For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God. —EPHESIANS 2:8
While there is undeniable mystery attached to the sovereign Creator of all things, there are several subjects that both the Word of God and the example of Jesus give clear instructions on how to deal with. We identified a few of these topics in our section on the supernatural power of the Kingdom. And here we will identify a few others.
We know that God has a will. We also know the devil has a will. This means that we cannot just accept what life throws our way as God’s will because all too often we embrace the assault of the devil and mistakenly label it as God’s doing. This is a travesty that must be confronted. Remember, the paralytic’s friends did not idly accept their friend’s circumstances as God’s will. No. They had a clear vision of God’s will as revealed through the example of Jesus, which was shared with them through testimony. They heard that Jesus was a Miracle Worker and that no diseased, afflicted, tormented people were turned away from His Presence.
As a result of what they knew about Jesus, they pressed through the boundaries and roadblocks to purposefully step into God’s will. So many of us are under the false assumption that God’s will just happens. It does not. He has revealed His will through the written Word and through the model of Jesus Christ. Ask the Holy Spirit to come and give you understanding, discernment, and clarity concerning the revolutionary biblical concepts we are about to study.
Faith is not something that we just come up with in our own ability; we received faith as a gift from a gracious God the day we were translated out of darkness into the Kingdom of God and were born again. Each of us received breakthrough faith the day we became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ! Ephesians 2:8-9 gives us the clearest picture of how we received faith for salvation: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (ESV).
Faith does not come from us. It is not natural in origin. As human beings, we do not have the ability to just conjure up faith. The first activation of faith that we make is when we trust in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. To believe the message of the Gospel and actually become transformed by it demands supernatural faith. This is why so many mock the message of the cross.
Paul was absolutely correct in remarking that “the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing” (1 Cor. 1:18). This verse alone refutes the idea that we can will up enough faith to become a Christian. Apart from God’s invasion, the Gospel remains foolish. You and I are perishing until God supernaturally confronts us and miraculously deposits faith into our spirits. It takes a miraculous act of God for us to believe in the message of the cross. Apart from God giving each of us the “measure of faith,” it is absolutely impossible for us to embrace the liberating truth of salvation and become born again.
Here is the problem then: when we view faith as something we can create on our own, then we will always be striving toward an upgrade, a new level, or a fresh revelation in order to receive more faith. There will always be more faith that we can possess, earn, attain, or build.
In Ephesians 2:8-9 Paul is very intentional about reminding us that faith is nothing we can will up using our own strength or willpower. Faith to believe in God’s grace is a wondrous gift of God. Faith is a gift and grace is a gift. We cannot earn salvation. We cannot work for it. We cannot do enough good things to include ourselves in God’s family, and there are not too many bad things we can do to exclude us. God gives you and me supernatural faith to believe in His unmerited, amazing grace. Billy Graham describes faith as “the channel through which God’s grace to us is received. It is the hand that reaches out and receives the gift of His love.”41
Each of us received breakthrough faith the day we became a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ!
The process is completely supernatural, through and through. The Spirit of God is the One who comes and plants this faith within us. It is this supernatural faith that empowers us to believe the most wild and outstanding story ever told—the story of the Gospel and how the message of a Man, a rugged cross, and an empty tomb can actually bring the spiritually dead to life. And this happens in our day.
Mark 11:22-23 is the passage that contains the hidden secret to unlocking the breakthrough, miracle-working realm of faith:
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.’”
First and foremost, we must realize that there are no categories or levels of faith. We have received the same faith as the apostle Paul. In fact, according to the most accurate translation of Mark 11:22, we have received the very faith of God.
Consider this for a moment: the faith we received at salvation did not come from us; it came from God. If this is true, then it is impossible for us to qualify for a faith upgrade or receive a “new level” of faith. We cannot go higher, deeper, or farther than the faith of God. The only thing we can learn how to do more effectively is steward what we have already been given. This is what positions us to walk in increased breakthrough, victory, and miracles.
But what about the often-quoted Romans 10:17 passage: “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”? Many use this passage to imply that we can get more faith by spending time reading the Bible or listening to sermons. While those things are definitely beneficial and helpful to our growth, they are incorrect and out of context when applied to this verse. Go to Romans Chapter 10 and read the surrounding verses. Paul is specifically talking about faith for salvation here. Right before verse 17, he asks,
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” (Romans 10:14-16)
Faith to believe the Gospel and become born again comes from God through His Word! Does studying Scripture help our faith? Yes. The Word of God is the written record of what faith legally can withdraw from Heaven and release into the earth. Scripture makes us aware of what faith is able to do; however, it does not increase the quantity of our faith! Remember, there are no levels of faith. What we received at salvation is completely supernatural and entirely sufficient for everything from saving our souls to raising the dead.
Study the lives of those who changed nations, helped shape Christianity over the centuries, and saw multitudes comes to Christ. Those who have been powerfully used by God throughout the ages did not pursue some type of upgraded faith. Rather, they recognized the power of the faith they received at conversion and lived like what they got from God was supernatural and sufficient for the job of changing the world.
Who are your personal heroes of the faith? Maybe it is the audacious reformer Martin Luther. His breakthrough faith compelled him to nail the Ninety-five Theses to the door of the University Church in Wittenberg and incite a spiritual revolution.42 Maybe it is John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and firebrand evangelist who preached with such anointing and power that “well-dressed, mature people suddenly cried out as if in the agonies of death. Both men and women, outside and inside the church buildings, would tremble and sink to the ground.”43
Perhaps it is Jonathan Edwards, the theologian, scholar, and preacher who experienced revival in such a dynamic measure that the entire community of Northampton, Massachusetts, was said to be “permeated by divine presence,” where “simply upon entering the community, the people’s skepticism (about the revival) inevitably dissipated because of the overwhelming presence of God.”44 And I cannot help but think of young Evan Roberts, the catalyst of the great Welsh Revival of 1904, who saw 100,000 souls converted to Christ and an entire region transformed by the power of God. Every one of us possesses the same faith that each of these world changers did!
What we received at salvation is completely supernatural and entirely sufficient for everything from saving our souls to raising the dead.
These are but a few names handpicked from history. In recent years I have reflected on spiritual generals like evangelist Billy Graham. Study his past and you will be amazingly unimpressed. Born on a dairy farm and raised during the Great Depression, the man went on to become a spiritual advisor to presidents and one of the most powerful evangelists of our time. It was said that as a child he was denied membership in a local youth group because he was “too worldly.”45
Graham was almost thrown out of a Christian college, with the leadership warning him, “At best, all you could amount to would be a poor country Baptist preacher somewhere out in the sticks…. You have a voice that pulls. God can use that voice of yours. He can use it mightily.”46 What happened? Graham stewarded the faith he received and used it to change the world through his evangelistic influence. He faced opposition like all of us do, but he persevered not because he received a super-charged “Billy Graham kind of faith,” but because he recognized that the faith he already had was otherworldly and supernatural.
One of my personal heroes was evangelist Kathryn Kuhlman. The woman was as unlikely a candidate as anyone to have a history-making, Spirit-filled miracle ministry. She was a young girl from nowheresville in Concordia, Missouri.47 She lived at a time when women preachers were not as embraced as they are today. She had setbacks, failures, and nearly debilitating odds stacked against her. The result was that she emerged as one of the most powerful evangelists of her day, demonstrating the love and power of the Holy Spirit time after time in her crusades, with multitudes coming to Christ and receiving supernatural healing.
If you listen to or read anything from Kathryn, you will notice how frequently she refers to her new-birth experience. Why? It was at the age of fourteen in her quaint little Methodist church where the seed of breakthrough faith was planted in her heart as she gave her life to Jesus. The very faith that released miracles, signs, and wonders was not because of some special anointing she received later on in life, after having countless people pray for her and visiting every crusade or conference on the planet. Kathryn’s approach was simple: she “always preached faith in a big God. Faith in a God big enough to cross any hurdle was a principle she not only preached, but lived by.”48 She learned to steward the faith she received as a little girl.
History makers like these notable individuals stir us up—and then quickly let us down. We assume they possessed some special, upgraded type of faith—the special mountain-moving faith we read about in Mark 11:22-23. But this is not true. What separates heroes and history makers from those who do nothing, living in regret and complaint because they didn’t receive “that kind of faith”? Stewardship. Each of us has the same faith as Billy Graham. We all have the miracle-working faith of Kathryn Kuhlman! I pray that you would recognize that the faith you received is capable of accomplishing anything—and everything. It is not yours; it is a gift from a gracious God.
The supernatural faith that saved you is the same faith that releases the power to heal the sick, cast out demons, raise the dead, and, yes, even transform entire nations through the power and Presence of God. Bible teacher Andrew Wommack poignantly settles the “levels of faith” debate by explaining,
One of the areas about faith that gives people the most trouble is the concept that we have to acquire more faith and that some people have much faith, while others have virtually none. We spend a lot of effort, like a dog chasing its tail, trying to get something we already have. Every born-again Christian already has the same quality and quantity of faith that Jesus has.49
In Mark 11:22, when Jesus says “have faith in God,” the most accurate translation of this statement is “have the faith of God.” If the faith we receive at salvation comes from God, then it makes sense that we actually receive the faith of God. Where does God get the faith that He gives us? From Himself. This then begs the question, “Does God have faith?” Look back at Genesis 1 for a moment, where God speaks into nothingness and creates the world. He had faith in His Word, that what He said would come to pass. God has faith, and we become partakers of this same faith through the new-birth experience.
The faith you received is capable of accomplishing anything.
It literally takes the faith of God to be converted to Christianity. If this is indeed true, then we have the very faith of God living on the inside of us. It is a living faith because it comes from the living God. Jesus explained, “For assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).
Faith as a mustard seed. This was not Jesus’ attempt to categorize levels of faith (some have mustard-seed level faith, some have apple-seed level faith, etc.). Jesus was telling us that because we received the faith of God, even if this faith was the size of a mustard seed, it did not matter because it would produce a God-sized harvest. A mustard seed of faith from us cannot move a hill of beans, but a mustard seed of faith from God can move mountains, shake nations, and change the world.
Now that we know where breakthrough faith comes from (God), I want us to continue to study the story of the paralytic in Mark 2 and discover some practical keys on how we can start putting this faith to action.
Breakthrough faith is not some new level of faith. It is not an upgrade. It is not reserved for extraordinary, unusual people. Every believer was given breakthrough faith the moment he or she became a Christian. Man does not possess the ability to muster up this faith; God Himself sovereignly and graciously gives it, as it is His faith. The faith that empowers us to believe an impossible Gospel and become a new creation is the same faith that equips us for a sustained lifestyle of supernatural breakthrough.