THE POWER OF FAITH
Entering into the Fullness of Gods Possibilities
NOTE: This book is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of medical advice and treatment from your personal physician. Neither the publisher nor the authors ministry takes any responsibility for any possible consequences from any action taken by any person reading or following the information in this book. If readers are taking prescription medications, they should consult with their physicians and not take themselves off prescribed medicines without the proper supervision of a physician. Always consult your physician or other qualified health care professional before undertaking any change in your physical regimen, whether fasting, diet, medications, or exercise.
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations marked ( NASB ) are from the New American Standard Bible , NASB , 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org). Scripture quotations marked ( KJV ) are taken from the King James Version of the Holy Bible. Scripture quotations marked ( NEB ) are from the New English Bible, 1961, 1970 by Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( NIV ) are from the Holy Bible, New International Version , NIV , 1973, 1978, 1984 by the International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations marked ( PHILLIPS ) are from The New Testament in Modern English , 1958, 1959, 1960, 1972 by J. B. Phillips, and 1947, 1952, 1955, 1957 by The Macmillan Company. Scripture quotations marked ( TLB ) are taken from The Living Bible , 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved. Scripture quotation referenced Todays English Version ( TEV ) is from the Good News Translation Second Edition , 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by permission. Excerpt from The Jerusalem Bible copyright 1966 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. Reprinted by permission. Scripture quotations marked ( NKJV ) are taken from the New King James Version , 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Personal pronouns for Jesus and God that occur in Scripture quotations from the NIV have been capitalized to correspond to the style used in this book. The forms Lord and God (in small caps) in Bible quotations represent the Hebrew name for God Yahweh (Jehovah), while Lord and God normally represent the name Adonai , in accordance with the Bible version used. Boldface type in the Scripture quotations indicates the authors emphasis.
THE POWER OF FAITH:
Entering into the Fullness of Gods Possibilities
Revised and Expanded Edition (formerly titled Faith to Live By )
Derek Prince Ministries
www.derekprince.com
ISBN 978-1-78263-612-0
E-pub 978-1-78263-613-7
Kindle 978-1-78263-614-4
1977, 2018 by Derek Prince Ministries International
This edition published by Derek Prince Ministries-UK 2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
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1
Faith Versus Sight
F aith! Who can fully measure or express the potential represented by that short, simple word? Perhaps the clearest way to bring faiths potential into focus is to examine two statements made by Jesus:
With God all things are possible.
(Matthew 19:26)
All things are possible to him who believes.
(Mark 9:23)
In each of these statements, we find the words all things are possible . In the first passage, these words are applied to God; in the second, they are applied to the one who believes. We can easily accept that all things are possible with God. Can we equally accept that all things are possible to the one who believes? This is what Jesus is saying to us.
What does this mean in practical terms? It means that, through faith, the things that are possible to God are made equally possible to the one who believes. Faith is the channel that makes Gods possibilities available to us. Is it any wonder that the Bible, from beginning to end, consistently emphasizes the unique and supreme importance of faith?
Problems of Translation
Before we go any further with our study, I need to clear up a linguistic misunderstanding that often causes difficulties in comprehending faith. In English, we have two different word forms for faith: a noun, faith , and a verb, believe . The connection between these two words is not always obvious. As a result, preachers sometimes try to make a distinction between believing and having faith. However, there is no basis for this distinction in the original Greek of the New Testament.
In Greek, the basic word for faith is pistis , and the word for believe is pisteuo . We see that the verb is formed directly from the noun. The stem of each word is made up of the same four letters pist . As far as the Bible is concerned, believing is exercising faith. Conversely, exercising faith is believing.
When we look at the words that express the opposite of faith, we again find a difference between English and Greek. In English, the opposite of faith is unbelief. We have no such word as unfaith. But, in Greek, there is a direct connection between faith and its opposite. Faith is pistis ; unbelief is apistia . (In Greek, the negative prefix a corresponds to the English prefix un .) The same four-letter stem, pist , occurs in both Greek words: faith, pistis , and unbelief, apistia .
Also connected with this four-letter stem pist , we have the adjective pistos , which means faithful, believing. From this, the negative prefix a gives us the opposite adjective, apistos , which means unfaithful, unbelieving.
For the sake of clarity, we will set these five words side by side in two parallel columns:
GREEK | ENGLISH |
Noun: | pist is | faith |
Noun: | a pist ia | unbelief |
Adjective: | pist os | faithful, believing |
Adjective: | a pist os | unfaithful, unbelieving |
Verb: | pist euo | believe |
We see that all five Greek words are visibly linked by the stem pist that is part of each of them. Altogether, these five words occur almost six hundred times in the original text of the New Testament. On this basis alone, it is clear that these words represent a theme that is central to the Bibles total revelation.
Faith Defined
The eleventh chapter of Hebrews deals exclusively with the theme of faith. Its opening verse provides us with a definition of faith as the term is used in the Bible: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1 KJV ).
This verse tells us two main truths about faith. First, faith is the substance of things hoped for . Faith is so real that it is actually called a substance. The Greek word translated substance is hupostasis . It literally means that which stands under or provides the basis for.
The same word occurs in Hebrews 1:3, where we are told that Jesus is the exact representation of His [the Fathers] nature . The word here translated nature is hupostasis . The meaning is that God the Father is the eternal, invisible, underlying reality of which Jesus Christ the Son is the visible expression. Applying this meaning to Hebrews 11:1, we may say that faith is the underlying reality of things hoped for. Faith is real; faith is a substance.
