Scripture Reading: Gal. 6:10; 1 Tim. 1:19; 2 Pet. 1:1; Heb. 11:1, 5-6; 12:1-2; Rom. 10:17
Ⅰ
The believers are the members of the family, the household, of the faith; the house of God, the eternal Bethel as the desire of God's heart, is the house of faith—Gal. 6:10; Gen. 28:11-12, 16-19a:
A
Faith bears two denotations—objective and subjective—1 Tim. 1:19; 2 Pet. 1:1:
１
In the objective denotation, "the faith" refers to the things in which we believe; "the faith" is the contents of the complete gospel according to God's New Testament economy, the entire revelation of the New Testament con-cerning the person of Christ and His redemptive work—Acts 14:22; 1 Cor. 16:13; Jude 3, 20; Eph. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:7.
２
In the subjective denotation, "faith" refers to the believing action of the believers, the act of believing—Gal. 2:20; Rom. 1:17.
B
We may use the illustration of a camera to see these two denotations of faith; the believing action, the "click," of "faith" shines the objective, divine scenery of "the faith" into our being; this makes the divine scenery of Christ as the reality, the truth, of God's economy subjective to us in our experience to become our reality, our truth; thus, "faith" causes everything substantiated by it to become subjective to us in our experience—John 14:6; 8:32, 36; 2 Cor. 4:6-7, 13; 5:7.
Ⅱ
We need to look away unto Jesus—the Author and Perfecter of our faith— with undivided attention by turning away from every other object—Heb. 12:1-2; S. S. 1:4; 2 Cor. 3:16-18; Psa. 27:4:
A
The faith of the believers is actually not their own faith but Christ entering into them to be their faith—Rom. 3:22 and footnote 1; Gal. 2:16 and footnote 1:
１
Our believing is our appreciation of Christ as a reaction to His attraction and divine infusion—Rom. 10:17; 4:16-20; Acts 7:2; 14:27; Gen. 12:1-3, 7-8; 13:14-17; 15:1-7; 17:1; ch. 18; cf. Isa. 60:1, 5.
２
In our natural man we have no believing ability; we do not have faith by ourselves; the faith by which we are saved is the precious faith that we have received from the Lord, the God-allotted faith—2 Pet. 1:1; Col. 1:12.
３
When we look away unto Jesus, He as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b) transfuses us with Himself, His believing element; this faith is not of our-selves but of Him, who imparts Himself as the believing element into us that He may believe for us—Heb. 12:1-2; Gal. 2:20.
B
Our spirit of faith is the organ we must exercise to substantiate everything of the unseen God, transferring all that He is objectively into us to become our subjective experience—John 4:24; Heb. 11:1, 27; 1 Pet. 1:8; 2:7; 2 Cor. 4:13:
１
Faith is in our spirit, which is mingled with the Holy Spirit, not in our mind; doubts are in our mind—cf. Heb. 4:2.
２
Our regenerated spirit, our spirit of faith, is the victory that overcomes the Satan-organized-and-usurped world—1 John 5:4, 18; John 3:6b.
C
We do not regard, look at, the things which are seen but the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal—2 Cor. 4:18; 5:7:
１
The Christian life is a life of things unseen—Rom. 8:24-25; Heb. 11:27.
２
The degradation of the church is the degradation from unseen things to seen things; the Lord's recovery is to recover His church from things seen to things unseen—v. 1.
D
Faith is to believe that God is—v. 6:
１
To believe that God is, is to believe that He is everything to us and that we are nothing—John 8:58; Eccl. 1:2.
２
To believe that God is implies that we are not; He must be the only One, the unique One, in everything, and we must be nothing in everything—Heb. 11:5; Gen. 5:22-24.
３
To believe that God is, is to deny our self; in the whole universe He is, and all of us are nothing—Luke 9:23.
４
Prayer is the real denial of the self so that Christ may be our replacement and become everything to us; to pray means: No longer I, but Christ—Gal. 2:20; Mark 9:7-8; cf. Acts 9:4-5, 11; 13:9a.
５
This is faith—"O the joy of having nothing and being nothing, seeing noth-ing but a living Christ in glory, and being careful for nothing but His interests down here"—J. N. Darby.
E
Faith comes out of the hearing of the word; when we come to the living Word (Christ) in the written word (the Bible), He becomes the applied word (the Spirit) of faith to us—Rom. 10:8, 17; John 6:63; Gal. 3:2; cf. Heb. 3:12.
F
Faith operates through love; the hearing of faith awakens our loving appre-ciation, and the more we love the Lord, the more faith operates to bring us into the riches, the profit, of the all-inclusive Spirit—Gal. 5:6; Mark 12:30.
G
Faith is the subjective God applied to our being; thus, just as nothing is impos-sible to God, nothing is impossible to faith—Matt. 17:20; 19:26.
H
We all have the same faith in quality, but the quantity of faith we have depends upon how much we contact the living God so that we may have Him increased in us—Rom. 12:3; Acts 6:5; Col. 2:19:
１
Faith in the progressing stage comes through our contacting the Triune God, who is faith in us—Heb. 4:16; 1 Thes. 5:16-19.
２
The way to receive such a faith is to contact its source, the Lord, the processed and consummated God, by calling on Him, praying to Him, and pray-reading His word—Rom. 10:12; 2 Tim. 2:22; Eph. 6:17-18; cf. Heb. 4:2.
３
When we contact Him, He is overflowing within us, and there is a mutuality of faith among us; we are encouraged through the faith which is in one another—Rom. 1:12; Philem. 6-7.
I
The great, irrepressible, and unlimited power of faith motivates thousands to suffer for the Lord, risk their lives, and become overcoming sent ones and martyrs for the carrying out of God's eternal economy, which is in faith—Luke 18:8; Phil. 2:20; Rom. 16:3-4; Acts 20:24; 1 Tim. 1:4.