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Authors: Casey Treat

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FAITH
1
Faith Is the Master Key
I
wanted to speed. It was ten thirty at night, and the television broadcast started at eleven. There were hardly any other cars on the road, and I wanted nothing else but to put the pedal to the metal and get to Julius’s apartment as fast as my little Volkswagen could carry me. The only thing stopping me was the scenario of a police officer pulling me over. Having a past record filled with multiple drug arrests and convictions, court-appointed drug rehabilitation, and parole, I was fairly certain I’d have a hard time explaining that my reason for speeding was to get to my mentor’s house so I could watch a church television broadcast. True, I had lived the past three years completely clean, but my drug-addict-turned-Bible-school-student excuse probably wasn’t going to fly, and the last thing I needed was a speeding ticket. So I obeyed the law.
Julius Young was the founder of Washington Drug Rehabilitation Program, and soon after I entered the program, he led me to Christ and became my spiritual father. For my wife, Wendy, and me, Julius was instrumental in many facets of our lives during this time, and I’ll never forget the first time he introduced me to the message of faith. He called me late one Sunday night and said, “Big Red, you’ve got to come over here and see this guy on TV! He’s a pastor from California, and he’s talking about faith like I have never heard before.” That was the first time Wendy and I watched Pastor Fred Price, and little did we know, it was also about to set a course for our future in ministry. Wendy and I did not have a TV, so every Sunday evening before 11 P.M., no matter where I was or what I was doing, I would drive as fast as I legally could to Julius’s home so I would not miss one second of this incredible television broadcast.
Wendy and I were in our third year of Bible College. We were passionate about the things of God and studying to become ministers. Although we were spending every day in classes and lectures learning God’s Word, we had never heard anyone teach on faith like Fred Price. He talked about Christians being able to use faith to take control of their lives not only to pray for God to do things but to actually initiate the change they wanted! He had a revelation that faith was not just a wish for God’s promises to come to pass, but it was a tangible force to make dynamic things happen in our lives. He was strong and unwavering in his communication, presenting his teachings on faith as straightforward fact.
The message of faith came alive in our hearts. We ordered as many books and tape series by Fred Price as we could afford—which was just enough to get us started. We would pore over every resource that came in the mail, listening to and reading them again and again. The power of faith exploded into our lives, and the very next year we began Christian Faith Center, determined to spread this word of faith to as many people as possible.
Over thirty years later, I am convinced more than ever that faith is the master key for success in every area of life. It is
the
cornerstone and
the
foundation of the Christian experience, and without faith we are unable to receive anything from God.
By
faith we begin our relationship with God,
with
faith we walk every step of our lives, and
through
faith we can see God’s promises in action. Faith gives us God’s vision to see the impossible as possible, faith provides us strength to walk through the greatest storms of life, faith orders our lives and propels us forward in our destinies, and faith can change any area, from the smallest to the biggest, with which we are dissatisfied. Without faith, we will never see the full blessings of God. But with faith, we will experience wonders and miracles the world only wishes it could receive. Faith is the first of “the 3.” To win in life, you must have faith.
Over thirty years later, I am convinced more than ever that faith is the master key for success in every area of life.
Faith Is Not Religious
Think of the teacher who worked diligently to make sure every single one of her students succeeded. She was the teacher who around exam time would hand out the study sheet and say to the class, “Make sure you go over this sheet for the test.” Then throughout the hour of review for the following day’s exam, she would repeat that phrase over and over in multiple forms: “Study everything,
especially
the sheet I handed out.” Or “chapter 7 is important, but be sure to know everything on the
study sheet
.” By stressing the study sheet many times, she basically was letting her students know that if they came to the test with that piece of paper memorized, they would be sure to pass. She wasn’t going to try to trick her students with clever multiple-choice questions or surprise them with obscure facts; she was telling her students exactly what they needed to know.
God is the same way. He’s not trying to make our Christian walk tricky, and He’s not about hiding secrets in the Bible so that only a few incredibly smart people find the “real truth.” If this were the case, most of us would be in trouble. God is just like this teacher, wanting every person who comes to Him to succeed in every area of life. Throughout the scriptures, He made sure to spell out practical steps on how to succeed in every area of life: marriage, family, parenting, finances, personal integrity, and the list goes on. And when it comes to the subject of faith, He repeats over and over that we are to operate our lives entirely by faith.
There are four times in the Bible where God specifically repeats Himself in instructing us on faith . . . four times! If God repeats Himself
four
times in the Bible, then He must be trying to tell us something.
• Habakkuk 2:4: “Behold the proud, [God’s] soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.”
• Romans 1:17: “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’ ”
• Galatians 3:11: “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ‘the just shall live by faith.’ ”
• Hebrews 10:38: “Now the just shall live by faith.”
Like the teacher, God is making it clear: There are many things that are important, but if you make sure you know
this,
then you will find success. No matter what tests in life may come, if you have an understanding of
this,
then you will not fail.
As Christians, we must live every aspect of our lives by faith, with faith, and through faith. Faith is believing, trusting, having confidence in, and relying completely upon God. Faith is a lifestyle. In 2 Corinthians 5:7, Paul writes, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” The word
walk
here really means to live, to order our lives, to conduct ourselves by faith; not by sight or our natural abilities, our natural senses, and what we know in this physical realm. When it comes to faith, this is the biblical perspective.
To walk by faith means the decisions of our lives are controlled by our faith; our values and our morals are established by our faith. Our vision for the future and for our lives is established by our faith. Our financial commitments and the way we handle our marriage and kids are established by our faith. When we walk by faith we are not influenced by what’s popular, by what’s natural, by what’s in the media or by what everybody else is doing. Everything we do, we do by faith in God.
To walk by faith means the decisions of our lives are controlled by our faith; our values and our morals are established by our faith.
Many people talk about faith: “Oh, she is a person of faith” or “Oh, yes, I have a deep faith.” But when we take a look at their lives, they are living in the same debt, the same crisis, the same divorce and depression as everyone else in this world. They deal with the same addictions, habits, and negative attitudes that the rest of the world is dealing with. Many people say they have faith, but we never actually see it working in their lives; there is no evidence that would cause anyone else to say they are people of faith. If someone were to follow you around through your life recording everything you said and did, would there be any evidence that you were operating in faith and that the power of God was being demonstrated throughout your life?
Faith is not a passive belief in God. If the only evidence a person has to determine if we have faith is that we attend church once in a while, occasionally throw
God
in our vocabulary, and wear a WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) bracelet, then that person would reasonably question our faith. In fact, many people go to church and carry around Christian paraphernalia but then have no other evidence of God truly working in their lives. Paul talks about this in 2 Timothy 3:5 when he mentions in the last days there will be people who will have “a form of godliness” but will possess none of the power that accompanies a life of faith. I call this form of godliness religion.
When I refer to religion, I’m talking about man-made things: buildings and icons, customs and traditions, that someone other than God invented. We have performed its practices or actions—good or bad—for a long time, but other than image, they really have nothing to do with God. Its repetitious prayers and motions may make us
feel
closer to God, but in actuality they do nothing to bring about a relationship with God. Religion says a church must look a certain way, a person must dress in a particular manner in order to be holy, and everyone must obey a strict set of laws to be in right standing with God. Religion is not faith, and it cannot release any of the power of God into a person’s life.
God is not into religion; He doesn’t care about buildings, clothes, or laws. He knows religion will never bring lasting change in people’s lives and will never help them find the success they need. But most importantly, God is not into religion because it does not bring people closer to Him. God desires us to be connected with Him, to have an intimate relationship with Him, and religion will never be able to produce the closeness He wants. Only through the power of faith can we begin to experience a dynamic friendship with the Creator of the Universe.
Relationship with God Starts with Faith
A maxim I like to say is, “Sitting in church does not make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car.” Many Christians confuse their religion with a relationship with God and think the level at which they immerse themselves in works and man-made law is the level of interaction they have with God. But learning about God, memorizing scripture, and even growing up in church does not create a relationship with God. Our connection with Him didn’t start when we became religious, when we stopped smoking and drinking, or when we stopped any kind of sin. Our relationship, our connection with God starts with faith.
Ephesians 2:8-9 says
,
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Paul teaches that we connect with God for eternal life by faith. It’s not by going through Bible classes, paying the tithe, or any type of religious activity; our relationship with God is something that cannot be earned from Him—it can only be received from Him. By grace we have been saved, and it is through faith we receive grace.
So, God sends His Son because of His grace, and Jesus dies because of His grace. He pays the price, rises again, and becomes our Savior. That’s all God extending His grace toward us. Then one day, you choose to believe in Him, to have faith in Him; and with that conviction, your relationship with God begins. Salvation came to you when Jesus died and rose again, but you did not receive it until you believed it. It took faith. Your name was on the gift of salvation like a present waiting for you under the Christmas tree, and when you realized that gift was for you—
blamo!
—the gift was yours for the taking. God didn’t have to do anything the moment you believed; all the work was already finished; you simply received it when, by faith, you believed in it.
In Romans 10:8-10, we can find another description of the same process
.
“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Our relationship starts when we have faith in God’s grace. How do we know if we have faith? We believe in our hearts and we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. We only need two things: a heart and a mouth.
Like so many other little babies, I was baptized, or “christened,” when I was a few months old. I had no relationship with God; I had no faith, never believed in my heart, and never confessed with my mouth. I don’t even remember the day. As a result, my baptism did nothing to connect me with God, as the following nineteen years would clearly prove. Getting my head sprinkled with water while wearing a white frilly outfit didn’t bring me one iota closer to Jesus. It was not until I got an understanding of who Jesus is and what He did for me, believed it in my heart, and then confessed it with my mouth that my relationship with Him began. Religion didn’t connect me with God; it was faith that connected me.
That’s
the moment when my relationship with God began. Faith is believing and saying, believing and saying.
Throughout your entire Christian walk, in every circumstance, faith works the same way every time. Every blessing, every promise from God comes into your life by faith: believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth. When you believe in your heart that Jesus is your healer and you say it with your mouth that He took your sickness, carried your disease, and with His stripes you were healed (1 Peter 2:24), then His miraculous healing becomes a part of your life. When you believe in your heart God is Jehovah Jireh, the One Who Is More Than Enough, He meets all your needs according to His riches in glory (Philippians 4:19) and you say it with your mouth, then His financial help starts working in your life. Faith never changes. You can use your faith in many different areas, but it always works the same way. You only need to do two things: believe in your heart and say it with your mouth.
Every blessing, every promise from God comes into your life by faith: believing in your heart and confessing with your mouth.
Everything God wants to do in your life requires faith to receive. He will never impose Himself upon you or force you to take anything He is offering. Consequently, every aspect of who He is, every promise He wants to bless you with, you must receive by faith. Romans 5:1-2 says
,
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also
we have access by faith
into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (emphasis added). Everything God has is accessed by faith! Access to joy, access to peace, access to strength, access to prosperity, to favor, to healing, to relationship, and to everything He has to offer! Access to God’s throne room is available to me; all I need is my faith as the master key to open its door.
Faith in God is not some mysterious force, just a good feeling that helps you endure life but does little else to help you change your circumstances. It’s not something that just works after you die in order to get you to Heaven. Faith in God is a mighty force available to you to change your world and to affect the circumstances and the things you face every day: in the spiritual realm, in the soul realm, and in the physical realm. Let’s spend some time learning about faith, reinforcing our faith, and growing our faith. As we gain understanding about how to use our faith, we will begin to see God’s miraculous power flowing through our lives like never before.

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