FIRE STUDIES The faith Of the Triumphant Fire Study: ONE UNDERSTANDING FAITH A. Definitions of Faith What then is faith? How do we rightly define it? 1. Faith is your link to God’s supernatural; the ‘electricity fuse” that connects the believer to God’s power house. 2. Faith is the proof and guarantee of the invisible realities; “the assurance of things hoped for…” Hebr. 11:1-2 3. Faith is the seed in the womb of hope; it gloriously transforms immateriality to materiality. Mark 11;24 4. Faith is the pilot of God’s creative might, a dynamic divine force that effect results for the obedient. Gen. 1:1-3 5. Faith is the rod of trustful walk in the hand of the righteous; by it he walks with God and pleases Him. Hebr. 11:6 B. Types & levels of Faith 1. Perfect faith: this is divine and rare. It is a kind of faith that would not faint in the faces of trials, tribulations, and sufferings. 1 Jhn 4:18; Rom. 8: 35-39; Hebr. 11:36-40} 2. Great faith: This kind of faith leaps into the dark, as seen in Abraham. It is sometimes an irrational faith that keeps working in spite of the evidence. Gen. {Matt. 8:10} 3. Unfeigned faith: this kind of faith lacks any forms of pretense and hypocrisy, being inspired by commitment, loyalty, faithfulness and confidence.{2 Tim 1:5; 1:12-13} 4. Strong faith: this kind of faith is driven by the evidence. It is also a mountain moving faith. {Mark 11:22-23} 5. Mustard seed faith: it is a living and growing faith. It begins in seed form and keeping growing until it becomes strong, great and perfect. It is driven by the word of God –{Rom. 10:17, Jms 2: 20-26} 6. Little faith… limits God because it is weak or immature 7. Saving faith: you have this when you come to the end of yourself, to the dead end of your sinful living and chose to bow at the feet of the Cross, accepting Jesus as personal Lord and Savior. {Eph. 2:8} 8. Gifted faith: as a spiritual gift. This kind works healing and miracles. {1 Cot 12:9} 9. Zero faith: this is a dead faith, being a kind of faith that is inspires by intellectual prowess. It is a faith driven by words and human wisdom rather than deeds and divine power. {Jms 2: 14- 17} 10. Demonic faith: Apostle James tells us: “demons aslo have faith. In other word, demonic faith is a kind of faith that is inspires by demons and driven by emotions. {Jms. 2:18-26} Fire Study: TWO THE IGNITION OF FAITH A. What ignites faith? Divine revelation, the Word of God, is the fundamental dynamism that kindles faith. How? 1. Simple trust in God: Trust in God kicks start a life of faith. Before you could believe God’s Word, you must have been holding firm your faith in God, in His faithfulness. True faith is that built on God not on miracle. 2. The fire in the living Word: faith is kindled by the flame of faith in the heart. The Word of God is an invisible fire, able to produce faith in the heart that catches its pure flame. Built your faith on God’s Word and promises. He cannot lie. Numb 23: 3. The quickening force of the Word: Faith is giving as foundational structure when the heart is overpowered by quickening power of the Word.by this force faith is formed, fired up and cause to grow. The heart must be absolutely surrendered to this force to birth a living faith. 4. The voice of God: the voice of God is powerful to provoke and embellish faith to work wonders for all who dare to believe. Obedience to the Spirit voice could set to work the revolutionary power of faith. We hear His voice clearer when in ‘the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.’. There is the need for silence in our closet to hear clearly both His audible and inaudible voice. B. How to ignite your faith A faith that is ignited by the force of divine revelation need be gradually fuelled to go up in full flames. The world needs men of blowup faith. And it takes pure spiritual devotion to be such men. Let’s briefly examine seven types of devotions we need to cultivate to get our faith fuel for the flame: 1. Pure devotion in the word: – to be Word-deep is to be faith-filled and Word-changed. More so a Spirit in-depth study and meditation produce revelation encounter and faith Rom 2. Devotion of love, virtue and holiness: – a life lives holily and in His love will lighting the world with faith. 3. Devotion of dynamic praying: – a life of consistent praying will be faith torched. This also embraces the devotion of a fasting. When fasting is employed to strengthen praying, faith is powered. 4. Pure devotional fellowship in the Spirit – association begets revelation, and revelation inspires faith. 5. Pure acts of ecstatic worship and praise in His presence – spiritual worship releases divine presence. 6. Devotion of an aggressive soul winner – soul winning opens doors for power demonstration and exploit making. Isa. 61:1-4; Mark 16;15-20 7. Obedience, forgiveness, patience and longsuffering: 1 Sam. 15:22; Hebr. 10:36; Matt. 6;12; 2 Tim. 2:3 C. The release of faith- {2 Cor. 4:13; Rom. 4:17} 1. Your Command: The force of faith is released by spoken word: believe and speak out your faith. For things to happen, you will have to release your faith by speaking forth, command or declare that which you believe in your heart. Mark 11: 22-24 2. Power Acts: you can as well release your faith by imparting God’s extraordinary presence for the demonstration of the Spirit and power. {Acts 3. Prayer: when you are in trouble, simply turn to God in prayer. Psm 50:15 4. Praise & Worship: Spiritual praise and worship could empower you for the release of faith. {Acts 16:25-26; Hebr.13:15; Psm 50:23; Phil. 4: 6.} Fire Study: THREE MEN OF ACTIVE FAITH To be productive, faith has to be alive and active. Let’s evaluate the life and ministries of men of active faith: 1. Men of active faith stand firmly on divine revelation and promises. They are moved only by the word. We saw this in Joshua/Caleb versus the ten spies in Num.13:26- 14:10. While the ten spies based their evil report in sight and human reason {by which they were plunged to fear and unbelief, and later persuaded Israelites to the same}, Joshua and Caleb stood divine covenant promise to persuade the congregation to faith and possession.{ Numb. 13:30, as against 13: 31-33 & 14:6-10} 2. Men of active faith have God as the object of their faith. In Elijah Versus 450 Prophets of Baal, both sides actually had faith. You may argue against the fact that those 450 Baal’s prophets had faith, but that was the truth. They had faith though it was placed in a dead god. On the other hand, Elijah’s faith worked for him because it was a faith in the living God. The object of our faith also determines its success or failure.{1Ki. 18: 22-40} 3. Men of active faith are given to prayer and fasting. This was clearly seen in Jesus versus the nine disciples. Jesus had gone up the mount of transfiguration with his three inner circle disciples and left the remaining nine at the mountain foot. By the time they came down, they met the nine amidst ‘great multitude’, lost in the crisis of inactive faith. Jesus had to rebuke them for their faithlessness and came to their rescue. He later told them the reason for their failure: lack of prayer and fasting. {Read Mark 9: 14- 29}. 4. Men of active faith are anointed valiant. Think of David, the anointed valiant. In his fight with the Goliath of Gath we see the activeness of faith when anointing is burning. The 17 year old David became so courageous and in his aggressive attack on the experienced Philistine warrior.{1 Sam. 17} Others include: 5. Men of active faith are exploit makers 6. Men of affliction endure sufferings and persecution 7. Men of active faith are faith blazers 8. Men of active faith are cheerful revelation givers 9. Men of active faith are proud world turners 10. Men of active faith never give up, no matter what.