2. This study…
is an extension to The Key
Elements of Christian Living
presentation. The Four Key
elements will be presented as
four separate presentations
beginning this presentation Faith Love
THE KEY ELEMENTS
OF CHRISTIAN
The Power of Faith LIVING
The Power of Love
The power of Forgiveness Forgiveness Living
The Living Example Example
THE POWER OF FAITH
3. What is Ask a half-dozen people to explain Faith or define it
FAITH? for you. You will receive many different answers…
Some of the answers I got when I did a survey among a
limited number of Christians…
“…faith is an intangible feeling that I have for my religion...”
“… faith is a conviction which is unique to me”.
“…faith is some kind of positive thinking”
“ … I got faith through the church I started going to…”
4. DEFINITIONS
OF FAITH…
Oxford DICTIONARY DEFINITION
Complete trust or confidence in someone or something
– i.e. Faith in politicians, political systems…
A Strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual
conviction rather than proof:
5. For Christians
Faith is…
Hebrews 11:1:
“…NOW FAITH IS BEING
SURE OF WHAT WE HOPE
FOR AND CERTAIN OF WHAT
WE DO NOT SEE.
• Christian Faith relates to a confident assurance of Salvation
through Jesus Christ and being certain of His Guidance,
protection and blessings upon your life(…and others whom you
pray for).
6. FOR CHRISTIANS
FAITH IS A
REQUIREMENT
Matthew 9: 29
In the life of Jesus we can observe the Then he touched their eyes and said,
importance that He placed on Faith. “According to your Faith let it be done
With Jesus Faith was a pre-requisite. to you”;
Mark 5 : 34 Luke: 17 :19
He said to her, “Daughter, your Faith
has healed you. Go in peace and be Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your
freed from your suffering.” Faith has made you well.”
Matthew 13:58
And he did not do many miracles
there because of their lack of Faith.
7. The need
for Faith …
These two passages clearly demonstrate the need for
Faith…
Matthew 8: 26 The Disciples
He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” lacked Faith
Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and
it was completely calm.
Matthew 14 : 21 Peter’s Faith
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. Wavered
“You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
8. Matthew 8
24 Suddenly a furious storm
came up on the lake, so
that the waves swept over
the boat. But Jesus was
sleeping. 25 The disciples
went and woke him,
saying, “Lord, save us!
We’re going to drown!” 26
He replied, “You of little
faith, why are you so
afraid?” Then he got up
and rebuked the winds
and the waves, and it was
completely calm.
27 The men were amazed
and asked, “What kind of
man is this? Even the
winds and the waves obey
him!”
9. Matthew 14
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter
replied, “tell me to come
to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down
out of the boat, walked
on the water and came
toward Jesus. 30 But
when he saw the wind,
he was afraid and,
beginning to sink, cried
out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus
reached out his hand and
caught him. “You of little
faith,” he said, “why did
you doubt?”
32 And when they
climbed into the boat,
the wind died down. 33
Then those who were in
the boat worshiped him,
saying, “Truly you are the
Son of God.
10. Faith Can
Waiver…
From both instances we can observe a wavering of Faith.
Jesus’ disciples who were with Him in the same boat panicked when
the storm hit them. The disciples forgot who was with them.
This happens to many Christians. We get weakened in the face of
adversity and let worry and anxiety reign over our life…because we
lack Faith in Gods power in our lives.
We panic due to our lack of Faith in Gods capacity for provision,
protection and guidance… we let our worldly thinking take over…our
human measurements, capabilities and standards start to take over
and we start to discount the awesome power of God.
11. Look again…
Peter called our to Jesus and confidently started to walk on
water. But half way he saw the rough sea and the winds. He
lost the Faith that he had when he started the walk on water.
Peter’s Faith wavered in Jesus’s power to protect him. The
rough sea and the wind made His Faith to waver and in that
moment he started to drown. This happens all the time in
Christian lives.
Matthew 14
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.
“You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
Remember our God is a Loving God and even when you falter in your Faith
He is there to pick you up.
12. Holding on
to Faith
The wavering of Faith occurs when one cannot hold fast to
God’s promises. As Christians we have the teachings of Jesus
to guide us and claim on our lives. By reading understanding
and by living in keeping with these teachings, we experience
the power of God on our lives. This experience empowers us
with more Faith which fuels us if and when our Faith starts to
waver…
The depth of our relationship with Jesus is directly
proportionate to the Level of Faith one possesses and vice
versa.
When our walk with God gets strong…our Faith starts to become stronger…
13. An insight
On Faith
3 Indeed, if you call out for insight and cry
aloud for understanding, 4 and if you look for
it as for silver and search for it as for hidden
treasure, 5 then you will understand the fear
of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
6For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth
come knowledge and understanding. 7 He
holds success in store for the upright, he is a
shield to those whose walk is blameless, 8 for
he guards the course of the just and protects
the way of his faithful ones. Proverbs 2:
14. The Faith cycle
FAITH READING
GODS WORD
Developing an Intimate
Experience
relationship with God
Gods Power
Receive Living a God fearing
Gods blessings Christian life
Refraining from doing Learning as to what
What displeases God displeases God
15. Jesus explains Faith …
Matthew 6:
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field
grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all
his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the
grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire,
will he not much more clothe you— you of little faith? 31 So do not worry,
saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we
wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly
Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his
righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about
itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
We have been advised by Jesus to seek Gods kingdom and His
righteousness as the priority in our Lives and He assures us - what we
need will also be provided…
16. But do we have
that much Faith?
The key is the degree of absolute Faith that we
can muster in Gods promises to us through
Jesus Christ.
Most often we find that we are way short in
absolute Faith due to worldly influence on our
lives from Day one….all human limitations.
Our absolute Faith should be in Gods Power…
17. Jesus explains
the Power of Faith
Matthew 17 : 20
He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you
have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain,
‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you.”
Matthew 21: 21
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt,
not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can
say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be
done.
Unfortunately our human tendency is to immediately
conclude that “moving a mountain” as an impossibility. But
here we are shown the extreme possibility… through the
POWER OF FAITH it can be done!
18. The Power
of Faith
We can observe that Faith is an awesome power. As
Christians we have been given the possibility of accessing
this power through Jesus Christ. It is freely available to all
Christians.
The Power of Faith lies within the degree of our Faith in
Jesus. The stronger our connection to Him (not in our
terms but as per our compliance to His teachings), the level
of Faith would be stronger. The Power of Faith
demonstrates what could be achieved through Faith..
When certain defined conditions are fulfilled – we have an assurance
given by Jesus that - WHAT IS NEEDED WOULD BE PROVIDED
19. An assurance
given by Jesus
Mark 11:
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “Truly I tell you, if anyone says
to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in
their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done
for them. 24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe
that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand
praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your
Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
You can achieve wonders with the Power of Faith. But first you
need to meet these wonderful conditions…
20. The Conditions
This is a very important teaching of Jesus that can be claimed on our lives.
However, there are a important conditions that are embedded in this
promise that we have to be met if we are to claim it on our lives.
a. Have Faith in God - Have absolute Faith in God that He would provide
what is needed when it is needed.
b. The request should be made in absolute belief and without ‘doubt’
that it will be done as requested
c. Make the request in prayer and while praying believe that we have
already received it
While making this request if we have “anything against anyone” we
have to forgive them…so that our sins too may be forgiven by
God...and we stand cleansed before Him when our request is
made…
21. The Issues
a. Obviously our requests have to be righteous( the request is made
to God)
a. Addressed to God through Prayer in absolute Faith…
b. In certainty that the request will be granted (believing that we have
already received it)
c. BUT…before making the request we have to be able to forgive and
be reconciled with others with whom we have issues – so that our
Father in heaven may forgive our sins – and we are able to stand
cleansed before Him.
As Christians we have the possibility for the redemption of our
Sins through Jesus Christ. But some Christians are found to
harbor evil in their hearts by not being able to Forgive. As a
requirement we are expected to forgive others – “so that your
Father in heaven may forgive you your sins”.
22. The Big question is…
Can we fulfill all the conditions…?
The Good news is that if we can fulfill these
conditions… then we can claim on this
assurance given to us by Jesus.
Mark 11:
25 And when you stand praying, if you hold
anything against anyone, forgive them, so that
your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
.
23. The condition of
Forgiveness
Mark 11
25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against
anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may
forgive you your sins.
We can again observe the emphasis of Forgiveness found in the
Lord’s prayer. Luke11: 4 Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive
everyone who sins against us.
FORGIVE TO BE FORGIVEN - Jesus
24. The Condition
of absolute Faith
Our requests through prayer should
be made in Absolute Faith - that our
need will be provided by our God.
Ask in absolute Faith and it will be given
- Jesus
25. The Power of Faith
Before we start to move any mountain, you can observe the
Power of Faith first hand by focusing on a problem that you
currently have at hand. We have an assurance from Jesus that
we can receive what we ask for through the Power of Faith.
First lets move this issue (any issue that you currently have)
representing a huge mountain for you at this moment in time.
Focus on the Issue. Is it righteous request? Is it a want or a need?
Absolutely have Faith in Gods power to solve the need. Before making
the request dump the anger, jealousy, vengeance, all unrighteousness
(Evil negativities that are found in all our lives…) Forgive and be
forgiven and believe that God has already solved the issue…IT WILL BE
DONE.
26. I Pray…
1 Corinthians 2 :
4 My message and my preaching were not with
wise and persuasive words, but with a
demonstration of the Spirit’s power, 5 so that
your faith might not rest on human wisdom,
but on God’s power.
