Faith

Scripture Reading: Hebrew 11:1

‘Now faith is the substance of things hope for, the evidence of things not seen.’

Humans have a multitude of senses. Sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch are the five traditionally recognized senses. Sense is a feeling or perception produced through the organs of touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing. Sense is also a feeling or perception resulting from a particular condition of some part of the body or outside of the body. Senses have the capacity for perception, estimation, and appreciation. We have idioms like, come to one’s senses; that is, to regain one good judgment or realistic point of view; to become reasonable, sensible. Another Idiom; to make sense is to be reasonable or comprehensible. The human body has more than 1,000,000 (one million) sensory receptors that enable us to see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. And that is a testament to our Divine Designer. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. I would term these 5 human senses, natural senses. The 5 human senses confine us to the natural realm. But there is a problem with natural senses. Naturalism is living down to the limit of our one million sensory receptions. It is the inability or unwillingness to perceive reality that is beyond our five senses. The end result? Our universe shrinks to the size of our senses. Our being, our lives, our capacity, our boundary is confined by these 5 senses. But the Christian has another sense. Some minister calls it the sixth sense. Dr Yonggi Cho calls it the fourth Dimension. It is faith. Faith is living beyond our five senses. Faith is being certain of what we do not see. The dimension of faith is imagining what our five senses can’t perceive or confirm. I call faith the extra sensory perception. And that is why faith often seems like it is out of touch with reality. But that is because it is ten million times more powerful than our senses! The 5 human senses are our sensory receptors. Faith is the extra sensory perception. There are a few things I want to share about this sixth sense; faith.

1. The Law of Faith

Eph 3:20 says, ‘Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and throughout all generations forever and ever, Amen.’ Translation? God is able to do immeasurably more than we can imagine with our one million sensory receptors. Amazing isn’t it? And to top it off, no mind has conceived of what God has prepared for us!

Please, I am not asking you to do away with the 5 senses. But I am asking you to understand that there is a sixth senses. And it is the most powerful sense. I call it the faith sense. This faith senses is mentioned frequently in the bible. This faith sense has its own spiritual eye, spiritual hearing, spiritual touch, spiritual smell and spiritual taste.

Psalm 34:8 says, ‘Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!’ I call them the faith taste and the faith sight.

Proverbs 20:12 says, ‘The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the LORD has made them both.’ Here mentioned is the faith hearing.

In the gospel, Jesus once asked who touched me. Out of the hundreds of people in the crowd, a woman touched Him and healing virtue went out of Jesus. That is the faith touch.

I know of a woman of God that can smell fear. I call that faith smell.

So faith has the faith sight, faith hearing, faith touch, faith smell and faith taste.

This is a true story. A minister was flying at 35,000 feet in a jet on his way to a preaching appointment. He had been traveling throughout the world fulfilling the ministry God has given him. He was an accomplished pianist. He was such a tremendous artist in this area of music that he was offered opportunities in the entertainment world that would have assured him a great future in that area of life alone. He also had a beautiful solo voice. His musical talents were superb. But God had called him to preach and he had chosen to follow the vocation which was the perfect will of God for his life. Through the years he had endeavored to be faithful to God. At this time as he flew in an airplane on his way to preach the Gospel, he found himself in a very peculiar and unusual situation. Several years before this airplane trip he was afflicted with what the medical world termed as Rheumatoid Arthritis. This grew progressively worse in his entire body. His hands became knotted and gnarled and paralyzed to free movement. So, his days of artistry at the piano were gone forever. All the joints of his body were affected by this disease. His ankles were swollen to the size of grapefruit. His knees were enlarged. All of his joints were filled with pain. He was unable to function in a normal way. He didn’t buy aspirin by the box, he bought them by the case. He took them constantly to try to relieve the excruciating pain that was throughout his body. Many mornings he had to be rolled out of bed with the help of others and placed in a tub of hot water. He would stay there for a while in order to be able to function at all during the day time. This would seemingly loosen up the joints and partially relieve the pain. His body became stooped. He was not able to walk in a normal fashion but simply made his way along the best he could with his knees and ankles and the rest of his joints aching and deformed by this unusual disease. This was his condition as he sat on the airplane going to preach the Gospel. The doctors had given him the verdict that there was no hope. There was nothing that medical science could do for him as far as there being any permanent healing. He could only get relief from the pain by taking medication. They told him that he would just simply have to live with it and gradually grow worse. Gone was his ability to thrill and bless people with piano music. Gone was his ability to walk and to live a normal life. But he sat on that airplane, determined to go preach the Gospel to the best of his ability in this condition. But that day something happened to him on that airplane. Actually, a miracle took place. Oh, the world could not see the miracle. Those around him were not aware of the miracle. But nevertheless, a miracle took place. While reading his Bible on the airplane, he began to meditate on the scriptures. He saw that Jesus bore our sicknesses and carried our pains and by His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5) He read in Matthew 8:17 that Jesus healed all the sick, “That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” He read in I Peter 2:24, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” Suddenly, a light turned on deep on the inside of him. He heard in his inner man the words, “By His stripes YOU WERE HEALED.” There came a true understanding on the inside of him as he rode 35,000 feet in the air. Suddenly, he knew that he was healed! Suddenly, he had absolute assurance that he was free from that disease. He began to rejoice because he knew he was healed. As he sat there on the airplane with this revelation knowledge that he was healed, he didn’t look any different, his body didn’t feel any different, his body didn’t function any differently, but he knew that he was healed. He knew that a miracle had taken place on the inside. When he got off of the airplane, he could barely make it out of the seat. He hobbled down the aisle. Someone met him at the airplane. Actually, it was the pastor from the church who met him at the gate at the airport. He took his little case from him and said, “Brother, how are you?” And he seemingly filled with rheumatoid arthritis, still stooped over, still hobbling along with aching joints, still even unable to look up in a normal fashion; but as he bent over and hobbled along, he turned his head slightly (as much as he could) to look upward toward the pastor, and said, “Oh, I’m glad to announce to you that I’m healed by the stripes of Jesus.” Of course, the pastor wondered if not only his body had been affected by the disease, but maybe his mind also! The time came for him to minister at the pastor’s church. He hobbled to the platform and stood behind the pulpit. In this same condition, with the arthritis seemingly still dominating his body, he looked up at the congregation and said, “Before I open the Bible and preach the message to you, I would like to make a confession. I would like to rejoice before all of you. I would like to tell you that I am so glad that the Lord Jesus Christ has healed my body. I am so glad that by the stripes of Jesus I have been healed. I want you to rejoice with me that I am healed. Arthritis cannot live in my body. My joints are well! Rejoice with me that I am a normal person, that I can play the piano again. I can walk normally again. I want you to rejoice with me that I am healed.” Each person in that congregation reacted in a different way. I am sure many of them wondered about the credibility of the man standing in the pulpit. But, to tell you the end of the story, the man began to get better and better and better and better. And in a matter of a few weeks, all arthritis was gone from his body. Every joint was normal. He could play the piano. He was perfectly normal. That was well over twenty years ago. People had been in his meetings personally and wept as he played the piano and sang the songs of Zion and gave praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. Truly he is living a normal life even to this day! Now what happened on the airplane? Is there a law that can supersede the laws that we know of in the natural realm? Is there something that we don’t know as far as our natural minds are concerned? What really happened there on the airplane? The Bible talks about the law of faith. The Bible talks about the law of the Spirit of life making us free from the law of sin and death. You see, sitting on that airplane, this friend received knowledge in his spirit-man that the world is unable to receive with the natural, carnal mind.

2. Faith is of the heart

The Bible says that faith is of the heart. Romans 10:10 says, “With the heart man believeth…” It is with your heart that you believe. The heart means the spirit- man. There is a spirit-man on the inside of your physical body. The Lord Jesus is telling us by inspiration of the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul, that faith is a spiritual force. Faith is a force that comes forth from the spirit-man. It is the spirit-man who is able to respond to the Word of God and to exercise faith.

Faith is of the heart. Faith is a spirit force. “With the heart man believeth …” The bible says Abraham believed. Abraham’s faith is of the heart. Abraham’s faith is such a powerful spiritual force that he literally became the father of many nations. You see, as that man sat on the airplane, filled with a disease that had crippled him and which would have held him captive throughout his life, he meditated on the Word of God. He read the promises of God. He read the great statements of God concerning the eternal redemption that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. He read it and meditated on it until suddenly it was not only in his mind. It was not only his carnal mind meditating upon it, but his spirit-man began to pick up these truths. Smith Wigglesworth famous statement is ‘I pray that you will be a thousand times stronger on the inside than the outside.’ He is referring to the spirit man. His inner man began to feed upon the things of God, who Himself is a Spirit. It was Spirit (God’s Spirit) to spirit (spirit man) communication. When his spirit began to pick up the eternal facts of God’s redemption from physical disease, things began to happen. Abner Batan called this, overlooked truth. Overlooked truth is eternal facts. Overlooked truth is original information. And everything that God says is original, truth. Suddenly when his spirit heard, “by His stripes ye were healed”, faith leaped into being because faith is of the heart. It is with the heart man believeth. Do you know it is so powerful when you say, ‘I believe.’ Abraham believed and it releases an atomic powerful force that made him the father of many nations. This man suddenly knew, not with his mind, but with his heart, with his spirit-man. He knew that he was healed. In this knowing, he was unshakable in his confidence. He had heard from God who is a Spirit, in his spirit, who is the real man. Now his body looked just the same. His body responded just the same. His body gave no evidence that there was any change in him. Yet deep within himself he knew that he was healed. You see, there is a sixth sense. The body has five senses. There is sight. There is hearing. There is taste, smell and touch. Five senses. And with these natural senses, we contact the physical world. But there is another sense. Surely if God has given the physical body five senses to contact and function in the natural, material world, then He has given the spirit-man, made alive with the life of Almighty God, some sort of a sense to function in the spirit realm. We call that sense faith. That one sense of faith feeding on the Word of God received revelation knowledge and received an unshakable confidence that he was truly healed. Do you need a miracle today? Do you realize that there is hope? It is possible for you to rise out of your prison house! Jesus said, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26) Jesus said this to encourage our hearts. As you look at your situation today, is it impossible with men? Is it impossible for you to be healed? Is it impossible for your family to be put back together? Is it impossible for that situation to be resolved? Is it impossible to rise out of your poverty stricken condition? Do all the voices of relatives, neighbor and doctors and professional men and friends say the word “impossible” to you? Then hear the sweet voice of the Son of God who cannot lie: “The things that are impossible with men are possible with God.” It will tell you how you can function in a sixth sense called faith. You can shake off the shackles that hold you in the realm of the natural and touch God who is in the realm of the supernatural.

3. The visible world and the invisible world.

We have to be conscious of two worlds: the visible world and the invisible world. You have to contact and function in the law of the invisible, where there are no impossibilities. Then you are going to find the help and the miracle that you need. Our natural realm is the visible world. Our 5 senses operate in the visible world. One the other hand, the faith senses operates in the invisible world. Hebrew 11:3 clearly reveals this invisible world. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.’ The visible world is created by the invisible world. The invisible world is on a higher level than the visible world. We live in two worlds; the world of the visible and the world of the invisible. The world of the invisible is more powerful than the world of the visible. Whatever is lacking in the visible is found in the invisible. The Christian is programmed to live in both worlds. Then Hebrew 11:6b says, ‘’for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him’ He that cometh to God must believe that the invisible IS! THE INVSIBLE IS (exists)! The first principle in getting anything out of the invisible world is to believe that it is, that it truly exists for you. Not only is God out there in the invisible world but every blessing we need is out there and the first principle to get anything is to believe that it IS. Is healing out there? Yes. Did Jesus die for your healing? Yes. Did Jesus die for your prosperity? Yes. Salvation? Blessings? Yes. Overcoming Satan? Yes. When you come to God you must believe that this invisible God is, that He truly exists. You must believe that this invisible God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Isn’t healing a reward if I diligently seek it? Isn’t prosperity for me, if I diligently seek that invisible blessing? Are not all the overcoming factors mine if I diligently seek them? Many times we seek God diligently, but we will not seek the invisible blessings.

Let’s look at Gideon’s life. He encountered the invisible world, when angel appeared to him. Gideon was sitting behind the wine press threshing wheat for fear of the enemies. He was frustrated, fearful, discouraged, and feeling like a failure. God sent an angel down to him. This angel didn’t say, “Hail thou scaredy-cat. Hail thou cringing coward!” He came to him with news from the other world and said, “Hail thou mighty man of valour!” Gideon said, “Who else is here? Do you mean to tell me that I am a mighty man of valour?” Now the angel could have said, and might well have said, “Yes, that is exactly how God sees you. It’s all yours whether you ever take it or not. You are a mighty man of valour. I bring you news from the spirit world!” Gideon rose up and began to act like he was a mighty man of valour and he found out he was! Did Gideon become a mighty man of valor immediately? No. But did he become a mighty man of valor eventually? Yes. Well, God is coming to you this morning and said, “Hail, John, thou mighty man, healed by the stripes of Jesus.” You could be answering, “Are you sure you are talking to me? I sure don’t feel like it.” Yes, in the spirit world, God Almighty sees you healed. He sees you prosperous. He sees you strong. He sees you victorious. Rise up and begin to act like it’s yours and it will leap into being! This is the exact principle that Jesus Christ was teaching in Mark 11:24. “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray.’ That is when you are sick, that is when you are defeated, and that is when you have darkness over you.)… believe that ye receive them, (in the invisible form) and ye shall have them (in the visible form).” Jesus does not ask you to go around lying and saying, “I believe that knot is gone physically from my body.” No, He does not ask you to tell a lie. Anybody with eyes could see that the knot is still there. He does not ask you to believe that it is already manifested in the physical realm. He asks you to believe it is yours in the invisible realm on the basis of God’s Word. Then, He said that He will see that you get it in the visible, physical form. BELIEVE YOU RECEIVE IN THE FAITH REALM AND YOU SHALL HAVE IT IN THE NATURAL REALM. My business is to believe it is mine and to confess it, rejoice about it and act like it. Jesus’ business is to see that it is manifested!

A minister’s wife, who is a registered nurse, discovered that her daughter was born abnormally 20 years ago. The pediatrician said she had cerebral palsy. She had no sucking reflexes. She had no muscle tone. She had no ability to crawl. She had no strength in her body. And the word “impossible” was written over her life. Of course the minister and his wife were saddened. There seemed no way that she would ever have an opportunity to live a normal life. But they faced this situation and put the laws and principles of God into effect. As they began to function in God, they prayed the prayer of faith. They anointed her with oil. Though there was no change in her body, though it looked as though she would forever be abnormal, yet in their spirit-man, their spirit nature declared that they had the confidence that she had been healed by the stripes of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything about her screamed out, “No, no, no, she’s not normal.” Yet, they had a knowing on the inside of them. Every one of our five senses cried out, “No, no, no, she is not healed.” Yet that one dominant sense in our spirit nature called faith, that has revelation knowledge from God, overcame all of the natural senses! After twenty two years, their daughter remains normal and healed. She became normal as a little child. She lived a normal life through grade school, middle school, high school, and through college. They thanked God she is normal and well this day—simply because there is a sixth sense called faith. Faith feeds upon the Word of God. Faith is of the heart. Let me encourage you to meditate on the Word of God. Understand that they is an invisible world and you too can rise up above the word “impossible”. Begin to function in the realm of faith. Faith is of the heart. Meditate upon these truths until they get beyond your carnal mind. Meditate upon these truths until they get down into your spirit. In your spirit-man receive them as revelation knowledge from God who is a Spirit. Strive in your meditation to have the communication of Spirit to spirit. (That is, your spirit communicating and listening and responding to God who is a Spirit.)

4. The sixth sense

There is another sense, the sense of the spirit man on the inside of you, and that sense is called faith. This sense of faith is used to touch the unseen, invisible world. The natural senses cannot touch that spiritual dimension. They have no contact with it. But faith, created by the Word of God, enables you to reach out into the dimension of the invisible and activate the creative power of God. The Bible is like a great forest. Growing in that forest are the giant redwoods of God’s eternal truths. Redwoods trees are the most talked about trees in all the parks of United States and Canada. They seemed to live forever. Some is believed to be thousands of years. We need to march out daily into this great forest and look at the giant, immovable redwood trees of God’s eternal truths and bask in their presence. Then we can come back into the material world with revelation knowledge that Bible principles are eternally true. Let me give you an illustration. Recently, Pastor Lily and I while walking in SM in the new wings, smell are very nice smell. We were drawn to it. It comes from the air freshener and the air diffuser. The Air defuser emits such a nice smell in the air and we were drawn to it. We pass by and one of our senses, the sense of smell, alerted us to smell that perfume. However, in the natural realm, my other four senses do not have any proof at all that the perfume is really there. My eyes could say, “Perfume? I don’t see it. You will never convince me anything is real that I can’t see.” My ears could say, “I don’t hear perfume. You will never convince me anything is real I can’t hear “Perfume?” My hands could say, “I don’t feel any perfume. You will never convince me anything is real if I can’t feel it.” My tongue could say, “I can’t taste any perfume. There is no perfume here.” I could begin to think, “There is not any perfume here. I don’t have it. I can’t feel it. I can’t hear it. I can’t see it. I can’t taste it.” But my nose could say, “You other senses be quiet! As the nose, I have already actually experienced the perfume. I have, with my sense of smell, confirmed its reality. It does not matter what you can’t hear, and what you can’t see, and what you can’t taste, and what you can’t touch. My ability to smell says, It is real, it is real! I have used my sense of smell to confirm that it is real. I announce to you, It is real!” In this same way, I go out by my sense of faith into the Word of God—into the great forest of God—and meditate on what God says is mine in that invisible realm. I look at the great truths of Almighty God and with the sixth sense in my spirit-man, I believe and I have a consciousness that they are mine. I see and believe salvation is mine. Healing is mine. Prosperity is mine. All of God’s blessings are mine. On the basis of this information from the sixth sense of faith, I can confidently say, “I am healed! I am blessed! I am redeemed! I am prosperous!” Now the five senses will say, “I can’t touch it; I can’t hear it; I can’t see it; I can’t feel it; I can’t taste it; so I must not be healed. I must not be prosperous. I have looked into my pocketbook and my eyes see nothing. I have felt all over my body and the knots are still there. My sense of touch and feeling tell me I am not healed. My eyes tell me I’m not prosperous. My ears tell me that I don’t have it.” But you see, there is a spiritual principle at work. My sense of faith tells these five natural senses, “You five senses be quiet! I have been looking at God’s eternal truths, and I have received revelation knowledge which is beyond you. I can assure you, though you have no other proof, it is a reality! God cannot lie!” I want to tell you that the sense of smell in your nose does not have more integrity than God! Your nose could be wrong. It could be defective. But God cannot be defective.