Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
The possibility of the potential of faith
Dr. Webster definition of the word potential is:
• Having power to impress on us the ideas of certain qualities, though the qualities are not inherent in the thing;
• Any thing that may be possible.
Energy is something that has Internal or inherent power; the power of operating; Strength of expression
Put these two words together and Your faith is very much like the concept of potential energy. The Bible tells us that God has given to every man a measure of faith.
We express that in very small ways every day of our life. Every time I sit down in a chair, I am expressing faith.
Every time I walk into a room and turn on a light switch, I am expressing faith.
Every time I get behind the wheel of my car and drive, I am expressing faith. That is potential energy.
It is a form of energy; however, energy is useless until you turn it loose. My pastor in Tacoma Washington use to say to the church, “Turn your Faith Loose”. I’m here to preach this message that your faith is absolutely useless until you turn it loose.
I do not believe you can live, move and have your being with God without faith. I believe that when you get in your car and head to the house of God, that becomes an expression of faith. Why do I believe that?
Because when I come to the house of the Lord, I come to have an encounter with the Holy Ghost, and I know when I get there and begin to mingle with the people of God, I will experience the presence of God. I know that when the man of God gets up and begins to break open the bread of life, and the Word of God is issued under the unction of the Holy Ghost, something is going to happen in my life. Why? Because that is what I came for. I am here because I want to hear from the Word of God.
I am here because the situations that I am facing in my life tell me that I have to do something more than just play patty cake baker’ man with Jesus.
My situation demands of me that I need and answer from God.
My situation demands of me that I need a word from the Lord, and it demands that God do something in my life.
God wants to heal you from diseases; He wants to set free someone that has been bound, He wants break the chains of Oppression and depression that’s holding you down, However, it cannot be done without faith in God. Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Song writer said, “you don’t need a whole lot just use what you got….. faith, faith faith, just a little bit of faith”
What you need today is a little bit of power to impress upon an idea,
What you need today is to know and believe that any thing is possible, I’m talking about the potential that’s in your faith.
If we are going to make it, it is because God is going to give us the grace. If we are going to make it, it is because God is going to restore some faith. If we are going to do it, it is because we know how to rely upon the Spirit of Almighty God.
Heb 11:33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
Heb 11:34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Heb 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
Heb 11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Heb 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Heb 11:38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
” Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
There is potential in your faith. In Mark 9, Jesus said to the boy’s father, “If thou canst believe, all things are possible...” Why did Jesus say it like this? Because the father came to Jesus and told him, “Lord, if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Many things hinge on that word if. He asked him, “Lord, if you can do anything, would you please have compassion on us and help us?” Jesus put it back in his court and said,
“If thou canst believe, all things are possible.” Jesus is saying, the problem does not turn on my power, but your faith does.
Do you have faith enough to believe this morning?
Now here is the point that Jesus was trying to make: Deliverance for the boy did not totally depend upon Jesus’ power. He was showing us this principle: that all things are possible to anyone with a potential of faith.
He was showing us that our doubt hinders God from doing what He desires to do for us in our life. Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Potential means any thing that may be possible
You see this with the church in the wilderness, the Old Testament church in Israel. They came out of Egypt in body, but their spirit was still back in Egypt.
They went out into the wilderness and said, “Moses, if we were back in Egypt we would have a place to be buried.
I realize where we are, Moses, but if we were back in Egypt, at least we would have water to drink.
I know where we are, Moses, but if we were back in Egypt at least we would have food.”Luk 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.
You need to look forward, because that is where God wants to take you.
God wants to take you forward in the Holy Ghost, and God wants to take you forward in His power.
God does not want you to be constantly looking back. His plan for you is for you not to go backward and to die, but go forward and to live.
Jesus was showing us this principle: that doubt confines, restricts and limits. However, once your faith is released, it opens up possibilities, because of the ONE in whom we put our faith. There is potential in our faith in God’s power to do for us. Once it is released, things begin to move, and something starts to happen.
That is when mountains are removed, marriages are healed. That is when children who are running from God are saved by the mercy and grace of God.
If you will express your faith to God, God will strengthen your faith.
How do we get to the place where we can turn our faith loose? To receive all that God has for us we have to remove things that limit our faith.
Our faith can be no greater than the limitations that we place on it. As a result, God can be no greater in our life than our limitations or our doubt places on Him.
If we think of God as small, if we think of Him as insignificant, or if we think very little of Him at all, we are going to have that kind of faith; we are not going to get what we need from God.
Only when we remove the barriers and limitations that’s on our faith does God move, and respond in our life the way we are asking Him to.
In Mark 10, blind Bartimaeus needed a miracle. Mar 10:49 And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they call the blind man, saying unto him, Be of good comfort, rise; he calleth thee.
Mar 10:50 And he, casting away his garment, rose, and came to Jesus.
The garment represented his status as beggar. He threw it aside because he knew that after Jesus touched him, he would not need it anymore. The release of our faith for a miracle demands that we lay aside past identities such as doubt and negative thinking.
The only way we are going to get through to Jesus sometimes is to press through flesh. We need to push flesh aside and say, “God, whatever I have to do...”
The possibilities are endless when we release our faith.
And when you release the potential of your faith, Act 3:16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
