Thursday

Related Verses
Heb. 11:1
1 Now faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2 Cor. 4:13
13 And having the same spirit of faith according to that which is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak,

Rom. 1:2
2 Which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures,

Rom. 8:24-25
24 For we were saved in hope. But a hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees?
25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly await it through endurance.

Heb. 11:27
27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he persevered as one seeing the unseen One.

Luke 9:23
23 And He said to them all, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

John 8:24, 28, 58
24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.
28 Jesus therefore said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and that I do nothing from Myself, but as My Father has taught Me, I speak these things.
58 Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham came into being, I am.

Related Reading
Faith, the substantiating ability, is like a sixth sense. We acquired this substantiating sense through the preaching of the gospel…In order to preach the gospel to sinners, we must first receive something of and from the Lord. Then, as we are preaching, what we have received of the Lord will enter, like electricity, into those who are listening…Although they may shake their heads, not consenting to our preaching, deep within they will believe what we are saying. Although some may say to themselves that it is silly to believe, something within them will continue to react and bring them to the point where they say, “Lord Jesus, thank You. You are so good. Lord, You are my Savior.” Because some element has been transfused into their being, they will be able to believe in the Lord. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 3829) 

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Every gospel preacher must…first be charmed himself and then he will be able to charm others. What he says may not seem logical, but like a battery that is being charged, the hearers will be charmed. For this reason, the church must pray a great deal for the preaching of the gospel. The more we pray, the more charming the gospel meeting will be. The gospel preacher must pray until he…is fully charged with the divine element. 

Ministry depends upon our utterance, which is the release of the divine element. If our ministry is proper, we will be charmed and charming whenever we come to minister. The proper ministry is altogether a matter of being fully transfused with God Himself. First, we are charged with the divine element, and then in the ministry we radiate that divine element into others in a charming way…When the sinners come to the church and hear the proper preaching of the gospel, they are charged with God. God Himself as the heavenly electricity is transmitted into them. Because God Himself is transfused into them in this way, they find that they have faith. 

Once such faith is generated within us, it can never be removed from us. Even if we try to deny the Lord, we ultimately find ourselves unable to do so, for Christ as faith has been infused into our being. For example, on the night that the Lord Jesus was arrested by the Jews, Peter denied Him three times in His presence (Luke 22:47-61). However, Christ as the believing element and ability was still in Peter. As the Lord petitioned, his faith ultimately did not fail (v. 32). We may have similar experiences of denying the Lord temporarily. At times we may be swayed by our human feeling and understanding and deny the Lord temporarily. Yet while we are denying Him, nevertheless there remains the believing element and ability deep within us, which nothing and no one can remove. This is Christ Himself infused into us as precious faith (2 Pet. 1:1). All the believers, from the greatest to the least, have such a faith. 

We live by His faith, by Him as our faith (Gal. 2:20). Genuine believing is to believe in the Lord Jesus by His faith…Faith is not our invention; it cannot be initiated by us. It is impossible for us to generate faith. Faith is an aspect of Christ Himself, and apart from Christ we have no faith of our own. We do not live by our own faith but by the faith of the Son of the living God who has faith and who Himself is faith to us. Such faith issues from our knowing and appreciating Christ. If we look at ourselves, we will never find faith. But if we forget ourselves, turn to the Lord Jesus, and call on Him, faith will immediately rise up within us. The more we abide in Him, the more we are infused with Him as our faith. This faith is the faith of Christ; it is Christ believing within us. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 3830-3831) 

Further Reading: CWWL, 1959, vol. 2, “Christ Making His Home in Our Heart and the Building Up of the Church,” ch. 11