THE POWER OF AUTHENTIC KINGDOM-FAITH

The Faith In You Is Not Of You. It Is To You; Through You.

Jack Taylor requested that I share the following paper at the Kingdom Conference, Bethel Church, Redding California. It has been modified for publication.

O for a faith that will not shrink, tho’ pressed by every foe;
That will not tremble on the brink of any earthly woe.
That will not murmur nor complain beneath the chastening rod;
But in the hour of grief or pain will lean upon its God.

A faith that shines more bright and clear when tempests rage without,
That when in danger knows no fear, in darkness feels no doubt.
Lord, give us each such faith as this and then what’er may come,
We’ll taste, e’en here, the hallowed bliss of our eternal home!
— William H. Bathurst, 1831
 

In writing about the Kingdom of God last month I used expressions which I now repeat in regard to Kingdom Faith. There are similarities in which the two subjects cannot be separated. Like all other administrations of the Kingdom of God, faith is not native to our planet. Authentic faith is projected into our cosmos from the Great-Other-Realm. Therefore, the faith at work in us is not at an attitude or mental effort on our part. Nor is it merely our religious concept or ideology.

Faith is a trans-earthly power. Faith is native to the other realm and is only a visitor in our’s. Initially, faith came to us because of our “hearing the word of God”, Romans 10:17, our responding to it, and God then imparting to us “a measure of faith.” Romans 12:3. Scripture makes it very plain that faith is a gift. Prevenient grace–that is, grace which precedes salvation–provides us with the potential to accept or reject saving-faith. I Thessalonians 4:8. Luke 10:16. John 12:48. Having received the gift, it is then our responsibility to add to faith “virtue, knowledge, self control, etc.” II Peter 1:5. Without this participation on our part there can be no release of faith as a power. It is God’s intent that the faith which initially drew us from our unsaved state to Christ continue to expand for the rest of our lives. There is no concluding point in the development of faith. People who experience no visible demonstration of faith should examine themselves for the absence of the virtues Peter identifies. An unfaithful man or woman can never become a person of faith. Can they be religious? Yes. They can learn religion like they learn biology, history, math, etc. But, having accomplished that, they still can be devoid of all true spirituality.

The dictionary definition of faith is vastly insufficient. It identifies faith solely as religious persuasion, moral conviction, conscientious sentiment, credence, etc., but offers no comment about faith being a spiritual force. Wherever Christians have accepted this secular concept it has stripped them of faith’s purpose and power. For that reason, much of what the public calls “faith” is nothing more than religious presumption and a poor imitation of the genuine. It is a deceptive counterfeit, rising from man’s soul--not his spirit--and remains powerless because it has no vital connection with the Kingdom of God. In the approximate-eighteen instances of healing for which we have detailed descriptions in the ministry of Jesus, in twelve of those cases He pointed to the person’s faith as being the moving factor. Why was this so? These individuals were already connected spiritually to Heaven’s resource. In His home town of Nazareth, Jesus “could do no mighty work”. Why? “Because of their unbelief”. Mark 6:5. Faith was absent. Probably, the people would have denied this lack. They attended Synagogue regularly. They quoted Scripture. Like many Christians today they were sincerely religious–but had missed the reality of a living, viable, faith.

Please hear me carefully on this point: Much more was involved than Jesus’ sovereign power to heal the people of Nazareth. Of course, He had the power! He said, “All power has been given to Me in Heaven and earth.” Matthew 28:18. We do not question His power. Even so, this identifies one of the most glaring failures in the field of Reformed Theology. All too-frequently, believers in this theological camp blame their own failure on God’s sovereignty. I know. I did it for thirty years. But it is a “cop-out”, a false “security-blanket”, by which I justified my own absence of Kingdom power. If tragedies occurred, children died, churches failed, or something evil happened, I could always say “It was God’s will.” Even though that statement came from my own lips–I must now acknowledge it was heretical. Hear this carefully: God’s sovereignty will never violate His Covenant. That is impossible. Jesus ratified the New Covenant with the sprinkling of His own blood. Hebrews 9:13-15. In Nazareth, it was not God’s sovereign choice to abandon the sick and hurting. The people failed to receive because they failed to believe. Jesus said to a father who was distraught over his dying child, "If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes." Mark 9:23. Why do people not believe when the gospel-offer is made? They reject the Holy Spirit’s prevenient grace. The choice is their’s. If you failed to read these explanatory verses when I gave them above, read them now: I Thessalonians 4:8. Luke 10:16. John 12:48. Scripture carefully explains that people have the power to reject, resist, grieve, quench, deny, the Holy Spirit. In a parable, Jesus compared these people who hear the word but in whom it takes no root to “stony ground”. Mark 4:16.

Nowhere is the distinction between religion and true spirituality more graphically displayed than in the difference between faith and its seducing counterpart–supposition. It is even possible for believers to be seduced by this subtle imitation of faith. Instead of hearing "what the Spirit is saying," Revelation 3:13, people are sometimes directed by circumstances. Supposition caused Paul's shipwreck, Acts 27:13, Mary and Joseph's anxious days searching for Jesus in Jerusalem, Luke 23:44,45, the Jews misjudgment of Pentecost, Acts 2:15, and has brought frustration to millions of other confused believers.

Because of that, I wish to “coin” a Greek word, peiro, into an English application and join it with the word “faith”. It helped me and perhaps it will help you. Peiro means “to pierce through” and originates from the word peran meaning “other side”, “beyond,” “farther,” “over,” “across.” In Greek, the word for faith is pistis. The combination of the two words allows us to visualize faith’s purpose in penetrating our physical realm. This penetration is absolutely necessary if there is to be miraculous healing, spiritual gifting, deliverances, out-of-body transports, etc. “Peiros-Faith” is a force that comes to our dimension from the other realm, passes through cooperative believers here, then, like an X-ray, penetrates and effects change in the circumstance it touches. Admittedly, the subject is beyond my explanation–but it is not beyond our exploration. I simply want to explore “faith” in its potential to interact both with our physical dimension of time and space while it maintains a complete, uninterrupted connection with the Eternal Kingdom-Dimension where it originates. In other words, faith is a symbiotic union of these separate dimensions. It is a force. A power. Love, like gravity, is the force which grasps, bonds, holds to itself. Faith, working through this bonding-quality of love, grips and penetrates its subject. Galatians 5:6. Like sunlight restoring vitality to a plant kept too long in the dark, faith has the radiating power to change the spiritual environment around it and bring life. You received initial faith as you were born again. Now, you must strengthen and release it through love. In His ministry of healing, Jesus was always “moved with compassion”. By its very nature, therefore, faith cannot lie on the surface of its intended target but must pierce the subject needing change. Both a sending and receiving are involved. Perhaps we can best illustrate that piercing with the male sperm penetrating the female ovum. Only by the sperm’s pressing through the ovum-wall does conception take place. When it does, there is an instantaneous explosion of incredible, conceptual-power. If the sperm remains on the outside, nothing happens. In every instance of faith’s having impact and success, change results from the arrival of Kingdom of God dunamis into a terrestrial target. Without penetration of the intended subject there can be no change. And without love there will be no penetration.

As I understand it, this interaction of “peiros” faith—that is “faith” from the “other side–the beyond–the outermost –the over–the across” is a coming-together of God’s miraculous presence with the material substance of our dimension. This transition has a parallel on the day of the Resurrection when Jesus’ physical body passed through the stone wall of the room without having effect upon either. Such a feat is not possible in our dimension of length, breadth, depth; it is only possible if there is a “piercing through” this dimension with peiros-power. When that happens, faith supersedes the limitations of our material realm. Jesus was resident in both spheres– physical and spiritual..

Paul, the greatest faith-writer of the New Testament reveals his dependence on the “peiros” aspect of penetrating-faith in preaching the gospel. He said,“Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles ...” Galatians 2:1-2. What does he mean by the expression “I went up”? Paul’s trip to Jerusalem was a physical one; his trip into “revelation” was not. In it, Paul passed from one dimension to another. In attempting to describe the experience he said, “Whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell.” Spiritually, he passed into the other realm. II Corinthians 12:2-5. The Apostle exited the physical sphere and entered the non-physical. He had a “peiros” transport to the “other side”of the beyond–the farther–the over–the across dimension. After experiencing such a transport his preaching brought phenomenal penetration of faith-power both to himself and his hearers. In this capacity, Paul experienced a level of consciousness for which we have no parallel. Probably–you, like me–have had encounters with the Holy Spirit that totally defy human explanation. I am convinced the Holy Spirit wants us to experience more. Why does it not happen? Our faith, as the vehicle, is too loveless and undeveloped to take us there.

Over the years I met many trust-worthy and mentally competent people who had “out of body” experiences. These individuals visited the peiros-realm. Can I explain such experiences? No. Do I believe them? Absolutely. Don Piper, a Baptist pastor in Texas, was killed in a car wreck, pronounced dead by the police, and left unattended for and hour and a half. He was dead for 90 minutes. Don returned to earth when another Baptist pastor prayed for him. His book, Ninety Minutes In Heaven, gives details of his lengthy peiros-visit in Paradise. While my faith is strengthened by such testimonies it must be confirmed by Scripture.

True faith originates in Heaven and manifests itself in the receiver on earth as loving compassion and divine expectation. As it encounters the earth-realm faith demands that earthly imperfections conform to the Divine perfection of the Kingdom-realm. Faith never separates itself from its source of love. It is like an electric wire with one end attached to the generator and the other end to a light bulb. The generator is the Throne of Heaven and the source of all true love. The bulb is the believer-receiver. Love is always the identifying distinctive of Kingdom power. Where the empowering and motivation is loveless, it is not faith, it is not Kingdom, it is not God. Hope and faith are not the same. Both are to be cherished and loved but only faith expects. When hope begins to expect it ceases to be hope and becomes faith.

WHY IS FAITH ESSENTIAL IN SALVATION AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast ...” Ephesians 2:8-10. In salvation, grace and faith are inseparable companions, both come to us from the “peros” realm. Since they do not share our inferior nature they are able to inject their own “peros” state into our’s.

Grace exposes us to faith and makes it possible for us to receive it; similarly, faith makes it possible for us to step into saving grace. In salvation, peros-faith must first penetrate us then continue its journey out of us--“believing in the heart” followed by “confessing with the mouth”. There must be both the “sound” received (into the heart) and the “echo” returned (out of the mouth). Romans 10:10. Grace–as the companion to faith–follows that “echo”, the Holy Spirit transferring His regenerating-power into man while transforming his nature from sin and uncleanness to the imputed righteousness of Christ. In all this eternal activity of faith, grace, regeneration, the Holy Spirit remains the active Agent. Man is the receiver and responder. Faith and grace do not operate alone, each is dependent on the other, both dependent on the Holy Spirit. We might liken the transition to the sunrise; first, the faint glow of dawn, then the sun on the horizon, continuing finally to the brightness of high noon. John Newton described the process best:

“‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved,
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!”

Faith is both a fruit of the Spirit and a gift of the Spirit. Of all the fruits and gifts, it alone has that honored distinction of belonging to both expressions of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5: 22,23, I Corinthians 12:8-10. What we are being told in these locations is that faithfulness in man's character as a "fruit of the Spirit" must be present if faith as a "gift of the Spirit" is to work. That forever settles the issue by saying that an unfaithful man can never become a man of faith. Let me repeat that: An unfaithful man can never become a man of faith. Can we prove that? Yes. "Faith works by love". If love, as the primary fruit of the Spirit is absent there is nothing to motivate or release the power of faith. Attempts to operate faith artificially (without love) are like trying to start a car with the wrong key. It simply will not work. We can shout, praise, sing, clap our hands, get excited, and throw all kinds of religious confetti into the air, but when the noise has abated and the confetti fallen, faith will still be unmoved. It will wait on love.

How does one experience “peiros-faith”? The Father’s agape love is projected into our realm from the other dimension and is the intended companion of faith. Faith will work automatically once true love has been released in you. Without it, you remain as “sounding brass and tinkling cymbal”. On the other hand, Scripture makes it very clear that there may be a distinct, identifiable moment in which the “door of faith” is opened to you. On the day of the Resurrection: Luke 24:31,32, We read, “Then their eyes were opened and they knew Him; and He vanished from their sight. And they said to one another, 'Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?'" Luke 24:44,45: “Then Jesus said to them, 'These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.’ And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures."

HOW DO I EXPERIENCE THE KINGDOM’S PEIROS-FAITH?

Present yourself to the Lord in complete submission and ask Him to “open your door of faith”. Jesus said, “Everyone who asks receives.” It is God’s will that you experience “peiro-pistis” Kingdom Faith and that you understand its’ origin, manifestation, and destination. Faith germinates in us like a grain of mustard seed which grows underground, develops unseen, then bursts into the light. With some, the process is slow. With others it comes like a burst of light. However it arrives, be patient–but persistent–while the Holy Spirit matures it in you. It is also beneficial to have anointed believers pray and lay-hands on you. Whatever your choice, receive!

Lord, give us each such faith as this
And then what’er may come,
We’ll taste, e’en here, the hallowed bliss
Of our eternal home
 

Charles Carrin