Laws Of Faith Part 1 by Pastor Philip Olubakin: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

What Is a Law?

When something is a law, it means it works all the time. If it is a law, it works in Nigeria. If you travel out of Nigeria, it works outside Nigeria. Some people's gospel only works within Nigeria — that is not a law. If something is a law, it is applicable in every area, in every time, in the past, in the present, in the future. The goal of this teaching is to show how faith can work all the time — not sometimes working, sometimes not working. The law of gravity works in the morning, in the afternoon, in the night. The law of gravity works in Ghana, in South Africa, in the US. That is why it is a law — it works every time, and it works everywhere.

The quality of the word that you know will determine the quality of the prayer you pray. When you have a need, don't look for a prayer point first. Look for a word point first.

What Is Faith?

Hebrews 11:1 — faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. Faith makes tangible what is unseen. Your health is unseen, but faith makes it tangible. Your children are unseen, but faith makes it tangible. Your marriage is unseen, but faith makes it tangible. Your prosperity looks unseen, but faith makes visible what is unseen.

Faith is not hope. Hope says it is possible. Faith says it is done. Hope says it can happen. Faith says it has happened. Faith is NOW. Don't mistake your optimism or hopefulness for faith. Hope is still important — if you don't have hope, you can't have faith — but hope is not faith. Hope is a good place to start. Faith says it has happened.

Faith is not a feeling. Feelings fluctuate. You can be high today and down tomorrow. Faith, because it is hinged on God's word which the Bible says abides forever, is a spiritual force that gives substance to the unseen. Faith is your credit system in God's kingdom. Faith is the currency of heaven. Hebrews 11:6 says without faith no man can please God.

Money is the currency of the earth. Souls is the currency of eternity. Faith is the currency of the supernatural. The only way we can get things from there and materialize them here is through faith. Faith is therefore a legal right to take what God has already provided. Faith takes possession of what grace has provided.

Law Number One: The Law of Knowledge

Romans 10:14 — how shall they call on him whom they have not believed? How can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? That is how it is with faith. You cannot believe what you don't know. Faith is a response to revealed truth. My job is to ensure that you hear it long enough so that you can believe it.

Faith cannot exist in a vacuum. Faith must be a response to a new truth. Psalm 107:20 — he sent his word and healed and delivered from destructions. When I was lying on a sick bed struck down by chicken pox, I saw that the Bible was using the past tense: he sent his word and healed me. He has already sent it. That word jumped at me. They call it a jumping word — you are reading and something jumps at you from the word. Faith is response.

• The first knowledge you need is the knowledge of his nature.

  • Exodus 15:26 — I am the Lord that healeth thee. He is not behind your sickness. His name is Healer.
  • Psalms 100:5 — the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures to all generations.
  • If it is not good, it is not God. Cancer is not good — therefore it cannot be God. Every good and perfect gift comes from God the Father with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
  • God is not just good in the moral sense. He is skillful. You can trust him with your life because he knows what he is doing. Deuteronomy 32:4 — he is the rock, his work is perfect.
  • Malachi 3:6 — I am the Lord, I changeth not. What he said yesterday is what he is saying today. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. That is why you can trust him.

• The second knowledge is the knowledge of his will.

  • Faith begins when the will of God is known.
  • Many people cannot pray with faith because they are not certain if something is his will. If you are not certain, you cannot launch out in faith.
  • His will is in his word. His word is his will. 3 John 2 — I wish above all things that you prosper and be in health. His will for you is health and prosperity. The Bible says if they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity and their years in pleasure.
  • We don't know the will of God by outcomes. That something failed does not mean it is not the will of God. A great man of God can fail in his marriage, in his health. We only know the will of God by the word of God.
  • Anointing is not parenting — these are two different things.

• The third knowledge is knowing that he is willing.

  • People fight between God's ability and his willingness. Is he willing to forgive? Is he willing to heal?
  • Matthew 8:2-3 — the leper came and said, Lord if thou wilt, thou canst. Jesus put forth his hand and said: I will. Be thou clean.
  • There is nobody that Jesus said I will not heal. I checked through the scriptures. His promises are yea and amen. He has never said I will not.
  • In Mark 6, he could do no mighty work in his village — not because he was unwilling but because of the unbelief in their hearts powered by dishonor. He wanted to heal them but they did not heal. The barrier was theirs, not his.
  • Jesus says everyone that the Father brings to me, I will no wise cast out. He never turned anybody back. It is his good pleasure to forgive you. It is his good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Luke 12:32 — fear not, little children, for it is thy Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
  • You have not come to a reluctant God. He wants to do it.