A Victorious Faith

A Victorious Faith

Introduction

 

 

          We want to look now at the life of Moses as we talk about a victorious faith.  We’re going to look at Moses’ life and see some aspects, or points, in his life that you and I can take and apply to our lives.  Hebrews 11:6 says that, “Without faith it is impossible to please God.”  Beginning with the seventh verse, it begins to show us certain men’s lives and tell us what they did, and tell you and I that they set examples for your life and mine.  So, we can go through the lives of Moses, Noah, Joseph and many other men of God and we can see the circumstances they went through and apply it to our lives and it will encourage you and me.

           There are about 25 or 30 men and women that are listed in Hebrews 11.  This is what we call the “Hall of Famers.”  These are examples for you and me of what can happen when a man or woman believes God all the way.  This is our desire.  We are interested in believing God all the way.  One of the best ways to learn about faith is to study the men of faith.  One of the best ways to learn how to apply faith in your life is to know what the men of God did and how they reacted in certain situations. 

 

Chapter I

A Victorious Faith Hears from God

 

          In Exodus 14, we’re going to see Moses as he was leading the people out of Israel.  We find one of the greatest miracles there is in the Bible in the fourteenth chapter of Exodus.  Verse 1 says, “And the Lord spake unto Moses saying.”  This is an absolute necessity — that God speaks to you — so you’ll know what to do.  You say, “Well, He hasn’t spoken to me.”  He always speaks through His Word: “Love your neighbor as your self;” “I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me;” “My God shall supply all my needs;” “Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world;” “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all things shall be added unto you;” “All things are yours.”  The way God will do most of His speaking to you and me is through His written Word.  They didn’t have the written Word then, so God spake unto Moses and today He’s speaking to you and me primarily through the Word of God.  So, if you want to hear God speak more, then you learn more of the Word and this will give you a vocabulary that God can use to speak to you.  The reason we don’t hear God as much today, as many do, is because we don’t know God’s vocabulary.

 

Chapter II

A Victorious Faith Knows God’s Ways are Different

 

          But God spoke to Moses and he’d already performed all the miracles there at Pharaoh’s court, brought all the plagues upon them and finally Pharaoh had said, “Okay, Moses, you take these Israelites and you lead them out of here.  Take them out of Egypt into the Promised Land.”  And Moses gathered all the people of Israel together and they began to march to leave Egypt.  As they were leaving, God spoke to Moses in Exodus 14:2b and said, “…Before it shall ye encamp by the sea.”  In other words, Moses and the people of Israel were leaving Egypt, leaving captivity, and while they were going along, God speaks to them and says to stop and go and camp by the sea.  Then He says, in verse 4, “Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that He shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon his host; that the Egyptians may now that I am the Lord.  And they did so.”

 

          Now, here’s the picture.  God has promised deliverance for the people of Israel.  They had been in captivity 400 years.  God had sent Moses to bring them out and now Moses was leading them out.  On the way out, all at once God speaks to Moses.  You must remember and you must realize God’s ways are different from our ways.  Now if I had been in captivity 400 years, I wouldn’t want to encamp overnight in the enemy’s land.  Would you?

 

          So, here they’re going out and all at once God speaks to Moses to pull over and stop by the Red Sea.  I’m sure many of the Israelites said, “Wait a minute, Moses, let’s get on across the Red Sea.  Let’s get out of Pharaoh’s territory and then we can relax a little bit.  Then we can stop.”  But you see, God’s way, God’s methods and God’s plans will not go along with the plans of man.  Here they were escaping and He says, “Stop.”  That would be like you were in jail in your town for life imprisonment for preaching the Gospel and all at once the jail cells would shake and the doors would open and God would say, “Move out,” and you would start walking out of there, and just as you passed by the captain’s office, God said, “Now pull in here at the captain’s office and sit down!”  That’s how it was.  You would say, “Now wait a minute, Lord.  Here You’re delivering me out of jail and I just have one more gate to go through and here You tell me to go into the captain’s office and sit down.”  It doesn’t take God long to find out if you’re really willing to obey Him.

 

          You’ll find that many times God’s directions don’t meet the approval of logic and reason.  So He told him to do this and then the fourth verse of Scripture says that God was going to harden Pharaoh’s heart, and then send him after Moses!  “And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, that he shall follow after them.…”  Now, God had told them He’d lead them out.  He starts leading them out, and then gets them right next door to going out and says, “Now stop.”  “Okay, God we’ll stop.  What do You want?”  “I’m going to harden Pharaoh’s heart and I’m going to send him after you.”  “But, Lord, wait a minute.”  Brothers and sisters, God knows what He’s doing.  God says, “I’m going to get honor from Pharaoh.  I’m going to show them that I’m God, because the way you’re going, you’ll take the easy way out!  I want you to stop by the Red Sea.  I want you to learn My ways because I’m going to really show you something.”

 

          Now, brothers and sisters, this is what God is wanting to do today.  He’s wanting to take you and me by His way so He can really demonstrate His power.  Now, you and I normally want to go the easy way — just breeze on through — but God says, “I want you to go by some Red Seas.”  “But, Lord, I don’t want to go by any Red Sea.”  He says, “That’s where you’ll see My power.  I want to take you to some lions’ dens and let them kick you in.”  “But God, I don’t want to be in a lion’s den.”  That’s where you see His power.  He says, “I’m going to send you to the fiery furnace.”  “But, Lord, I don’t want to get in the furnace.”  That’s where you’ll see God’s power work.

 

          Brothers and sisters, God is always moving in the arena and the area of the impossibility and the sooner you and I realize that God’s ways are different from our ways, the quicker we’ll be able to obey God and we’ll be in the place where God can give us a miracle.  If God doesn’t lead you to the place where He can give you a miracle, you’ll not have a miracle.  The only way the Lord could get me to Lafayette so we could be blessed the way we have been blessed in these past months, was to get me to cut loose from Baldwin.

 

          So, what God is doing in your life and mine is He’s wanting us to realize that His ways are not our ways when He begins to move and let us be open to what God wants to do.  I want to confess this before you.  The Lord spoke to me some months ago, and I’ve confessed it before, a couple of times, but the Lord said to go on television.  I stopped at the light in front of Sears and Roebuck and all at once the Lord just said, “You’re going on television.”  I just said, “Lord, me?  With my shiny head!?  Lord, me with my tremendous personality?  Lord, me with my perfect grammar?  And with all my perfect writing?”  It seemed like the Lord just said, “Son, My ways are not your ways!  I’ve chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise!”  I said, “Okay, Lord.”  I’ve confessed this before, but not long ago I went by Channel 3 and told them we wanted to go on television.  They didn’t have any time, so I went by Channel 10.  The man told me they didn’t have any time.  I said, “You, or Channel 3 has some time, you just don’t know it yet!  You are going to lose a customer so you can gain a customer.”

 

          Then the Lord began to deal with me.  He said, “You’re going to have a TV ministry.”  I said, “Lord, now, I can’t see that at all and I’m sure others can’t either.”  But God’s ways are not our ways.  When God spoke to me and said, “Im going to give you the privilege of living by faith,” that didn’t make a bit of sense to me.  I said, “The privilege of living by faith?  I have a good church, income, house and everything.”  But we have to realize that God wants to get us to places where He can supernaturally move, and that’s what He is doing.

 

          He had them stop and camp because they were on their way out the easy way.  Then He went back to Egypt and started “pestering” Pharaoh and Pharaoh said, “Now what in the world did we let those guys go for?  Call the army together.  We’re going to go get them.”  The news came back to Pharaoh that they were camped by the Red Sea and Pharaoh said, “They’re trapped and now I’ll go get them.”  But you see the situation — God was working up to a miracle.

 

          God is working in your life to the place where He can give you a miracle.  If you can’t see the way out; if you can’t understand how you’re going to come out of the circumstance or situation you’re in — get happy!  You’re in the place where God can give you a miracle.  You’re in a place where you can see the power of God move.  But you have to know that God doesn’t move as we move or otherwise you’ll be mumbling and grumbling when you ought to be shouting.  When you get the word to stop or camp, then you’re about to get out.

 

          For example, say you’re believing God to pay all your bills off.  All at once you have $500 in your hand and that’ll pay all your bills off, and the Lord says, “Give that to Reverend Willis!”  But Lord, but Lord, but Lord!  “Give it,” and you get ready for a bigger miracle.  That’s what He told them.  They were on their way out and He said, “Fellows, pull over there and camp.  I’ll go back and harden Pharaoh’s heart and I’ll send him out to get you.”  A victorious faith realizes you’re going to come to places where you can’t see the way out and that’s where God can move.

 

   

Chapter III

A Victorious Faith Obeys God’s Instructions

 

           In the last part of the fourth verse it says, “And they did so.”  Now, what would most of us do if we were walking out of the jail with a miracle.  The doors just opened up and we were walking by the captain’s office and God said, “Go in there and sit down.”  Would we still be willing to obey God?  To get a miracle, to have a victorious faith, you’re going to have to be willing to obey God’s every instruction.  Now, here’s what happens with us many times.  God begins to move in us and get us to the place where He can give us a miracle.  We get thrilled and excited about the miracle He’s given us, and what God is wanting to do is just take that miracle and use it as a doorway to a greater miracle.  So, you be sure, whenever God is moving in you, and meeting your needs and giving you your miracles, that the little miracle you’re looking at, may explode into a tremendous miracle to demonstrate the power of God.  Always listen to God and obey His every instruction.

 

          I know in the natural they could not see this and normally we don’t.  I’m sure many of those people said, “Now, Moses, wait a minute.  In one day we’ll be out of Egypt, then we can camp.”  But Moses said, “We’re going to obey God.”  “But Moses, it doesn’t make sense.”  “We’re going to obey God.”  “But Moses.”  “We’re going to obey God.”  A victorious faith realizes and recognizes that God’s ways of moving is different and we must obey God’s every instruction because stopping and sitting in the captain’s office on the way out of jail may be the doorway for the whole police department getting saved.

 

          There’s a Bible example to this.  Paul and Silas were in jail, praising God at midnight.  At midnight they were praising God so much until God heard them, shook the foundation of the place, and the stocks fell off their hands.  What would most Christians be doing like that?  “God has left me.  God has deserted me.  What did I do wrong?”  But they were praising God.  The doors opened and they started to leave and the jailer woke up and was afraid.  Paul said a ridiculous thing to the natural mind — be of good cheer.  The jailer stayed there and the Scripture says that he and his whole family were saved.  You say, “Brother Willis, what’s so important about that?”  Just a little bit later, Paul got out, but that saved jailer stayed there.  I’ll tell you what that jailer did.  He infiltrated that place with the Word of God!

 

          Another example in Acts is when Philip was in a great revival.  Souls were being saved, healings, signs, wonders, miracles, everything was taking place.  If there would ever be a place to stay, that would be the place!  But God said, “Philip, leave.  Go down to Gaza.”  “But Lord, the desert?”  Yes.  And Philip obeyed God.  He went down to Gaza, a desert, and sat down.  After a while, here came Enoch, a black man, in a chariot.  God said, “Get that man.”  Yes, it is in the book of Acts.  Read the book of Acts.  Philip stopped that chariot.  Here was a Jew stopping a black man.  This was just unheard of.  He stopped him, got into the chariot with him.  Philip read the Scriptures to him and the man was saved.  Philip got out and baptized him and this black man went and took the message to his country.  Then you know what happened to Philip?  The Scripture says he was there by the water and suddenly he was translated.  Read Acts!  He was translated to another place.  You say, “I don’t believe it!  Talk with God.  He’s the one that did it.  If He lied, talk to Him about it.  We know better than that, don’t we?  Yes, we must obey His every instruction.

  

Chapter IV

A Victorious Faith Draws Attack

 

           Whenever we realize this, and we obey His every instruction, you must remember it will draw attack.  I’m sure they told Moses he was wrong.  I’m sure that when Philip told the people of Samaria that God spoke to him and told him to go down to the desert, they said, “Philip, now listen.  We’re in a great revival here.”  I’m sure that when Moses told them they were going to have to pull over and stop, the people probably said, “Wait a minute, Moses.”

           Whenever God is moving you in a route to mature you, grow you up, and develop you, you’re going to draw fire because the Devil is going to come against you.  He knows if you begin to move in the miracle area, that you will get to the place where you know you have power and authority over him.  So, he’s going to always attack you.  The Devil tried to stop Moses.  He said, “Moses, go on this way.”  But Moses stopped.  God’s people tried to keep Philip from going down to Samaria, but he went because he wanted to follow the Lord.

           So whenever you’re moving on a line that will give you a miracle, realize the Devil is going to attack you.  Are you being attacked?  Whenever you’re moving with God, you’re like a piece of iron and the Devil is like a magnet and he comes to you.  You will draw fire.  Whenever you’re moving with Jesus, the Devil and his demons are going to be moving your way because they desire to stop you and block your pathway.  The miracle pathway draws Satanic attacks.  The Devil is going to come against you in many, many ways.  I’m sure they tried to stop him, but Moses was determined to obey God and so must we.

  

Chapter V

A Victorious Faith Is Greater Than Fear

  

          Look at verse 13, “And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not.…” God spoke to Moses and said, “Moses, camp.  I’m going to go back and harden Pharaoh’s heart and I’m going to send him against you.”  Moses knew that they could not defeat Pharaoh’s army in natural ways.  He knew that Pharaoh’s army could slaughter them, could kill them, could destroy them.  Moses knew where they were.  He was raised in Egypt.  Moses was trained and educated in the best of schools.  He knew the geography and the lay of the land perfectly.  Moses knew that when God said to stop, they were in a box.  I’m sure that’s when the Devil tried to cause him to be fearful.  He probably said, “Moses, you’re making a big mistake.  I have you now.  You had your chance.”

 

          A victorious faith is greater than fear because fear is the plug in the bottom of the bathtub that the water goes out of.  Fear destroys the force of faith.  All of you have asked God for certain things, and when you requested these things and it got close to the deadline, fear would try to rise up in you.  I guess the best example I can use for us parents is with our children.  Your son or daughter has a fever.  You lay your hands upon them and say, “Be healed in the Name of Jesus,” and the fever rises.  It gets worse.  What begins to happen?  If you let that fear rise, it’ll kill your faith and you’ll not get that healing manifested and you’ll have to use man’s methods.

 

          A victorious faith is greater than fear.  A victorious faith will not permit fear to rise up.  II Timothy 1:7 says, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”  So, whenever the enemy comes at you with fear, you can automatically know that since fear is coming against you, the Devil is trying to stop you from doing what God wants you to do.  If the fear begins to rise up in you about your baby, you can get happy because the Devil is fighting you on that healing and you’ll know you’re on God’s path.  You’re starting to do something for God, but the Devil comes against you — you draw fire — you draw the attack.  Then fear begins to rise up.  Whenever that fear begins to rise up, you know who’s working?  The Devil.  The Devil would not be working on you if you were not going in the right direction.  If you were going in the wrong direction, he wouldn’t come against you with fear because he’d have you.

 

          Therefore, a victorious faith is greater than fear.  A victorious faith knows that whenever the enemy comes against you with fear, you know you’re on the right track.  You know that you’re opposing him.  You know that you’re shaking him because he’s trying to fight you with his mightiest weapon (fear) which will banish and destroy your faith.

 

          How do you whip fear — Satan’s most deadly weapon?  With the Scripture.  Fear is what is binding more of God’s people than anything.  If you feel God is dealing with you about a message in tongues, what holds you back?  Fear.  Praying for someone to be healed — what holds you back?  Fear.  To really raise your hands and praise God — what holds you back?  Fear.  Someone hearing about it or knowing about it.  You claim that financial miracle and it gets close to the deadline.  What rises up in you?  Fear says you’re not going to get it, you missed God.  You can be assured that whenever fear comes against you, you’re walking with the Lord.  He’s attacking you, but a victorious faith puts its foot on that fear and refuses it.

 

          A victorious faith says, “I know that He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world” (I John 4:4).  You’ll find out as you move in a victorious faith and you move to the place where God can give you a miracle, that fear will be one of the enemy’s greatest weapons.  When the Lord told me to come to Lafayette, Satan’s greatest weapon was fear.  He said, “How are you going to make it?  No salary, no church, no people, no money, a wife and 5 children.  How are you going to make it?”  I rejected it in the name of Jesus.  God spoke and said, “Build a house.”  First thing the Devil said, was, “Well go ahead.  You’ll never get in that thing.  You’re standing up telling these people that faith will do anything and you’ll never get in it.  An incomplete house will be a mark against you out there.  It will kill your ministry.  Don’t try to do something so big.”

 

          Listen, you can’t tell me anything about this fear.  I’ve stepped out on God so many times, I know what it is.  Glory, hallelujah, I whip it every time.  You can too because I John 4:4 says, “Greater is He that is in YOU than he that is in the world.”  Anytime you step out to do something for God, you can be assured Satan will get his big gun against you.  He’ll get his BB gun against you and pot-shot you a few times, but when he sees his BB shots won’t do it, he’ll get his shotgun on you.  Have any of you been shot — buckshot scattered all over you?!  Hurts, fears, disappointments, you can’t go on?  If you keep on going, he’ll get his big cannon and it’s spelled fear.  He’ll gouge you in every area, but a victorious faith rejects fear.  A victorious faith knows that fear is not God’s weapon, but the Devil’s weapon.  A victorious faith knows that anything that comes against you that will cause you to question God’s Word, is the Devil.  Anything that comes against you to question, “By His stripes I’m healed,” “Whatsoever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye have received it,” anything that comes against you to try to put pressure on you to make you get off of God’s Word is the Devil.

 

          God will not give you His Word that He’ll do something for you and then when you ask Him for it put pressure on you, but the Devil will.  So whenever you start moving toward God to move into a victorious faith, whenever you start moving to that place where you’re going to believe God for the impossible, get ready, get ready.  However, when you’re taught, when you know the Scripture, then when he comes against you, you know what it is and you know what to do.  If I would be driving home and had a flat tire, I’d know what to do.  Everyone doesn’t know what to do.  Why do you know what to do?  You’ve been taught.  You know that when you have a flat tire, you change it.  If you can’t change it, you call somebody who can.  You get help.  You get the tire changed.  Well, brothers and sisters, when fear comes against you, you as a Christian should know he’s trying to cause you to have a spiritual flat tire.  You should know what to do.  You should know that fear is the Devil coming against you to keep you from receiving your miracle.

 

          Whenever fear comes against me, I rear up.  I know he’s trying to stop me from getting my miracle.  When he starts trying to take something away from me, I don’t like it.  When fear begins to come against most Christians, they don’t do anything because they don’t know that fear is the Devil’s weapon.  So when fear comes against me and brings doubt and unbelief of the Word of God, I say, “Whew, I’m close now.”  He’s got his big gun out now, so I’m close.  It’s darkest just before the daylight hour.  The pressure will be the strongest, heaviest, and hardest against you just before the crack of dawn — just before the miracle power of God moves.  Hold on, daylight is coming.  He can’t stop daylight from coming.  No man can stop daylight from coming because God has decreed that daylight shall come.  He made it that way and it always happens.  He said in His Word that “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world,” and you can bank upon it.  It is more sure than the fact that daylight will come.  It is more sure that you can defeat the Devil because the Word of God says so — daylight is going to come.

 

          So, whenever fear comes against you, it’s a certainty, it’s definite according to the Word of God if you rest upon God’s Word and stand upon God’s Word ye shall see the sunshine.  Sometimes that little moment before it’s daylight seems like a year.  But these are some of the steps in faith and this is where Moses was and perhaps where you are.

  

Chapter VI

A Victorious Faith Makes the Boldest Confession in Darkest Times

  

          A victorious faith, when things are the darkest will make a bold confession.  God had told them to pull to the side and stop.  Pharaoh knew they were trapped.  Moses, knowing the land, knew they were trapped.  It was a dark time.  The enemy had come in behind them and the Red Sea was before them.  It was dark.  In the natural there was no way out.  In the natural, every avenue of escape was closed, and right when fear began to rise the strongest, when Moses looked and saw the waters of the Red Sea, he looked behind him and saw the enemy.  He then made his bold confession because your bold confession in the darkest hour is what God will use to bring the light.

 

          They were hemmed in, they were closed in, they could not go anywhere.  Verses 13 and 14 tell what Moses did, “And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more forever.  The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”  Boy, I bet they were planning how they could build bridges, dig holes, run, and hide and everything else, but Moses said, “Fear not.”  Listen, when he spoke this, Pharaoh was behind them and the Red Sea before them.  This doesn’t make a bit of sense to the natural mind, does it?  This won’t add up to common sense.  This won’t add up to natural facts because that’s the way God moves.  God gets you in a place where it’s impossible for you to get out and then when you stand upon the Word, that’s when God moves and that’s when you must make the boldest confession.

 

          Moses said, “Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which He will show you TODAY.”  That was bold talk, wasn’t it?  Now just picture this: The Red Sea before them, Egypt behind them and Moses stands up and says, “Fear not.  You’re going to see God move today.  Stand still.  Don’t you do anything.  God is about to go to work.”  Don’t you know the Devil told Moses he had fouled up?  “Moses, you overloaded yourself this time.  Moses, listen, use your head.  Moses, that’s the most stupid thing in the world for a man to say.  Listen Moses, open your eyes.  Look at that Red Sea, Moses.  You can’t get by it.  Moses, look there behind you at the army.  Moses, why don’t you take that back.  Listen, if you’ll take that back, you’ll save a little face.  Moses, you know they think you’re crazy already but they really think you’re crazy now.  Anybody with any common sense can see you are trapped.  Why don’t you give up?  Maybe they won’t kill you and you can come back another day.  You just made a mistake this time, Moses.”  Don’t you know the Devil said that to Moses?  I can just picture the Devil telling Moses all that and Moses got upon a big rock and said, “Fear not.  Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord.  He will deliver you this day.”  He spit in the Devil’s eye right when it seemed to be impossible and that’s what you’re going to have to do if you’re going to get a miracle.  When you can’t take the pain anymore, you say, “Glory, hallelujah; by faith I’m healed.”

 

          When you have so many bills to pay, you say, “Praise God, by faith I owe no man anything but to love him.”  Now that’s a bold confession!  That’s what you’re going to have to do.  We’re talking about Bible examples, not worldly concepts.  You believe the Bible, don’t you?  Well, we can read this today to see how we’re supposed to act.  It will teach us how we’re supposed to act when the Red Sea is before us and the enemy is behind us.  When there’s no way out — when you can’t see any way out, that’s when you stand and say, “I believe God.”  Folks, now that is what will bring you through.  But when you see no way out, if you start figuring, computing, figuring what you can do, you will lose your miracle.  Now, you may get out of it by the skin of your teeth.  You know, God is gracious.  He’ll just keep us from going under completely.  He’ll just let us get soaking wet, halfway drowned; then He’ll pull us out!  He’s gracious.  He didn’t want Peter to sink.  He wanted Peter to walk all the way to Him.  Jesus did not tell him to get out of the boat so he’d sink.  So see, when we get in these places, it’s not God’s will for us to sink; God is getting ready for a miracle.

 

          Can’t you understand now why it’s so important for you to make bold confessions?  If Moses would have gone by what the people told him; if Moses would have gone by the way he felt; if Moses would have gone by his mind; he would have given up.  But a victorious faith doesn’t go by its eyes, ears, feelings, or its mind, it goes by the Word of God.  It obeys the Word of God.  A victorious faith says, “I don’t care what my eyes tell me.  I don’t care what my ears tell me.  I don’t care what the logic and reason of my mind tells me, if it’s contrary to the Word of God, I refuse it.”  But, Brother Willis, why could he do that?  Because the first verse says, “And the Lord spake unto Moses.”  God had already said, “Moses, I’m going to use you to lead them out.”  God didn’t say, “I’m going to let you lead them to the banks of the Red Sea and have them give up.”  He told Moses he would lead them out and Moses believed it.  Read Isaiah 43:1-3 now.