The Rock Of Our Faith

Jesus is the Rock of our faith, the sure foundation on which we are called to build our lives. However, in order to do this we must immerse ourselves in the Word of God. We can do this by hearing sermons, speaking verses we have memorized and faithfully reading it daily. As we engage with the Word, the Holy Spirit reveals important truths to our heart. Scripture drops from head knowledge and sinks into our heart. The words we read come alive and speak to our situations.

This was the case with the Apostles as well. They spent time listening to Jesus teach, they watched Him perform miracles and learned how He prayed to God. The Apostles were open to learning and because of this, they came to know Jesus was the promised Messiah.

Jesus asked Peter:

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”(Matt 16:15-19)

Jesus responded to Peter’s answer telling him that no human being revealed this truth to him; the Father Himself revealed it directly to Peter.

He followed up by saying “on this rock I will build my church.”

Jesus was not identifying Peter as the rock, because God plays no favorites. “For there is no respect of persons with God.” (Rom 2:11 KJV) Instead, Jesus was saying His church will be built up on revelation knowledge. In the Apostles time revelation knowledge came through the Father, after the resurrection is comes to us through the Holy Spirit.

Revelation Knowledge

Revelation knowledge flows when spending time with Jesus through His Word. It produces a deep conviction in the believer that the Bible is pure Truth and its contain life transforming conviction.

I experienced the power of God’s Word about twelve years ago when I broke my right foot.

By that time, I had been studying Scripture for at least a decade. During those years, I had heard many healing testimonies, both from books I had read and from stories shared by various pastors.

Therefore, when I struck the lateral side of my right foot in a weird accident, and couldn’t put any weight on it as it swelled up to twice it’s size, I immediately started to pray. I prayed the only three healing Scriptures I knew at the time. As I spoke those Scriptures, the throbbing in my foot began to diminish and the intense pain started to fade. Within about two minutes of praying, I was able to set my foot down and the swollen foot and engorged toes and purplish, red color were back to normal. The only remaining evidence that I had struck my foot, was a greenish/yellow bruise along the point of impact.

This miraculous healing event couldn’t have occurred had I not received revelation knowledge that healing Scriptures are still relevant today.

Experiencing the miraculous in life causes us to thirst for more wisdom and live in obedience to what we have already heard. We come to realize that there is no situation or circumstance that God can’t miraculously change as we speak and believe the Word. Most of the time, God extends the lesson, and years pass before He reveals the desired outcome. Many times we have not aligned our life enough with the Word to truly believe with our whole heart that we can receive our answered prayer.

Everyone can experience the miraculous in their lives by reading the Word of God, memorizing Scripture, being obedient to it and allowing it to change doubt into faith. Revelation knowledge is the way the true body of believers- the church- is built.

David’s Rock

One of the most profound times in the Old Testament where we see spoken revelation knowledge change circumstances, is when David slew a rock at Goliath and killed him. David said:

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.” (1 Sam 17:45)

David spoke his revelation that the Lord Almighty would be with him in the battle- then he slung the rock.

All throughout the Old Testament, God revealed aspects of Christ in symbolic forms: the rock that gave water for Moses, the rod that gave victory for Moses and the rock David used to kill Goliath. In all of these cases the victory came by bringing God into the situation.

The Rock Is Scripture

Scripture is God’s Word and God’s Word never fails. God is His Word.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”(John 1:1 NIV)

In fact, God’s Word is so powerful that new believers are told to speak out loud, that Jesus is Lord. If so, we are saved for eternity. Simply by speaking and believing, the Bible says we are saved from eternal damnation. The power of God’s spoken Word is amazing!

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”(Romans 10:9)

Peter’s declaration “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” shows what happens when revelation knowledge becomes personal. He was speaking not simply information but truth He believed.

In the same way, we are called to verbalize Scripture that we believe. This is how we overcome all of life’s problems. Jesus stated “It is written” every time Satan tempted Him. This is the precedent for us. We use revealed Scripture against our problems in life.

This is the authority Christ gave the church-to use His Word. When we speak God’s Word over our situations, we are doing something similar to Peter’s confession, we are aligning our words with divine revelation. Declaring Scripture strengthens our faith and helps us see our problems through God’s truth rather than the fear of the moment. Our mind-set so to speak, is renewed and we can stand on the word of God and see it work.

“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”(Rom 12:2)

Mountain Moving Faith

In one of the most profound statements by Jesus, He tells His disciples that they can move mountains with their faith. He said:

“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.” (Mark 11:23 NIV)

This teaching by Jesus was to illustrate that if we truly believe the Word of God, we can affect change in our world in profound ways.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12 NIV)

Jesus healed, and Jesus stated that His Apostles and those who come after them have His authority as well.

“I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you.” (Luke 10:19 )

Having faith enough to believe such a profound statement takes time in God’s Word. But reading the Word cannot be all we do, we must be doers of the Word. If we believe the Word enough to do it, we will believe that God will carry out His aspect of His Word- He cannot lie.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”( James 1:22-25)

Faith Increases As We Use it.

Faith increases as we step out in faith on the Word. And as we empty ourselves of our power and rely more and more on the Lord, He will continue to fill our needs. He will fill any and every need we bring to Him as we remain obedient to Him.

We can conclude, that a family who places their full faith in the Lord by living according to the Word, will always have enough. God promises us provision, protection, direction from revelation knowledge and peace.

A psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever.”

Food For Thought,

Lisa