Proverbs 17 - Tested Faith (notes)

Proverbs 17 - Tested Faith

Jesus Said

• The Kingdom of God is here now!
• We must change our way of thinking if we are going to embrace the Kingdom, if we are going to see as God sees, If our faith is going to become strong, it will be tested by fire.

Our Faith Will Go Through a process of purification. God wants our complete confidence in Him not in formulas or principles.

Proverbs 17:3 The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests the heart.

Everyone’s Faith

Will be tested. God wants our heart. God wants us totally devoted to Him.

God wants our faith to grow strong in His Word but He wants total devotion.

God will not allow anyone in His Kingdom to stay where they are, He wants us all to grow in faith and in that process our faith will be tested by fire.

Without Faith

We can not please God. We can not even begin our walk in God without first learning to completely trust in Him.

Faith grows like a mustard seed. The water of the word of God causes faith to grow.

Faith is a substance. God created everything out of it.

We Need

To constantly be hearing what God says to grow in faith. Romans 10:17 Faith is like a seed, it needs constant watering for it to grow and the WORD of God is that water that makes faith grow into a force that can see creative miracles every day.

There Are Examples

of people who were touched by their faith in God. The two blind men who called out to Jesus as He passed by were both healed because of their violent and desperate faith. Sometimes it is ok to become desperate in faith and cry out to God even if it disturbs others who are not as desperate as we might be at the time. Are you desperate enough to be militant in your cry of faith to Jesus to do something for you?

Romans 4:19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.

Romans 4:20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God…

Faith Gives Us

Access into God’s presence so we can go into the throne room of heaven and present our case before Almighty God.

Romans 5:2 “By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Romans 10:8

• But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is the word of faith, which we preach.
• We speak a word of faith and things happen in the atmosphere. Situations change, bodies change, sickness has to leave, bones are created, procedures are not needed because when we get God’s Word in our heart and it comes out of our mouth, everything changes.
• Get a Word from the Lord into your heart and let it come out of your mouth with faith and watch God go to work for you.

There Is A Process

• To changing our mind, to having a new outlook, a new mind set.
• First it starts in my mouth. I speak what God says. I speak faith in what God has proclaimed.
• Then it goes into my spirit. The spirit world controls the natural world. My spirit grabs what God has pronounced over my situation, sickness, etc.
• We hear it preached. We hear God’s perspective on the matter and our faith is solidified.

Principle

Everyone has a measure of faith but there are degrees of faith. Elisha was given a double portion from Elijah and he did twice as many miracles as Elijah. Don’t stay where you are in your faith, grow in it.

The New Reality

• How do we live as Jesus lived?

• By living by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.

Deuteronomy 8:1-3

• The children of Israel were tested so God could know what was in their hearts, if they would keep the Word. God humbled them so they would know that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

The New Reality Is

That nothing can stop this Kingdom from advancing in the earth today. There is also supernatural provision for us. There is healing for any and all types of diseases. There is deliverance for those oppressed by the Devil and those possessed by demons.

This revelation is being unveiled to us and we are taking the Kingdom by force.

Why Our Faith Is Tested:

1. So it can grow to be able to handle greater challenges.
2. So we can learn how faith works.
3. So our faith will become strong.
4. So our trust will be in God and nothing else.

To Fear God Means:

• I believe what He says.

• I trust Him.

• Faith is the mirror of the heart that reflects the realities of the unseen world-the actual substance of His Kingdom.

It Is a Violent Theme to bring the Kingdom of Heaven into this realm. There will be opposition to this message even from some in the church but we must press on, it is worth it.

The physical world is under the dominion of this new Kingdom reality. The physical world is under the authority of this new reality. We need faith to tap into this reality. Our faith will be tested in the process but that is because God does not want us to be stagnant.

There Is Another Reality

The spiritual world (God’s Kingdom) controls the physical world.

The Kingdom of God is here, God is here and we need to bring that reality into our existence. When we do, the blind will see, the lame will walk, the demons will be driven out of people and the dead raised.

All This Started When Jesus came and will not stop because some will not believe it. We must believe it, we must embrace this new reality and see what God wants us to see and do what He says we can do in the name of the King.

Matt. 21:15-22

This account finishes with Jesus talking about the power of faith when we pray. Prayer is not wishful thinking or empty hope, it is faith in the new reality that the Kingdom of Heaven is here and we can tap into it, see miracles in Jesus’ name and the greatest harvest we have ever seen in the history of the church.