Cartea "Quantum Glory"

Ce este credința în Dumnezeu?

Ce este credința în puterea Lui?
“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing.
He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.”
(John 14:12 NIV)

Credința nu este o forță, o putere, ci o relație

intimă cu Dumnezeu de iubire și prietenie care
conferă încredere și credință fără îndoieli. The
deeper the oneness (unitate), the deeper the
confidence!
Paul is saying that because Christ is in us, we also have the
same “spirit of faith” as Jesus. This is similar to Paul’s
assertion that “we have the mind of Christ.” Authentic biblical
faith is the outflow of intimacy with God. Faith was never
intended to be a formula to obtain spiritual results. It was not
something that we were intended to attain outside of the
context of deep intimacy with God.
Jesus modeled this unparalleled intimacy with the Father and He revealed that Kingdom
fruitfulness is proportionate to Kingdom intimacy. Jesus said, “I and My Father are one.” (John
10:30)
Jesus perfectly executed the Father’s will on earth in relation to healing the sick because of the
depth of His intimacy with the Father. He was exceedingly fruitful in the works of the kingdom
because of his intimate fellowship with the Father. There was absolutely nothing that came
between the Father and the Son.

When Jesus lived on earth He walked in the fullness of uninterrupted fellowship with the
Father. This deep oneness of spiritual union and intimacy with the Father was the solid
foundation for the extreme fruitfulness of Jesus ministry. Jesus was powerfully established in
the love of His Father as a precursor to supernatural ministry. Because Jesus lived as a man
upon the earth in complete dependency upon the anointing of the Holy Spirit, He had to walk in
faith in His Father. He was not exempt from the necessity of walking by faith just because He
was the Son of God. He walked by faith as a man on earth as an example to His followers that
they too must have complete faith in God, just as He continually displayed through His own
personal life.

Jesus displayed perfect faith in God when He lived on earth. Faith is both confident belief and
unwavering trust. Jesus believed in the Father and He implicitly trusted in Him even when He
had to walk through the valley of the shadow of death in the Garden of Gethsemane. His faith
did not waver, because He was secure in the Father’s love.

Jesus let His disciples in on a powerful spiritual secret. It was the secret of intimacy in relation
to Kingdom fruitfulness. We were just examining the profound secret of Jesus’ relationship with
His Father in John 5. But this statement leads us into an even more thrilling prophetic insight
into the nature of supernatural ministry. “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by
Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the
Son also does. For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does.”
(John 5:19-20) This statement opens up the specific nature of Jesus’ relationship to His Father –
an intimate love relationship! The Greek word for loves in this verse is phileo. This was the love
of intimate friendship.

In every other instance where Jesus spoke of the love of the Father He customarily used the
word agape. But there was one other exception to this tradition. In the Upper Room discourse,
Jesus said to His disciples, “For the Father Himself loves you, [phileo] because you have loved
Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.” (John 16:27) Jesus sought to bring the
disciples into the same dimension of intimate friendship with the Father that He had eternally
enjoyed. “No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is
doing; but I have called you friends [philos], for all things that I heard from My Father I have
made known to you.” (John 15:15) Jesus had effectively transitioned the disciples through the
pathway of servanthood into the intimacy of friendship with God. They had become the friends
of God because they believed.
James described the faith-filled actions of Abraham, the father of faith. He said, “And the
Scripture was fulfilled which says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness.’ And he was called the friend [philos] of God.” (James 2:23)

Intimate friendship fuels deeper faith. Paul put it this way: “The only thing that counts is faith
expressing itself through love.” (Galatians 5:6 NIV) The NKJV describes this relationship as “faith
working through love.” The Greek word for working is energeo. Paul taught that faith is
energized by love. Authentic biblical faith is the outflow of intimacy with God. As God pours
the experience of His love into the core of our being it energizes true faith. The deeper we
experience the unconditional love of the Father, the deeper will be our faith.

Jesus experienced the fullness of the Father’s love and it produced extreme kingdom
fruitfulness. Faith was never intended to be a formula to obtain spiritual results. It was not
something that we were intended to attain outside of the context of deep intimacy with God.
Paul said, “Though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge,
and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.”
(1 Corinthians 13:2) Love must always precede faith, otherwise faith is reduced to a formula.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1
Corinthians 13:13 NIV) Certain aspects of the early “word of faith” movement in the mid-20th
century represented an “Ishmael movement” that preceded the fulfillment of the true
prophetic promise concerning healing.

Some “word of faith” teachers defined faith as a “force.” It was not uncommon to hear
preachers speaking of the “force of faith” as though it was a technique or a formula.

Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” (Mark 11:22) Faith is not a commodity. It is a relational
expression of confident belief and absolute trust that is powerfully energized by the intimate
love that flows from the Father. It is faith in God, not faith in faith. Jesus modeled this
intimate relationship perfectly and He sought to lead His disciples into the same kind of
fruitfulness that flowed exclusively out of an intimate love relationship with the Father. He said,
“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine,
neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in
Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5) Jesus was
seeking to draw His disciples into the very pattern of intimacy with the Father that He displayed
throughout His personal life and ministry. “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by
Himself!” (John 15:19) In the same way, He said, “For without Me you can do nothing.” (John
15:4) Right after Jesus said that He could do nothing by Himself in John 5, He introduced the
concept of intimacy with the Father: “For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things
that He Himself does.” (John 5:20) This is the only foundation of fruitfulness. Jesus could now
call His disciples “intimate friends” who had also entered into the experience of the phileo love
of the Father just as He had. “As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the
vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” “Abiding” speaks of intimate fellowship. After
Jesus said, “I have called you friends” (John 15:15), He said, “You did not choose Me, but I chose
you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain,
that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” (John 15:16) Can you see the
connection? The fruit flows out of the intimacy. The works of faith that produce radical
kingdom fruitfulness are energized by the experience of the Father’s intimate love and
affection. This was the secret to the success of Jesus’ Kingdom ministry, and it is the hidden key
to the success of the fruitfulness of our ministry as sons and daughters who are intimately loved
by our Father. Intimacy precedes fruitfulness just as love precedes authentic faith. Faith is
nurtured in the context of the deepening revelation of the Father’s love. “So then faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17) Jesus said, “He who received
seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit
and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” (Matthew 13:23) The highest
yields of Kingdom fruitfulness come out of the context of hearing the Father affirm His love to
us over and over until we enter into the experience of His love just as Jesus enjoyed the endless
experience of His Father’s love. The Father speaks a specific word over His adopted sons and
daughters, and it is the same word the Father spoke over the Son: “You are My beloved Son, in
whom I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11) This heavenly proclamation of the intense intimacy and
love that flows out of being in the Beloved Son is the key to energizing radical faith.

Since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and therefore I
spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak! (2 Corinthians 4:5-7,10-13)

Paul is therefore saying that because Christ is in us, we also have the same “spirit of faith” as
Jesus. This is similar to Paul’s assertion that “we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16)
Every Christian has the mind of Christ, but not every Christian appropriates it and walks in it. It
is the same with the “spirit of faith.” Every Christian has it but not that many appropriate it and
walk in it.

Christ Himself is the “author and perfector of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2) He has initiated this
supernatural quality of faith in our hearts and He is committed to the perfecting or maturing of
the faith of every one single believer until we all come to the “full assurance of faith.” (Hebrews
10:22) Luke told us about Stephen whom he described as “a man full of faith and the Holy
Spirit.” (Acts 6:5) Because he was “full of faith and power, he did great wonders and signs
among the people.” (Acts 6:8)

How did Stephen transition from an immature believer to a man who was living in such faith
that he was able to work awesome signs and wonders? He simply allowed the Holy Spirit to
establish the fullness of the life of Jesus in his heart and to act upon his confidence and trust in
the nature of God to heal the sick. Paul had entered into this same dimension of supernatural
faith and he longed for this same spirit of faith to be replicated in the life of every believer. “My
little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” (Galatians 4:19)
Another translation says: “Oh, my dear children! I feel as if I am going through labor pains for
you again, and they will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives.” (NLT) As the life of
Christ is fully “formed” in us, His faith is activated in our personal lives.

Paul put it this way: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in
me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

Paul proclaimed, “Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access with confidence
by the faith of Him.” (Ephesians 3:12 KJV) The faith of Christ is a heavenly expression of
absolute confidence and boldness (îndrăzneală) that flows out of intimate fellowship with the
Father. The deeper the oneness (unitate), the deeper the confidence!

Those who are “in Christ” have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly
places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3) Part of this package of heavenly blessings is a supernatural
expression of faith that produces the same Kingdom fruitfulness that Jesus produced. As we
are established in love and energized by the gift of intimacy bestowed upon us by the Father’s
love, we begin to enter into the same spirit of faith that Jesus exhibited in the working of
extraordinary miracles. This sheds new light on the exhortation of Jude to the church. “I found
it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for
all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3 NKJV)

The very faith of Christ is established in us, but only as we learn to exercise that supernatural
faith. Faith requires an action. “Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”
(James 2:17 NIV) We must open our mouth and speak the word of faith. Paul understood the
power that was released through addressing the mountains with the Word of God. He said,
“And since we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed and
therefore I spoke,” we also believe and therefore speak!” (2 Corinthians 4:13)

Jesus is the perfector of our faith! He perfects our faith by establishing us in the intimacy of the
Father’s love so that the same spirit of faith may be powerfully activated in our lives.

Unless the Holy Spirit establishes our hearts in this deep and intimate oneness with Christ and
the Father, we will never enter into the level of supernatural ministry that Jesus has prepared
for His followers to walk in. There are many glorious kingdom works “which God prepared in
advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV) Our destiny is to be clothed in supernatural glory so
that we can minister out of that heavenly glory. It is imperative that we understand by
revelation that the spirit of faith is only activated in the glory realm.