For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face,  that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself,in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge

Colossians 2:1-3

It is by faith alone that we understand the mystery of God, namely, Christ.  It is by faith alone that we come to see who He really is.  Who He is, in all of His depth, width, breadth, and length, is the mystery, the great secret of God.

Through all of the Mosaic law, through all of the tabernacle, through all of the feasts, it is Jesus that there, right there.  He is the heavenly tabernacle, He is the rock in the wilderness.  He is the scarlet thread hanging in Rahab’s window.  He is the branch cast upon the waters to make the ax-head float.

If we enter not into faith at all, we enter not into salvation.  If we enter into faith only unto our redemption, we stay there.  But the aim is to go from faith to faith!

Our walk begins with a glimpse into the man called Jesus.  He is the gate.  Anyone who comes another way is a thief and a robber.  His role never ends there, of course.  He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.  Our goal is union, to be one (John 17).

Yet, if  our walk as we are babes in Christ, is marked by learning His Word and learning His Spirit, growing in faith and growing in His grace must entail a greater and a greater walk of faith.

How do we know that the world was framed at God’s words?  By faith alone.  It is in seeing the thing, and knowing it.  Reading the words, and knowing them by faith.  Is this just because the Bible says so?  Yes, of course!  But, because of the faith, the substance of the thing, the seeing of the unseen thing.  You see, a thing is true.  With the natural man, you can only know the things you see, experience, taste, and touch.  The natural man is limited.  Yet, the spirit of man, united with the Spirit of God, knows all things (1 Corinthians 2:10).  It searches, it reveals, it makes known.  As we seek Him, as we worship Him, and we yield and fear Him, of course!  But, the nature of the thing is true, it is right, it is upright, and sure.

Faith, from believing the worlds were framed at God’s command, down to salvation in Jesus, down to even the fact that Bible is true, and every word of the original text is absolutely 100% infalible, trustworthy, tried, tested, and proven..  Faith proves these things.  Faith discerns them.

How can you tell if someone is a liar?  By discernment.  You might be able to tell from a fidgety outside, or a demeanor of unrest, but knowing for sure always comes from somewhere else.  Whether that source is divine or demonic is still an option, but, to know the unknowable, to perceive the future and the past, to know truth beyond a lie, even in a culture that denies truth, denies righteousness, and, as the fool, denies God…  It requires faith!

How do I know that God is?  By Faith.  Not a fleshly head knowledge, but by the faith that is evidence (Hebrews 11:1).  Because, with my spiritual sense, with my heart, with my inner man, I have seen Him, come to know Him, and participate in Him.

By this Faith, and not another, I can move mountains with a word.  With this faith, and not some doctrine, I can withstand a multitude.

For, this Faith, connects me to THAT book, which empowers that promise in my life.  It was already true, I simply believed it (Hebrews 4:1).

The Spirit is against the natural man, and the natural man against the Spirit.  You cannot live in one and the other at the same time, as you cannot have both fear and faith in the same heart at the same time.  Jesus’ instructions make perfect sense, then, on multiple levels.  Since you WILL hate one and love the other, begin to choose to hate everything to do with your natural way of relating to things.  Begin to identify with the ways of faith (really, this is WHO you are as a believer, whether you acknowledge it or not — 2 Corinthians 5:17).  Not as a thing to do to get a good meeting or to pull off a conference, for that would be using spiritual wisdom still to obtain carnal results, which is perverse, idolatry, and what God hates.  But, rather, as a life.  As your only life.  Put to death, therefore, what pertains to your earthly nature.  Put to death the logic that agrees with the anti-christ demon telling you to back off.

Do a simple cost-analysis if you want…  If the eye is really the lamp of the body as Jesus said (and it is), take a good look at the face of Jesus, whoever He is to you.  Take a good look at those hands and feet.  Take a good look at the dampness of his hair in the garden before his crucifixion.  Take a good, LONG look at the heart of love beating for you, pounding for you, bleeding for you.  Take a good, long look at His perfect, sinless life, and His words in Luke 14:26, “…unless you hate your life”, and decide who is right.  To live is Christ, and to die is gain.  We have already died.

Lose your earthly life, and you will find a light, easy, and bearable yoke in walking in the anointing, walking and living in the Spirit.  Living by faith.  Decide to love the disciplines of the Holy Spirit (rather than being disciplined by your carnal nature).  Learn to yield quickly, quietly, completely, and lovingly, to every part–All His commands lead to life (John 12:50).  He wouldn’t ask you to do something without it being life.

And, as you learn to yield, learn to listen, learn to follow His Spirit, as you trust your faith and relationship with Him above everything else, you will learn to stand, yield, follow, and run better, faster, and quicker than anyone else.  As a man could be given over to a flash of rage, and be yelling for minutes before realizing it, you could be given over to fits of love, joy, and His goodness and mercy, so that you cannot control your giving, your warmth, your graciousness, even to propel you into places you never thought you’d go.  All because of one little thing… All because of Faith.

Surely, faith is a little seed, the littlest of all seeds, yet, when it grows, it becomes the largest of all the garden plants…  On such a growth of faith, what angelic empowerment and and other supernatural divine realms wouldn’t be attracted to your life, and operate in and through you on behalf of Heaven, bringing Christ Jesus’ Kingdom to Earth, as it is in Heaven.