The Sovereignty of the Holy Spirit

Walking by faith: The Scriptures state that we are to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith is seen as key in all areas of our lives and is so crucial that God wants us to exhibit it consistently when facing life’s challenges and in our daily walk with God. We talk about faith to move mountains while recounting this in the teachings of Christ “Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.” - Matthew 21:21. We read in Hebrews 11:6 that “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” When Peter was walking on water to go to Christ, he started drowning when he took his eyes off Christ and Jesus said, “O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?” - Matthew 14:31b. When we talk about this matter of faith, it is not the natural faith that God is pleased with, such as faith in a chair or in a car to take us from one place to another etc. that everyone in the world exercises. This is a supernatural faith that is exercised by the supernatural working of God. It is the Spirit that produces this type of empowered faith in us when we remove the logical conclusion from what we know or see, as the source of our faith. Do I believe that God can provide because of the job that I have, credit cards, pension etc. or is it God who provides even if none of these existed? Did George Müller believe that God can provide because of what he had stowed up in his pantry or was it a daily walk with God that produced the faith to believe. Did Elijah believe that God can provide because he had the brook and the ravens for the means of provision or were those irrelevant since he saw the source of provision was God. When the brook dried up was Elijah dismayed because his natural resource was depleted or was he able to look to God who took him to the widow of Zarephath for his next meal? It is not based on what we know, rather it is based on who we know. Natural faith says that “it is impossible to defeat Goliath” based on conclusion drawn by facts. Goliath was war seasoned, he had weapons, he has an armor, he has killed many in battle, he was much taller and stronger physically; the shepherd boy was just a child, he had not been trained in the art of war, he was of a much smaller stature, he did not have the same physical strength. That is the natural conclusion we can get to when looking at Goliath and David. Spirit empowered faith knows that God can, believes that God will and sees the result of God doing it. This is the faith that overcomes the world. What we see is the natural reality of Goliath’s stature and training, but when you don’t consider the natural reality and look above to a God who is beyond natural reality to the unseen supernatural source, then we can walk by faith and not by sight. Whether it was Elizabeth giving birth in her old age or Peter walking on water or Elijah being fed by the ravens or Müller feeding the children by faith without making his requests known to man, they did not consider the natural reality that was before them (ex: the scientific property of water which cannot hold the weight of man), rather they looked to God who was beyond natural reality and saw it come to pass. If you think about human birth, there are three crucial events before it is complete. There is the point of conception where the concept of life is made personal and life begins, and then you have the period of gestation where the process of maturing and growing takes place, finally you have birth where the life at conception is made into the reality of bringing the child into this world. In the matter of supernatural faith God can, is conception; God will, is gestation and God does, is birth. Conviction that God can, Importunity (such as striving in prayer being led by the Holy Spirit) that God will, Reality is when God does and brings it through. Faith is more than hope, it is a sure foundation. You can see these three stages all through the Scriptures (Hannah - 1 Samuel 1, persistent neighbor - Luke 11:5-10, unjust judge - Luke 18:1-8). When the Holy Spirit illuminates a particular Scripture to you for something you are asking for, that is conception, when prayer is made unceasingly to that effect for God to work is the period of gestation, when God answers it that is the reality of birth. Pleasing God requires this type of faith which considers not the natural cause and effect but rather rests itself in the shadow of the Almighty.