"Discerning the difference between walking with faith in God and walking with the faith of God"

One of the most respected prophetic voices in north America today is that of Bob Jones



His track record of accuracy in the things which he has prophesied, as well as his personal impact on many leaders in the church whom he has ministered to, have given to him both a credibility and an authority which is well established.



The Lord gave to Bob Jones a prophecy several years ago in which he was shown the purposes of the heart of the Father and of the kingdom of heaven for several successive generations .So what is the ten year prophecy for 2010 to 2020?



Bob was shown that in this decade which we have entered the body of Christ would be challenged to move from faith in God to the faith of God.



Is this just a play on words or mere semantics, some may ask? Is there a difference between our having faith in God and walking in the faith of God, and if so what is it?


I believe that this is a crucial word to the church and will endeavour to expound upon what precisely the faith of God means as it is defined in the scriptures for us.


It is my earnest desire and prayer that we would begin to walk in this faith of God and so be able to receive from God the answers to our prayers on a more consistent basis.


I take this seriously for the scriptures clearly state that we should believe in the Lords prophets that we may prosper.


What is the root of true biblical prosperity? Simply obedience to what Gods says to us. So when this word was flagged up for this next decade ahead I immediately determined to set my sail into the wind of Gods Spirit and learn all I can about grasping the essence of walking in the faith of God.


The classic text in the bible which expounds on what this faith of God is, and what it looks like, is in mark 11 ,v22 24." Have faith in God "or as the original or literal Greek text says "have the faith of God".
Of course having the faith of God and having faith in God are in essence one and the same. However to many having faith in God does not require anything more then to believe certain truths and to believe that ultimately God will work His purposes out, whereas in this passage in marks gospel ,Jesus is exorting us to have the faith of God in the sense that we observe how he used his faith specifically and deliberately in a given situation and become imitators of him.

I do not want to create some false distinction therefore between the faith of God and having faith in God ; all faith comes from him and is to be placed in him, however the thought that I want to convey is that in this passage in mark Jesus is urging us to have the faith of God in that we exercise our faith precisely the same way that he exercised his.

Earlier in the passage Jesus expounds to his disciples exactly how to exercise their faith as they are taught to speak to the mountains as he spoke to the fig tree, and to believe that when they pray, their prayers are answered before they see any evidence of this.



This principle begins really in mark 11 v13 where we are told that Jesus "seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, went to see if perhaps he might find something on it. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.


In response Jesus said to it" Let no one eat fruit from you ever again" .And his disciples heard it.


At first glance some could be tempted to think "poor old fig tree", since it was not the season for figs why did Christ deal so emphatically with it.?


But there was a reason and that reason became the opportunity for Jesus to demonstrate what exercising His faith in God looked like, and we are told that the disciples took note for they distinctly heard him. (v14) A closer inspection of this passage reveals an all important word in v14 "in response Jesus said....


I prefer the authorised version which translates this "And Jesus answered and said to it . No man eat fruit from thee hereafter forever."


"He answered it" Answering somebody or something suggests that that person or thing has spoken first, you do not answer if you have initiated the first words in a conversation. This would suggest that the fig tree was saying something first to Christ, in the sense that it was defying and challenging him.


Here before it stood the Son of the living God who had multiplied the five loaves and the fishes to feed the multitudes, who spoke to the life threatening storm and all was calm, who commanded Peter to cast his line over the other side of the boat and the catch began to break the nets. He was the one who had commanded Peter to cast his line into the sea and take out the first fish to find the drachma coin to provide for the temple tax. He was the same one who knew where to make preparations for the celebrating of the passover, and knew where there would be an unbroken colt waiting to be ridden into Jerusalem, and this same Christ went to look for evidence of fruit on this tree.


All he found was leaves.He went to see if possibly there might be some fruit on it.


Jesus knew the seasons of the agricultural year, but this indicates that there was never the less a possibility for fruit to be discovered. It could have yielded early. It could have shown the evidence of fruit in the bud. Instead the tree was challenging Jesus. It was challenging him that he would not find any fruit and it was unreasonable of him to expect any fruit. Answering it he said....





The parallel or application to us is clear. How many times have we faced challenges that defy us, defy our prayers, and defy our earnest expectations that challenge most importantly the revealed will of God in our lives. We too must answer it with our faith by learning to exercise our faith and release our faith deliberately and on purpose directing it specifically as Jesus spoke deliberately and specifically to the fig tree.


Jesus did not ask His heavenly father to curse the fig tree, he commanded it to bear fruit no more.


Likewise how often have sincere Christians cried out to God to remove the mountain when instead He is requiring of them to discern their need and duty to use their faith to speak to the obstacle, knowing that their faith is in actuality His faith living in them and speaking through them as His children. What Christ is showing us in this example therefore is one of the ways that we must learn to exercise the faith of God is by speaking to the mountains in our own lives and commanding them to be removed.


How do we do that ?

In v20 the disciples pass by the fig tree accompanying Christ and Peter, remembering, said to him,


"Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has whithered away. "So Jesus answered and said to them,"Have faith in God or have the faith of God"


"For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,


"Be removed and be cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart , but believes that those things he says will come to pass ,he will have whatever he says.


Whoever says to this mountain Be removed...... and does not doubt in his heart but believes. Whoever says.....


It is evident that we are required to speak to our mountain and command it to go, so what Jesus is speaking of here is our responsibly in the place of prayer.




Many people struggle with the idea of speaking to the mountains in their lives and taking authority over them. It sounds like either presumption to them or foolishness and if they try to do so they only feel awkward and doubtful of anything really being accomplished. But the words of Jesus are very plain and are necessary for us to obey if we desire to see the answers to our prayers. Such attitudes will only ensnare us and hold us in bondage if we persist to hold onto them. Jesus is not asking for our opinions in this matter he asks only for our obedience.

It is so vitally important to understand that the act of speaking to our mountain is not just some mental exercise. We cannot speak to the mountain out of our heads with some notion that we will give it a try .You do not experiment with this, you have to "say" , " not doubting in your heart "v 23. This is heart Christianity in its most distilled essence.

We are in the west far to greatly governed by our minds, by the cerebral, and we desperately need to become men and women who both understand by the eyes of our hearts and live by the faith and love of God that is in our hearts.
Some people think of any reference to the heart as being a demonstrative emotional kind of Christianity, as opposed to a well thought out "biblical" approach. Such a confession only reveals how far we have moved away in the west from an understanding that as proverbs 4 says, we are to "guard diligently above all things our hearts for it is out of there that the issues of life flow, or our life force."

I use rather the word heart here to speak of the spirit of man which the bible refers to as our essential nature or our inwards parts. It is there that we must begin to inwardly absorb the promises of God word and be nourished by its goodness. It is there that we must store up the word of God richly so that it is a living and abiding presence and force in us for good.

Remember how Paul said in Romans1 v15 "So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also."

Paul would preach out of the overflow of what was in him, and we can only speak with authority out of the overflow of what is in us.

So we need to be assured and full of Gods promises so that our "saying" to the mountain comes forth from a wellspring of living water within us, and not from a haltering mind of doubt and unbelief.

But how do we speak to the mountains you may ask? I believe that there are two simple approaches to this both of which are necessary and powerful when applied.

Firstly we speak to the mountain by addressing it in that place of prayer, we speak to it directly and call it by its name. For example if it is a physical sickness that we are battling against we address it and say to it "You back pain in the name of Jesus, I command you to leave my body now, be removed and be cast into the sea." And we continue to meditate upon Gods healing scriptures and to believe that Gods healing grace and power is at work in us as we continue to stand in our faith.

Or if our mountain is an unsaved loved one for whom we have cried out earnestly in prayer we say to the veil of unbelief that lies over their hearts "Be removed" ,"Be removed you spirit of blindness that darkens the understanding of my loved one."

And we continue to believe the promises of Gods word that cover that specific situation, not doubting that we shall see the fulfillment of them in their lives.

That is the first aspect of saying, however I believe that we also speak to the mountain by speaking the word of God directly into that situation, in the confidence that as the fig tree yielded to Jesus so the mountain will bow eventually to the greater authority of the Word of God.
We should grow in our skill in doing this as a skillful mechanic would know which specific tool to select to tackle the specific challenge that he faces ,so the Holy Spirit will train and teach us to wield the sword of the Spirit in prayer as we commit to directing Gods word by saying it into the face of those challenging circumstances that defy us.
How few, how very few Christians believe in the spiritual authority that they have been given and can exercise in the place of prayer.
Jesus is the resurrected Lord who has been made the head over all things for the church.
There is no discrepancy in the place of authority that belongs to Christ or that resides in his body which is the church. All authority has been given to Jesus Christ the Lord both in heaven and on earth and that authority over evil and demonic forces has been delegated to the Church.
How many situations are being hindered or fowled up in our lives by direct satanic interference?
How many circumstances in our lives if the veil was drawn back and we could see into the realm of the spirit would we see the efforts of our enemy and of Gods to seek to withstand and thwart Gods best purposes from coming to pass in our lives?
To whom has the authority to deal with the devil been given in the new testament?
It came as a shock to me the first time I realised that the authority to deal with what the devil is seeking to do in my life has been given to me as my responsibility .
God will come against satan as I take my stand to resist and come against him in whatever guise he may be seeking to deceive.
The whole nature of a covenant relationship is as the book of Hebrews tells us a joining or binding together of two parties into one new identity.
God is that one party and we as his covenant people and as his children through faith in Christ are the second party
And God the father has irrevocably bound and joined himself to us forever to "be a God to us, " and that we should be a people unto him.
When we speak in the name of Jesus into the face of that need whatever the mountain may be, as it seeks to mock our faith and defy what we know the will of God to be, we speak to it in the name of Jesus and declare before it the Word of God.
As we speak in that name it is as if we are standing in Christs stead as his representatives on this earth, as His mouthpiece and his joint heirs, as his ambassadors clothed with his authority
This is by definition what being in a covenant relationship means.
So I can in all good conscience stand and speak in the sight of Almighty God and say "In the name of Jesus I shall not die but I shall live, to declare the works of the Lord to my generation" I can say "All my children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the peace of my children" Isa 54, and "This is the covenant that my Father in heaven has made with me, His Spirit that is upon me and His words that He has put into my mouth shall not depart from my mouth, nor from the mouth of my children nor from the mouth of my children's children from this time forward and for ever more,says the Lord."Isa 59.

My children will have the Word of God in their mouths and the anointing of Gods Spirit upon their lives because I account him faithful who has promised.

The last element which is that of believing that we have received those things that we ask for in our prayers works in precisely the same way.
We take the word of God and the promises of Gods word that pertain to our specific situation and that cover our need and we hold fast to that rather than any other circumstance to the contrary.
If Gods word says that all my children shall be taught by the Lord and that great shall be the peace of my children then that is the way that it shall be. I have laid that matter out before God in prayer and my confidence is only in what he has said.
As smith wigglesworth the great apostle of faith once said "I am not moved by what I see, I am not moved by what I feel, I am moved only by what I believe."
And I would add we also say like Mary, "I believe that it shall be towards me just as God has spoken and according to what he has said".
In so doing and in so saying we can believe that we receive what we ask for in prayer because the ground of our confidence and the foundation of our hopes and the certainty of our convictions is based only and wholly upon what He has said.

When Jesus returns to this earth the searching question is asked "Will he find faith upon the earth?" This seems to be the single greatest quality that the risen Lord is looking for.
I would like to end by recounting an experience that a woman I know had that reveals the heart attitude of our Lord towards those who live and walk in faith.
In this visionary experience this woman was taken and saw the globe and found herself looking down upon different lands and geographical regions.
What she saw was a blanket or covering of darkness and here and there she saw lights shining through the darkness and emanating out of the surrounding darkness.
The Lord spoke to her and said that these lights represented those of his people who chose to live and walk by faith, taking him at his word, and the darkness represented those who did not.
She sensed the grief in Gods heart and imagined that it was for the lost.
To her utter surprise the Lord said that his grief was for those of his people who did not walk by faith.
They were born again in many cases Spirit filled believers who nevertheless would not take him at his word and did not live by faith in Him and in His word, and the contrast was as great as between the light and the darkness that this woman had seen in the vision.
I remember speaking to this woman the day that the Lord spoke to her in this vision.
I had just got back from a ministry trip to Poland and as I spoke to this woman I could literally sense the light of Gods presence pouring out of her eyes. My first response to her was "whats happened to you ", and then she told me of her vision.
To entertain doubts and nurture unbelief in our hearts concerning any part or portion of Gods word is not only spiritual suicide but robs God of his witness in this world, as being a people in whom he will discover faith when he should return.
May we be counted rather in 2010 among those who live in and walk in the light of Gods glory and presence which we truly carry within us as we determine that we will walk in that same Spirit of faith that so many who have gone before us have been commended for " I believed therefore I have spoken "