THE GIFT OF FAITH

HIS GLORY REIGNS
B. Childress
May 18 2007 08:00AM

"Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant...Now there are diversities of gifts, but the
same Spirit.  And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord, And there are diversities of operations,
but it is the same God which worketh all in all."  1Corinthians 12:1-6

But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of
wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another
faith by the same Spirit; to another the
gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles:" 1Corinthians 12:7-10

The gifts of the Holy  Spirit (or manifestations as identified by Paul) are manifested through individual believers as
the Spirit of God wills.  Spiritual gifts are not given to the individual for personal benefit, but to 'profit' a whole
assembly or body of believers.  When the gifts of the Spirit are in manifestation, they will always exalt the Lordship of
Jesus Christ.  
TRY THE SPIRITS:  "Hereby know ye the Spirit of God:  Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God:
and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that should come...
" 1John 4:2-3

First Corinthians 12:3 states, "
Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth
Jesus accursed:  and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost (when the Spirit is in
manifestation).
"

The Gift of Faith:

  • Also called the gift of special faith. This gift of faith is the greatest of the three power gifts and the catalyst for
    the other two "power" gifts: gifts of healings and working of miracles.

  • The gift of faith is a gift of the Spirit to the believer in order that he might receive miracles.

  • A supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit whereby a believer is empowered with special faith, wonder-
    working faith, unlimited faith that is beyond simple (saving) or general faith.

  • The gift of faith is a special gift which is given supernaturally by the Spirit of God as He wills.  Those who
    operate in this gift - special faith can believe God in such a way that God honors their word as His own and
    miraculously brings to pass the desired result(s). You simply have the anointing and the power of God within
    you.  

  • The gift of faith is a gift of the Spirit to the believer that he might receive miracles (a process).  The working
    of miracles, on the other hand, is a gift of the Spirit given to a believer that he might work a miracle (an act).

  • The gift of faith employs faith that passively expects a miracle as a sustained or continuous action: when it is
    necessary, there is a duration to the gift of faith - it is an ongoing action (special faith) even if nothing is seen
    at the time to confirm that the person has received the answer.

  • The gift of faith is a divine gift or enabling by the Spirit of God that causes what is spoken or desired by man,
    or spoken by God, to ultimately come to pass.  The human or divine miracle, utterance, certainty, cursing or
    benefit, creation or destruction, removal or change, will eventually come to pass when it has been spoken
    under the inspiration of this gift of (special) faith.

  • The gift of faith can operate in areas of divine protection and divine provision.  Irrespective of the area, it
    works independent of you.  You do nothing about it; God does it all for you.

  • There are times when the manifestation of (special) faith will occur only after you have reached the end of
    your own (general) faith.

  • There are certain operations where the manifestation of all three of the "power" gifts are needed, the gift of
    faith being the catalyst, to bring a desired result to fruition - such as when raising the dead.

  • The gift of faith is unlimited for the simple reason that God, not man, is the door: God is the source of the
    energy.  It is God, through the power of the Holy Spirit,  performing supernatural exploits that requires no
    human strength from the believer.  Neither can these exploits be humanly explained.


The Gift of Faith in operation is used:

  • to pronounce and receive blessings or the fulfillment of human utterances

  • for personal protection

  • for supernatural sustenance in time of famine

  • to raise the dead

  • to cast out evil spirits

  • in some instances, the laying on of hands for people to be filled with the Holy Ghost


The Gift of Faith is not...

  • Saving faith.  Every believer already has saving faith which is also a gift: "For by grace are ye saved through
    faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God."  Ephesians 2:8

    General (ordinary) faith: faith in God's Word, faith for believing God for your needs, etc.  The gifts of the Spirit
    operate by faith - general (ordinary) faith on the part of the believer through which the gift is being
    manifested.  A person must step out in faith and yield to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.  Recall Mark 9:23,
    "...If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.." Every believer has been given a
    measure of this kind of faith.

  • Faithfulness - the fruit of the Spirit which is for character.  Faith, or faithfulness, is a fruit that grows in the life
    of a Christian to establish him in godly spiritual character.

  • A gift you can operate without the unction of the Spirit of God.  

Examples of the Gift of Faith from the
Old Testament:

The pronouncement of blessings and cursings

Noah

Using the gift of faith, the patriarchs would lay hands on or speak blessings or curses on their children which would
sometimes come to pass years later: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Noah. Using Noah as an example, And he drank of
the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent.  "
And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the
nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.  And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon
both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were
backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness. And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger
son had done unto him.  
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.  
And he said, Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant
."  Genesis 9:21-26

Daniel in the Lion's Den.

Daniel had been thrown into the lion's den, yet Daniel did not do anything.  He just laid down and went to sleep.  In
those days as well as throughout history, there have been those who were thrown to the lions and the lions were
expected to devour them - but the lions did not devour Daniel.  Here's the scenerio: ...the king arose very early in
the morning, and went in haste unto the den of lions.  "
And when he came to the den, he cried with a lamentable
voice unto Daniel: and the king spake and said to Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God, whom thou
servest continually, able to deliver thee from the lions? Then said Daniel unto the king, O king, live for ever.  My God
hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths, that they have not hurt me...
"  Daniel 6:20-22

God had given Daniel special faith, a special manifestation of this gift of the Spirit, just to receive deliverance. His
faith was passive rather than active, yet he received a miracle.

Moses' confrontation with Pharaoh of Egypt.

Moses called the miracles into being and God performed them. The great power of God was demonstrated without
Moses even lifting a finger.

In one of his visits to Pharaoh, Moses laid down his shepherd's staff and it suddenly changed into a king cobra.  The
Pharaoh's magicians threw down their staffs, and they too, became serpents.  But Moses' serpent devoured the
magicians' serpent after which Moses reached down and picked up the cobra which immediately became a staff
again. Exodus 7:10-13

Elijah, Prophet of God being sustained in the wilderness by the Lord.

The gift of faith is beautifully shown to us in the life of Elijah. Elijah was hidden away in the wilderness with nothing to
eat.  The Lord caused the ravens to bring meat and bread to Elijah,  "
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh
in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
" 1 Kings 17:6

When the brook dried up, God spoke to Elijah. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, "
Arise, get thee to
Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain
thee.....he (Elijah) called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
" 1 Kings
17:9.10


Examples of the Gift of Faith from the
New Testament.

Jesus exercising the Gift of Faith on the ship.

"
And there  arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.  And he (Jesus)
was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not
that we perish: And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, 'Peace, be still.'  And the wind ceased,
and there was a great calm.  And he said unto them, 'Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?.
'" Mark 4:
37-40

While some will say, "Well, that was Jesus."  Let us not forget that Jesus did everything by the Holy Ghost.  He
voluntarily stripped Himself of what power He had as the Son of God when He came to earth.  It was only after He
was baptized by John the Baptist and the Holy Ghost came upon Him that He was able to perform miracles. (KH p.
103)

Apostles in the New Testament.

Many of the apostles in the New Testament acted with great faith which produced a manifestation from the Spirit of
God.  For example when Peter spoke to Ananias and Sapphira about having lied to the church about the amount of
money they received from the sale of their land.  Peter said, "
Thou has not lied unto men, but UNTO God.  And
Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these
things.
"  Acts 5:4,5  

When Sapphira came in, Peter said unto her, "
How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the SpirIt of the Lord?  
behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.  Then fell she
down straightway at his feet, and yielded up the ghost:
".Acts 5: 8,9

Gift of Faith in the ministry of Smith Wigglesworth.

Smith Wigglesworth arrived home from work and was met at the door with news that his wife had died - that she had
been dead for two hours.  To that Wigglesworth replied, "No, she's not dead."  He dropped his lunch bucket and
tools, walked into the bedroom, pulled her out of bed, stood her against the wall, called her by her first name, and
said, "I command you to come to me now!"  Then he backed off, and here she came!  She lived a number of years
after that.    (LS P. 95)

NOTE:  Raising the dead takes supernatural faith, special faith, to call a person's spirit back after it has left the body.
Then it takes the working of miracles because the body would have started to deteriorate, as in the case of Lazarus
(John 11:39).  It takes the gifts of healings because if the person who was raised from the dead wasn't healed,
whatever he died from would still affect his body and he would die again - so the person would have to be healed
too.  ALL THREE OF THE POWER GIFTS ARE IN MANIFESTATION WHEN SOMEONE IS RAISED FROM THE DEAD  
(KH p. 104).

Another time, Smith Wigglesworth's friend, Mr. Mitchell had fallen ill and been close to death.  As  Wigglesworth was
returning home from an open-air meeting, he decided to stop by this man's house.  Upon his arrival, he could hear
Mr. Mitchell's wife screaming and crying, "He's gone!, He's gone! Wigglesworth walked past her and began to pray.  
He says, "I got as far as I could with my own faith, and then God laid hold of me.  Oh, it was such a laying hold that I
could believe for anything.  The faith of the Lord Jesus laid hold of me and a solid peace came into my heart.  I
shouted, "He lives! He lives." (KH p. 104)  And the man did live.

The Gift of Faith demonstrated through Howard Carter.

Reverend Howard Carter was in prison during World War I, serving time as a conscientious objector.  He was placed
in a cell so narrow that he could not move around.  The concrete roof above him leaked, and the dripping of water
on his head was extremely aggravating.  Finally, one night he said, "Lord, stop that leak." The Lord answered, "No, I
won't stop it.  You stop it." "But Lord, how can I stop it?" "Speak to it," replied the Lord. Reverend Howard Carter
spoke to the water.  He commanded it to flow the other way.  At that moment, the leak stopped and not another drop
of water came through during the war.  It was a dynamic act of faith. (LS p. 97)


"As we appropriate the Word of God concerning the gifts of the Spirit, there shall come more
manifestations of the Spirit of God in greater frequency than in the past.  And there shall be
great manifestations of God's power through the gifts of the Spirit.  In this day and hour in
which we live, these gifts of the Holy Spirit are necessary to bring about that which God
desires to do in the earth."
 (KH p. 106)



Sources:

The Holy  Spirit and His Gifts, Kenneth E. Hagin, Copyright 1991, RHEMA Bible Church

The Gifts and Ministries of the Holy Spirit, Lester Sumrall, Copyright 1982, Lester Sumrall Evangelical
Association (LeSEA).
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