Introduction
Blessed be God and our Father, who grants us grace and mercy to be able to present ourselves before His presence and expose ourselves to His word. The peace of the Lord be with you and with your house.
We are in the time that the Lord has prepared for us to present ourselves before His word, to be instructed, corrected, and above all things, prepared for the work of ministry to which the Lord has called us.
We have begun a new series of teachings about the theme of faith. In all believing circles, people speak about faith, but do we have a clear concept of what faith is and what it serves for? Although we have basic texts that we repeat constantly, in practice very few men and women of God have a clear knowledge of what faith really is and what faith serves for.
In most cases, we assume that faith is that which serves us to present ourselves with confidence before the presence of the Lord when we have a situation that merits God’s intervention. Otherwise, generally we ourselves are the ones who resolve all our situations. Faith becomes a virtue that only helps us so that the Lord may help us in moments when situations have gotten out of our control and our authority.
It is important that each one of us, men and women of God who have been called to establish His will upon the earth and proclaim prophetically the coming of Jesus the Christ, learn to know faith and to live by means of it.
In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 24, Jesus says that “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” The apostle Paul, likewise, in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20, writes: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God.”
The last times are extremely difficult times. The times prior to the coming of Jesus the Christ are not only about confessing that Christ is coming, but about knowing how to live according to what He has determined, because they are dangerous times and the enemy is seeking that most of those who have confessed their faith in Jesus the Christ cannot persevere to the end.
The apostle Paul says clearly that they are extremely dangerous times. The Spirit of God is giving testimony about the danger that surrounds all these times. That is why we are called to establish faith upon the earth, so that when the Lord comes He may find faith and a prepared people, a warned people.
We know that the word establishes that He comes for a church without spot and without wrinkle. Those spots and wrinkles are all those events, situations, and circumstances that intervene and harm faith, because faith is the most important thing that must prevail in these last times.
Fundamental Precepts About Faith
In the previous teaching we established several basic precepts that we must remember:
First: Faith is a spiritual virtue. We must not lose sight of this, because if we do not have a clear concept and precise definition of what faith is, we will not be able to walk in that which we do not know.
Second: Faith belongs to God. Man cannot generate faith. There are not two types of faith, as is often said popularly: a material or human faith and a spiritual faith. There is only one faith, as the word itself declares, and this belongs to God. Man cannot generate faith by himself.
Third: Faith is granted by God through His grace and His mercy. “It is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” That is why we established that faith is not for everyone, because precisely faith is delivered by God through His grace and His mercy.
Fourth Precept: Faith is Founded on the Capacity to Follow Instructions
In this teaching I want to add one more precept that helps us understand faith so that each one of us can walk by it:
Faith belongs to God, He delivers it, and it is founded on the capacity that each one of us has to follow instructions.
Example 1: The Man Born Blind
Let us begin with the Gospel of John, chapter 9, verses 1 through 7:
“Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.’ When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, ‘Go, wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.”
Faith is founded on the capacity that each man and each woman has to follow instructions. In this first example we see that the blind man did not ask for the intervention; perhaps he did not even know that Jesus was near him. But Jesus took the initiative, anointed clay on his eyes and gave him an instruction: “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam.” That was the only thing He told him.
The blind man, although he did not have the initiative to ask for healing, followed the instruction. He went to the pool of Siloam, washed as Jesus had told him, and returned seeing. Between the place where Jesus was and the pool there was a considerable distance, which means that the blind man walked a great distance with clay on his eyes. There was probably murmuring when they saw him walking like that, but that did not matter to him: he followed the instruction, washed, and returned seeing.
Example 2: The Man with Faith to Be Healed
In Acts of the Apostles, chapter 14, verse 9, we find:
“This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed…”
Faith can be seen. For a man or woman who has developed spiritual sensitivity, seeing faith is possible. But what is it that is seen? What is seen is the disposition to follow instructions. When it says that Paul saw that he had faith, it is saying that he saw in that person a disposition to follow instructions.
Example 3: Unbelief Prevents Miracles
In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 13, verses 57 and 58:
“So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, ‘A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.’ Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”
How is unbelief measured? In the incapacity that people have to follow instructions. Faith is founded on the capacity that man and woman have to follow instructions.
A woman who is not willing to follow instructions cannot develop faith; it is impossible. Why? Because faith begins precisely with an instruction that God gives. When man accepts the instruction, when woman accepts the instruction and executes it, there is a seed that is sown in the heart and spirit, and faith begins to be generated.
When Does Faith Become Faith?
This is the central question we want to answer in this teaching. The capacity that man and woman have to follow instructions is what enables God to be able to sow a seed in each one that can germinate and produce faith.
If we are not willing to follow instructions, if we are not willing to follow recommendations, there is no way or possibility of developing faith.
The first thing we must understand when we are before the presence of the Lord and say “Lord, give me faith” is that what comes next is an instruction.
Many of us have had the idea that when we say to the Lord “give me faith,” suddenly an impact comes and we begin to be men and women of faith. It does not work that way. That is an idea we have, but it is not founded on the word of God. That is an idea that religious philosophy has instilled in us, but it is not how God works.
We have ideas that are too magical, ideas that are too esoteric, where suddenly there is a change and man and woman feel an impact. It does not work that way. Faith begins when man and woman are willing to follow instructions.
And this not only from God directly, but also through the means that God chooses to give us the instruction. It is easy to follow an instruction when we hear the voice of God speaking to us directly, but God has vessels of honor that He uses to give us instructions. Here is when the situation becomes more difficult, because many men and women of God are not willing to receive an instruction from someone similar to them.
How many times have we heard: “I have covering from God, but not covering from man”? It does not happen that way in the message of the Gospel. God uses men and women to give us instructions. The capacity we have to follow the instruction is really what will allow us to be capable of receiving faith, the spiritual virtue of God that makes us men and women who believe God and His work.
The Model of Abraham
To work on this theme we are going to use the model of Abraham, guided by the question: when does faith become faith?
First Stage: The Initial Instruction
Genesis 12:1-4:
“Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’ So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.”
The first thing that Abraham receives is an instruction, and upon that instruction is that the process of faith begins to develop. Because faith is a process, a spiritual development that transforms man and woman in such a way that the “after” is not the same as the “before.” There is a complete transformation because faith transforms life.
In Abraham’s case we see it clearly. If we notice in verse 1, it says “Now the Lord had said to Abram.” Later God changes his name to Abraham. Why? Faith has the capacity to transform the substance of man. Faith has the capacity to undo a substance that is the human substance, the Adamic substance, and cause a completely different substance.
There was a genetic transformation, not only a transformation of personality, character or conduct. There was a complete genetic transformation in him. That is faith. Faith is not only the capacity or virtue of a man or woman to believe God. It is not only a substance that helps us say “yes, Lord, I understand and I am going to do it as You say.” There is a complete and substantial transformation in the person’s life.
First Teaching: Follow Instructions Literally
“Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.”
But in verse 4 it says: “And Lot went with him.”
Abraham was not following the instruction literally. Family has to do with relatives, and the father’s house has to do with family as well. But he took Lot with him. He was not told “take Lot with you.”
In this first stage it is important that we understand: we cannot innovate the instructions, we cannot correct the instructions, we cannot modify the instructions. If the man of God and the woman of God modifies, postpones or extends the term of the instruction, the process is extended.
It is important to note that Abraham was 75 years old when he left Haran, and when God really gives him the promise of the son he was 100 years old. Twenty-five years passed. Why so much time? Because we innovate the instructions. We are not called to innovate, we are not called to modify, we are not called to correct.
Surely Abraham thought: “The Lord did not want to tell me specifically about Lot, but He left it to my judgment. Poor Lot, he lost his father, who is going to watch over him?” As the apostle Peter said: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.”
The capacity that man and woman have to follow instructions literally is what initiates the process and development of faith.
First teaching: Instructions are not modified; they are followed literally.
Second Stage: The Motivation Behind Obedience
Genesis 15:1-4:
“After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’ But Abram said, ‘Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!’ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’”
Let us make a comparison between chapter 12 and 15. In chapter 12: “Get out of your country… to a land that I will show you.” Note that He did not offer him a son. God offered him land.
In chapter 15, Abraham begins to confront himself with a reality: “And who will inherit this land?” Because God did not speak to him from the beginning about a son, but about land.
This brings to light something important: when you are following an instruction, review what is the motivation that leads you to follow that instruction.
“Get out of your country… to a land that I will show you.” At that time the idea of having land did not attract him for itself. It was the time of the expansion of civilization, when empires were beginning to be formed. An empire is formed based on lands, regions, extensions.
Abraham’s motivation was founded on power, government and authority. It came to light that Abraham was not really motivated by God’s work, but by his own interests.
Let us not follow personal interests, let us not follow particular interests, because motivations must also be purified.
If God had told him from the beginning “Abraham, get out of your country… because I am going to give you a son,” Abraham would have thought that God was mocking him, because he knew perfectly well that his wife was barren. That was not news to him.
It is important that we review what our motivations are.
The Use of External Resources (Genesis 16:1-3)
“Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. And she had an Egyptian maidservant whose name was Hagar. So Sarai said to Abram, ‘See now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing children. Please, go in to my maid; perhaps I shall obtain children by her.’ And Abram heeded the voice of Sarai. Then Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her maid, the Egyptian, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan.”
Second teaching: Do not use the quick way nor rely on your own resources.
When God tells Abraham in chapter 15: “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir,” Sarai comes in chapter 16 and says: “God told you that the son would come from your loins, He did not say it would come from my loins. I give you my servant Hagar and her son will be the son that God has promised you.”
They used the quick way. They used their own resources to make the word of the Lord come to pass. Why? They wanted to give God a helping hand.
We want to give the Lord a hand, we want to help the Lord, as if He did not have the power or authority to do what He Himself has said will be done.
One of the causes why so many men and women err from the way is because they become specialists in interpreting the word of God in their own way. “Maybe God wanted me to do this. He did not tell me, but I have to contribute, I have to collaborate.”
We must be very careful, because many times the resources we use are not endorsed by what God wants.
Is there faith here? No, faith has not begun, but faith has been germinated because Abraham is following instructions. But we must correct how we are going to follow those instructions.
Second teaching: Do not seek the quick way nor rely on external resources, as if wanting to help God. We cannot help God.
Third Stage: Do Not Evaluate According to Our Reality
Genesis 18:9-15:
“Then they said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ So he said, ‘Here, in the tent.’ And He said, ‘I will certainly return to you according to the time of life, and behold, Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ (Sarah was listening in the tent door which was behind him.) Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well advanced in age; and Sarah had passed the age of childbearing. Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, ‘After I have grown old, shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?’ And the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh, saying, “Shall I surely bear a child, since I am old?” Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.’ But Sarah denied it, saying, ‘I did not laugh,’ for she was afraid. And He said, ‘No, but you did laugh!’”
Third teaching: Do not evaluate the word of God according to your situation. What God has said will be done by His word, not by your present reality.
“How will this be possible?” said Sarah. “How will it be possible for an old woman who no longer has the capacity to conceive to have a son? If she had been fertile, fine, but the time of fertility has already passed.”
Do not evaluate what God told you based on your reality. It is by His word, not by your judgment, not by the inconveniences you have around you. He is God and He does as He wants. For Him nothing is impossible.
Note that they already changed his name to Abraham. In the two previous texts Abram appeared, but here Abraham already appears, which means there was already a change, a transformation. But still faith has not become faith, because they are still evaluating God’s word based on their reality.
It is important that if we want to move to the next level, each one of us detach ourselves from our reality. God does not depend on your reality to do what He wants to do. God does not depend on my reality. God does not depend on my judgment to do what He wants to do, and I have to learn this. God does not depend on how I evaluate things to be able to do it.
Criticizing about things what it can do is hinder and lengthen time.
“I am not working,” “I do not have,” “the condition of the country is critical.” Does God depend on your opinion? Does God depend on the reality of the country? Does God depend on you not having work? Does God depend on the evaluation that each one of us have about life?
The answer is no. Then why are we going to insist on presenting opinions and judgments? Why are we going to insist on continuing to evaluate things according to our reality?
As Balaam said: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
Fourth Stage: Embrace the Impossible
Genesis 22:1-3:
“Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’ So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.”
In verse 2, I want to highlight the way God approaches Abraham: “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love.”
Why did God present this description? Because He was presenting him with an impossibility. Abraham had two sons. If God had told him “sacrifice Ishmael to me,” Abraham could have said “fine, I will sacrifice him to you.” But He said “sacrifice your son, Isaac, your only one, whom you love.”
God was presenting Abraham with an impossibility. “Lord, that is impossible. Why? Because You told me that he is the one who would be my heir. Because he is the son of promise. You cannot deny Yourself. You cannot contradict Yourself. Remember what You told me: ‘one who will come from your own body.’ And You told me to cast out Ishmael, that he would not be my heir but this one. Remember, Lord, that this is the son, the son of promise.”
Let us see what Hebrews 11:17-19 says:
“By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, ‘In Isaac your seed shall be called,’ concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.”
Abraham never thought that God was wrong. Abraham never thought that God had changed His mind. Abraham never thought that God’s promise was being truncated. He thought: “If He is asking me for him, and He told me that he would be the heir, it means that God is so powerful that He can return him to me from death.”
Do you know when faith becomes faith? When we embrace the impossible.
Faith is founded on the capacity we have to follow instructions, and in the four scenarios we have reviewed, Abraham is following instructions:
- He learned to follow instructions literally
- He learned not to seek the quick way or use external resources
- He learned not to evaluate according to his reality
- Now he is learning to embrace the impossible
Faith becomes faith when we embrace the impossible.
Genesis 22:15-18:
“Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: ‘By Myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.’”
All of this He told him in chapter 12; there is nothing new. What is new comes now: “And your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.”
Faith becomes faith when we embrace the impossible, when we embrace what we do not want, what goes against us.
How many of us in this condition would have wanted to deliver, much less kill, our son? How many of us in this same situation would have been willing to do what Abraham did?
“Because you have not withheld your son, your only son, whom you love… blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply.”
Why Have We Not Been Able to Walk in Faith?
Do you know why we have not been able to walk in faith? Why we have not been able to walk in faith? Because we pass step 1, we pass step 2, step 3, but step 4 we say: “There is no need for that. I resist, I refuse this. Not that, that is going too far. That is being too fanatical. That is being too radical. The Lord looks at the intention of your heart.”
How many times men of God, how many times women of God have we said this? “What I look at is your heart.” It is the biggest lie that we have established as the foundation of our spiritual life. Because while it is true that God looks at the heart, He also looks at the actions we are willing to take.
Faith becomes faith when we are willing to embrace the impossible, when the impossible does not stop us. When we are at the edge of the abyss and there is nothing ahead, there is nothing on which we are going to set foot, but if He said “go forward,” even though it is impossible, even though it cannot be done, even though there is no way, when the man of God and the woman of God are willing to embrace the impossible and still keep believing God, that is when faith becomes faith.
Many of us are not living by faith yet. I say it with pain, I say it even with shame. We are not living faith yet because there have been many excuses and many human philosophical reasonings that have led us to stop precisely at this point, at this place that we have not wanted to pass.
“Of everything you have, Lord, but do not take this so seriously. Evaluate me in another way, evaluate me by the texts I know by heart, evaluate me by the little songs I know, evaluate me by the time I have participated in church. I have been in a pulpit, I have been collaborating with the children, I have been collaborating with the men, with the women. Evaluate me, Lord, by the time I have gone out to evangelize.”
But we do not want to embrace the impossible.
Why do we not pass the first stage? “Get out of your country and from your family… to the land that I will show you.” We were impressed by the land. “Wow! Power, authority, government, dominion. Who does not want that?” But that is a feeling, but that is a product of the flesh.
“Lord, I want You to prosper me in my business, I want You to make me a prosperous man, a prosperous woman, to make me a man of wealth, a woman of wealth.” How many of us do not like that?
But when the Lord tells you “leave your job,” when the Lord tells you “give up your profession, come and follow me,” when the Lord tells you “quit your work,” when the Lord tells you “do not trust in doctors, do not trust in medicines,” then we say: “Lord, there is no need to go to such extremes.”
How many of us are evaluating God’s work? And if we are evaluating God’s work, I want to tell you that we are also evaluating God.
How many of us are evaluating God? “This is madness. No, no, no. That is madness, there is no need to go to all that.”
And unfortunately we are stopping our spiritual growth, we are stopping development in faith.
There exists a faith that moves mountains. Why do we not have that faith? Because we are not willing to embrace the impossible. Because we are not willing to give up what God is demanding from us.
Today’s Call
That is why today we are confronted before the presence of the Lord. When Jesus the Christ asked “when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” what He was saying is precisely what we are studying here.
Not everyone is going to be willing to walk in the impossible, to walk in “I have no resources, I discarded my resources.” Not everyone is going to be willing to walk detaching themselves from the very capacities they possess.
“If God gave me these capacities, if God Himself gave me these means, these resources…” Have you heard that expression? “If He Himself gave it to me…”
But Jesus the Christ said: “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
It has been difficult for us to go to the cross, it has been difficult for us. We do not want to die. We do not want to die to our resources, we do not want to die to our capacities, we do not want to die to what many times took us time to obtain.
“Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love.”
Are you willing today? Do not answer, because we are too quick to answer. Are you willing? Are you willing to sacrifice?
When we embrace the impossible, then it is there when faith becomes faith.
Conclusion: Going to the Ultimate Consequences
The purpose is to reach the last point, to the ultimate consequences. Not to remain only following instructions. Not to remain only with not using external resources. Not to remain only up to there. To reach until faith becomes faith.
Many of us have had years within a congregation, years within the Gospel of the kingdom of heaven. And what is the only thing that has changed? You will agree with me: the only thing that has changed is that today we know little songs, that today we know hymns, that today we know many texts from the word of God, that I no longer do the things I used to do. But we still stumble in life.
Many times we behave like the rich young man: “Teacher, all these things I have kept from my youth.” “Go, sell all that you have and give to the poor.” “Oh no, Lord! Do not take it so seriously. We do not have to be so fanatical. It is enough that I believe, it is enough that I confess, it is enough that I attend a congregation, it is enough that I do not do that. Why do we have to take life to such an extreme level, of being an extremist?”
It is that we have not yet understood that faith is extreme. It is that faith is radical. It is that there is no “yes, but no.” As Jesus the Christ said: “But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’”
We are not studying a man; we are studying each one of our lives. In what have I failed? In what have I failed? How many years do I have?
As Hebrews chapter 5 says: “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God.”
Therefore, what is happening in my life? There is no sin, there is no perversity, there is no evil. I am doing what the word tells me, but there is something that is still missing, because God’s promise has not been fulfilled in our life.
God gave me a promise. What happens then? We have not begun to live by faith yet. We have not begun, we are not living by faith.
Summary of the Four Teachings
Teaching number 1: Faith is founded on the capacity we have to follow instructions literally. Instructions are not modified; they are followed literally.
Teaching number 2: Faith is founded on the capacity we have not to seek the quick way or rely on our own resources that God has not determined. Do not help God.
Teaching number 3: Faith is founded on the capacity to follow instructions without evaluating God’s word according to our situation. What God has said will be done by His word, not by our present reality.
Teaching number 4: Faith becomes faith when we embrace the impossible. When we are willing to obey even when we do not understand, even when it goes against our interests, even when it means sacrificing what we love most.
Final Prayer
My Lord, I thank You, Father, because You have revealed Your word to us. And now none of us is outside or far from being able to achieve what You want us to achieve.
Father, “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.” I know, Father, I know that after this word many will let go of the plow and will turn back. Many.
But Father, I also know that “the last will be first.” And You are raising up, Lord, a generation that is now despised, but from them You will bring forth men and women with the capacity to “sacrifice Isaac.”
I thank You for them, Lord, for the prophetic times You have made us live.
In the name of Jesus the Christ, amen.
I bless you. The peace of the Lord be with you.
This teaching confronts us with a fundamental truth: faith is not a feeling or a declaration, but a radical disposition of the heart to obey God regardless of circumstances, even embracing what seems impossible to us. Only then does faith truly become faith, transforming not only our way of thinking, but our very nature.
