MIX WITH FAITH | Living In The Balance Of Grace And Faith By Andrew Wommack

MIX WITH FAITH

Faith reaches out and appropriates what God has already provided for us by grace. We don’t have to ask, beg, or plead with God. He’s already supplied what we need. It’s just a matter of us believing and receiving.

You may ask what the meaning is, then, of the scriptures that speak of asking:

This is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

1 John 5:14-15

It’s not wrong to ask. God has already provided everything, so technically you don’t have to ask for it. Just believe and receive, command and release the power of God. The harmony between this is the attitude in which you ask.

A POLITE DEMAND

Consider what Jesus said in what’s commonly called “The Lord’s Prayer.”

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:9-11

“Give us this day our daily bread” is a petition for God to meet your daily needs; however, it’s not phrased as “Would You please give us this day our daily bread?” as if you are wondering if and will He do so. No, it’s more of a demand. It’s similar to a child saying to their mother at mealtime, “Can I have something to eat?”

What would you think if you were over at my house when my kids were little, and one of them came in, fell on their knees before me, put their hands together, and said, “Oh father, I’m so ungodly, and I know I don’t deserve it, but would you please give me a piece of bread? Could I please have a morsel of food?” If they started begging me like that, you’d surely think that something was wrong in our home.

A child, if they’re trained properly, doesn’t just come in and say, “Give me something to eat!” That’s wrong too. They might say, “Could I please have something to eat?” They’re asking a question, but there’s really no question involved. They know that you love them. They know that you’re going to supply. So they are

really placing a demand. They are just doing it in a polite, kind way.

I’m not saying that we don’t ever acknowledge our need or make a request, saying, “God, I need You to supply something.” However, it’s not a begging request. It’s not a request with a question mark at the end to indicate that you’re doubting that God will provide. Your request is more just a polite way of coming to your Father and saying, “Father, I know that You’ve already provided all of my needs. I’m ready to receive Your provision. Can I have it now?”

BEGGAR OR BELIEVER?

It’s not wrong to petition God in faith. But to throw a petition out there not knowing if God’s going to answer it or not, feeling like you have to grovel in the dirt, begging and pleading, is a religious concept that’s absolutely contrary to what the scriptures teach.

Imagine me walking up to you right now and saying, “After you finish reading this chapter, I’ll give you the keys to my car. You can use it to go and do whatever you want.” If I gave you that promise, then after finishing this chapter you would come up to me and say, “Can I have the keys to your car?” You could do that in a couple of different ways. You could be thinking, Would Andrew really let me have his car? I don’t believe that. I’m not sure it’s true. Would he

really do this? In that case, you would come up to me and say, “Can I have the keys to your car?” like, “Is this really true? Would you really do this?” You’re asking out of unbelief. Or you could say, “Can I have the keys to your car,” in a tone reflecting that you believed my words completely, and then all you’re saying is, “I’m ready now. You said it. Here I am requesting it. Can I have the keys to your car?”

You can say the exact same words, but with very different motives. You could be simply making your polite demand, trusting that what I said is true, or your words could be spoken in unbelief. It’s the second scenario, this unbelief, that this teaching is meant to counter.

People pray, “Lord, if it be Your will, please touch me and move in my life.” It is God’s will. He’s already supplied everything. Instead of approaching the Lord as a beggar, we need to be believers who trust His promises, and confidently and gratefully just take advantage of what He’s already provided for us. That’s a powerful truth!

CAUTIOUS, AWARE, AND DILIGENT

It was this attitude of unbelief that hindered the Jews from receiving God’s provision and entering into the Promised Land.

So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

Hebrews 3:19

Again, anyone who believes that God’s will just automatically comes to pass has not been paying attention when they read the Bible. It wasn’t God’s will for the children of Israel to spend forty years in the wilderness after coming out from the land of Egypt. This happened because of their unbelief (Num. 13,14; Psa. 78:40-41). God’s will did not come to pass because the children of Israel did not cooperate with God in faith. They didn’t enter into the Promised Land. The generation that came out of Egypt died in the wilderness and never did see God’s will for them come to pass because of their unbelief.

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

Hebrews 4:1

This verse is useless to those who say that God sovereignly does everything and nothing happens but what is His will. Hebrews 4:1 is saying you need to be careful, cautious, and aware. You need to be diligent because you could miss Gods will for you. This verse would be a useless statement if God just automatically did everything and nothing happened but what is His will. Although this doctrine that God

is responsible and controls everything is so prevalent in the church today, this scripture is saying just the opposite. You need to fear—be cautious, aware, and diligent—lest you miss out on something that God has provided for you.

HARDEN NOT YOUR HEART

For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Hebrews 4:2

This verse perfectly states what we’ve been talking about. God, by grace, had provided a plan. He promised Abraham in Genesis 15 that He would bring his descendants out of the land of Egypt and give them the entire nation of Canaan and all the surrounding nations too. (Gen. 15:18-21.) God made this promise four hundred and thirty years before it came to pass. When He finally led the people out, they didn’t put faith in His purpose and plan so that generation never saw it come to pass. They died in the wilderness. They came out of the land of Egypt, but they died in the wilderness because of their unbelief.

You have to mix faith with what God wants you to do. You must listen and obey Him. You have to believe God in order to see His promises come to pass in your life.

THE SABBATH REST

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath…

Hebrews 4:3

The writer of Hebrews now begins to quote from Psalm 95, which he also quoted back in Hebrews 3.

While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

Hebrews 3:15

Here is the passage from Psalm 95 being referred to:

To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Unto whom I sware

in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.

Psalm 95:7-11

In both Hebrews 3 and 4, the writer is making reference back to this scripture that David wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Fully, Hebrews 4:3 says:

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.

The reference at the end of this verse links the rest that Psalm 95 spoke of to the Sabbath rest that God took in Genesis 2:2. After He created the heavens and the earth, God rested from all of His works.

For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

Hebrews 4:4

This reference in Hebrews 4:4 is taken from Genesis 2:2. Hebrews 4 goes on to say:

Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Hebrews 4:6-7

In a nutshell, these words are Old English for “Don’t be like the Jews who missed out on something that God provided.” The writer of Hebrews quotes this scripture of David to remind us that there remains a rest to the people of God, a rest first spoken of in Genesis 2 when it says God rested on the seventh day from all of His labors. It goes on to say that this rest, this special relationship, obviously wasn’t fulfilled when the Jews occupied the land of Canaan because David came along over four hundred years later in Psalm 95 still saying that there remains a rest for the people of God.

TYPE AND SHADOW

The point of this passage is to let us know that this spiritual rest wasn’t fulfilled when the Jews occupied the Promised Land because over four centuries later, David said that there is still a rest for the people of God.

For if Jesus [Greek translation of Hebrew name Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.

Hebrews 4:8

This word “Jesus” is just the Greek word for Joshua. Joshua and Jesus are the same word in different languages. In context, this isn’t talking about our Lord Jesus Christ. This is saying that if Joshua, the one who led the children of Israel into the Promised Land, would have fulfilled this promise about there being a rest to the people of God, then David, hundreds of years later, wouldn’t have spoken about this rest yet to be fulfilled.

This passage reveals that the rest these verses were promising was not fulfilled when the Jews occupied the land of Canaan. It’s saying that there is a rest reserved for the people of God, and that applies to us today as New Testament believers.

For if Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he [David] not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Hebrews 4:8-10

Keep in mind, this refers back to the creation when God rested on the seventh day. The rest of God—the Sabbath day—was a picture, a type and shadow of what was to come.