CGM Presents: In the Word Podcast

Episode 10, "Empowering Faith" Fruit of the Spirit, Empowered Series

March 17, 2021 Stephanie Wright Season 6 Episode 10
CGM Presents: In the Word Podcast
Episode 10, "Empowering Faith" Fruit of the Spirit, Empowered Series
Show Notes Transcript

Episode 10, “Empowering Faith”; Empowered Series on The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Hello, this is Apostle Charles Wright and today we are going to discuss faith, the seventh fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22. Now, according to the Book of Ephesians, Chapter 3, and verses 16 through 17, Paul made a statement in which CGM is in agreement. The statement in this book and verses of Ephesians, states, “I pray that out of his glorious riches, [referring to Jesus] that he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Ephesians 3:16-17. 

This is Episode 10, which is entitled, “Empowering Faith” from CGM’s Empowered Series on the Fruit of the Spirit. We will look at Jesus and His faith, how Jesus shared His faith, and how Jesus imparted faith to us. As always, we hope this episode will leave you empowered through a closer fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Apostle Stephanie will define and explore empowering faith which is great because faith comes from the rich, empowerment of God’s Christ by His Holy Spirit. Let’s go to our presentation. 

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Episode 10, “Empowering Faith”; Empowered Series on The Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Hello, this is Apostle Charles Wright and today we are going to discuss faith, the seventh fruit of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5:22. Now, according to the Book of Ephesians, Chapter 3, and verses 16 through 17, Paul made a statement in which CGM is in agreement. The statement in this book and verses of Ephesians, states,“I pray that out of his glorious riches, [referring to Jesus] that he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.” Ephesians 3:16-17. 

This is Episode 10, which is entitled, “Empowering Faith” from CGM’s Empowered Series on the Fruit of the Spirit. We will look at Jesus and His faith, how Jesus shared His faith, and how Jesus imparted faith to us. As always, we hope this episode will leave you empowered through a closer fellowship with the Holy Spirit. Apostle Stephanie will define and explore empowering faith which is great because faith comes from the rich, empowerment of God’s Christ by His Holy Spirit. Let’s go to our presentation. 

Presenter: Stephanie

Thank you, Apostle Charles. 

I want to start out with a little song today. It goes something like this: “All I want right now from Jesus, just give me a little more faith. That’s all I need to run this race. Oh! A little more faith.” Okay, actually, the song says, “All I want is a little more grace.” But today, we are talking about faith, the seventh fruit of the spirit in our Fruit of the Spirit Empowerment series. We hope you will listen to the first two or three episodes in this series to learn foundational principles and scriptures on Holy Ghost empowerment. And at the end of this episode, we have new contact information so please stay with us. 

Let’s jump right in with this question. Why did Jesus tell people they had great faith when they were not yet filled with the Holy Spirit? Before we answer this question, let’s look at some background. We already discussed in Episodes 7, “His Ultimate Sacrifice,” how Jesus how filled with the Holy Ghost (we will tell you how to access past episodes at the end of this presentation). Jesus was filled with the Holy Ghost and driven into the desert, fasted 40 days and nights, and came out of the desert filled with the Holy Ghost. When Jesus returned to Galilee, part of His ministry included sharing His faith not being selfish with it. 

And, of course, let’s define faith before we proceed. We all know what faith is to some degree. But, most of the time when we talk about faith, it’s faith to believe God is going to answer our prayers. Here is the definition of faith in Galatians 5:22. Faith generally involves trust in God and a conviction that God exists; that he is the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ; it is a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God; it is fidelity, faithfulness as it relates to the character of one who can be relied on. These definitions are modified from the resource materials, Thayer’s Lexicon and Strong’s Concordance. 

So, back to our original question. Did you ever stop to think about the times Jesus encountered people who were not filled with the Holy Spirit, yet were themselves healed or had faith to believe their loved ones would be healed? Let’s look at three people. The woman with the issue of blood had faith to believe she would be healed if she just touched the hem of Jesus’ garment. She did and she was immediately healed. Jesus said to her in Mark 5:34, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” (listen to Episode 8, “Touch the Hem of His Garment” for more on this woman). The centurion soldier told Jesus He did not have to come to His house to speak over his sick servant, but just speak the word from where they stood. Matthew 8:5‑13, reads, The centurion answered and said, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, “Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!  And the Syrophoenician woman who came and first worshipped Jesus then asked him to heal her daughter. Matthew 15:21‑28. This woman was an outcast because she was a Gentile and considered a heathen among the Jews. Nevertheless, she cast aside the rejection for the sake of her daughter. Jesus recognized her faith and said, O woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.” Matthew 15:28. 

These are examples of people who recognized Jesus as the Messiah, the One who came to deliver them from sickness (and in other cases recognized Him as one who delivered from sin and death like Nicodemus, “you must be born again” (John 3:1‑9); and, Lazarus raised from the dead after three days (John 11:38-44). 

So, what was the faith our three examples had even though they were not filled the Holy Spirit? This bothered me at first and I could not answer the question until early one morning while preparing this podcast. God reminded me of a message, I heard years ago. I don’t remember when it was or who the speaker was but, Jesus gave permission to these people to operate in faith based on the promise of the Holy Ghost (and thus, the fruit of the Spirit) that would be given to them. They could operate in faith because they knew of the Heroes of Faith that we read about in Hebrews 11, Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and many more, who according to Hebrews 11:13, “ . . . all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.” These faith heroes received by faith, sight unseen, righteousness, life after death, the promise of a new country, children, salvation, and the promise of their heavenly home through the Messiah, who for them, was yet to be born. I don’t know the word for “operating in faith based on the promise of the Holy Ghost” but we see this is precisely what happened with the woman with the infirmity, the Centurion soldier, and the Syrophoenician woman. These people who interacted with Jesus were, in effect, interacting with the Holy Spirit that dwelt in Jesus. After they acknowledged the power that was in Jesus, the Holy Spirit, their faith was activated, they then acted in faith, touching the hem of His garment (the woman with the infirmity), speaking faith (the Centurion soldier), and having a humble faith (the Syrophoenician woman). They then agreed in faith with the Holy Spirit for the healing, aligned their faith to receive the healing, and their healing through faith was announced to the world. So, we have the progression from acknowledging faith, activating faith, acting in faith, agreeing in faith, and announcing by faith the empowering work of the Holy Spirit. 

The difference between those who operated in faith while Jesus walked the earth and us is this. The people who saw Jesus operated in faith, but they also operated in, sight because they could see Jesus. We don’t have to see Jesus because the Holy Ghost was sent back by Jesus and the Father to dwell in us (listen to the first episodes in this series for more details). But here is the problem and this may be why we do not see as many miracle healings in our lives (although miracle healings do still happen). We do not acknowledge the Holy Ghost who was sent to empower us with faith. We have to acknowledge the Holy Spirit if we want to be empowered in and operate in the faith fruit as well as all the fruit of the Spirit. So, the first thing we must do is acknowledge the Holy Spirit. I have said in past episodes, we need to develop an intimate relationship with the Spirit and stop treating Him like a third wheel, after all, He does live in us. He activates and empowers our faith if we allow Him. If we don’t ask for His help and try to figure things out for ourselves it will be like struggling to get out of a straightjacket which is impossible unless you are a Houdini (the famous magician who could get out of a straightjacket). So, the first thing we learn in the relationship between the Holy Spirit and faith is to acknowledge that when we became believers and we received the Holy Spirit, we also received faith as one of the fruit of the Spirit. We do not have to pump faith up or prime faith, we simply have to receive it. If you have ever said, “I just don’t have any faith,” that was a misstatement because faith came when you received the Holy Spirit. Now, you may feel you have little faith or you don’t have enough faith, but you still have faith. Matthew 6:30, 8:26. So, first, acknowledge that you have the faith fruit and the rest will follow (activating, acting, agreement, announcing). If you deny that you have the faith fruit, you deny the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells in you and you cannot please God. Hebrews 11:6 (without faith, it is impossible to please God). 

Continue developing your relationship with Holy Spirit through empowering faith and all the fruit of the Spirit. You will need Him, like Jesus needed Him, for the most significant event of your existence - resurrection to eternal life. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you. . .  [W]herein also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised him from the dead. Romans 8:11 and Colossians 2:12.

Closing

Apostle Stephanie:

Now, please stay with us as Apostle Charles closes us out. 

Apostle Charles:

If you have an experience with the Holy Spirit that you would like to share, or you want to contact us or comment on this podcast, please visit us on Facebook at CGM Podcast International; our handle @cgmissions can be used to reach us on Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, that’s @cgmissions for Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter; and our website is cgmissions.com/podcast. This is Apostle Charles. See you next time.

Charles George Missions, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. All donations are tax-deductible.