We Walk by Faith: How to Believe God to Meet All Your Needs

We Walk by Faith

How to Believe God to Meet All Your Needs

Mark D. Michael

ISBN 979-8-89345-254-9 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-89345-255-6 (digital)

Copyright © 2024 by Mark D. Michael

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

All scriptures in this book are from the King James Version of the Bible except for noted instances where archaic words have been updated.

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Laying the Foundation

Chapter 1

The Just Shall Live by Faith

Chapter 2

God Respects Faith

Chapter 3

Spiritual Reality

Chapter 4

Spiritual Sight

Establishing Your Faith

Chapter 5

Faith Comes by Hearing!

Chapter 6

Acting On Your Faith

Chapter 7

Word of Faith

Enemies of Faith

Chapter 8

Sight Faith

Chapter 9

Hope

Chapter 10

Doubt and Unbelief

Applying Your Faith

Chapter 11

The Promise

Chapter 12

Pray, Believe, Receive

Principles of Divine Provision

Chapter 13

A Table in the Wilderness

Chapter 14

Miracles of Provision

Chapter 15

Kingdom Provision

About the Author

Section 1

Laying the Foundation

Chapter 1

The Just Shall Live by Faith

I became a mentor to a young man who had come to Christ after being put in jail for murder. He was waiting in the county jail for a decision from the courts. He and I had been praying about his situation. One day, we were talking on the phone, and I said to him, Continue to be a godly model for the other inmates to follow, and be consistent in prayer…but until you hear from the judge, you will have to continue to walk by faith. The young man was quiet for a moment as if he was thinking about the statement I had just made. Then he answered me, How do you walk by faith? This began a long lesson between the two of us on the subject of the walk of faith. Today, I want to share that same teaching with you through this book. Many believers have heard of the walk of faith, but no one has taken the time to teach them how to walk by faith. If you will follow me on this journey, when we come to our destination, you will not only understand how to use your faith but you will also know how to walk by faith. We will begin our journey by learning the meaning of the expression, The just shall live by faith.

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. (Galatians 3:11)

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. (Romans 1:17)

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. (Habakkuk 2:4)

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. (Hebrews 10:38)

In scripture, anytime you find the same concept mentioned more than once, it is established as a foundational truth. In 2 Corinthians 13:1, it says, In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. Therefore, any truth we find in the Bible, if it is foundational truth, it must be witnessed or written at least twice. As you have read above, the phrase the just shall live by faith has at least four explicit witnesses. Therefore, it is established as an important principle in scripture. The word just is a legal word; it means made righteous or justified. I like to define it by saying, Just as if you never did anything wrong. When you accepted Jesus as the Lord of your life, God appropriated Jesus's death to you and declared you to be righteous or justified or just. Now that you are a just or righteous person, you must learn to live by faith. Living by faith is what this book is all about. One must first understand that faith is a way of life, not just a doctrine in the Bible. Too many believers listen to the message of faith with the mindset that faith is a parachute or an insurance policy. They believe that having faith may come in handy when facing a trial. But God's will is that our lives be lived as an expression of our faith in God. God wants us to live by faith, not just resort to faith in hard times. In this book, I will also use the expression walking by faith. Walking by faith and living by faith are two different ways of saying the same thing.

How important is it for us to live by faith? We can say that anything that God would call upon us to walk by or live by is extremely important. If there is anything a believer should be sure of, it is whether he is walking by faith. The term the just shall live by faith is more modernly interpreted faith is the lifestyle of the believer. When you walk by faith, you are living a lifestyle of confidence in God. It is a lifestyle of believing that God is with you, that God is shepherding you, and that God is assisting you as you pray. Some people think of faith like they do a spare tire. They never think of it until they are in a crisis or when they have a flat in life. This is not what the Word of God teaches us. We are told that we are to live by faith. This means that faith is not the spare tire, but faith is the very tires and wheels we are to run on daily. If you neglect your faith, you will be like the man who had a flat tire and was stranded in the middle of the highway. He went into his trunk only to find out that he did not have a spare tire (no faith). Another woman had a flat tire and went into her trunk. She pulled out the spare tire but found that it had no air in it. It was flat because it had not been used in years (weak faith). God does not desire that your faith remain in the trunk of your life. God wants you riding on faith.

For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:4)

We need to be sure that we distinguish between salvation faith and conquering faith. Salvation faith is what it takes to get saved. Acts 2:21 says, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. When you were born again, you exerted faith in the Word of God, and you placed your confidence in the person of Jesus Christ. When you did this, God saved you. This is called faith for salvation. However, when the Bible instructs us to live by faith, it is speaking beyond just a faith for the afterlife. Most Christians only use their faith in a desperate effort to go to heaven when they die. Therefore, when they hear someone speaking of faith, they assume that they are referring to salvation faith. However, living by faith means having faith in God that addresses situations and circumstances in this life that are bigger and more powerful than you are. If you never encounter a situation that is larger or more powerful than you are, you will never need faith. Unfortunately, many believers live their lives avoiding or acquiescing to every trial and every adverse circumstance that life presents. If it costs more money than they have, they say, I can't own it. If it requires more education than they have, they say, I can't attain to it. If it demands more health than they have, they say, I am going to die. They live their lives in subjection to the world around them. This is not the will of God for you. God intends for you to conquer your circumstances. He intends for you to overcome the world around you through the use of your faith. To do this, you must live by faith. We desperately need to get beyond that idea that faith is just something one uses to go to heaven after we die. Many believers simply have fire-insurance faith. The world defines faith as something only relative to the afterlife. But God says faith is every day, all day, 24-7. The just shall live by faith. Through faith, we will subdue the world and the flesh and the devil and walk in victory over our circumstances the way Jesus walked in victory over his circumstances.

Lack of Faith in the Garden

I often ask people the question, What was the very first sin mentioned in the Bible? They will usually say, When Adam and Eve ate from the tree. This is a good answer, but it is not necessarily true. The very first sin was that of believing the serpent rather than believing God. God said to them, Trust me, and don't eat from the tree. The serpent said, Don't trust him…Trust me. You can eat from the tree and you will not die (Genesis 3:4). Eve and Adam put their faith in the serpent's words, and they died. Still today, people are committing the same sin. They are placing their faith in themselves, in the devil, in the world, even in luck, but never in God. The walk of faith is learning to train yourself to place your faith in God every time and at all times. As with Adam and Eve, our enemy watches and waits to find us outside the bounds of faith in God. It is only on his turf and in his stadium that he is able to destroy us. His court is called doubt and unbelief. We must learn to keep the battle on our home court. Our home court is called the arena of faith.

God's School of Faith

Trials and Tribulations

Did you know that God has a faith school? It is a school that every believer must attend. It is called by some the school of faith. You enrolled in it when you got born again and gave your life to Jesus Christ. In faith school, the primary form of instruction are trials and tribulations. Every believer has faith classes he must take if he is going to graduate and become a mature child of God. The purpose of the faith classes is to bring you into your destiny by bringing you to spiritual maturity. To do this, God has to allow you to go through trials and tribulation so that you learn to walk by faith. Ironically, most believers think that walking with God means a life without trials and tribulations, but this is certainly not true. Walking by faith is learning to master trials through faith. You must learn to trust God in difficult and uncomfortable circumstances. God is determined to teach you how to walk by faith. Too often I hear saints weeping about financial trials, crying about health trials, groaning over protection or deliverance trials. The illusion is, Since I am born again and walking with God, then I should have no trials. Nothing could be further from the truth. Trials are often the evidence that we are saved and in tune with God. Our trials are the evidence that class has begun. There are three sources of trial in the Christian life. The first source of trial is disobedience and not walking according to the will of God, as was with the prodigal son who found himself in a provisional trial. The next source of trial is that your faith is being tested by God, as it was with the disciples who came into a storm while sailing on the waters with Jesus (Matthew 8:23–27). The last source of trial is the attack of the enemy, who assaults the believer because of his relationship to Jesus. The answer to the trial of disobedience is repentance. The answer to the trial of testing is to trust God. The answer to the trial of a direct assault of the enemy is to walk by faith. In all of these trials, the believer must use the principles of faith.

We must remember that a trial implies something that we are powerless to change without the assistance of God. If you had the answer, then it would not be a trial. If you had the money, it would not be a trial. If you had the power, it would not be a trial. If you had the health, it would not be a trial. The purpose of your trials is the aggrandizement of God in your life. The trial is designed to make you trust God, love God, and praise God more than you ever have before. For this reason, if you are going to walk by faith, you must embrace your trials. I happen to be a big fan of working out at the gym. In the natural, you cannot build muscle without some kind of resistance. In the spirit realm, you cannot build faith without a trial. God intends for you to be spiritually strong. To do this, he has to make you lift weights. We call it a trial.

Over the years, I have seen believers who have gone through trials without having an understanding of the purpose of their trial. Because they did not know how to use their faith, they grew more and more dependent upon their intellect and reasoning. Some believers today have become intellectualized because of the trials they have faced. Instead of the trial igniting their faith in God, it has instead reinforced confidence in their minds. When this happens, a believer often has a hard time getting back to the walk of faith. We are