The Law of Faith

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The book discusses the fundamental precepts governing faith, its operation and the guaranteed results of exercising faith.

The main topics discussed include the medium of operation, expression and growth of faith as well as essential supplements like love, keeping to your source, being relaxed, praise, abstaining from sin and gladness to serve.

According to the book, essential supplements to faith include love, keeping to your source, being relaxed, praise, abstaining from sin and gladness to serve.

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THE LAW OF FAITH

THE LAW OF FAITH

David O. Oyedepo

Copyright © 1985 by David Oyedepo

ISBN 978-2480-29-0

Published in Nigeria by

DOMINION PUBLISHING HOUSE

First published in 1985, reprinted 1986, 1987, 1993,


2007,2008, 2009, 2010

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be used without


the written permission of the publisher, with the exception of
brief excerpts in magazine articles, reviews, etc. For further
information or permission, address:

Dominion Publishing House

Canaan Land, Km 10,Idiroko Road, Ota.

P.M.B. 21688, Ikeja, Lagos,

Nigeria.Tel: 234-1-7747546-8

Web: www.davidoyedepoministries.org

for online purchase visit:

www.dominionbooksonline.com

All Scripture quotations are from the King James Version of the
Bible, except otherwise stated.

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CONTENTS
Preface 5
Introduction 7
Chapter 1: Medium of Operation 15
Chapter 2: Medium of Expression 25
Chapter 3: Scene of Operation 39
Chapter 4: Medium of Growth 49
Chapter 5: Essential Supplements
To Faith: Love 57
Chapter 6: Essential Supplements To
Faith: Keep to Your Source 67
Chapter 7: Essential Supplements To
Faith: Be relaxed 73
Chapter 8: Essential Supplements To
Faith: The Act of Praise 79
Chapter 9: Essential Supplements To
Faith: Abstain From Sin 83

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THE LAW OF FAITH

Chapter 10: Essential Supplements To


Faith: Gladness to Serve 89

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PREFACE
Many believers have been unable, try as they
may, to stand on the Word of God and make
their faith produce. True, several have put the
Word into action, and waited for results which
never came. This category of believers are left
hovering between two notions: on the one hand,
they may be wondering what is wrong with the
Word of Faith preached to them and on the
other hand, whether they are ever going to
make it in the faith realm.

For such believers, this is an invaluable book.


I have endeavoured to discuss in this modest
volume, the fundamental precepts governing
faith, its operation and guaranteed results which
the exercise of faith produces. It is as practical
a volume as to be useful to both the faith
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THE LAW OF FAITH

preacher, as well as the general believer seeking


to live and walk in the realm God has ordained
for all of His children – the realm of the
supernatural.

God bless your heart as you read. Amen.

Bishop David O. Oyedepo

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Introduction
The existence of man on the earth is not an
existence of free haphazard drifting, or a matter
of chance. It is an existence guided and
controlled by laws emanating from the spirit
realm, the source of everything including
supernatural manifestations. What every man
is, is the result of what has taken place in this
realm concerning him. The achievements of
man are not so much due to his physical
strivings, but by the workings from the spirit
realm. No matter the resources (physical,
mental, financial, etc) employed by man in his
endeavours, if his success is not guaranteed in
the spirit realm, everything he has built will
either collapse like a pack of cards or will not
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THE LAW OF FAITH

take off from the planning stage.

The Word of God, the only source of truth of


life, asserts that, “It is not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth
mercy” (Romans 9:16). It is also written, “The
battle is not to the strong, neither the race to
the swift” (Ecclesiastes 9:11). The reason is that
“…A man can receive nothing except it be
given him from heaven” (John 3:27). Even the
apparently successful unbeliever depends on
the mercies of God to make it, because his riches
are under threat from the devil and his agents
who “…walketh about seeking whom (they)
may devour” (1Peter 5:8).

God is the God of order. He has decreed rules


or principles that guide everything, including the
life of His children. Under these, we have the
laws guiding divine health, prosperity, faith, etc.

In the operations of these laws, the believer


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INTRODUCTION

must bear two things in mind. First, he must


follow them to the letter. This is because
anything short of full compliance with spiritual
rules is not reckoned with God. Take the patient
who presents his prescription card at the
hospital’s dispensary or the chemist’s shop, for
example. The attendant goes through the list
of prescribed medicines and from big jars, he
pours out the prescribed quantity of each
medicine needed by the patient. When he
finishes, he cross-checks to make sure every
prescribed medicine is given out. If, for instance,
he gives the patient one or two drugs less, the
patient will either not get healed at all, or will
become a weak half-healed person. If the patient
is to get healed, he must have everything
complete. It is along similar lines that God’s
blessings are released for the believer. Hence,
it is incumbent upon the believer to be
knowledgeable of the stages and operations of
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THE LAW OF FAITH

these laws, if he is to expect them to yield fruit


for him.

The second point to note is that the sets of


rules guiding the release of the blessings are
not interchangeable. The rules for obtaining
financial prosperity cannot, for instance, be used
to obtain healing or another blessing. They are
similar to rules guiding sports. You do not play
football with a hockey stick, neither do you play
lawn tennis with your legs. If such behaviour
cannot be accepted at our own human level,
how do you suppose it can be accepted in the
spirit realm, where orderliness and perfection
are the cardinal principles?

From the above two points, it is obvious that


the child of God has rules to follow, before his
needs are met. The Bible makes this
abundantly clear, “And if a man strives for the
masteries, yet is he not crowned except he
strive lawfully” (2 Timothy 2:5). The operative
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INTRODUCTION

word here is “lawfully” or according to the law.


That means, without satisfying the rules, the
striving man cannot be declared a winner. A
football team that scores all its goals with their
hands cannot expect to be declared the winner
even if the ball entered the opponent’s net 10
times. The tennis player will be disqualified, if
he continues to use his hand to catch the ball
and throw it back, instead of using the racket
to hit it. He cannot even claim to be ignorant of
the rules. Once you enter for a game, you must
of necessity know the rules.

It is the same with God. He wants to bless


His children, but He does not want them to be
ignorant of the rules. Paul gives us a glimpse of
the application of one of these laws in his own
circumstance. He said, “For the Spirit of life in
Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death” (Romans 8:2). That is, by
correctly applying the law of life (salvation and
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THE LAW OF FAITH

obedience) against the law of death (sin and


disobedience), Paul sets himself free from sin
and its consequences.

There is a law guiding faith. This is called


the law of faith. To have effectual faith, the
Biblical faith that “subdued kingdoms,
wrought righteousness, obtained promises,
stopped the mouth of lions” (Hebrews 11:32,
34), you must first know that there are
principles guiding its operation.

Faith is not cultivated anyhow. It is not


something just to be confessed with the mouth,
when it is not in the heart. It is built up by
following laid down principles. Paul reveals this
in Romans 3:27, “Where is boasting then? It is
excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by
the law of faith.” Do you see that? It says, “By
the law of faith.” This means, faith has to do
with observing rules, to get mountains removed
from your way. You cannot lift a car with your
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INTRODUCTION

hands. Not only will it be difficult, but it may


crush you. To raise it, you need to apply a jack
which raises it, according to mechanical law. It
is not advisable to pick out a promise from the
Bible and apply it to a situation, just because
that promise worked for another person. No!
It does not work that way. If you continue
doing that kind of thing, the devil will whip
you very badly.

As a believer, you need to know this law of


faith, just like you need to know the laws of
your country, in order not to get yourself into
trouble. You need to know the medium of
operation of faith, its medium of growth and
the role the believer has to play to get everything
fixed in a neat jigsaw. The following chapters
are, therefore, devoted to all these aspects of
faith.

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THE LAW OF FAITH

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Chapter 1

Medium Of Operation
The heart of man is where faith is born and
nurtured. Romans 10:8-10 says,

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;
That if thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe
in thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For
with the heart man believeth.

From the text, we can rewrite the following:

(a) “The word is nigh thee… in thy heart: that


is the word of faith…”
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THE LAW OF FAITH

(b) “If thou shalt believe in thine heart that


God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, thou shalt
be saved”

(c) “For with the heart man believeth…”

Take note of the emphasis on “believe in”


the heart. You received your new birth, when
you believed the gospel with all your heart. You
would not have been saved, if you believed the
gospel with your head. Hebrews 4:2 says,

For unto us was the gospel preached as


well as unto them: but the word
preached did not profit them, not being
mixed with faith in them that heard it.

The Word of God will not produce results in


a man, unless it descends into his heart. It is in
the heart that the Word is synthesized into a
force. Faith is thus a spiritual force that taps
the omnipotence of God into a situation.

The Bible says of the woman with the


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MEDIUM OF OPERATION

issue of blood:

She said within herself (that is in her


heart), if I may but touch His garment,
I shall be whole.
Matthew 9:21

The Bible says Jesus saw faith in the paralytic


man and the people who let his bed down, and
accordingly, their faith was rewarded with the
healing of their patient (see Matthew 9:2).
These are two out of several instances in the
Bible that show that the heart of man is his
miracle centre.

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

Proverbs 23:7

If a man’s heart is dominated by fear and


anxiety, he grows fretful on the outside. If peace
and joy rule his heart, confidence and radiance
are reflected in his personality. His language is
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THE LAW OF FAITH

also guided and controlled by how much faith


is inside of him. Jesus said,

Out of the abundance of the heart, the


mouth speaketh.
Matthew 12:34

As a student, I suddenly fell sick during one


of our sessional examination papers. I had not
even put down a word then. I was carried from
the hall to the health Centre. The medical
doctor, who examined me, diagnosed high
blood pressure. It was unusually high. I knew
that the devil was responsible. A stethoscope
and other scientific equipment can only detect
symptoms and not the cause (i.e. the devil)
behind sicknesses. The doctor straightaway
recommended that I refrained from writing the
rest of the papers, with a medical report sent
to the Chief Examiner. So it became officially
certified that I did not write that paper on
medical ground.
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MEDIUM OF OPERATION

I eventually got to my room and the peace of


God so overwhelmed me that I slept very
soundly that afternoon. When I woke up, I
made a simple faith declaration on the issue. I
said, “Satan, if you could be so rude as to attack
me in the examination hall, I am also going to
prove to you whose son I am by passing that
examination without writing it.” I was saying
that over and over again within my heart. No
one else might share that kind of faith with
me, so I did not have to share it with any.

Again, I ignored the doctor’s recommendation


since I knew the source of my problem. I went
ahead to write the rest of the papers. I knew
success was my right. The verdict at Calvary
had established that fact. Jesus Himself said
that any tree the Father had not planted ought
to be uprooted (Matthew 15:13). Failure was
one of such. Again, it is written,

…If thou canst believe, all things are


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THE LAW OF FAITH

possible to him that believeth.

Mark 9:23

He said, “All things”, not some things or most


things. Again, the Psalmist has said,

I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills,


from whence cometh my help, my help
cometh from the Lord…
Psalm 121:1-2

I said to myself, “I believe deep down in my


heart that the odds notwithstanding, I will pass
this paper.” Mark 9:23 is the master key; it
opens all spiritual and physical doors. “It is not
what I see and hear that moves me. It is what
God says that moves me.”

When, later, my fiancée (now my wife) called


to see me at the campus, she wanted to know
how I had fared in the examinations. I told her
it was well and I was going to pass it. The devil
must have shuddered at the implication of such
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MEDIUM OF OPERATION

confessions, because he soon attacked my mind


with his theology. I could hear his cynical voice
saying, “Now David, let us be a bit reasonable.
You did not take this particular paper. You have
refused to see the lecturer in charge to explain
your situation to him for consideration. What
earthly reason do you have to think you will
pass it? Don’t you realize the risk in raising
such hope that is bound to be disappointed?” I
remained unmoved. I knew well the danger of
dwelling in the sense realm, that it can never
be a fertile medium for the operation of faith.
It is a realm whose victims oscillate between
hope and despair because, to them, the
mountains are formidable. But to the believer,
whose spirit is in tune with his heavenly Father,
the story is different. Jesus said,

…for verily I say unto you, if ye have faith


as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say
unto this mountain, Remove hence to

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THE LAW OF FAITH

yonder place and it shall remove; and


nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Matthew 17:20

The time for the release of the results came


and I went for mine. At the office, an official
told me that as a result of some disagreement
with the authorities, the lecturer in charge of
that paper had left the country with the scripts.
“There is no way to trace him”, the official
said. Dear reader, at this stage, I could hardly
suppress my excitement. Then he added,
“The authorities have decided to fall back
on the previous performance of candidates
for assessment.” “Halleluyah!”, I snapped
on my inside and soon I was overwhelmed
with joy. The good news was that I had
scored very good marks in the previous
results that were to be used.

Now, did I hear you say such things cannot


work for everyone? I tell you, they will work. If
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MEDIUM OF OPERATION

only you believe with your heart, whatever you


say shall come to pass. The reason why many
believers cannot exercise faith is that they have
starved their spirits of the Word, which is the
food of life. They have remained in their infant
stage for so long that it takes very little critical
observation to distinguish them from the
unsaved church-goers. They talk of faith, the
faith of Abraham, Moses, the apostles, etc. They
get thrilled to hear how a brother or sister
exercised his or her faith to turn round
impossible situations; yet, when it comes to
putting into practice what they have learnt, they
become possessed with unbelief and slip
back into the natural. It is such people Jesus
asked, “ Where is your faith?” It is the
question you should ask yourself, when
troubles are mounting.

Faith is part of the Christian armour. The


Bible says,
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THE LAW OF FAITH

Above all, taking the shield of faith


wherewith ye shall be able to quench all
the fiery darts of the wicked.
Ephesians 6:16

The fiery darts include diseases, sicknesses,


want, poverty, losses, joblessness, broken
homes, and every evil you can imagine. They
fly about every second of the day and you need
faith to counteract them. You cannot use any
other weapon. Your strength cannot help you,
your connections may fail, your qualifications
cannot provide a way and your beauty can lose
its power to procure you favour. What you need
is faith for

…the effectual fervent prayer of the


righteous availeth much.
James 5:16.

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Chapter 2

Medium Of Expression
Faith has to be expressed, before it can
produce what you believe in your heart. Only
God sees into your heart, the contending devil
does not. This is because you are not contending
with God but the devil, whom the Bible says we
should “resist steadfastly by faith.” God sees
everywhere, including your heart. The Bible says
in Proverbs 20:27 that,

The spirit of man is the candle of the


Lord…

Faith has a medium of operation and as such


it also has a medium of expression. The faith
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THE LAW OF FAITH

medium of expression is simply saying what is


already registered in the spirit. There are two
basic ways of expressing faith. First, it is by way
of using words and the second is by your action
(what to do).

Saying
In this section, we shall see clearly this
medium of expressing faith. Your word means
a lot in the spirit realm. The words that
proceed from your mouth essentially
determine whether you will succeed or fail in
life. In other words, your words can make your
lifestyle successful and it has the same
potential power to bring you down. Are you
surprised? There is no need to be surprised
because Proverbs 18:21 has settled it. It says,
“Death and life are in the power of the
tongue…” That is to say that the power to kill
and make alive lies in what you say.
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MEDIUM OF EXPRESSION

Faith becomes a creative force, when it finds


expression in words that are spoken. The faith
of God will amount to nothing, except it finds
expression in words. In that great chapter of
faith, Hebrews 11, verse 3 says,

Through faith we understand that the


worlds were framed by the Word of God
(which He spoke in the beginning) so
that things which are seen were not
made of things which do appear.

God spoke the Word in the beginning. The


Bible records, “And God said…” (Genesis 1:3-
31). So, you can see now that speaking as a
medium of expressing faith has been a principle
of God from the beginning of days. Through
the Bible and even now in our day, when God
decides to do a thing in His heart, He says it
and fulfills it. All the things that are in the world
came into existence by pronouncement.
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THE LAW OF FAITH

The Lord Jesus Christ was speaking about


the weight of words. If you believe something
with your heart only, that will not get you
through the situation except you speak it out.
A decree without a consequent proclamation is
of no effect because no one has heard it.
Therefore, it is null and void. If the government,
for instance, bans the sale and consumption of
alcohol without issuing a gazette (that is, a
public proclamation) to that effect but goes
ahead to enforce it, the decree will be resisted
by the people. So as a believer, you must first
work out your decree (desire) on paper (your
heart), then you proclaim it (say it) before it
becomes established in the physical realm.

Apostle Paul said that

We having the same spirit of faith,


according as it is written, I believed, and

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MEDIUM OF EXPRESSION

therefore have I spoken; we also believe,


and therefore speak.
2 Corinthians 4:13

If you believe, then you must express your


faith by saying what you believe. By speaking
what you believe, you are releasing potent
spiritual substance into the atmosphere to
accomplish the spiritual things you have settled
in your heart. Your problems and obstacles in
life are spiritually removed once you BELIEVE,
but they are physically manifest when you SAY
what you have believed.

In order to drive home this point, let us see


what Jesus says in Mark 11:23,

For verily I say unto you, that whosoever


shall SAY unto this mountain (obstacles
and problems), be thou removed and be
thou cast into the sea; and shall not
doubt in his heart, but shall believe that
those things which he saith shall come

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THE LAW OF FAITH

to pass, he shall have whatsoever he


saith.

By saying what you believe, you are


demonstrating confidence in God’s ability and
you are equally exhibiting your convictions and
assurance in the Word of God. I tell you, it is a
higher spiritual principle that beats the devil
hands down! Jesus says your problems will
crumble at your command of faith. This is
because the words that you speak without
doubting get the devil, who is the source of those
problems, off balance. Once the source of your
problem is dealt with, the problem will give way.

This is an age-long faith principle that has


been settled since Old Testament times. The
Prophet Jeremiah received this message from
the Lord. Listen to what he says:

… I will make My words in thy mouth


fire, and this people wood and it shall

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MEDIUM OF EXPRESSION

devour them.
Jeremiah 5:14

You know what had happened? Some people


were constituting themselves a hindrance in the
way of God. Those people had to be removed
and God commanded His Word to be spoken.
The Word of God in your mouth is FIRE and it
will devour any hindrance on your way. The
Psalmist recognized this fact and that is why
he says in Psalm 18:44-45,

As soon as they hear of me they shall


obey: the strangers shall submit
themselves unto me. The strangers shall
fade away, and be afraid out of their
hidden places.

Every disease or any such thing in your life is


a stranger, by virtue by of what Jesus has done
on Calvary. So, when you accept and believe
the Word of God concerning your particular
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THE LAW OF FAITH

situation, go on to confess and when those


strangers (demons and their attendant
calamities) hear your confession of faith, they
will not only obey you, they will disappear. The
Bible says they shall fade away, including their
symptoms!

You may begin to wonder what to say, possibly,


how to begin your confession of faith. The Bible says,

I am the Lord thy God, which brought


thee out of the land of Egypt; open your
mouth and wide and I will fill it.
Psalm 81:10

The land of Egypt here represents the domain


of the devil with its characteristic problems of
sin, poverty and despair. God has redeemed us
from all these. But in case the devil tries to
afflict you with what obtains in his kingdom,
God says just open your mouth wide, in faith
and He will give you what to say because you
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MEDIUM OF EXPRESSION

have believed His Word.

That is the kind of thing Jesus Christ was


referring to when in Luke 21:15 He said, “For I
will give you a mouth and a wisdom, which all
your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay
nor resist”. God will give you words in your
mouth to speak and wisdom to communicate
correctly, so your problems have no way of
resisting your command.

Romans 10:10 says that “For with the heart


man believeth unto righteousness; and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation”.
When you believe with your heart and you
confess with your mouth, all the packages of
redemption become yours. The Greek word
used for “salvation” is ‘sozo’ and it means total
redemption. It covers all areas of life – physical,
material and spiritual.

If you don’t say what you believe, you have


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THE LAW OF FAITH

not fully complied with the law of faith; that


means you have not striven lawfully and as such
you cannot expect to be crowned. Do you want
to be crowned? Do you want to be a winner?
Then begin to confess the good investments of
the Word of God in your heart. You have the
potential to win because you are spirit-filled and
Christ lives in you richly.

In fact, with all these, you are a spiritual


dynamite! The words of faith that come out of
your mouth are power-packed. All the
elemental forces of hell cannot but flee (fade
away) at your confession of faith.

Let your faith find expression in your mouth


or else it is dormant. For faith to be active and
for it to have the desired results, it must be
spoken (confessed). Faith in the heart is not an
end in itself, confession with the mouth brings
result. Faith gets your problem settled
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MEDIUM OF EXPRESSION

spiritually. Believing the Word of God in your


heart and confessing it with your mouth will
make it physically manifest.

Acting
The other way faith finds expression is
through our action. James the Apostle wrote
“…shew me thy faith without thy works, and I
will shew thee my faith by my works” (James
2:18). Think of a farmer for instance, who
prepared a piece of land for farming. He
procured some good seeds for planting but only
kept talking about how good the seeds were
and how much harvest they would yield,
instead of sowing them. It is quite certain such
a farmer would reap no harvest. His confession
would bring him nothing. For those seeds to
have yielded, the planting action was inevitable.

Friend, that is how much role positive action


plays in making your faith produce. There is
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THE LAW OF FAITH

the case of Hannah in 1Samuel 1:18, who


having prayed to God for a child, is reported to
have right away taken bread “…and her
countenance was no more sad.” That was faith
in action. You can hear her under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit saying in 1 Samuel 2:3 that
“…the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him
actions are weighed.” Hannah was saying here
in effect that her action was weighed by God
and that proved her worthy of an answer.

God is still in the business of weighing actions


today. Faith is dead without action. The Book
of Daniel recounts the story of King Belshazzar
of Babylon, to whom God said, “Mene, mene,
tekel, upharsin” meaning “Thou are weighed
in the balances, and art found wanting” (Daniel
5:27). Most Christians have lost wonderful
blessings by inaction or negative action. In the
miracle of the feeding of the five thousand,
Jesus first made the people sit down on the
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MEDIUM OF EXPRESSION

grass by companies, ready to eat even before


the food was manifested: Mark 6:39; John 6:10.
That was nothing but faith in action. Act out
what you believe.

In His healing ministry, Jesus was always


demanding action from all the sick folks:
“Arise”, “Take up thy bed” etc. Until you arise,
you will not shine. The Bible says in Isaiah 60:1,
“Arise, (and you will) shine…” The answer
follows the action. Jesus was an action-packed
master; that was why His faith was always
producing. At the death of Lazarus, He refused
to bow to the unbelief of Mary and Martha;
action made Him press forward to the grave
where He ordered the stone to be removed
(John 11:39). That was faith in action. You would
not expect anyone to come out, if the stone was
still in place. His action always paved the way
for His faith to produce.

Let it, therefore, sink into your spirit that for


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THE LAW OF FAITH

faith to produce, positive action is required;


before your blessing is released from above, God
weighs your actions to see if they comply.

If your actions are found wanting, your


blessings will be withheld. If you believe you
are healed, then arise. To stick to your bed is to
remain sick. If you believe you are blessed with
a baby, then go ahead and begin to make your
preparation for its arrival. If you believe you have
got a job, get up early and be ready as one who
is going to work. If you believe you are more
than a conqueror, then carry the bright look of
an overcomer on your face. To believe one thing
and act differently is contrary to the law of faith.

38
Chapter 3

Scene Of Operation
In Matthew 10:32-33, Jesus said,

Whosoever therefore shall confess me


before men, him will I confess also before
my father which is in heaven. But
whosoever shall deny me before men,
him will I also deny before my father
which is in heaven.

Two facts emerge from this statement; first,


Jesus is here emphasizing that He is the
mediator between man and God. Secondly, by
implication, some people are going to deny (or
feel ashamed of) Him. Who are those who are
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THE LAW OF FAITH

going to feel ashamed of Jesus? Is it the


unbeliever? Of course, yes; but he is not alone.
I want to make it clear that denying or feeling
ashamed of Jesus Christ is a spiritual crime that
can be committed by the believer as well. How?
Simply by feeling too shy or ashamed to identify
yourself with Him in public, by word of mouth
or action. I have earlier on discussed the part
played by utterance and action in the expression
of faith. I said this has to do with speaking and
acting out what you believe God for, either in
your closet or outside. What I am pointing out
in this chapter, however is that the operation
of faith should not be made a private affair. It
should be made public as circumstances
demand.

What do I mean?

Well, quite a number of believers are often


ashamed to demonstrate their faith to the
40
SCENE OF OPERATION

outside world. When troubles mount, they are


ashamed to confess in the presence of
unbelievers, statements of faith like “Thank
you Jesus. I know You are beside me to fight
my battles for me.” They are afraid to tell their
parents that “By His (Jesus) stripes, I am
healed; therefore, I do not want to see the
doctor.” When you tell a sister believing the Lord
for a child to go ahead and buy baby kits, she
tends to ask you, “What if people ask me who
the kits are for?” She agrees with you on the
importance of walking by faith. However, when
she goes to buy the kits and friends or relatives
ask her to whom those things belong, she
invariably says they belong to another woman’s
baby. She had the faith to go ahead to buy the
baby kits, but the fear of mockery, ridicule and
scoffing of the unbelieving public had caused
her to deny or feel ashamed to confess that her
Lord Jesus Christ had promised her a child, who
was even then on the way.
41
THE LAW OF FAITH

Now, read Matthew 10:33 again. It says,

But whosoever shall deny me before men,


him will I also deny before my father
which is in heaven.

Jesus is the Mediator of the new covenant.


You do not receive from the Father without His
sanction. Now, you have felt ashamed of Him.
You have refused to identify yourself with Him.
Therefore, He too is going to feel ashamed to
tell the Father to give you that particular need.
If it is healing you want, you will not have it. If
it is a job or a baby, you will not have it either.
Like begets like. Negative begets negative.
Positive begets positive. You have opted for the
negative and, accordingly, you will receive it.
This is because the Bible says,

For by thy words thou shalt be justified,


and by thy words thou shalt be
condemned.
Matthew 12:37

42
SCENE OF OPERATION

There is no denying that in the operation of


faith, you are likely to appear foolish before the
world. Definitely, people are going to mock, jest,
make cat-calls, or even physically oppose you.
The reason is that, the world system of thought
is completely at variance with the things of the
spirit. The world says that if you are sick, you
should see the doctor. Spiritual law says that
you should remain in your room and use the
Word (Sword of the Spirit) to deal with that
particular affliction. The world says you should
carry out your own vengeance, the law of the
Spirit says that vengeance belongs to the Lord.
The world says that to prosper is to gather, the
law of the Spirit says that to prosper is to scatter.
There is no way the two systems can reconcile.
From the world’s perspective, the laws of the
Spirit are nothing but foolish. But the solemn
truth is that unless the believer is set to despise
shame, unless he is ready to look foolish before
43
THE LAW OF FAITH

the world, he is not ready for victory yet.

Look at the woman with the issue of blood in


Mark 5:25-34. She did two remarkable things.
First, she was the only person who believed that
merely touching Jesus’ garment would heal her.
The rest felt that it was proper to invite Him
to their houses or get Him to touch them or
speak out the words of healing. Secondly, she
confessed her disease without feeling ashamed
or embarrassed about it, adding to her faith that
she could obtain her healing through touching
His garment. No wonder, Jesus told her, “Thy
faith hath made thee whole.” That is faith
operated in public.

Again, look at what happened at the marriage


feast in Cana. Wine was finished and yet there
remained people to be served, including a
governor. Jesus ordered that six huge water pots
be filled, not with wine, but with water! Can
you imagine how queer the instruction must
44
SCENE OF OPERATION

have sounded? The task was to be performed


in the public by a reasonable number of human
beings, who had no previous contact with Jesus
to understand what He must be driving at. Yet,
the record says, they obeyed, thereby openly
demonstrating their faith in Jesus’ ability to do
something to save the wedding host from the
embarrassing situation. Praise the Lord!

Now, coming to Jesus Himself, the Bible says


in Hebrews 12:2,

Looking unto Jesus, the author and


finisher of our faith who for the joy that
was set before Him endured the cross,
despising the shame and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God.

Jesus had to endure shame –public whipping,


taunts, slaps, revilings, etc. before He overcame
the world and was glorified. There was nothing
He did or said in secret. He said, “I spake
45
THE LAW OF FAITH

openly to the world” (John 18:20). The Bible


enjoins us to make Jesus our example, to forget
about what the world says and fight the good
fight of faith, wherever we are.

In Acts 14, we come across the disciples in


Iconium speaking boldly of the Lord, who also
“gave testimony unto the word of His grace,
and granted signs and wonders to be done by
their hands.” If you want to achieve victory by
your faith; if you want signs and wonders to
follow you, then it is high time you started
coming out in the open. Jesus said,

Neither do men light a candlestick and


put it under a bushel but on a candle
stick; and it giveth light unto all that in
the house.
Matthew 5:15

Your faith is your life. It is that which drives


away darkness from your life. It is meant not
46
SCENE OF OPERATION

only for yourself, but to help others as well. If


you operate it privately for your own benefit, it
implies that you are putting your candle under
the bushel.

The action has two implications. First, you


feel ashamed of Jesus. You want His healing,
but you do not want people to know that He
healed you.

Secondly, you are being selfish. You keep your


source of blessings from the world. But it is part
of the means God uses to advertise His grace
to unbelievers and get them saved. Your
operation of faith should, as the need arises, be
made known so that people would have cause
to glorify God in your life. When you fail to do
that, the impression you create in the public is
that you got your victories through your own
efforts. You stole God’s glory by ‘increasing’
yourself and decreasing Him. Do you want to
see the glory of God in your Christian walk?
47
THE LAW OF FAITH

Do you want to be used mightily by Him and


receive the crown of the overcomer? Then,
stand out of the crowd; operate your faith on
the sick and the oppressed. If you do not achieve
results in some of the ministrations, it is an
opportunity for you to find the missing link and
be able to achieve results next time. Jesus has
given you power. Go ahead and utilize it for
His glory.

48
Chapter 4

Medium Of Growth
So far, we have considered that faith is a
spiritual force that operates in the spirit of the
believer, and finds expression in his actions and
utterances. I wish to add here that these are
not only the facets of the law guiding it; there
is also the growth dimension of it.

Through His Words, Jesus Christ affords us


glimpses of this growth dimension. In Matthew
14:31, we discover that there was an upsurge
of faith in Peter’s heart, as he walked on the
water towards his master. The other disciples
watching the scene must have been thrilled by
their colleague’s faith, for up to that point, none
of them had been able to exercise faith enough
49
THE LAW OF FAITH

to be a partaker of Jesus’ miraculous activities.


As they held their breath, hoping that Peter
would make it to the master, a storm suddenly
arose. For a moment, Peter was cut off from
his master. He found himself alone. Fear
gripped his heart, quenched the faith
supporting him on the water. Then he began
to sink. At that crucial moment, the only
alternative left for him was to cry out, “Lord
save me”. Jesus told him, “O thou of little
faith….,” to point out to him that he was
operating at a lower realm of faith. True, he
had been able to walk on water; but that faith
was momentarily inspired by Jesus’ presence.
Peter had almost no faith of his own. What he
had was just something puny that could not
support him on water. Perhaps, we would not
have known this, if the storm had not betrayed
it.

Contrasting sharply with Peter’s faith was the


50
MEDIUM OF GROWTH

Centurion’s. Record says that Jesus marveled,


saying, “I have not found so great faith, no not
in Israel.” Again, Jesus often told people,
“According to your faith, be it unto you”, to
indicate that a person receives from God
according to the measure of faith stored in his
or her heart. Paul, in writing to the Thessalonian
believers, was full of thanksgiving to God that
their “faith growth exceedingly”(2
Thessalonians 1:3). But at the same time, he
makes us to understand in Chapter 3:2 of the
same epistle that there could be people, who
would be completely devoid of faith in God.

We can conclude from these and other


references in the Bible that faith can be totally
lacking, little or great. This in turn implies that
faith depends on a kind of nutrition for growth.
The most important nutrition for growth is the
Word of God. It is the major spiritual food for
the human spirit to develop upon. The process
51
THE LAW OF FAITH

is similar to the growth of the human body. For


the body to grow properly, it must be fed with
the right diet. Depending on the quantity of
diet consumed, the growth rate is fast, slow or
even stunted. Faith as a living force can grow
fast, slow or become stunted, depending on how
much of the Word is imbibed into the spirit. In
this light, Peter stressed that,

As new born babes, desire the sincere


milk of the Word that ye may grow
thereby
1 Peter 2:2

Paul told Timothy,

Study to she thyself approved unto God,


a workman that needeth not to be
ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of
truth.
2 Timothy 2:15

To have faith, it is vital to feed upon the Word


52
MEDIUM OF GROWTH

of God because there is no short-cut to growing


spiritually. The Bible says that,

Who through faith, subdued kingdoms,


wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouth of lions.
Hebrews 11:33

It is also written that the way to have this


faith is by hearing and reading the Word. It
follows that without knowing and applying the
Word, the believer cannot live righteously,
receive the promises of the covenant, or destroy
the works of the devil because all these
operations work by faith. Take the Corinthian
Christians for example. After being in the faith
for many years, they were still wallowing in
the quagmire of carnality. They fought, envied
each other, and fornicated, because evidently,
the Word was not dwelling in their hearts
sufficiently to enable them live above sin. A
similar situation prevailed among the Hebrew
53
THE LAW OF FAITH

Christians who, for many years, were hovering


around the basic teachings of the scriptures,
instead of graduating to be teachers themselves.

Like those earlier Christians, many Christians


today still remain babies because they do not
give first place to the Word in their lives. Their
faith is not developed enough to enable them
receive great things from God and to do exploits
for Him in return. They have come to believe
more in just the emotional experience of
worship, in stickers, in big Bibles, experiences
of other brethren, and other such things that
do not actually make for growth of faith. This
is a sad affair. The Bible says, “The just shall
live by (his own) faith.” It does not say the just
shall live by possessing big Bibles or listening
to the experiences of others, neither does it say
that emotional satisfaction produces answered
prayer. It says the just will live only by his own
faith.
54
MEDIUM OF GROWTH

There is yet another way to increase your


faith. This is to pray always in the Spirit, which
is, praying in the Holy Ghost, or in tongues.
Jude 20 says,

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves


on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Ghost.

Paul said, “He that speaketh in an unknown


tongue edifieth himself ” (1 Corinthians 14:4).
To edify yourself means to build up your faith.
The two verses mean the same thing. When
you pray in the Spirit, it is your spirit that prays
with the assistance of the Holy Ghost. The Holy
Ghost is the Divine Teacher of the Word and
also the One who brings to memory what the
believer has studied. Thus, when you pray in
the spirit, the Holy Ghost passes across to your
mind verses of the scriptures that are relevant
to your prayer point. However, He cannot give
55
THE LAW OF FAITH

you what you have not studied. But certainly,


He will refresh your memory concerning those
scriptures you have studied, in order that the
presentation of your request will be effective.

Praying in the Spirit is thus a faith-building


exercise for the believer. It is not a thing of fancy.
It has a definite part to play in spiritual warfare.
Whatever opinions people may hold about it,
do not add to, or subtract from the validity of
this fact. If you are a spirit-filled believer,
continue to pray in the Spirit as you study the
Word. If you are a believer and you are not filled,
it is better to get filled. Let the rivers of living
water flow out of you to bless others. It will
definitely help to increase your faith.

56
Chapter 5

Essential Supplements To Faith:


Love
The part played by love in the operation of
faith is so important that it cannot but be given
separate treatment here. Anything that has to
do with God, necessarily has to do with love
because love is essentially an attribute of God.
It is love that impelled Him to sacrifice His
only Son, Jesus Christ, so that He could
reconcile man unto Himself and restore to him
his original delegated authority to rule over the
work of His hands. Since God is love, he or she
is born of love and has the capacity to develop
his or her love to God’s standard of love. The
57
THE LAW OF FAITH

Bible says,

…God is love; and he that dwelleth in


love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:16

Every believer indwelt by the Spirit of God


should understand that God is there to use him
or her as a channel of showing His love to
mankind. Hence, any activity of the believer,
especially, those that have to do with his fellow
man must, as a matter of principle, have to be
motivated and guided by love.

Faith is a gift of God by means of which His


omnipotency is brought into a situation. He has
provided man with the means of acquiring this
faith and He expects that its entire operation
be based on love. This is a fundamental law of
the Spirit. The Bible says in Galatians 5:6 that,

…in Jesus Christ neither circumcision


availeth anything, nor uncircumcision;

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ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: LOVE

but faith which worketh by love.

Have you understood it? The verse says,


“Faith which worketh by love.” In other words,
Paul is saying that faith works or achieves its
effect within the context of love. Outside of love,
it is vain and cannot work.

For instance, you can meditate on the verses


of scriptures on divine healing, and receive
revelation knowledge of those verses from the
Holy Spirit. You can then go ahead to
appropriate the promise concerning your
ailment by faith. But dear brethren, if you are
not walking in love, if you are settling scores
with another person, whether a believer or
unbeliever, you will never get healed. St. John
gives us insight into this when he says,
“Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him
(God) because we keep His commandments,
and do those things that are pleasing in His
sight” (1 John 3:22). That means that you
59
THE LAW OF FAITH

can receive your healing only if you obey the


law. Romans 13:10 says,

Love is the fulfillment of the law.

In one of the series of “Faith Seminars” held


in Kaduna, Nigeria, there was one woman in
the congregation who, I learnt later, had been
praying and fasting for a particular need. Her
husband had gone overseas and she intended
to join him over there. But an embargo on
issuance of International passports had made
it impossible for her application for passport to
be considered. As a child of God, she knew well
that “if thou canst believe, all things are possible
to him that believeth.” No doubt, she believed
that verse and on that basis, she used her faith
to claim her passport. It never worked. Her
fasting could not help either. Confounded, she
attended the seminar where she learnt that the
basic hindrance to answered prayer is failure to
60
ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: LOVE

walk in love. It turned out that she had been


nursing grudges against her in-laws. The Bible
says, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord
will not hear me” (Psalm 66:18). Her faith was
there all right, but it needed the fuel of love to
set it in motion. That fuel was lacking and there
was no way God could move her “mountain”
without contravening His own law. With this
understanding, this woman went home, bought
gifts, sought and obtained reconciliation with
her in-laws. A few weeks later, she obtained
her passport and foreign exchange and was
ready to fly out to join her husband abroad. Do
you see that? Praise the Lord.

The scriptures cannot be broken! It makes


no difference, who or what is the basis of the
believer’s bitterness. Once he fails to conquer
such bitterness with love, he can never obtain
the promises. Do you know why Jesus was able
to do many exploits? Just because He was
61
THE LAW OF FAITH

always overflowing with compassion for people,


wherever He went. We are told in Matthew
14:14 that when Jesus saw the multitude, He
had compassion on them for they were like
sheep without a shepherd. With such love and
compassion in His heart, He was able to feed
the multitude with only five loaves of bread
and two fishes.

Yes, it is love that makes faith efficient. It is


love that helps faith to grow. The devil is well
aware of this. So, in most of his schemes against
the body of Christ today, he tries to play
unguarded brethren against each other. He
knows that the most effective way to hinder
the power of God from being manifested in the
body, is through the spirit of dissension and
unforgiveness. Show me a church whose candle
has been removed, and I will show you a church
that is split into opposing factions. Show me
an evangelist whose ministry is collapsing, and
62
ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: LOVE

I will show you a man whose heart is waxing


cold. Show me a preacher whose sermons hit
the walls and bounce back at him, and I will
show you a preacher who loves himself more
than he loves his fellow man.

But beloved, do you think things ought to be


like this? Is it impossible for a child of God to
love just like Jesus did? Definitely not! There
are two strong reasons backing this assertion.
First, Romans 5:5 says,

…The love of God is shed abroad in our


hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given
unto us.

That means every spirit-filled child of God


has the God-kind of love. The Bible says in
Galatians 5:22 that love is one of the fruits
of the Spirit.

Secondly, Jesus said, “I am the vine, ye are


the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in
63
THE LAW OF FAITH

him, the same bringeth forth much fruits…”


(John 15:5). Every believer has Jesus abiding in
him or her. Jesus is the trunk; the same life
flows to the branches so that they are able to
bear fruits. If a branch is not bearing fruit, it
does not mean that it is not getting its supply
of nutrients. It only implies that it is not
utilizing those nutrients. Jesus as the
embodiment of love, has passed on to us the
same kind of love. It is up to us to develop it. It
starts with determination because if you are not
determined, you cannot develop it. Just tell
yourself that you are going to love everyone you
come across with a true heart. Then, be ready
to surrender all interfering selfish interests to
Jesus because if you don’t surrender your
interests, it will be impossible for you to love.
Jesus said no man can serve two masters. You
cannot serve your interests, while you seek to
serve those of others. One set of interests will
64
ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: LOVE

have to give way to the other.

If you want your vision of God’s glory and


power to broaden, make love your cardinal
principle in life. God can never operate in an
atmosphere of selfishness, hatred, backbiting,
etc. Therefore, begin now to say to yourself, “I
am a child of God. I am born to love. I have
God’s love dwelling in me. Therefore, it is
possible for me to lay down my life for others. I
shall minister to the sick, rescue the perishing,
care for the dying, give to the poor and pray for
my enemies.” Go into action after this short
confession. Be on the look-out for situations that
will need your love and stretch out a helping
hand. You will discover, as you go on doing this
that, you will receive results to your faith almost
immediately. God is faithful. His eyes run to
and fro over the world to perform His Word
towards those whose hearts are perfect towards
Him. Are you ready?
65
THE LAW OF FAITH

66
Chapter 6

Essential Supplements To Faith:


Keep To Your Source
As God is the only One who can meet all
your needs, it is important that you rely on Him
alone. Any move towards getting help from
another source amounts to double-dealing, and
God cannot perform for people who stand
between two opinions. Your expectation is either
from Him or you are not ready for His great
acts at all. The Psalmist says,

My Soul, wait thou only upon God, for


my expectation is from Him.
Psalm 62:5
67
THE LAW OF FAITH

He also says in Psalm 121:2, “My help


cometh form the Lord, which made heaven and
earth.” God hates double-dealing business; He
is a jealous God. He said, “…My glory will I
not give to another, neither my praise to graven
images” (Isaiah 42:8). It is not hard to know
why people double-deal. They think God must
of necessity have to go through men to
accomplish His Word. No, sir! Anyone who
thinks that way has not, within the framework
of his imagination, fully comprehended the
immensity of God’s power.

God is Jehovah El-Shaddai, He is all-


sufficient. He is more than enough to meet all
situations, all by Himself. He could, if He
chooses, go through men. But He is not
necessarily bound to do that. He can make use
of inanimate objects, if He so chooses. When
God looked around and saw no man to speak
to Balaam on His behalf, He used his
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ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: KEEP TO YOUR SOURCE

(Balaam’s) own ass to do the speaking. Jesus


told the complaining Pharisees on His entry into
Jerusalem “…I tell you that, if these should hold
their peace, the stones would immediately cry
out” (Luke 19:40). The five thousand were fed
directly from heaven. In 1Kings 17, God was
the one responsible for replenishing the pot of
flour and the cruise of oil of the widow of
Zarephat. Like the example I gave earlier, you
cannot look unto God for employment and at
the same time go about seeking favour from
bosses. Jesus said, “No man can serve two
masters.” If you are tapping God’s resources
through your faith to meet one kind of need
or another, then, it is better for you to go
ahead with that alone. It is by so doing that
God can justify you.

There was the case of a woman I once


ministered to for a miracle. As I laid hands on
her, God ministered to me: “The woman has
69
THE LAW OF FAITH

an alternative.” I stopped the prayer and told


the woman, “God said you have an alternative
source to what you are seeking: true or false?”
She affirmed it was true. Then I told her that
she should make up her mind who to choose:
the Living God or her poor alternative. Then I
gave her time within which to make up her
mind anew about the matter. The woman’s
behaviour was enough reason for God to fold
His hands. Why? Because God is a jealous God.
He wants all the glory in every matter to be
ascribed to Him. He is beautiful for all
situations. What He has done to your situation,
no man else can.

We are further enjoined, “Let your eyes be


single and your body be full of light” (Matthew
6:22). Look up to the hills, brethren, look up.
For by so doing, it will be impossible to look
down. Looking down means looking at the
problem, and that alone can destroy you. If it is
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ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: KEEP TO YOUR SOURCE

left to you, you have no power to stand the devil.


You overcome him by your faith, which taps
power from above to counteract his activities.
Remember the episode of the brazen serpent
in the Book of Numbers chapter 21. The
instruction was to look at the brazen serpent
and not Moses. Any victim of the snake bite,
no matter his position or usefulness, who
looked elsewhere, would surely die. Therefore,
look unto God and you will win always.

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THE LAW OF FAITH

72
Chapter 7

Essential Supplements To Faith:


Be Relaxed
It is worthwhile pointing out that as powerful
as faith can be, it is vulnerable to wrong
attitudes like anxiety and impatience. Anxiety
is borne out of unbelief and unbelief will rob
the believer of every promise of God.
Impatience is wanting to receive the promise
earlier than the divinely appointed time. The
Bible says,

Be still, and know that I am God: I will


be exalted in the earth.
Psalm 46:10

Experience has taught that the price to pay


for anxiety and impatience could be costly

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THE LAW OF FAITH

sometimes. Consider Saul, King of Israel.


Samuel the prophet was to be around to offer
sacrifices on behalf of the land, as the Philistine
army moved in for battle. After waiting for a
while, Saul, in a fit of impatience, decided to
offer the sacrifice himself. As soon as he
finished, Samuel appeared. Samuel told him,
“You have behaved foolishly ” (1 Samuel
13:13). The cost of that single act of
disobedience, borne out of impatience, was
the end of his dynasty. Like King Saul, several
believers through impatience have lost God’s
best in life. They have imagined God’s finger
in the wrong place, tried by their own
calculation to put two and two together to
get their four, and gone ahead in their plans
only to get disillusioned in the end.

Undoubtedly, tribulation comes, even in the


course of waiting on the Lord for a particular
need. But definitely, it has a part to play in
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ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: BE RELAXED

strengthening faith. The Bible says that we are


even to glory in tribulation, knowing that
tribulation works patience, and patience
experience (Romans 5:3-4). This admonition is
repeated in Hebrews 10:36

For ye have need of patience, that after


ye have done the will of God, ye might
receive the promise.

The point here is that faith needs to be tried


to enable it grow. That trial is through patience.
It is patience that gets you to know God by
personal experience; your testimonies become
stepping stones upon which you believe God for
greater things in your life. A patient believer is
thus a man or woman of faith. He or she is
confident that, by virtue of the integrity of God’s
Word, He who has promised is able also to bring
it to pass, even in the face of overwhelming odds.

God is a God of patience and He wants us to


75
THE LAW OF FAITH

take on the same attribute. When we are


patient, we shall have no anxiety. Jesus said,

Which of you by taking thought can add


one cubit unto his stature? And why take
ye thought for raiment? Consider the
lilies of the field, how they grow; they
toil not, neither do they spin.
Matthew 6:27-28

The assurance here is that, “The Lord will


fight for you even as you hold your peace.” It is
written,

In quietness and in confidence shall be


your strength.
Isaiah 30:15

For your faith to work effectively, therefore,


you need to relax even as you look out for the
manifestation of the thing upon which you are
exercising your faith. In that mood of calmness,
you will be able to catch the “still small voice.”
76
ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: BE RELAXED

We discover in 1 Kings Chapter 19 that while


Elijah the prophet was complaining and
murmuring, he had no solution to his problems.
However, as he lay down quietly, the still small
voice spoke and showed him the way out.

77
THE LAW OF FAITH

78
Chapter 8

Essential Supplements To Faith:


The Act Of Praise
Praising God is also an essential part of the
faith walk. The Psalmist says,

God inhabits the praises of His


people.(paraphrased)
Psalm 22:3

This is because

Praise is comely unto God.


Psalm 147:1

We have been created essentially as praise


79
THE LAW OF FAITH

beings, to show forth the glory of God by our


words and deeds. God answers our prayers by
dispatching His angels to perform the specific
task we commit unto Him. But in praises, God
Himself moves. When that happens, all
hindering mountains flee like thieves from His
presence, and in their places, stupendous
miracles emerge.

Read of the battle between the people of Israel


and the combined forces of Moab and Ammon
in 2 Chronicles 20. The Israelites knew well
from their wilderness experience that God is
“fearful in praises” and could perform wonders
that could go beyond their wildest imagination.
So, acting upon that knowledge, they adopted
the unusual strategy of having a choir to lead
the combat troops to battle. The record says,
“…The Lord set ambushments against the
children of Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir…
and everyone helped to destroy another” (verses
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ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: THE ACT OF PRAISE

22-23). Not a single Israelite soldier drew out


his sword in that battle. Yet, they won and
enjoyed a massive spoil that took them three
days to gather.

Remember, too, how in 1Samuel 16:23,


David was casting out devils by playing his
divine music on a stringed instrument. No devil
can stand the face of genuine praise and worship
because such a place is exclusively the
monopoly of the Almighty Himself.

If you are a praise-filled believer, you will keep


the devil constantly at a distance and miracles
will come your way more frequently than
should have been. The Bible says that Zion is
a city of the living God. It is a domain of
miracles. It is written,

But ye are come unto Mount Sion, and


unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an

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THE LAW OF FAITH

innumerable company of angels. To the


church of the first born which are
written in heaven, and to God the judge
of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect.
Hebrews 12:22-23

This is the reason why Mount Zion is a city


of miracles. What gets you there is praise. The
Psalmist, therefore, exhorts that believers should
“enter into His (God’s) gates with thanksgiving,
and into His courts with praise” (Psalm 100:4).
Have you faith? Add to it praise and discover
for yourself a new dimension of God’s power.

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Chapter 9

Essential Supplements To Faith:


Abstain From Sin
The fear of God entails having a holy
reverence for His Word. When you do that, you
will not fall into any form of sin. The subject of
sin has been brought up at this stage because it
is a fundamental hindrance to the effectual
working of faith. Just as love is a fundamental
prerequisite to getting your faith to produce
results, sin is also a fundamental condition for
failure in practically every aspect of a believer’s
pilgrim walk. It nullifies all acts of
righteousness. God says,
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THE LAW OF FAITH

When I shall say to the righteous that


he shall surely live; if he turns from his
own righteousness and commits
iniquity, all his righteousness shall not
be remembered.
Ezekiel 33:13

A man steps into sin, as soon as he steps out


of the fear of God. For as long as a man is
walking in the fear of God, he cannot at the
same time be walking in sin. Paul said in
Galatians 2:17, “But if, while we seek to be
justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found
sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin?”
The answer is obvious: “God forbid.” No matter
how great faith a believer has, God cannot
justify him if he continues to dabble in sin. It is
written, “He that covereth his sins shall not
prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh
them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).

A major cause of sin in a believer’s life is lack


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ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: ABSTAIN FROM SIN

of attention to the Word of God. The Word has


cleansing power. Jesus said, “Ye are now clean
by the word that I have spoken to you.” A
believer who has no time for the Word has no
time to live a clean life. John said,

Whosoever is born of God doth not


commit sin for His (God’s) seed
remaineth in him.
1John 3:9

The seed is the Word of God, and the Word


is light. If you give room to the seed in your
life, sin cannot stay because darkness cannot
comprehend light.

Read Deuteronomy 28:1-13 for yourself.


These are wonderful blessings under the
Abrahamic covenant that are available to every
believer, through his faith. But sin in the believer
wipes off everything and in their place are
substituted terrible curses. Paul said in 2
85
THE LAW OF FAITH

Corinthians 6:17, “Come out form among them


(the rebellious generation) and be ye
separate…and touch not the unclean thing.”
The unclean thing ranges from the smallest lie
to murder. Every sin is sin, no matter how small
or great it may be in the eyes of man. God can
never be tempted with sin because He has purer
eyes than to behold evil. The exhortation is:

Having therefore these promises (the


blessings of Abraham), let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh
and spirit.
2 Corinthians 7:1

So, we discover here that another gateway to


the effectual working of faith is the purification
of self through the Word. Remember Eli, the
priest of the Lord’s temple in Shiloh. His
children’s flagrant violation of the temple’s
ordinances, coupled with their father ’s
connivance moved God to break His promises
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ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: ABSTAIN FROM SIN

with him. “Be it far from Me”, said God, “for


them that honour Me, I will honour, and them
that despise Me shall be lightly esteemed” (1
Samuel 2:30).

87
THE LAW OF FAITH

88
Chapter 10

Essential Supplements To Faith:


Gladness To Serve
Finally, the believer should not forget to add
to his faith, a willingness and gladness of heart
to serve the Lord, in whatever role he or she
may be called upon to play. It could be in the
area of witnessing, singing, and help to others
- especially the needy or any other activity that
furthers the spread of the gospel or the
edification of the body. Jesus told the Pharisees
and scribes that the greatest commandment is
to:
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THE LAW OF FAITH

Love the Lord thy God with all they


heart, and with all thy soul, and with
all they mind, and with al they strength.
Mark 12:30

This statement speaks clearly to every


believer that the totality of his being must be
surrendered to God for His use. It is true that
our salvation does not depend on our works,
either for God or for man. But we must not
forget that we have been saved unto good
works. We have not been saved to become idle,
awaiting our eventual call to glory. No! If the
Kingdom of God is a matter of bread and butter,
I believe everybody would get saved, without
even being preached to. After all, the prime
motive behind the endeavours of man, is his
desire to achieve comfort, peace and prosperity.

If Christianity is just saying, “Hey Presto” for


goodies to fall from heaven like ripe mangoes,
I am sure there would not be enough room in
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ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: GLADNESS TO SERVE

the churches to contain people. But the Bible


has not said that. Instead, we are enjoined to
be partakers of the afflictions of the gospel
according to the power of God (2 Timothy 1:8).

The importance of serving God with


willingness and gladness of heart is further
underscored in Deuteronomy 28:47-48. It says,

Because thou servedst not the Lord thy


God with joyfulness and with gladness
of heart, for the abundance of all things:
therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies
which the Lord shall send against thee,
in hunger and in thirst and in nakedness
and in want of all things: and He shall
put a yoke of iron upon thy neck until
He hath destroyed thee.

You can pray all the prayer of faith, but if you


have no joyful attitude towards the service of
the Master, you will end up disappointed. You
will serve your enemies. Your afflictions will
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THE LAW OF FAITH

continue to multiply.

For those who are serving in the vineyard, it


is dangerous to complain, murmur and
grumble. Such attitude will rob the believer of
his reward and even heap curses upon him. The
Bible says,

But since ye say, The burden of the lord;


therefore thus saith the Lord; Because
ye say this word, The burden of the
Lord, and I have sent unto you, saying,
ye shall not say the burden of the Lord;
Therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly
forget you, … and cast you out of My
presence.
Jeremiah 23:38-39

Be willing and glad, therefore, to be involved


in God’s work as a privilege and not a burden.
Stop complaining and murmuring. Cultivate a
single-minded vision of endearing yourself to
your Maker, by going all the length you can with
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ESSENTIAL SUPPLEMENTS TO FAITH: GLADNESS TO SERVE

Him according to the ability He has granted


you. If it is witnessing, do it to save souls who
would otherwise perish. If it is singing praises,
sing with all your heart. If it is interceding for
others, do it with love, taking upon yourself their
afflictions. If it is giving, give cheerfully, not
counting the cost. Remember that every single
act of goodness, no matter how small, carries
great rewards in the present age, and in the
age to come.

May the Lord bless and help you to turn a new


page in your faith life.

93

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