GROWING YOUR FAITH FOR KINGDOM LIFE

Week 2 : UNDERSTANDING HOW TO GROW YOUR FAITH FOR TRIUMPH Part 2
What is faith?
1. Faith is a substance Heb11:1 
2. Faith is evidence Heb11:1 
3. Faith is based on the presence of hope/expectations/vision. Heb11:1 
4. Faith is seed. A seed is the substance of a plant (in the future) and the evidence of prior existing plant (that cannot be seen)

illustration: The story of Tetteh Quarshie. 

Ghana is the second-largest cocoa producer in the world

Cocoa is number 2 in Ghana in terms of export revenue
Tetteh Quarshie was a Ghanaian farmer and blacksmith.
In 1879, he travelled to Equatorial Guinea and obtained cocoa beans.
He secretly brought the cocoa seeds back to the Gold Coast (now Ghana).
He planted the seeds on his farm at Mampong-Akuapem.
The cocoa plants grew successfully and spread to other farms.
This led to the development of Ghana’s cocoa industry, which later became one of the largest in the world.

In the story the cocoa seed was the substance of Ghana's future cocoa industry, the evidence of the unseen cocoa industry in Fernando po

• Faith grows through prayer and praying in the Holy Ghost – Psa. 119:18/ Jude1:20/ 1 Cor. 2:13 
Prayer opens up your spirit to hear the voice of God which produces faith. Rom10:17 Eze2:2 acts 13:2  

• One must keep his hope alive to keep his faith growing – 1 Pet. 1:3/ Eccl. 9:4/ Rom. 4:18-21 

• But Hope also is activated by revelation of the word – Rom. 15:4 

The faith that works must be:
• Heart-Seated faith – Rom. 10:10/ Heb. 4:2/ Jer. 29:13/ 1 Sam. 16:7 
The heart is government of a man. 
Man has a conscience,mind,emotions,will but the heart is where all these are in agreement. 1John3:21 (conscience), Prov23:7 Job17:11 (mind) John 16:6 (emotion) 2 Corinthians 9:7 
The heart of a man rules the man. Proverbs 4:23  
The direction of a man's life depends on what is in his heart. Matthew 12:34 james 3:4-5 Eze36:26-27 Heb8:10 
Heart-seated faith begins from the spirit (inspiration- Job32:8 ) develops in the mind (Job32:8 Rom10:17 Matthew 13:23 ) 
grows/multiplies in the emotions ( Heb10:35 ) and expressed through the will ( James 2:20 James 2:22 ) leading to more faith (Rom1:17amp ) 
Faith is cycle similar to seed cycle. eg. planting,germination,growth, flowering, fruiting, harvesting, more seeds for planting...

• Love-Driven Faith – 1 Cor. 13:2/ Gal. 5:6/ 1 Jn 4:16-18/ 1 Jn 2:9 
Love driven faith is faith/trust that is rooted in the Love, person and nature of Jesus. 1Tim1:4-5amp 
The substance of true faith is God- who is love. 1 John 4:8  
The efficacy or limit of our faith depends on how much of it is based on love. 
Not all faith (substance of things hoped for) is based on God or love. 

But what is Unique about Bible Faith?
• Bible faith commits the integrity of God to perform – Psa. 89:34/ 2 Tim. 2:13 
The glory of God is in the integrity of His Name i.e honouring covenants. He is one with His word. John1:1 Psalms 138:2nlt 
Our covenant with God is one of faith. Our part is to walk in Faith and His part is to respond with His grace. Rom4:16 

• Bible faith has the power to quench all the fiery darts of the devil – Eph. 6:16 
Fiery darts don't just pierce, they also burn down what they pierce
The ultimate purpose of the fiery darts of the enemy is get us disconnected from God/Jesus because without Him we can do nothing. john 15:5  
Fiery darts often manifests as Thoughts, Ideas and Suggestions (TIS) from the enemy as we go through the seasons of life. 

Case study (Judas Iscariot)
-Jesus Christ chose Judas as one of the Twelve apostles (Luke 6:12-16).
-Judas managed the group’s money, but he had a habit of stealing from it (John 12:4-6).
-This suggests that love of money was already corrupting his heart.

-Judas went to the religious leaders and agreed to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver (36,000GHS) (Matthew 26:14-16). Greed opened the door

-The Gospels say Satan entered Judas before the betrayal (Luke 22:3; John 13:27).
-This indicates that his persistent sin made him spiritually vulnerable.

Judas did not fall suddenly. His downfall developed through hidden sin (greed), deliberate betrayal, spiritual corruption, and despair instead of repentance.

• There is no irreversible case with bible-based faith – Jn 11:39-44 
because faith connects us to the omnipotence of God, there is no state of affairs faith cannot bring about.