Understanding The Departments Of Faith by Dr. Paul Enenche: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Dimensions and Departments of Faith

Understanding the departments of faith is necessary for the productive deployment of the force of faith. Just as every functional system has dimensions and departments, so does faith.

To be a medical doctor one must understand anatomy, physiology, biochemistry, pharmacology, microbiology, and many other disciplines. In the same manner, faith has departments.

Some believe faith is simply belief, and that is true, but faith is more than belief. Belief alone does not make faith. A hungry man can believe with all his heart that eating will help him, yet if he never eats, he can die of hunger still believing. Belief is important, but belief alone is not sufficient to produce results.

Confession is also a department of faith, but confession alone is never enough to change a person's story. Many have confessed for years and became frustrated because confession alone did not produce the result they expected.

Department One: Insight in the Word

Romans 10:17

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Faith comes by insight, not just knowledge but understanding of the word.

Acts 8:30-31, 35-37

The story of the Ethiopian eunuch shows that he was reading scripture but did not understand it until Philip explained it to him. The moment understanding exploded in his heart, faith exploded. When a person understands something others do not, that becomes the strength of their confidence and the strength of their operation.

Department Two: Belief in the Heart

Insight in the word translates into belief.

Romans 10:9-10

If a person confesses with the mouth the Lord Jesus and believes in the heart that God raised him from the dead, that person shall be saved, for with the heart man believes unto righteousness.

Mark 11:23

Whoever says to a mountain, be removed and cast into the sea, and does not doubt in the heart but believes what is said shall come to pass, shall have whatever was said.

Matthew 9:21

The woman with the issue of blood said within herself that if she could but touch his garment, she would be made whole.

Belief has qualities:

• Conviction beyond confusion being so convinced that there is no confusion about what is believed.
• Conviction beyond dissuasion nobody can talk a person out of what they are convinced of concerning the word.
• Inner declaration even without speaking it aloud, the heart is already declaring it.

Department Three: Adjustment of the Mindset

Proverbs 23:7

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.

Faith moves from insight to belief to mindset, changing the way the mind works.

Genesis 14:22-23

After Abraham returned from the slaughter of the kings, he told the king of Sodom that he had lifted his hand to the Lord, the possessor of heaven and earth, that he would not take even a thread or a shoelace, lest the king say he had made Abraham rich. The mindset of a person of faith refuses to let another take the glory for what God alone will do.

Ephesians 3:20

God is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, because he examines the mindset and the way the mind works.

A mindset that receives with an inferior or beggarly posture is a hindrance. Faith requires the mindset of a person who is not oppressible, not harassable, and not defeatable, walking with quiet confidence that comes from dependence on God rather than dependence on men. When one's decisions and steps are made purely on the basis of dependence on God as source, such a person does not need to think twice before deciding, because they are not looking to man as their answer.

Department Four: Expectancy

Expectancy is living in the realm where anything is possible, described as magnetic expectation, an expectation that magnetizes manifestation for the things one is convinced should happen.

Job 14:14

If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait until my change comes.

Acts 3:4-5

Peter, fastening his eyes on the lame man with John, said, look on us, and the man gave heed, expecting to receive something from them.

Acts 14:8-10

A man at Lystra, impotent in his feet from birth, heard Paul speak. Paul, steadfastly beholding him and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, stand upright on your feet, and he leaped and walked. This was magnetic expectation, the same kind of expectation that pulled the mantle of Elijah onto Elisha when he picked up what had fallen.

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Expectation is the sustenance of active, vibrant hope, freedom from hopelessness.

Romans 4:18

Concerning Abraham, against hope he believed in hope.

It is not possible to be hopeless and be full of faith. Wherever there is a hopeless person, there is a person whose faith has gone flat. Expectancy is also a desperation for divine manifestation, being unwilling to settle in the place of unanswered longing.

Summary

The departments of faith are insight in the word of God, belief in the heart, adjustment of the mindset, and expectancy. Insight is understanding what many do not understand. Belief in the heart is conviction beyond confusion, beyond dissuasion, and turning into inner declaration. Mindset adjustment governs the way one thinks and behaves. Expectancy keeps hope alive and active regardless of present circumstances.

By the mercies and help of God, many will be made very big, moving in the fullness of what God has purposed for their lives, chasing the works of darkness to nothing and rescuing captives.