Supplement 14 — For Lessons 27 & 28

Supplement Fourteen

For Lessons Twenty-seven and Twenty-eight

According to all the above-stated studies all the blessings of God come through faith. If one wants to attain to the known needs of this life as well as those of the life to come he must have faith and exercise it. There is nothing more clear in Scripture than the fact that faith is absolutely necessary to receive the benefits of the gospel. It is also equally clear that men receive according to their faith. The law of faith is—”nothing doubting . . . according to your faith, so be it done unto you . . . If thou canst believe, all things are possible” Matthew 9:28-29Mark 1:15Mark 9:23Mark 11:22-24Mark 16:17James 1:5-8Hebrews 11:6Romans 12:6.

If men receive little, they have little faith. If they receive much, they have much faith. If they waver they get nothing. If they believe for one thing and not another, then they get only the one thing. One can always tell how much faith he has by what he receives. If a person gives up in a battle and quits believing for what he has asked, it is not the fault of God that he does not receive. It is his own fault.

II. God Never Rebukes Faith

Men have been rebuked for lack of faith, but never for faith, or for asking great things from God Matthew 6:30Matthew 14:31Matthew 16:8Luke 24:25James 1:5-8. There should never be a doubt of receiving from God if a believer will see to it that he has faith without doubting and questioning anything about the answer. The answering part is God’s work, and why should puny man worry so much about that phase of answered prayer? Leave all such worry to God, who is responsible for the answer and who will answer if true faith is exercised by man. Man’s part is to ask and simply believe and refuse to doubt after prayer. If man would take care of his part of the program, God would take care of His part, and there would be no failure. When man begins to meddle with God’s business—the answering part—then God lets him sweat. God lets him alone until he takes care of his own part in the deal, then the answer is granted.

If the law of faith is that no answer is granted until all doubting, questioning, unbelieving, and worrying cease, then let it be settled once and for all that God is not going to break His law to please some whining unbeliever, who lives more in criticism of God for not answering than in praise for the answer. Let those who want answers cease from worry about how and when God is going to carry out His part of the contract. Permit God to run His own business in His own way and time, and be patient and faithful to God until He does answer, and prayer will become a mere routine in life for the believer.

III. How to Get Faith

There are several ways to increase faith. One who truly wants to believe God must take the following steps:

1. 1 Get into Christ

This is the first step of the Christian experience. One who is in Christ is a new creature, and old things, including unbelief, have passed away, and all things have become new, and all things are of God 2 Corinthians 5:17. Anyone who has had any experience with God in a real, personal way will remember that the beginning of the new life was of utmost simplicity and child-likeness in many ways. In the matter of faith, the newly born-again one was so confident and simple that he would believe God for anything. There were not the many arguments of unbelief or the many questionings about what is the will of God in prayer. It was taken for granted that anything which God had promised as good for one is the will of God for every believer. It was easy to get answers to prayers and believe God for anything that was wanted. It was only when questionings and reasonings about truth occurred that prayer began to be unavailing—when one began to hear that God doesn’t answer every prayer, that it is not His will to give everything that He has promised, that He knows best what to give and what not to give, and that all prayers should not be expected to be answered. As long as one was simple and child-like and believed that God was good enough to give to His children anything and everything that was good, prayers were answered in such supernatural ways as to make a believer feel that he is indeed a child of God.

A simple faith is naturally born into the new child of God by the Spirit. Faith at once takes root, and God is taken at His Word. There is not a doubt to begin with that God will answer prayer. If this confidence in God would be nourished and developed normally as one grew in grace and knowledge we would never have had so many failures to get prayers heard. But by listening to old converts who sometimes live in doubt and unbelief the new one also begins to follow their example by wavering and questioning God about everything.

Christ is the author and finisher of faith in everyone and naturally a life of faith begins when Christ is received in the life Hebrews 12:1-2. As men receive Christ they are to walk in Him Colossians 2:6-7, and if they would continue as they started, faith and zeal would never be dampened, and one would never revert to a life of failure and constant questioning as to what the will of God would be in the matter of getting the benefits of the promises.

1. 1 Know the Word of God

The second step to take in getting faith is to get thoroughly familiar with the Word of God. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” Romans 10:17Acts 10:44Acts 15:71 Corinthians 1:18-21Galatians 3:112 Thessalonians 2:13. After getting into Christ, the next thing to do is to start reading the Word of God and meditating on it day and night. We are promised that if a person would do this he would be like a tree planted by the rivers of water that will bring forth its fruit in its season and that whatsoever he doeth shall prosper (Ps. 1; Josh. 1).

So many people in praying never think of what God says about what they are asking. If one should ask the average person what promise of God he was depending upon as the basis of his faith to get what he was asking, he would not have in mind any particular Scripture. It is no wonder that such people are seldom heard of God. Jesus said, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” John 15:7. The Word of God and prayer must go together if definite results are to be expected. There is no ground for answered prayer outside of the Word of God. It is the Bible that reveals the will of God in all things and promises certain benefits through Christ and faith, and no man can get prayers answered normally who does not know the truth.

1. 1 Do Not Pray for Faith in God and His Word

Prayer for faith is a prayer of unbelief. Consequently, there cannot be an answer to it. Praying for faith is simply an attempt to evade faith in the Word of God and get things from God contrary to truth. The Word alone can give you the basis for answered prayer. Simple faith in the Word of God may not be considered sufficient or even sensible to the natural man who lives in his senses and who wants always to see and feel everything with which he has to do, but this kind of confidence is necessary if one wants what the promises of God offer. We are not told to pray for faith, but to “have faith in God” Mark 11:22-24.

1. 1 Have Faith in God

If men would learn to put confidence in God as they do in men and if they would have unwavering faith in the promises as they do in the word of men, answered prayer would be a great success. Prayers would be answered without so much effort on the part of man. Prayer would be a simple transaction of everyday business between God and man. It is sad to say that men will trust men and put their whole confidence in men more than they will God and His Word. At the same time they do this they claim that they believe God more than any man. They would not boldly declare that they do not have confidence in God or that they do not believe that God is faithful to His Word, but by action they prove this to be so. If somebody says to them that it may not be God’s will to answer, or that if He does not answer He knows best, or some such excuse for unbelief, it is generally accepted that this is so. Very seldom do such people go to the Bible to see exactly what it says and intelligently follow it. Even if they find that they are definitely promised the answer, the average person questions the will of God by some unreasonable argument of unbelief. Such people would not possibly be turned aside so easily if man had made such promises. They would go to court or fight to the last breath to hold man to his obligations, but they are so full of unbelief that they don’t want to bother God with the same problems, or they will not put forth the least fight against demon powers and unbelief to get what God has promised or to hold God to His obligations.

Is it any wonder that God will ignore such unbelieving and disinterested requests for things that He has promised? We would do the same. In fact, men would not be as tolerant of others who reject them and their word and constantly fail to believe them as God is toward failing, unbelieving man. Men would be so disgusted with such half-heartedness that they would withdraw all offers of help. But in spite of man’s failure, God goes on year after year, seeking to prove to man that He means what He says and says what He means. He is constantly trying to show man that He is faithful to His Word and that He will not go contrary to His Word for any man. He will meet His own obligations all right, but on the grounds of His own revealed terms of faith, nothing wavering. Man is to blame for all failure; so the quicker he realizes the trouble and corrects it the sooner he will get what he wants from God.

1. 1 Listen to Good Preaching

When we hear constantly the stories of the triumphs of faith in the Bible, when we read of miracles such as God’s dividing the waters, raining manna from Heaven, sending quails, giving water from rocks, multiplying food, quenching fire, raising the dead, healing the sick, defeating His enemies, and causing the hundreds of other miraculous events that are written in Scripture for our instruction and to build up our faith, our faith runs high. We fully realize that what God has done He can and will do again in meeting His obligations to give to men what He has promised. Our faith naturally becomes powerful and expectant. Personal experiences of men in all ages are also a good source in building up faith. Accept and believe any record of any dealing of God with any man if it is in harmony with the Word of God.

1. 1 Reject All Bad Preaching

When we go to churches where the ministers question these miracles and make fun of them as being mere fairy tales and they try to explain away such facts by high-sounding, clever, pseudo-scientific generalizations, our faith is hindered. There must be a consecration on our part to renounce all such foolish theories as of the devil and cleave to the plain Word of God in all things. No man can expect to build up faith and get to the place where benefits can be received who spends his time going to such places where the Word of God is criticized. If one wants a simple, unwavering faith he cannot listen to this kind of preaching and come out without some questioning as to some things.

Yes, all faith-killing, Spirit-quenching, truth-destroying, man-made traditions, sects and creeds, be they ever so clever in doing away with the simple gospel truths, must be rejected and renounced once and for all. Don’t tolerate any man or church to slander God or His Word, which is the source of your faith and eternal life.

1. 1 Obey the Word of God

Obey the Word of God to the letter, regardless of how foolish it may appear. God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. His ways are as high as the Heaven above the Earth compared to our ways; so accept His Word as the right thing on every question and obey it to the letter, and it will be proven the right thing to do. It will be proven to be true in every respect. The test of this age is “the obedience to the faith among all nations,” as we have seen in Lessons Nineteen, Point IV. Men who fail in obedience to the faith will have to be rejected of God in the end and consigned to eternal Hell for their failure. Thus it is all important that we conform to the Word and obey to the letter what is plainly written.

1. 1 Exercise Your Faith

By exercising your faith you will cause it to grow Romans 1:17. One of the best secrets of how to increase faith is for a person to begin using what faith he has. It is a divine law that whatever we do not use, we lose: “Whoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have” Luke 8:18. Just as any muscle that remains useless becomes dead and lifeless, so it is with faith. We must use what we have if we want it to become strong and dynamic.

It is not only a natural law that faith will increase when it is used in all the problems of life, but God will supernaturally see to it that it is increased. He will impart more faith—the divine kind—to them that show the proper exercise of human faith. Our faith must work by love; that is, we must exercise our faith for the good of all men, regardless of whether they are friend or foe Galatians 5:6. Unless we have fervent love for all men our faith can never attain to the highest peak of efficiency. Where there is love there is faith, for both are the fruit of the Spirit Galatians 5:22-23.

Where love, unity, peace, and true Christian fellowship prevail in a church there will be found little sickness and defeat and few failures in prayer. Where malice, jealousy, gossip, and constant division and strife exist, there will be much more sickness and failure in prayer than in the other kind of church. Experience, observation, and Scripture establish this fact.

The Fall would not have been possible without doubt and unbelief in God and His Word. God demands man to learn that He is faithful to His Word and that He means exactly what He says, before He redeems him and before He answers prayer. God must demand faith and freedom from doubt in order to redeem man from the Fall. (See Lesson Nine for the steps leading to the fall of man.) These steps must be retraced in the redemption and complete reconciliation of man to God. Man must learn the lesson of faith and absolute confidence in God sooner or later if he expects to live with God forever; so there is no better time than while he is on probation to learn this lesson. This is why God requires faith in all that He says, before He obligates Himself to answer man definitely. At first there is naturally a struggle on man’s part to trust God whom He cannot see, but after he learns to do this the hard part of faith in God is over and man enters into a place with God where he gets things easily by simply asking and receiving through faith in God and His Word.

1. 1 Yield to the Holy Spirit

Faith is not only a natural ability or exercise of a created faculty of man, but it is a fruit of the Spirit and a gift from God Galatians 5:22-231 Corinthians 12:4-11. When man uses his own powers of faith in God and His Word properly he makes contact with God in a supernatural way, and he becomes a partaker of the divine nature 2 Peter 1:3-4. He is then free to walk and live in the Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit will naturally be manifest in his life Galatians 5:16-26. He should constantly add to his faith the virtues of God by yielding to God in daily life 2 Peter 1:4-10. This kind of faith becomes a natural fruit of the Spirit and of holy living. It is not an effort to have this faith. It grows in the life of one who is yielding to God and who loves God enough to draw near to God in daily conflict. It is a fruit, not a work. It is a gift, not something we earn by works Romans 12:3Romans 2:4-5Romans 12:4-11Galatians 5:22-23.

The human faith in union with the divine will make all things possible to the believer. Let us all have faith in God, in Christ, in the Holy Spirit, in the Word of God, in the atonement, and in all the gospel truths. Have faith in God and look to Him for needed daily grace for body, soul, and spirit. The more we love God and conform to His Word the more faith will grow. This faith will grow until it rests solely in the Infinite. In this place in God, we can reach up and pull down the unlimited blessings of God for ourselves and others. Remember this, the secret of faith is faith in God.

Ten Questions For Supplement Fourteen. Do You Know:

• That Christ was not the only one that multiplied food for men? Elisha multiplied food and fed one hundred men miraculously 2 Kings 4:42-44. Elijah also multiplied the widow’s meal daily for “many days” 1 Kings 17:8-16.

• That Russia will not be the head of the nations at Armageddon? Instead, Russia will be conquered by the Antichrist and will be under him at Armageddon. Antichrist will come from Syria and not Russia, as we have already seen in Questions 9 and 10, Supplement Eight. According to Dan. 11:44 he conquers all the northern and eastern nations outside of the Roman Empire Territory, and he will then be ruler of these countries. Ezekiel 38-39 pictures his coming down from the north at Armageddon after having conquered these countries. Zechariah 14; Rev. 19:11-21 predicts his defeat at the second coming of Christ. So Syria, not Russia, will be the head of the nations at Armageddon.

• That Russia will be defeated three times between our day and the Millennium? This is clear from the fact that ten kingdoms will be formed inside the Roman Empire before Antichrist comes Daniel 7:23-24. Because Russia dominates Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Albania, and other Roman Empire states, they must be liberated from Russia before the ten kingdoms can be formed. This will require one defeat of Russia. Another defeat will occur when Antichrist heads these ten kingdoms and conquers Russia during the last 3½ years of this age, as seen in the question above. The third defeat of Russia will be by Christ at Armageddon Zechariah 14:1-5Revelation 19:11-21.

• That men will not spend eternity in Heaven? According to Rev. 21-22 the New Jerusalem, the home of the saints, will be moved from Heaven to the Earth after the Millennium. This proves men will spend eternity on Earth instead of Heaven.

• That God eats and wears clothes as we do? This is clear from Gen. 18; Exod. 24:11; Dan. 7:9-14; Isa. 6; Rev. 4-5.

• That angels also eat food and wear clothes? This is clear from Gen. 18-19; Ps. 78:25; Dan. 10:5-21.

• That Babylon as a literal city will be rebuilt before the second coming of Christ? Babylon will be destroyed as a city under the seventh vial Revelation 16:17-21Revelation 18:1-24 and in the day of the Lord Isaiah 13:6, 9Isaiah 14:3-4; so it must be a city in that day (See Chapter Thirty-seven of Revelation Expounded).

• That there will be sin and death on Earth during the Millennium? This is plainly stated in Isa. 65:20-25; 1 Cor. 15:24-28.

• That God has already sent some of His sons to Hell? Angels are called sons of God in Job 38:7. Many of them are in Hell now 2 Peter 2:4.

• That the devil never enters bodily into anyone? The word “in” means “in union with” and not “bodily entrance into,” as we have seen in Lesson Four, Point 1, 4. This is the only sense in which he enters into anyone because he has a body of his own and he cannot get bodily into any other body Job 1:6-12Job 2:1-7Revelation 12:7-12Zechariah 3:1-3Matthew 4:1-11Ezekiel 28:11-17Revelation 20:1-10.