We are living in unprecedented times. Times that require a different level of faith if we are to remain committed as believers, get answers to our prayers, and live with less anxiety. The level of faith that leads to receiving all the promises God made to us in his word. The abundant life he said he came in order for us to have (John 10:10). The promises that we’d be the head and not the tail (Deuteronomy 28:13). In general, the level of faith required to experience the Kingdom of God in our lives. We need Kingdom Faith!
While The Bible doesn’t explicitly speak of “Kingdom” Faith, I’m describing it as such in order to highlight the higher level faith required to experience the promises that come with being a citizen of God’s Kingdom. And so, in this article, I want to share 3 points on Kingdom Faith that I hope will encourage and inspire you to develop it.
Kingdom Faith Doesn’t Limit God
With God All Things Are Possible
One of the foundational understandings one must have in order to have Kingdom Faith is that with God all things are possible. When you look at the word of God and see all the supernatural things he has done, to believe his Word is 100% truth also means believing he can do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20 NKJV).
Take his redemption plan for example. The Bible states that “none of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8 NIV). The devil thought he was winning, but instead, he was following God’s marvelous plan. Think of The Feeding of The 5,000. The disciples had no clue what Jesus was going to do. One said to send the people away to get their own food. Another said it would take half a year’s wages to feed all of them. But as you know, God fed them miraculously. There are a lot of other examples, but from that time to the present day it seems like our faith is weakening.
Our Faith In God Is Weakening
One of the reasons that appear to be behind us losing faith is the discouragement that comes when we don’t get the expected results from our prayers. Like most things, we give up praying when we don’t feel like it’s making a difference. We may not say it publicly, but metally we often think asking God to do anything is a waste of time. Our experiences, however, are not a reflection of God’s power. A biblical story that highlights this truth and teaches a valuable lesson we should all apply is when Jesus healed a demon-possessed boy.
Jesus Heals a Demon-Possessed Boy
14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. 16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17 “You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” 18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?”
20 He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
Matthew 17:14-20 (NIV)
This is similar to what many of us experience. The disciples were putting into practice what they were told they could do, but didn’t get the results as expected. It was not that God didn’t have the power to do it nor that healing the boy wasn’t in his will. As Jesus indicated, it was because they had so little faith. Other translations expand and state that “this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21 NKJV). There was a reason they didn’t get results, and as you should note, they were only given the reason because they asked: “Why?”. We should also ask why when we don’t experience what God promises us in his Word. But not just ask why, we must search for the answer. Matthew 7:7 states “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you” (NIV). What’s more? Jesus reassured the disciples of even greater things they can accomplish if they “have faith as small as a mustard seed” (v. 20).
God’s Word is like a rock. It’s unshakable and never changing! If it doesn’t work for us, it’s not because something is wrong with it, rather something is wrong with our understanding. Yes, it may be uncomfortable thinking of moving mountains at this stage of one’s faith, but remember feelings aren’t reality. Moses was initially uncomfortable when God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he made up excuses and begged God to send someone else. Yet, despite how he felt in the beginning, he ended up doing it. So what does it take to get us at a place of being more confident in the abilities of God? Knowledge.
Kingdom Faith Is Based On Knowledge
Have you ever noticed that people are bold when they believe they have a right to do something? Take protestors for example. Recently in Nassau, when the prime minister announced a 7-day lockdown, a group of protestors disobeyed those orders. They insisted that they had a right to do what they were doing and stood their ground while facing the possibility of being arrested. Whether or not their claims were true, they believed they had a right and that belief based on their knowledge made them bold. It is similar to the parable Jesus gave of The Persistent Widow to illustrate how we should always pray and not give up.
The Persistent Widow
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’
4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”
6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Luke 18:1-8 (NIV)
In this parable, Jesus uses a judge who is far from the character of God and a widow to make the point that if the judge could resolve her matter, how much more would God, who is perfectly just, resolve ours! However, the reason I brought up this story is to examine the reason the widow was persistent. Widows at the time were considered to be the lowest level in society, but yet in this story, you have one taking on a judge who didn’t have any respect for God nor people. What was the key to her persistence? It’s found in the words she used when she made her plea. “Grant me justice.” Justice is a legal term and indicates that her request was based on what was rightfully hers. It didn’t matter who the judge was or how he personally felt about the situation. The widow had a right, and understanding her right made her persistent.
Knowledge of what is rightfully ours, based on God’s laws is key to having Kingdom Faith. We see a similar example when Jesus healed the centurion’s servant. After initially sending people to get Jesus to come to his house to heal the servant, the centurion later sent another group of people to say there was no need to come, just say the word. The centurion said “For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it” (Matthew 8:9 NIV). The centurion who was a leader in the Roman Empire had an understanding of authority in a Kingdom which caused him to make the declaration he made. And what was Jesus’ response? “I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith” (Matthew 8:10 NIV). Oh, by the way, in case you don’t know the story, the centurion’s servant was healed as requested. On to the last point.
Kingdom Faith Is Developed
In my early days as a believer, I once thought that faith was a matter of having deep concentration. I would say a prayer and try my best not to have doubtful thoughts. Sadly, the mere fact that I was trying not to have those thoughts meant I was doubting. Our goal should be to get to the point where we don’t think about faith but just act in faith. Like the woman with the issue of blood in the midst of people pushing against each other. There was no time to wonder if touching Jesus would make her well, it was now or possibly never. Now the question is, how is faith developed?
How To Develop Faith
Faith is developed in a simple way. But although simple, it requires sacrifice. I often tell people, nothing is free, what you get out of something is based on what you put into it. All of us at our present stage in life have the necessary faith that gives us the results we are currently getting. It is developed from what we repeatedly hear and experience. The initial faith you developed to become a believer, leading you to read this article came from someone telling you about God and salvation (Romans 10:17). That faith is developed by hearing more of the things that help to grow it, such as God’s word, and less of things that diminish it, such as the words of the world. To some, this could sound confusing, so I’ll illustrate it with a practical example.
As you learn more about The Kingdom of God, you’ll notice that the way of operating in the Kingdom of God is opposed to the way of the kingdom of the world. Think of building wealth. In order to build wealth in the world, it means holding on to as much money as you can. In God’s kingdom, however, it means being more generous (Luke 6:38).
Now imagine as a believer you’re reading the place in God’s word where it speaks of being generous. After reading that passage, your faith is boosted and if someone in need were to ask you for help right after, chances are you’ll give to them. But after reading that passage, say you turn on the news and you hear how bad the economy is. After that, you speak to friends and mention how they are trying to hold on to every penny because they don’t know when things will get better. If someone then drifted your way in need of help, it is less likely you’d be willing to give. The news you watched and your friends’ comments actually helped you develop the faith not to give. In real life, there are so many more worldly ideas we are bombarded with, and so we must be careful. We must limit the things that diminish our faith while consuming more of his word to help develop it. That’s how simple it is, but are we hungry enough to do it?
Conclusion
In order to experience The Kingdom of God in our lives as promised in the word, we need a greater level of faith. That faith, which I called Kingdom Faith begins with accepting that all things are possible with God. It is a faith based on the knowledge of the laws of God and his promises. Having that knowledge is what gives us the confidence to petition God to deliver on what he says is ours. But remember that Kingdom Faith doesn’t just come to us. We have to develop it. As we seek, we will find. As we knock the doors will be opened. Today, ask God for a hunger for Kingdom Faith. Amen!