Faith in God and faith of God (mountain-moving faith)
In Mark 11:12-24 Jesus on His way to Jerusalem was hungry and looked for figs on a tree. He found none, and proceeded to curse the fig tree. The tree withered, and Peter, the adventurous disciple who had a penchant for doing what he saw his master doing, wondered out loud how Jesus did it.
- Mark 11:22 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. 23 "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
The secret to this miracle, and in fact perhaps all his miracles, is to "have faith in God." Of course we must have faith in God. We need to have this kind of faith twenty-four hours a day; we must trust God to save us, to deliver us, to provide for us, to lead us, to teach us, and so on. We trust God to keep His promises to us; we pray with faith in God. Without faith in God we are indeed completely without hope. But this does not offer us any special insight for casting out a demon or healing the sick. If we look at the Greek manuscript behind this English translation, we find an alternate translation. The literal translation is in fact, "have the faith of God." What does that mean?
Does God have faith? What is faith?
- Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
Was God sure and certain when He said, "Let there be light" that it would really come to pass? Did he have any doubt that the light would come into being when He commanded it to be? Yes, He was certain and did not doubt that what He spoke would come to pass. This is precisely the "faith of God (mountain-moving faith)." Jesus Christ also had this faith when he performed his miracles. When He commanded healing or demons to come out, He spoke with full assurance, certainty, and without any doubt that what He said would happen. He spoke with full authority. And believers have been given a measure of authority by Him to heal and cast out demons.
When the disciples tried to cast out the demon from the boy in Matthew 17:14-20, they failed to exercise the faith of God (mountain-moving faith). They were not sure that the demon would come out in the name of Jesus. They essentially doubted their authority already given by Jesus over demons. And so they spoke to the demon without authority, and the demon refused to come out. Only words spoken with the "faith of God (mountain-moving faith)" release the power and authority that is already ours as believers in Christ.There are at least two kinds of faith. "Faith in God" is without argument the most important kind of faith, without which we cannot even enter the kingdom of God. We must have this kind of faith continually and persistently. In contrast, the "faith of God (mountain-moving faith)" is for special use only. It is not for prayer; it is for ministry. It is for healing the sick, casting out demons, and doing miracles in the name of Jesus for the glory of the Father. It is for preaching the gospel with public power encounters as a testimony to the gospel so that sinners will be saved. In our prayer closet, we exercise faith in God. When we come out we no longer pray, but rather we wage war against the enemy by destroying his works---by proclaiming the kingdom of God and healing the sick. We destroy the works of the devil with the faith of God (mountain-moving faith). We speak healing to the sick with great authority and boldness, without any doubt. And miracles will follow us.
Just as there are two kinds of faith, we are taught that there are two kinds of revelation about the existence of God. There is general revelation from the created universe that God in fact does exist. There is special revelation through His Son Jesus Christ that reveals very specifically the nature and purpose of the Father. Albert Einstein also discovered a duality in the laws which he discovered to describe certain physical attributes of the universe…general relativity, and special relativity.
A powerful testimony of mountain-moving faith with persistenceThe End Time Model of Evangelism
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