Faith: God has given us the key to success
By Apostle Frederick K.C. Price

Romans 1:17:
     For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

     The just means those who have been "declared righteous" by accepting Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. According to this verse, we as believers should live by faith. The Word of Faith is what will allow us to be successful, because faith is the key that unlocks the door of success.

     Once a person becomes a Christian, the most important thing he or she needs to learn is how to walk by faith, because everything else in the Christian life operates by faith. Everything. That is why Satan fights the faith message so much.

     Many times, people get filled with the Holy Spirit right after they receive Christ as their savior. A great number of these people still have a problem with the baptism of the Holy Spirit because they do not understand that the whole premise of the infilling with the Holy Spirit operates by faith.

     Instead of going by faith, they go by how they feel. If they did not get the feeling that they thought they should have received, they go for the next six years doubting whether they are really filled with the Holy Spirit. If they had known how to operate by faith, they would not have had a problem with their emotions and feelings

     Nothing More Important

     There is nothing you can name that is more important than faith once a person gets saved. And don't tell me that love is more important. Love is not the most important thing. It is important, but it is not the most important – faith is.

     Some Christians have problems interacting with other people because they do not feel like loving them. I do not blame them, because not everyone is lovable, and unless you know how to walk by faith, there is no way to be able to relate to them in love.

     I know the Bible says that faith works by love, which simply means that the motivation for faith ought to be love. However, I have news for you. Even though it is not written, love works by faith. You have to love some people by faith, because not everyone is lovable.

     I know that the last verse of 1 Corinthians 13 in the New American Standard Bible says, But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Yes, the greatest is love, right there where it is. Leave it there! Do not pull it out of 1 Corinthians 13 and apply it to John's Gospel, chapter 1; Ephesians, chapter 6; or Galatians, chapter 4.
     Leave it in the 13th chapter of 1 Corinthians. That is where it belongs – sandwiched right there in the middle between chapter 12 and chapter 14.

     Love is the motive. It is the greatest reason for speaking with tongues and not sounding like a clanging cymbal. It is the greatest reason for operating by faith and seeing the sick healed, but it is not the greatest thing by itself. It is the greatest motivator.

     Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love. Paul did not say that the tongues were not genuine. He just said that without love you sound as though you have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

     He did not say you were not speaking with tongues. He did not say speaking with tongues was not legitimate. He did not say tongues were not coming out of your spirit. He just said it did not sound very edifying without being motivated by love. It just sounded like a clanging cymbal, but he did not say it was not the real thing.

     . . . though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. He did not say that giving myself did not produce a result. Paul just said that it does not profit me anything personally. I should not do what I am doing because I have great faith. I should be doing what I am doing because I love.

     And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Love could not be the greatest thing by itself. If love were the greatest thing, then Hebrews 11:6 should say, “But without love it is impossible to please God." It does not say a thing about love, but it does say, But without faith it is impossible to please Him. The Bible does not say all things are possible to him who loves, but it does say, ". . . all things are possible to him who believes" (Mark 9:23).

     No Diminishing of Love

     I am in no way diminishing love, but we need to keep it where it belongs. We should not try to make it a panacea for everything, because it will not work. Love is what moves or motivates me to do certain things, and in that sense, there is nothing greater than love, because the love of God by the Holy Spirit has been shed abroad in the hearts of those who have been born again (Romans 5:5).

      With all that in mind, once a person is saved, the most important thing is for him to learn how to operate by faith, because everything else he will do spiritually in life will be predicated on knowing how to operate by faith.

      Not knowing how to operate by faith is why people have the problems they do. They are having problems because they are doing things in their own strengths, in their own abilities, in their own smarts, in their own academics, in their own feelings and emotions, and it won't work. When you do things by faith, you do not have any problems or challenges, because what you are doing is not based on a feeling.

     It does not matter how you respond to me. I love you by faith according to the Word of God, so your response is irrelevant and immaterial. It does not make any difference what you do to me. You can spit in my face, and I will still love you – not because I feel like it, but because I have a commandment from God, and I have the ability to do it by the Spirit of God by faith. God has given us the key to success, and it is His Word.

     
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