How The Holy Spirit Brings Faith (348)

0:01 Thank you for joining us on the Quality Christian Living podcast. I am your host David Friend. We're continuing our series on the Holy Spirit and today we're going to talk about a very important aspect of the Holy Spirit and that is that the Holy Spirit brings faith. You know, there's a lot of questions in my mind that kind of surface me for putting this podcast together. Things like how do we attain faith for our needs and who is our source of faith and what must we do to achieve greater faith from the Holy Spirit and can the Holy Spirit help our faith and And how do faith and grace work together? And what is the relationship between the Holy Spirit and faith? So you can see there's a lot of stuff to cover. But, you know, before we get into that, we need to pray first. Heavenly Father, I thank you for who you are. I pray you would bless now this podcast. Holy Spirit, I invite you to come in and take over, take complete control. I pray your blessings would be upon everything that's said. May your name be glorified. Touch those who are listening in. May they receive what they're tuning in for, I pray, in Jesus' name, amen.

1:00 Lord for that. So let's get going here. To have faith, to have really deep faith, greater faith, we need an unquenchable, listen to this, what the Lord gave me, unshakable desire to have faith. Now we've got to have that really confidence, not in ourselves, but confidence in God that he is going to send the faith, that the Holy Spirit will be used to bring faith into our life. You see, with faith all things are possible and that's the important part of this and that the Holy Spirit is the one who brings faith into our life. Now everything that we need to have faith is provided to us by the Holy Spirit. We'll go through that in this podcast and kind of discuss what I'm really talking about. Everything we need to have faith is provided to us by the Holy Spirit. So let's look at a couple scriptures and see what I mean. In 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 3 in the New International Version, it says this, no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit. You see, if it wasn't for the Holy Spirit, we would never understand what faith is. If it wasn't for the Holy Spirit, we could never receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. If it wasn't for the Holy Spirit that Jesus left here for us to help us, to comfort us, to bring us to a relationship with Him, if it wasn't for Him, we would not have an ounce of faith. Even in Galatians chapter 3, verse 5, in the New International Version, listen to these words. So again I ask, does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law or by your believing what you heard? What that means is, did it come because something was written in a book and a law that

2:31 we had to follow up with, according to the Old Testament, or is it by faith? Was it by faith that we heard? Was it by faith that we received? Was it by faith that we received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior? absolutely yes to all those statements. This is faith to receive Jesus as Lord is what they're talking about here and it's so important that we get that in our heart to understand where faith comes from and the source of all faith comes from the Holy Spirit who works upon us before we even come to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior. You see God's grace opens up our heart to have faith to become Christians. You know, this happens because of the Holy Spirit and through the Holy Spirit. Let me repeat that. I think that's important to take a second and think about that. God's grace opens up our heart to have faith to become Christians and see all that that takes place is through the working of the Holy Spirit. Once we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we know that the Holy Spirit comes to live and to dwell inside of us and to be with us each and every day. You see, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us as the opportunity to receive Jesus as Lord. See, for non -believers, He sent the Holy Spirit to draw them in. For believers, He sent the Holy Spirit to give instant comfort and guidance and direction and to be our guard, our protector. And so we owe everything to Jesus for His... for what he did on the cross and how he suffered for us but then we owe so much to the Holy Spirit who drew us into a relationship with Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit gives the

4:02 gift of great faith. I'm gonna read a scripture here because I've did a couple of podcasts dealing with the power gifts of the Spirit and they're found in 1st Corinthians chapter 12 verses 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 all of those verses talk to us about understanding what the gifts of the Spirit are. And this particular chapter, chapter 12 in 1 Corinthians is one that we need to study and understand, to understand where the gifts come from and how the Holy Spirit operates in giving these gifts to whom He chooses to give the gifts to. So 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 7, the New International Version says this, Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good of all. Look at that. For the common good of all, all these gifts came forward. And this goes on to talk about the power gifts of the Holy Spirit. If you want to know more about the power gifts of the Holy Spirit, just go back about 15 or 20 podcasts and you'll see a series of messages that I did on the Holy Spirit, teaching about what the power gifts are and what the fruit of the Spirit is.

5:02 Those gifts are the fruit of the Spirit. And how the Holy Spirit just does nothing but just bless us and give us gifts. Obviously, He convicts us of our sin. He convicts us of... our times that we get away from God. We sometimes grieve the Holy Spirit because of our actions and our thoughts and the things that we go through, but the Holy Spirit's primary purpose was to bless us and to help us and to encourage us and to comfort us when we're going through various trials in our life. But the nine power gifts of the Spirit are covered quite well in previous podcasts, that those gifts are the gifts of wisdom and knowledge and great faith and healing and miracles and prophecy and discerning of spirits and tongues and interpretation. tongues and then in verse 9 it talks about the gifts being faith that one of the one of the great gifts of the Holy Spirit is great faith there's got to be a lot of you out there who want great faith I do I want greater faith than I have right now I believe the Lord has helped me a lot in my life in so many different areas of my life and it's always because of the faith that he's placed in my heart and my trust and confidence in him has nothing to do with me everything to do with my relationship with the Holy Spirit and my relationship with the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and God our Father.

6:12 Now, to increase our faith, because I think that's one of the reasons you're listening in, because when you were looking for something to find about the Holy Spirit, this one says the Holy Spirit brings faith. So let's talk about how to increase our faith. We must believe in the unlimited power of the Holy Spirit. You see, God's power was placed in the Holy Spirit because it's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They all represent God, one God, but the Trinity, three active ingredients that put together the Trinity that we love so very much. The Holy Spirit is God's Spirit living in the followers of Jesus Christ. Now, you know, I could just say that and move on, but I don't think I should. I think I should stop for a second, and if you're going through a challenge and going through a difficult time right now, I just want you to understand, if you've given your life to Jesus Christ, you've accepted Him as your Lord and Savior, as forgiveness of your sins, then He forgave you. And instantly you received the power of the Holy Spirit in your life. He came to dwell inside of you. So the Holy Spirit is God's Spirit living in followers of Jesus Christ. Now if you're not a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can't have the Holy Spirit operating in your life. And if you know people who are not followers of Jesus Christ, that's why they get confused. That's why they get frustrated. That's why they go through so many more challenges than we do in our life.

7:28 Well, we go through challenges, but they're going through just turmoil. when they avoid the Holy Spirit and avoid his leading and his yearning to draw them into relationship with Jesus. So if you don't know Jesus, just take a moment and say, Heavenly Father, I'm sorry for the sins I've committed. I ask you to forgive me of the sins I've committed. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and he gave his life for me. And I want to thank you for what you did. So on this day, I receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and I promise to serve him all the days of my life. In Jesus' name I pray. Now, if you were not a Christian, Christian before you prayed that but you prayed that and you meant it with your heart and soul and all that's in you then Jesus Christ has forgiven you and the Holy Spirit has come to dwell and reign in you and help you throughout the rest of your life find a good church get the Word of God out read it and seek the Holy Spirit seek his guidance and direction okay let's get back now to the main focus of this particular podcast the Holy Spirit is never bothered, worried, anxious, afraid, or without hope. That Holy Spirit that I'm talking about dwells in every one of you who know Jesus Christ.

8:32 And so inside of you is the power of no worry, no anxiety, no fear, no lack of hope. So we've got to draw on that strength. We've got to believe in that strength. We have access to those qualities when we surrender our lives to him. It's so important as we continue our speaking on the Holy Spirit, and especially when we talk about faith, that we realize this incredible power, unlimited power, this omniscient power, all power, all authority lives and wells inside of each and every one of us and that power doesn't worry that power is not anxious that power is not afraid and it's always filled with hope and so if we realize that that's in us and let's draw upon that and ask the Holy Spirit to help us to receive those promises that's why the Apostle Paul wrote in Philippians he wrote and he says to be we're to be anxious for nothing but everything through prayers petitions with thanksgiving let our request be made known to God and the peace of God that passes all understanding will guard our hearts and guard our minds in Christ Jesus. So for some of you who are struggling with worry or anxiety or fear, I just claim the power of the Holy Spirit would operate in you and help you to Take away those fears, take away that anxiety and replace it with faith and trust in Almighty God and the power of the Holy Spirit that's living and dwelling in each and every one of you. I'm gonna repeat something I said earlier. We have access to those qualities when we surrender our lives to Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes to dwell inside of us. We have direct access. There's no barriers, no walls to take down, no works that we have

10:05 to do. We simply have access to the amazing, mighty power of the Holy Spirit. I just, I get excited just thinking about that. I just know that there's people out there who want to feel that same way and some of you do. Some of you have great faith. Some of you have a complete confident trust in the Holy Spirit and you operate in power and authority over the things that the devil tries to come up against you with. But then there's those out there that struggle with faith. You know, I pastored for 20 years and during that 20 years of pastoring, one of the things that I constantly heard people say that they had trouble with was they had trouble with anxiety. They had trouble with fear. and they didn't understand their purpose and I've always felt that it was because they had not allowed the Holy Spirit to operate in their life and to get the Word of God out and read about all the promises of God in the Word of God about how the Holy Spirit is there to comfort, to help, to protect, to lead, to guide and to keep us from having all of these challenges. Now I know sometimes these challenges happen and they can be temporary and they can kind of come upon you but if we go to the Word of God and we get on our face for God and ask for His comfort and direction, He will send comfort and direction.

11:11 So if you're struggling with anxiety and weariness, just run to Jesus. Run to the Word of God. Find good Christian counsel and find someone who you can chat with, a pastor or a good friend who's a believer in Jesus Christ, and talk about the things of God and the goodness of God and be set free from that worry and anxiety. I claim that for your life in Jesus' name. I believe for it now. Now, think of this. What would happen if every follower of the Lord Jesus Christ would walk in the faith that God has prepared for them. The faith that is inside of them that is the faith and power of the Holy Spirit. The great faith that the Holy Spirit has available to people. Just think if everyone who were followers of Jesus Christ would operate and live in that faith and that power. I believe that most of them would be set free from anxiety and fear and depression and worry and they would all those things would disappear from them. Things like greed and lust and coveting and on and on and on. Those things would leave all of us if we would just simply totally depend on the Holy Spirit. Now I gotta take a second and share one thing with you. I also believe that in some people they have maybe a chemical deficiency or they have a diet problem or they have a job that is just hurting them physically and emotionally and it's really disturbing them and sometimes that fear comes from those things. You don't have fear that the devil threw in you but on the other hand where does fear come from? The devil is the one who comes to kill, to steal, and to destroy. But Jesus said that he's come to give life and give it to us more abundantly. But if you're having a problem

12:42 with anxiety, and you've prayed, and you've sought the Holy Spirit, and you've read the Word of God over and over again, then you need to be counseled with someone else who believes in the power of God. And also, I believe it's nothing wrong with going to a doctor and having them check you to be sure that maybe it could just be a chemical deficiency. It may be some medication. Mild medication might be enough to pull you out of that and then build... lay a foundation to help you build upon having a stronger walk in faith and have depression and fear and those things be removed from your life. So don't feel bad if you're struggling with it and it's something that you need chemical treatment. I don't have a problem with taking certain medications. I don't have a problem with prayer. I go to God first in prayer and if I don't get results real quick, I have no problem taking an aspirin. If I don't get results real quick, I have no problem going to see a doctor because I know that when I go to the doctor that God then can anoint that doctor. to give me treatments, maybe even better than what he's even aware of. Or our God can cause that medication that we take to work more efficiently. In my own case, when I was diagnosed with incurable bone marrow cancer, there's still absolutely no cure for it. And I was diagnosed with that nearly nine years ago. And the doctor said, if these medications, if things don't work, then you're probably not going to be with us in six months or less. And so when I was told that, I immediately told him by faith, the Holy Spirit gave me this, you can't scare me with heaven. but let's go ahead and move in with the treatments and let's take those treatments. Let's see what happens. I took chemo. I took things that some people say you just shouldn't take.

14:10 I took them. I prayed that God would anoint them and bless them. I thought of chemo as being something like the mud that Jesus mixed and put in the eyes of the blind man. And so we would refer to chemo as the mud that God was preparing for me. And God used that in a very great way. God touched it and he made the healing happen so much faster. Instead of being gone in six months and they continue to give me medication. I took chemo for many years but only because of God. I never once got sick. I never once threw up. I never once lost any hair. I had no side effects whatsoever because God protected me from anything bad that would happen and then allowed good things to happen. So I know this is kind of a deep subject talking about should we take medication or not or just leave things to prayer. I don't have a problem with that. Let me just add one more thought to that. One time I was talking to the doctor and I said you know I'm a pastor. I'm a man of faith. I believe that God's going to heal me?" And he said, yeah, I understand. And I said, but you know, let me ask you a question.

15:04 All the medication that you're giving me and all the chemicals that you're putting together to give me, where was that created? Where did those chemicals come from? Did you find them here on earth? And the doctor said, well, of course. And I said, well. Isn't that something that God created? So therefore the medication that you're giving me are really bits and pieces of the creation that God made. And now man has finally come up with God given wisdom to put those things together to fight something like cancer. And the doctor said, wow, never thought of it that way. And I said, well, we should think of it that way because God is never going to leave us or forsake us. And he put that on earth so that we could get the treatment that we needed. So I'm going to leave it at that. And if you ever would like to talk about that sometime or have a question, drop me a line on my webpage that I'll give you at the end of this podcast and be happy to email with you or chat with you.

15:52 Now we need a relationship with the Holy Spirit to have greater faith. That relationship begins when we receive Jesus Christ as Lord. According to the Apostle Paul, this relationship continues through our entire life. Our God promises he will never leave us or forsake us. I said that earlier but it's important we understand that and he does that through the Holy Spirit. That's the part that's so important to this podcast is that God said he'd never leave us or forsake us, but he does that through the Holy Spirit who comes to live and dwell inside of us. The following scriptures, just a couple of them here, will help us to get, I think, a better understanding of having greater faith. In 1st John chapter 4 verse 4, the New International Version, it says this, the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Well, the one in us is the Holy Spirit. The one that's in the world is the devil himself. And so already we can build faith just from that one scripture, if we truly believe it, that he who is in me is greater than he that is in the world, then we can take authority over that illness, that sickness, and receive the power of God. Here's another scripture I think that's comforting.

16:56 In Romans chapter 8 and verse 31 in the New International Version, it says, if God is for us, who can be against us? What a wonderful statement that is. If we need faith, we need to have trust in God, the Holy Spirit is there to help us and remind us, remind us that we can go to God for greater faith, because he disperses it. Spirit disperses that faith to whom He chooses. And I believe He chooses those who are hunger and thirst for it, who have a desire for it, and want to do it for God's glory and that God be honored and praised throughout the whole thing. But that scripture, if God's for us, who can be against it, kind of tells me it. What difference does it make if someone's against us? Because as long as God is for us, nothing, no weapon formed against shall prosper. And that when God wants to bless us, He will. And when He wants to hold back the blessing for a while, He will. But when He wants to pour out the Holy Spirit on us, he will do that also and we can walk and live in the power of the Holy Spirit and have greater faith for the things we face in life. Now our faith can carry us through anything because of 1 John chapter 5 verse 4 New International Version. For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Now, here's some things to think about as we start getting towards the end of this podcast.

18:08 We will have faith when the Holy Spirit has control over our thoughts. I'll be talking more about that I believe in an upcoming podcast. We will have faith to face illnesses, our disease, financial issues, divorce, our wayward children as long as we allow the Holy Spirit. control our thoughts. When we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit we will have greater faith. In Hebrews chapter 3 verse 19 it tells us that the Israelites could not claim God's promises because of their unbelief. Let not that happen to each and every one of us. We want to claim the promises of God through our belief and our trust and confidence in Him and through the power of the Holy Spirit that lives in us. The Holy Spirit helps us have faith even if we don't live a godly life. Think about that. Even if we're in fighting sin and having battles with sin, the Holy Spirit can still help us to have faith to overcome the battle that we're facing. In Proverbs 11 verse 2, New Living Translation, pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom. I use that scripture because we've got to avoid pride. When I talk about having faith, even in the midst of our living, if we're not really living for God or we're not serving in the way we should, we can still have faith to come out of it, to be pulled out of it. We must avoid pride. We must avoid arrogance and bitterness and and unfaithfulness, all of these hurt our relationship with God and our relationship with the Holy Spirit. But even if you're in the midst of trials, right now you may be struggling with a drinking problem, you may be struggling with a drug problem, you may be struggling with pornography, there may be something in your life

19:39 you're struggling with. Let me just tell you, greater is he who is in you than he is in the world. Whatever that situation is you're fighting right now, the Holy Spirit can help you to overcome it. Take authority over that now in Jesus' name. Now only the Holy Spirit can help us have faith. faith and even increase our faith. The Holy Spirit takes us higher. The Holy Spirit has faith that causes us to become overcomers, to be more than conquerors. The Holy Spirit tells us that we can, we will, and we must. Nothing can interfere with the Holy Spirit. Spirit led faith. Holy Spirit faith brings something that is not to us for those who believe that it's gonna come. The Holy Spirit is the one that brought forth the words that Paul wrote in the book of Romans where he says that we call forth those things that are not as though they are. That's Holy Spirit inspired to believe that whatever we're going through, we're gonna beat it in Jesus' name. We're gonna take authority over it in Jesus' name and through the power that lives in each and every one of us, we'll be able to walk in that power and healing of challenges that we face in our life, whatever it might be, there's nothing too difficult for God. In Romans 10, 17, it says, faith comes from hearing the word of God. I leave you with that as we get ready to close because we've got to get into the word of God. I gave you several scriptures today.

20:51 I would encourage you to listen to the podcast again, write those scriptures down, read them, and make them a part of your daily living because God wants us to live in prosperity, to be abundant, have abundant life. Jesus said, I want you to have life and have it more abundantly. And I believe that with all my heart. And we can prosper spiritually. We can prosper in every area of our life. The word of God tells us that the Lord can bless us and he can prosper us in all things, that we can be in good health even as our soul prospers. So I pray that for you. Heavenly Father, bless those who are listening today. I pray, Lord, that they would receive strength from this podcast, from the scriptures that are here, from the words spoken through the Holy Spirit, that you would bless them and help them. For those who are struggling with anxiety and fear and things, Father, we take authority over that.

21:35 that in the name of Jesus. And I pray that they would get the help they need, Lord. There may be some physical things that need to change, there may be some mental things that need to be changed, but Lord, you can help with that whole transition. I pray that people who are struggling with challenges that just can't seem to overcome, that they would find strength in your word. They would find strength through getting good counsel and good help from other believers. So I claim that now, and I pray for all those who want greater faith, that they would seek the Holy Spirit, that they would build their relationship with God the Holy Spirit, and they would increase that relationship to where they speak to him daily, they communicate with him daily, and seek God's word and read it daily, Father. I believe for that. There's going to be great results. I'm going to hear great results, I believe, from this podcast today. I just believe it, and I thank you for it now in advance, Lord.

22:22 I'll be careful and I'll give you praise and glory and honor for all these things, and Father, I pray that you would be lifted up and that your name would be glorified. I thank you for it now in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, I hope that you were blessed today. I thoroughly enjoyed this podcast and I pray that it was a blessing to you. If you'd like to know more about quality Christian living, I would encourage you to go to my webpage at davidcfriendauthor .com. And when you get there, you'll see a link to all the podcasts we've done. This is our 300 and what, 48th podcast that we've done in this last 25, I think 30 of them have been dealing specifically with the Holy Spirit. So I hope that you will be able to download those and listen to them. They don't cost you thing to do that. In addition to that, when you go into my webpage you'll scroll down another page and you'll find a list of books that I've written. They're all on Amazon if you'd like to be blessed by those. They're available for you and I pray that you would be blessed by it. My most recent book was entitled Faith for Miracles and I wrote it because I did a podcast series on it and the Lord blessed it and anointed it and people were blessed and healed. It was just amazing and so the Holy Spirit impressed me to turn that into a book and so I just released that just a couple of months ago. It's on Amazon, so I hope that you may find that of value to you. So I'd like to, as I'm getting ready to close this thing, just... pray over you again in a moment, and also want to thank you for listening.

23:40 And if you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate and, you know, do a review of the podcast. It kind of helps us to reach out to more people. You can leave a review on Apple Podcasts, on Amazon Music, and Charisma Podcast Network, or give us a star rating on Spotify. However you choose to do that to support us, we certainly would appreciate that very much. In addition to that, if you'd like to subscribe to my podcast, you can do that by going to cpnshows .com. or wherever you listen to your podcast so I just feel impressed of the Holy Spirit just another short little pray for you and just just pray for those who maybe are struggling they're new Christians and they're struggling with this idea that the power of the Holy Spirit's in them they don't think their life has changed that much or maybe they're questioning maybe their faith a little bit I just pray for them Heavenly Father I ask that the Holy Spirit would reveal himself in a very special way to those who've listened in today, especially those who are struggling, understanding what the Holy Spirit's all about and understanding what your word has to say about it. I pray that you would open their hearts and that the Holy Spirit would do a marvelous work in them and reveal to them the truth that he has. There's really only one truth in the world and that's having a relationship with Jesus Christ.

24:49 And that truth was passed on to the Holy Spirit who dwells in all believers, all followers of Jesus. And I pray, Father, for those who are been Christians for a long time, or those who are new to the faith, that you would bless them and keep them. May your face shine upon them, be gracious of them, Father, and give them peace. Give them peace that passes all understanding, and it will guard their heart and guard their minds, Lord, in Christ Jesus. And I thank you for that, Father, in Jesus' name. Well, I hope that, once again, I say it again, that you enjoyed this podcast. We're gonna continue our series, and our next podcast is entitled, let me just look it up here, I wrote it down someplace, Holy Spirit Led Life. It's having a life led by the Holy Spirit. So if you're a new Christian, you might find this fascinating, not because I'm doing it, but because I'm using the Word of God, and I'm praying that the Holy Spirit would anoint it and bless it so that you'd receive the power to understand how to live a Holy Spirit -led life, a life that is filled not with perfection, but a life that's filled with help in the midst of trials, a life that can receive joy in the midst of difficult circumstances, a life that raises above what we're going through, life filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. So I pray that you would tune in and listen to it. Let your family and friends know about it. Encourage them to be a part of the Quality Christian Living podcast. So we're going to continue in this series on the Holy Spirit until the Holy Spirit tells me that we need to go in a different direction.

26:11 Once again thank you so much for listening in and I'm going to repeat a blessing that I like to sign off with each podcast with and it's a blessing for each and every one of you who are listening in right now. I pray that the Lord will bless you and I pray that he will keep you and I pray that his face will shine upon you and that he would be gracious to you and give you peace. May you prosper and may you be in good health even as your soul prospers. I thank you for that now. So until next time I just pray that God will richly bless you that as you seek the power of the Holy Spirit that he will fill you to overflowing and you'll have an abundance of peace and joy. and be blessed in everything that you put your hand to. Thank you once again for listening to Quality Christian Living. I am your host David Friend. We will see you next time.