How can you have real faith to believe?

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (Christ in you leading you) of God. ~ Romans 10:17
(Quote from https://realreality.org/downloads/how-god-will-transform-you/)

CONTEXT:

You must have faith, and it must be real faith. How can you have real faith to believe?
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (Christ in you leading you) of God. ~ Romans 10:17 New King James Version
Faith Is Not Making-Believe
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by God speaking. The faith God puts in you when you hear His voice is real. You can’t have real faith by pretending something is true. You can’t have real faith by making yourself believe since that would be make-believe “faith.” God’s faith is solid because God gives you His faith when you listen to God speaking. Jesus Christ is the spoken Word of God. You hear Christ when the Spirit leads you. When you hear Him, Jesus Christ creates God’s faith in you. This faith isn’t like the make-believe “faith” of ungodly people who make themselves believe their assumptions.

If you stand in God’s presence, He’ll speak to you, and He’ll give you His faith. Some people have tried to work up faith through human effort. You can’t self-generate faith. Some people say, “I’m going to put MY faith in God.” They might say, “I’m going to put MY faith in the Bible.” We Christians have to stop thinking that way. If it’s your faith, you worked it up yourself. You need God’s faith.

You must have faith, and it must be real faith.

(Quote from https://realreality.org/downloads/how-god-will-transform-you/)

CONTEXT

You must have faith, and it must be real faith. How can you have real faith to believe?
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word (Christ in you leading you) of God. ~ Romans 10:17 New King James Version
Faith Is Not Making-Believe

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by God speaking. The faith God puts in you when you hear His voice is real. You can’t have real faith by pretending something is true. You can’t have real faith by making yourself believe since that would be make-believe “faith.” God’s faith is solid because God gives you His faith when you listen to God speaking. Jesus Christ is the spoken Word of God. You hear Christ when the Spirit leads you. When you hear Him, Jesus Christ creates God’s faith in you. This faith isn’t like the make-believe “faith” of ungodly people who make themselves believe their assumptions.

If you stand in God’s presence, He’ll speak to you, and He’ll give you His faith. Some people have tried to work up faith through human effort. You can’t self-generate faith. Some people say, “I’m going to put MY faith in God.” They might say, “I’m going to put MY faith in the Bible.” We Christians have to stop thinking that way. If it’s your faith, you worked it up yourself. You need God’s faith.
If you think you can have the faith of God by human willpower, you are mistaken. You must seek God and stay in His presence. Shouting affirmations won’t bring you the faith of God. Intellectual gymnastics will bring you into error and self-righteousness, but it won’t give you the faith of God. Human emotion will bring you into illusion and confusion but won’t bring you the faith of God. Physical evidence and logical arguments won’t create the faith of God in you. A rationalized, make-believe “faith” has no power, but the faith of God has power and authority. No amount of human effort will bring you the faith of God.
You must stand in the presence of God if you want the faith of God. By intuition, you know how to turn your will and mind toward God. If you call to Him, He’ll answer you. If you yield yourself to His will, you’ll find He’s been there all along. As you do this, you exercise your spiritual senses. As you exercise your spiritual senses, they grow more sensitive. Your spiritual senses grow to know God’s voice better as you continue to spend time with God.

Jesus Authors Faith

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith ~ Hebrews 12:2a Berean Study Bible

Fix your spiritual eyes on Jesus. Direct your will to follow His will.

In the parable of the sower, God sows the Seed. The Seed is the Word, which is God’s spoken Word. Jesus is the Logos, the spoken Word of God by Whom God created the universe. Jesus authors your faith. That’s why faith has such authority.

How Old is the Earth?

A few weeks ago I changed my opinion on the age of the earth. I had studied the matter and read all the arguments and found that there is no evidence of an old earth in either the Bible or scientific observation. That is, every so called piece of evidence was circumstantial and built on assumptions. The most convincing circumstantial evidence supported a young earth, but the old-earth people owned the propaganda machine and the message-control system. I knew that circumstantial evidence is always tentative and could be overturned with a single discovery. I also knew about the fallacy of declaring a universal negative such as “billions of years never occurred.” So I took the position that it is possible that God has hidden billions of years somewhere that He didn’t tell us about either through Scripture or scientific observation and sound deductive logic. Then, I had a conversation with a friend who was convinced of the gap theory, but I told Him that the gap theory could not be right because Jesus made a statement that put Adam and Eve at “the beginning of creation.” Billions of years in a gap would put Adam and Eve at the END OF CREATION. However, I continued to tell my friend that billions of years might be possible somewhere else, to which he replied, “NO IT CAN’T BE POSSIBLE!” He completely changed his opinion in a moment, and so did I. It was a revelation in a moment from Christ to us. That statement of Jesus makes billions of years absolutely impossible.

Someone may ask, “How do you know the Bible is right?” That’s a valid question, and here’s the answer. While there is much circumstantial evidence that points to the fact that the Bible is God’s Word without error, circumstantial evidence is never conclusive. The fact that the Bible says “The Scripture cannot be broken” is of no help if we can’t trust what’s written in the Bible. So how can we know we can trust what’s written in the Bible. We would need to know Someone Who knows ALL things and Who can’t lie, and He would have to reveal the fact that the Bible is the Word of God without error. We do know that Person. His name is Jesus, and He is the Christ. He speaks to us by His Holy Spirit to tell us that what we read in the Bible is true. And He also speaks to us through the Bible.

Satan will be working against you all the way, but God has given you a way to escape Satan’s schemes.

(Quote from https://realreality.org/downloads/how-god-will-transform-you/)

Context

If you try to divide yourself and listen to both the Holy Ghost and the many messengers of the ungodly, you become double-minded. Then, you find it hard to tell the difference between God’s voice and all the other voices. You don’t mature in Christ. You don’t overcome sin. You become self-righteous and proud. The message of this age exalts the human intellect, but that message is vapor. Your intellect needs the flowing wisdom of Christ to be rational. And the culture keeps drifting further from Christ. That’s why the world is so crazy.

The thoughts of the ungodly have no substance. Once a mind embraces humanism, rationalism, and naturalism, it loses touch with reality. That mind can no longer discern between light and darkness, good and evil, or reality and make-believe. You can see this happening around you where those who claim to be the most intelligent have lost their minds.

These ungodly messages often dress in religious clothes. Virtually every cult quotes the Bible. Some Bible teachers are false teachers who don’t know Jesus Christ. They can be very convincing. Many of them are well-educated. They know their Bible inside and out. Some have many degrees. They have arguments prepared so they can twist every part of Scripture. They love to debate. They feed their egos. You will see false gifts, false prophecy, and false testimony. You will see false apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. You will see true apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers who make mistakes. Some of them claim they heard from God when God didn’t tell them anything. It’s easy for you to recognize the false voices that contradict Scripture. You need the Holy Spirit to detect those who interpret Scripture by the fallen human intellect or with doctrines from demons.

Christian Bible teachers sometimes misinterpret Scripture. They can hit the target in much of their teaching but miss the mark by miles in another part of their teaching. And they can stubbornly resist correction. They especially resist correction after they have become successful and popular.

If you ask God for wisdom, He will help you discern truth from error among your brothers and sisters who are trying to follow Christ. Not every word that comes out of the mouth of a Christian is from God. Apostle James said, “We all make many mistakes.” Satan and the fallen human mind try to imitate God’s voice through the Bible and every means of divine revelation mentioned in the Bible. Even though we’re born again, we Christians can misinterpret the Bible. I can think God is leading me when the strongholds in my mind are deceiving me. We’re in the interim between the promise and the full possession of the promise. As you direct your mind toward Christ the Holy Spirit will continue to form Christ in you until that day when no one can trick you.

You and I need to be open to discussing our beliefs with other Christians who may see things differently. I need to open myself to correction and consider that I might be wrong. If you disagree with another Christian on any matter, you can both go to Christ and ask Him to correct and instruct you. No one is above God’s correction. It’s easy for fallen humans to think they have such complete and correct doctrine that God can’t teach them anything. God says you don’t understand those things you think you understand. God gave you the Holy Spirit to lead you into ALL truth.

And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. ~ 1 Corinthians 8:2 New King James Version

You need to open your mind to God so He can teach you and correct you. You will hear many convincing messages that sound perfect but are not right. God will show you what’s right and what’s wrong if you ask Him. If you want to do God’s will, you will know God’s voice when you hear it. You’ll see that God’s voice is different from all the others. God will help you avoid the pitfalls of the many worldly voices.

It’s wonderful that you have Jesus Christ leading, teaching, and correcting you, but that’s just the first key God has given you. God intends to fully transfigure you into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ. God’s already shown you a little bit of His vision for you. As you walk with Him, He’ll show you more. It’s higher and deeper than you know. To go deeper, you’ll need all five keys. You need to know how to insert each key in sequence into God’s puzzling lock. You need to know how to avoid Satan’s deceptions and pitfalls. Satan will be working against you all the way, but God has given you a way to escape Satan’s schemes.

You need to know how to avoid Satan’s deceptions and pitfalls.

(Quote from https://realreality.org/downloads/how-god-will-transform-you/)

We’re in the interim between the promise and the full possession of the promise. As you direct your mind toward Christ the Holy Spirit will continue to form Christ in you until that day when no one can trick you.

You and I need to be open to discussing our beliefs with other Christians who may see things differently. I need to open myself to correction and consider that I might be wrong. If you disagree with another Christian on any matter, you can both go to Christ and ask Him to correct and instruct you. No one is above God’s correction. It’s easy for fallen humans to think they have such complete and correct doctrine that God can’t teach them anything. God says you don’t understand those things you think you understand. God gave you the Holy Spirit to lead you into ALL truth.

And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. ~ 1 Corinthians 8:2 New King James Version

You need to open your mind to God so He can teach you and correct you. You will hear many convincing messages that sound perfect but are not right. God will show you what’s right and what’s wrong if you ask Him. If you want to do God’s will, you will know God’s voice when you hear it. You’ll see that God’s voice is different from all the others. God will help you avoid the pitfalls of the many worldly voices.

It’s wonderful that you have Jesus Christ leading, teaching, and correcting you, but that’s just the first key God has given you. God intends to fully transfigure you into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ. God’s already shown you a little bit of His vision for you. As you walk with Him, He’ll show you more. It’s higher and deeper than you know. To go deeper, you’ll need all five keys. You need to know how to insert each key in sequence into God’s puzzling lock. You need to know how to avoid Satan’s deceptions and pitfalls. Satan will be working against you all the way, but God has given you a way to escape Satan’s schemes.

(Quote from https://realreality.org/downloads/how-god-will-transform-you/)

As you walk with Him [Jesus], He’ll show you more.

(Quote from https://realreality.org/downloads/how-god-will-transform-you/)

God Builds Using His Word

It’s common to read about “the word” in the Bible and assume that when the Bible says “the word” it means “the Bible.” That’s not the meaning of the original language, however. The Bible is God’s word because God speaks through the Bible. Not only so, but God has so infused the Bible with His Spirit that no one can read the Bible without God speaking to them. This is true even for those who never recognize God’s voice.  Even so, when you read the term “word” in the Bible, the original language says “a spoken statement,” “an utterance,” or “a sentence.” God speaks. That’s what the Bible is telling us when we see the term “word.” When the Father spoke to you that first time, He spoke His Word to you. Man shall live “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Father.” (Mt. 4:4)

WHO IS THE WORD OF THE FATHER? “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Everything that God made, He made with His Word. He spoke, and it was. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn. 1:1-14) God means exactly what He is saying. This Word mentioned in the first chapter of John is a spoken statement or utterance, and that spoken statement is Christ. This isn’t figurative poetry.

God created the universe by speaking that Word. Thousands of years later the Holy Spirit overshadowed Mary, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. We may not understand it, but the Spirit assures us that it’s true. The songwriter who wrote “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” saw it when He wrote the words, “Word of the Father, Now in flesh appearing.” That Word always has been with God and has been God, but the Word was made flesh at the appointed time.

Consider the power of the Word the Father speaks through us by the Holy Spirit. That Word, by which God leads us, was the same Word by which God created the universe. And now, that same Word is holding the universe together. (Co. 1:15-17) And we live by every Word that comes from the mouth of God. (Mt. 4:4) The Word of God was made to be Jesus Christ. “He (Christ) is not only the head of the church but all powers were created by Him and He is the head of them all. His plan is to assume this power through His body, the church.” (A. M. Hinchliff) We have partially tapped into the power of hearing, seeing, and speaking the words of God, but God is calling us higher. We can sense the depths of this great river of life, and long to swim in the current of God’s plan, but we must yield to its flow and surrender to its chosen path. Brother Herrick Holt wrote, “Being led of the Spirit will bring you into sonship.” The secret to growing in Christ is listening and yielding exclusively to the leading of the Holy Spirit. All righteousness, holiness, ministry, and order flow from this simplicity of grace through faith that comes by hearing this Word of the Father.

God’s already shown you a little bit of His vision for you.

(Quote from https://realreality.org/downloads/how-god-will-transform-you/)

God intends to fully transfigure you into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:28-29 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose . . . to be conformed to the image of His Son . . .

2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”

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.”’