the day. The approach is that we only accept sin as the Spirit reveals so.

The only possibility to sin is when we don’t live according to the faith of the Son of God (Gal. 2:20). So unbelief is the only possibility to sin and may come to us along the lines the illusion of an independent self-life or giving in to temptation.

A: I honestly do not see sin anymore. It isn't in my consciousness any longer as something I can do whether by this or that, or as something I do determined by whether I believe or not believe. Christ is my faith so how can I ever be found in unbelief? You know, Jesus was tempted in every way but without sinning. I say that is true about me too (My personal word of faith concerning this. I cannot say that word for you. That is something you have to do for yourself). Why? Because the sin spirit is kicked out and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth who was in Jesus is in me, and it is God who directs and orders my steps. We learn by and by that temptation is an asset. It is God’s way of settling us into Himself.

Q: In your correspondence with Fred I read:
In a way, temptation comes two ways most of the time. A temptation “up,” to see “this thing” as God and in God and at work for Divine purposes out of our inner oneness; or a temptation “down” in which our sight is locked into the temporal appearance as something in itself and “we” as “something in our selves” (separation) responding to this “thing” as if it is outside God, along with us outside God, too. Alone.

I do not grasp these two ways of ‘up’ and ‘down’ well. Would you be so kind to clarify it somewhat and give an example of both.

A: I also struggled a while with what Fred wrote me, but it is much clearer to me now. Assume you were put in a situation that to all appearances look like a disaster, and even challenge your last remnants of morality (we have to learn we are inner driven people, and God has His ways of accomplishing that). In that position you will be drawn in two directions. Either seeing the thing as your fault, that you are to blame for what happened or take place because you have acted irresponsible or something like that. That is the temptation downwards, that is, to see yourself alone apart from God doing your own damned thing. But, there is also an upward pull/temptation from God to see your situation in faith as His perfect situation for you into which He has taken you for His love purposes.

Q: May we call the upward pull a ‘temptation’ because God tempts nobody?

A: Words are of minor importance in this context. Call it upward pull or upward temptation or whatever. Deep down you know what this is. In a sense we can even say that God tempted us to receive Jesus.

Q: If I can never be found in unbelief, how can I ever come in Romans 7 again?

A: In my Father's house there are many mansions, that is, levels of faith which when faith is consummated become levels of consciousness. These consciousnesses are something the Spirit gives us when we are ready. One day we step into a consciousness where Romans 7 is only a vague memory and we are never again worried about going back to the law. We forget the former things and our inner word is: My meat is to do the will of the Father.

Q: If God shows my unbelief then He shows me because it was there and I was not aware of it. It was there unconsciously while I lived up to that moment in the knowledge to be a pure expression of Him, while that was not the case because of my unbelief.

A: My friend, you always are and always have been a pure expression of Him ever since you received Christ. Our baby days are not counted against us. They are a part of growing up. That's all. One day you will to your surprise find that Christ was your faith and did things in faith as you even in those days when you thought you were in unbelief and didn't recognize His faith working in you. That's called grace.

This faith of Christ that works in us is not under any law. We cannot set the ways of the Spirit by us in stone. God always drives us to reach for the impossible so that His faith in us can be stretched and exercised causing us in increasing measure to live by what we not see. It was Norman Grubb who said: Be a grabber of the impossible and not a nibbler of the possible. Welcome to the adventure!

Christ Speaking As Me

By Clint Freeman and Ole Henrik Skjelstad

Moses and the burning bush is a type of how God speaks out of us. We all speak words of faith concerning a matter, both consciously and unconsciously. Christ’s faith is operative in us and as us and the Spirit speaks by us, as promised. By faith recognition we come to affirm what the Spirit has shown us concerning this.

A marvelous word that confirms this is 2 Corinthians 13:3 (KJV) "Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty in you"

The Amplified version really brings it out!!

"Since you desire and seek [perceptible] proof of the Christ Who speaks in and through me. [For He] is not weak and feeble in dealing with you, but is a mighty power within you;"

Here is the thing, the word "IN" in this scripture is Strong’s #1722 and according to the exhaustive concordance (http://biblesuite.com/greek/1722.htm) it can also be translated "AS"!!! Mark 2:15 is an example: "And (G2532) it came to pass, (G1096) that, as (G1722) Jesus (G846) sat,…"

So back to the original 2 Corinthians 13:3 (KJV); we can in fact translate it like this:

"Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking AS (1722) me, which to you-ward is not weak, but is mighty AS (1722) you!" Another possible translation is: "Christ speaking BY me"

Faith is Substance

What does it mean that faith is substance? It must first of all mean that faith is an entity apart from anything else whether it is emotions, appearances, circumstances or whatever tangible or intangible we can imagine. Faith has its own particular life, not moved by anything. It is like a bright star shining of its own accord.

Peter walking on water is a faith illustration pointing to that the only thing that kept him from sinking was faith. The substance to carry Peter’s weight was not in the water. The water represents that there is nothing apart from faith that is substance. We like to find substance in perhaps an inner knowing, in peace, an inner seeing, in some sort of confirming emotion, in some sort of inner or outer experience or we look for signs that will give us some measure of substance. But, faith is found in none of these. Its substance is apart from all that. Yet, faith is swallowed up in knowing it is finished, even before we see any evidences.

But, nevertheless, faith is in us and as us. We walk in faith every day, but the paradox is that faith is also a choice – a commitment to something.

Faith also has this quality that it leaves reason in ruins, but yearns to be man’s reason.

Doubt and faith go hand in hand. Doubt is faith’s sparring partner training the faith muscle by its negatives and reverse motions. Faith yearns to be challenged, to be exercised and to be tried against the impossible. The nature of faith is that it rejoices when everything seems utterly hopeless and impossible, because it is the substance of the thing and thus knows it exists against whatever testimony to the contrary.

Faith does not make us its slaves; instead it becomes our servant in the will of God. We cannot find faith, but faith finds us and asks us to receive it so that it can be used by the one to whom it offers itself, and faith attracts to itself the secrets of God so that they are revealed to the one who has faith (to those much given more will be given).

Faith is a response to the Word of God either by how He speaks to us in the Bible concerning who we are or how we respond to His promises, or how He speaks personally to each and every one of us concerning a matter. Like with Mary God always takes the initiative and we receive in faith what He wants to do by us, and His commandments are not burdensome, because we will what He wills. But, faith is also found in: "What do you want me to do for you?"

I once had a question in regards to faith which I addressed to the Spirit. I asked Him how I was to know whether my faith was true or not. He said: “Everything you speak is true.” I didn’t understand what He meant right away. But, later I was reminded about Jesus’ words: “According to your faith be it unto you.” In a sense we speak into existence our own truth. Either a “truth” of bondage or a truth of liberty. Either a “truth” according to reason or a truth according to spiritual realities.

Faith is also a consciousness: It doesn’t spring forth from our thoughts which are the wisdom of man. It springs forth from a consciousness higher than ours and which we now partake from and are one with. Faith generates thoughts, but thoughts cannot generate faith.

Clouds That Dim Our Vision

We can easily store up an impressive conceptual knowledge-base about faith and mean a lot about it without knowing what it really is. It is my clear conviction that faith can only be learned in the school of faith in which we are given a faith commission which results in human terms would be said to be utterly impossible to achieve. Not least because we might experience that we are stretched to the limits in the sense that the thing cannot possibly come into being by any human means.

Yesterday it was almost as I could behold faith while I in an odd way was standing outside myself, and I saw how it is purified and "cleansed" by the different challenges we face in a faith commission. Circumstances, appearances, darkness, a rich variety of emotions and suffering are all sent our way so that we learn that we do not find faith in any of those. In that glimpse I saw faith as something (Someone) apart from all those things, but, nevertheless, one with us.

Further, I saw faith as something inner - an inner consciousness of some sort - an inner knowing apart from all those outer things. It is so tempting to read and interpret "the signs" in these outer things in which we are walking, but they carry no weight whatsoever. They are only clouds that dim our vision, whereas faith is clear as daylight and shine in the dimness and we see it and follow it, even when we not “see” it.

And when our vision fails, Christ, nevertheless, walks steady on and suddenly as out of nothing when our eyes are again opened we are surrounded by a new landscape taken there by the One who is our life.

“I have been thinking all morning about what you said about "signs" dimming our vision, but they carry no weight, whereas faith is what we are drawn toward!  Isn't it just amazing ......because we are spirit people, we cannot be satisfied with flesh answers!” (Harriet Wearren)

Another aspect of this which Harriet pointed out: We once in our unredeemed state were slaves of the visible and the tangible. Now, however, we are slaves of the invisible. Of course, the carnal mind - the flesh - still prefers the old state of things. But, we are constantly nudged upwards to leave behind (take off the grave clothes) these elementary things and speak our words of faith with boldness into the invisible seeing the thing as done and expect it to manifest in the visible. As spirit people we are irrevocably drawn into the invisible, because the invisible is the Real from which all things originate.

One last thing: Remember we are calling into existence things that be not as if they were. There are no formulas or precepts to follow. Some will find it peculiar that we have this inner drive to speak our word again and again – often several times a day, that is, repeatedly confessing the thing as done and thanking it is so. If so, that is not unbelief or doubt. It is the Spirit’s way with us. Again, remember, we are calling things into existence. In other instances we might speak the word once and almost forget about it. The inner law of the Spirit is what determines the route – not methods.

Yes, there is a price to pay. There are costs and you might be killed a couple of times before you see the completion. But, the Spirit is persistent and determined to see this through by the sons, and we will prevail. God will pull us through, because it is His battle.

We enroll into this school of faith by speaking our word of faith knowing that faith starts in desire. And from where does desire come? Who is it that makes us to will and act according to His good pleasure? Step out of the boat and be prepared to sink a couple of times……

Newness of Life

By Nancy Thompson

Organized church become cults when the love and salvation of the institution (its beliefs, values and traditions) becomes paramount to the love and salvation of the individual. All its ‘good’ works become tainted and subsumed to the former while ignoring the latter. What this does to persons is to enslave them once more to the ‘basic principles of the world’. ‘We are in the world but not of it’.

“I am the Alpha and Omega”. There is a beginning and end to everything, for God Himself, is its beginning and end. Participation in God’s own house, not built with human hands, becomes free when this is recognized. Nothing remains the same.

Instead of being sad, we become joyful. “See, I am doing a new thing”. And being participants as new creatures in a new creation, we live, love and laugh in all this newness and see that God is All and in All.

Only Believe

Yesterday I was reminded about the three men (the trinity) who came to Abraham, had a meal with him and encouraged him in his personal faith commission. It struck me that it is no different today. God comes disguised as persons He sends our way - who cross our path, and who encourage us in our faith walks. In other words, hearing them speaking words of wisdom and encouragement is God speaking as them, and this revelation or insight gives tremendous weight to their words. And it has to be this way since we so often are wrestling with doubt.

Not everyone who crosses our path is a positive. We will encounter our share of negatives who doubt us and who question our commission. But, they are also sent of God to test our faith, to test our commitment, to strengthen our faith, to press us into faith, and, not least, to press us into God. More than that; this opposition, as it were, will in the long run produce a wonderful fruit: we come to learn that it is God’s own faith we are exercising.

But, what is our part in a faith commission? We have been given a word, and we cannot help it; it wells up in us on a daily basis. This welling up is nothing less than the kind of hearing Jesus outlined in John 8. It is a faith hearing. Outside faith we think it is only ourselves, but faith sees this as a flow from Spirit to spirit. A spontaneous thing in other words. It is not like that we have to strain our ears to hear what God has to say to us. He is much greater than that. He will get His point across and it will be totally natural. Okay, so what is our part?

In several instances Jesus said: “Only believe.” He didn’t say: “Believe and do your part” or “Believe and make some faith action”. Our basic modus operandi is one of fixing stuff. We are so used to taking “responsibility” and to handling things ourselves, that Jesus’ words: “Only believe,” seems, well, too simple. But, there we have it in plain simplicity: Only believe.

But, of course, like Abraham we feel we have to aid God. So we create some Ishmaels, but they are a part of the learning curve. No need to take any condemnation for those. They are necessary negatives to press us into the positive which works by God’s abilities and His ways, which we surprisingly find are our ways since there is no separation of wills between us and God. That we are giving up our way is merely an illusion, because there is only one will and one way and we are walking it every day.

We notice that God didn’t rebuke Abraham for his Ishmael, and neither does He rebuke any of us for ours. He knows only one thing about His sons: This is my son in whom I am well pleased.

We are now going to have a closer look at what I call the circle. In our first great faith commission given us by God we often start out by saying that we have spoken OUR word. However, this idea has to die. Again, a death is involved in this process until we say we have spoken HIS word. Through this we get a feeling of losing ourselves, and we certainly come to know our nothingness by it.

At this point we are only halfway through the circle. What comes next is a most glorious thing. It is the emerging of the son who has taken possession of his inheritance. It is the one in whom Christ is fully formed. He says: I have spoken my word, and it is done. The I returns. But, it is a knowing I. It is an I that see no separation. When it hears itself speak it hears God speaking. God has totally filled the vacuum the nothingness created in the person. When Abraham came to this point of knowing He said: “I and the lad will return!”

Allow me a small digression: There is no future tense in the Hebrew language. Thus I believe Abraham said: “The lad and I are returned.” The thing is done!

Faith is a indeed a choice. It is a commitment to something. It is a joining of hands with God in something that is far bigger than us. And this commitment is so serious that we say the thing has happened even though we see no results in the visible. In a sense it is a contract between us and God, and God cannot lie.

Words of Faith and Hearing God

By Linda Bunting

Ole Henrik:  I assume you have spoken several words of faith of which some have been easy to speak and you have most likely forgotten all about them rather swiftly, whereas others must have cost you a lot both in waiting, opposing circumstances, suffering and travail. Concerning the "difficult" ones; what was the greatest challenge for you after you had spoken the word?

Linda: The greatest challenge to me after I had spoken a word of faith in a general way about the problem was that I heard the Spirit answer with a promise that my word was fulfilled.

His total healing HAD come for us.

For 2 years after that every outer appearance screamed at me that it was not true, but at the same time I would remember Norman's precious words through the years; "Dahling, This is just a little mist on the mountain." Somehow, miraculously, the appearances became small in contrast to the God who had promised, and better yet, HAD ALREADY FULFILLED HIS PROMISE. Not was going to, but had already done it.

Exercising faith is like exercising a muscle. At first it’s easy and doesn't hurt, then comes the ache and pain; BUT as the muscle proves its strength, ease comes and we no longer have to struggle. Same with faith!

Ole Henrik: You heard the Spirit answer with a promise? Did you literally hear His voice or was it more like that He gave you a personal promise from the Bible? Yeah, appearances have a way of screaming at us.....

Linda: No promise from the bible. It was not the first time it had happened to me. I was talking to DeeDee one day about Kim and Karen and the small voice said in my head and heart; "I have healed her." I told DeeDee I had to hang up ... I had just had a word from the Lord.

I immediately said back to Him, how have you healed her? He said "Spirit, soul and body." I am referring to my youngest who had been on Heroin etc. From childhood she also had a tendency to have mood swings.

With that word, I knew God had spoken. But as I said, the next two years’ appearances raged against what I had heard.

But one day, out of nowhere, she called and asked to come home.

The last 4 years have been blessings beyond anything I could have ever hoped to even ask for.

Years and years ago, the same problem presented itself to another one of my children.

I heard it over the TV at that time. I immediately called Harriet to tell her, because I knew if I didn't tell it, I would begin to doubt myself and what I had heard. Just that! I wasn't even interested in what I was watching... in fact it was an advertisement ... but the Spirit overrode my brain and spoke in my spirit saying: "John is NOT an alcoholic." Two nights before he was drunk on my kitchen floor ... the next morning I was telling about his condition, that he was going nowhere in life and needed to go to AA. So when the 'WORD' came IN me, I had to rise up to what the Spirit was about to do in both of us.

I had told my child everything I could think of on the appearances of his problem. But after hearing that word I had to write him a letter telling him the truth about himself and what had been accomplished for him at Calvary. That he was no longer a slave to alcohol etc. He was perfect in God’s sight, but that it was not good enough for God to know it: God would not stop until he knew it about himself.

A year later the same appearance happened and when my accusing finger went up,
John, my son, spoke right back to me saying. ... "Mother, have you forgotten what God told you in His promise?"

Well, that shut me up and all these years later, alcohol hardly ever touches his lips and he is well adjusted in his faith journey.

Need I say more!

Ole Henrik: Many of us have heard God speaking to us, but then doubt overwhelms us and we dismiss what we have heard as if it is a product of our imagination.

Linda: No imagination here, darling, for we are spirit people. What God speaks, although faint at first, we sheep hear and know His voice! Right? Right!

(DeeDee is DeeDee Winter who runs the normangrubb.com website. Norman is Norman Grubb. Harriet is Harriet Wearren who is Linda’s neighbor and good friend. Linda runs the christasus.com website. Both DeeDee and Harriet have contributed with magnificent articles on this blog. DeeDee on the rightness of our souls, and Harriet on faith. Linda's children mentioned in this article have given their permission to have their stories on print.)

Leveled up with the Son

By Linda Bunting

Ole Henrik: You once made a brief talk which you called: “Coming back as YOU.” What was your main idea in that talk?

Linda: The stress put on us to 'be like Jesus' ... and 'what would Jesus do' and all the other suggestions to put us up against Jesus, much less BE Jesus, are misdirected and deny us our own personhood. We were created to be who WE are, no two of us alike.

It infers that someone had thought up a code or life style that would become the model for us to follow. Let’s take a look at Jesus, son of man, to see how he lived. He had no one to follow because he boldly said: "Of myself, I can do NOTHING." "As I see the Father do, I do." Take that in!!! "OF MYSELF, I CAN DO NOTHING" "As I see the FATHER DO, I DO!!

If he lived knowing that within his humanity, he could not produce one act, and that he was solely dependent on the Spirit within (which was Holy) then who are we to think we are left alone to 'act' a certain way.

The point of Jesus coming in human form, in the first place, was to bring MANY sons unto glory. He came to take the place of who we were, and placed within us His Holy Spirit that leveled us up with Him in sonship.

Now that we are a family of sons, Jesus being our older brother, why are we held in the bondage of a great lie telling us we are to be like him?

What would your father say if you came daily asking him IF he was really sure that you were his son; much worse that you did not want to be yourself, but the elder brother in the family. Your father would weep saying ... I don't want 2 of him, I want YOU ... to be who you are.

My eldest son did his work which was final and finished.

Now it is your turn to take your place as a son. Rise, take your inheritance and use it wisely. And exactly what does that mean, but to watch daily by faith (which IS how Jesus lived) to see how the Spirit will live out His life in your mortal flesh. Only He knows how to die and rise again and again as us.

When Jesus said "Don't you know ye are gods, to whom the word of the Lord comes" he was speaking of our level of sonship.

In a recent bible study a friend, alarmed by hearing that statement, brought up the point of us leveling ourselves up with God, to which my reply was "NEVER EVER the transcendent God, but FOREVER the immanent God. We didn't rise up, He came down and filled us with Himself .... Little gods, with our spirit joined to His Holy Spirit. Filled, made perfect to fill up that which is behind of the sufferings of Christ

What is Faith by Harriet Wearren

Ole Henrik: What is faith?

Harriet: I am thinking about it, but it is hard to explain. We have the verses: Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (What a contradiction when you look at it with physical sight). Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Then we have the strong verses in Hebrews 11.

It has always been easy to speak a word of faith for someone's salvation and know that God will bring it about. In one of our meetings, years ago I really heard the verse Romans 4:17, about Abraham calling the things that are not, as though they are. It pricked me at the time, but I did not really understand it.

Sometime later, I hit a stone wall in my marriage. Things were awful and I felt that God presented me with the verse to do as Abraham and call into being that which did not exist. I stepped out, by faith, saying our marriage was whole and complete. Everything then went the opposite....to hell!  But God showed me to trust him and know that I walked by faith and not by sight!

When things looked particularly hopeless, the verse I hung onto was "Let God be true and every man a liar". I knew that I might go to my grave saying my marriage was whole, but never seeing anything tangible. You know, Ole, I only told a few people as I ventured out. I felt it was between God and me and I did not take that lightly. I must say, as I spoke these words over and over, and knew that God was fully able to do this but I just had to trust Him, however it went.

The up and down of all of it really killed me, and I thought, though you slay me, yet will I trust you, I felt I had nothing else. Something happened in me and made me solid in what I had entrusted to God, long before I saw any evidence that the marriage would survive. It made me strong, and really showed me that appearances will lie to me, but God is true and is in charge.