Walking by faith can seem impossible, especially if you walk it out biblically. The accounts of those who preceded us in the Bible are extraordinary, and so they should be. Why? Because the God of the universe is involved. You know, the One with Whom nothing is impossible, except that He could lie. The problem is that many measure what’s recorded by their experience and human abilities. A good many of them are moved by the opinion of others, instead of what the Word of God actually says. Several depend on what they feel instead of what God declared to us.
If you are going to walk by faith, you’re going to have to do it biblically. This leads to an important question: do you believe the Bible? Do you really believe, or are you just answering “yes” to sound good? You must make the decision to believe; unless you do, you will get stuck.
Jesus said, “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). Verse 39 goes on to say, “But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” Apart from (the) Holy Spirit, one cannot walk by faith, because you need Him in order to hear the proceeding Word of God, and understand Scripture. By the way, He is the Interpreter of the Bible, which makes the idea we don’t need Him rather ridiculous. Some say God doesn’t speak to us anymore because we have the Bible. Interestingly, in the Bible, Jesus said His sheep will hear His voice (see John 10:14-16). Are they saying the Bible nullifies His voice now? That same Jesus said that “MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.” Are they saying God quit speaking or has become mute because we have His written Word? There is one thing that’s convenient about not having (the) Holy Spirit present: a person can make the Bible say what he wants. This is a great danger. We cannot afford to interpret the Bible because it’s spiritually discerned. You will never know what God makes available to you by leaning on your own understanding, and He does want you to understand His Word. Otherwise, He would not have given it to us. 1 Corinthians 2:12-13 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, 13. which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words (NASB). Those who bend Scripture are in danger of adding or taking away from what God has said. That’s not a good idea at all! Some are already incapable of walking by faith because they don’t believe they can hear the voice of God today.
Question: do you believe God can speak to you if He wants? That may sound simplistic, but some need to start somewhere. One might answer, “Of course, He can do what He wants; but, the question is does He want to?” What does the Bible actually say? Please don’t limit it by your experience, God is greater than that! Search the scriptures to see if it be so. Incidentally, does God desire a relationship with you? Most relationships have a dialogue. Just saying!
A stronghold (as found in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5) is not some demonic fortress; although many strongholds are demonically inspired.
They are thoughts and imaginations that are contrary to the Word of God. They might have some elements of truth or factual statements intertwined with them, but they simply reinforce the lie or falsehood. People strongly protect them because they hold them to be true. Unfortunately, what they believe to be true, hinders their walk of faith. Anything held as true that contradicts the Word of God, nullifies the Word in his or her life. Traditions and doctrines of men are at odds with the true Doctrine of Christ. Those who have the greatest influence in your life can affect your walk if you don’t guard your heart. That doesn’t mean you should look at them with suspicion. It means everything must be filtered through the Word by (the) Holy Spirit.
Truth confuses those who have stronghold, so don’t assume automatically something is not from God if you get confused by something you hear. Here’s a simple truth: if you have the truth of God in any area, you cannot be confused there. What does that mean? If one is confused, he or she doesn’t have the full truth.
There has to be a willingness to have our minds renewed. We are invited to think like God, and that requires His Word. Make the decision to view things from His point of view. Keep asking Him for the truth and be willing to conform to it. The more you see things from His perspective, the easier your walk of faith will be. No one knows it all, humanly speaking; however, (the) Holy Spirit does. Ask Him to teach you, and reveal what God has made available to you. If you don’t know what’s at your disposal, you will never use it. Ignorance is not bliss in relation to the Word of God!
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