Living a life of faith is one that is encompassed by a life of supernatural action.  George Muller, a great man of faith, lived under his first rule of never accepting a fixed salary.  This first rule may be considered easy when compared to his second rule of living by faith; never ask another human being for help.

At the first hearing of this second rule of living by faith, in never asking another human being for help, it is easy to say that it makes perfect sense.  Don’t forget this one important fact; it is much easier to talk about this topic than it is to live it!  There are many things we can learn from the Sermon on the Mount, and one of these important truths is just this topic itself of trusting God.  We can read Jesus teaching, “But if God so arrays the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not so much more do so for you, O men of little faith?” (Matt. 6:30, NASB).  The key here is what God will do in providing for you today what you need today.  Therefore, “Ask and it shall be given to you, seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds and to him who knocks it shall be opened” (Matt. 7:7-8, NASB). 

In stating these passages, we must not overlook what is between these verses that glues them together, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33, NASB).  What does it mean to seek His kingdom and righteousness first?  How does this relate to not asking other people for help in life in meeting any of your needs?  It all comes back to the point of dying to self.  It is impossible to live by faith if you are living to your own desires.   

When a person is seeking to live by faith, they have a desperation for God.  They are not strangers to the life of prayer, a life of communing with God by listening and speaking.  In this conversing with God, they will learn the will of God and will be taught how to obey God.  The results of this is two-fold; there will be persons who will make their requests known to God in prayer as stated in Matthew 7:7-8, and then there are also those who God will use to provide the answers to the requests.  If your request is to the will of God, then it will be met by His perfect timing and His chosen provision.  Therefore, living by faith is obedience to the voice of God in giving just as much as it is in receiving.  One day you may be making your request known to God and the next day God may call upon you to meet another’s need.  It is all about being obedient to His voice, remaining in His will.

A person seeking to live by faith will give to one in need whatever God says to give without human communication of the need.  Through this, both the giver and the receiver will have an increase in their faith.  What is the last request you prayed for without mentioning it to another person and received it?  What is the last gift you gave to someone without another person informing you of the need or the need being requested from the individual?  Are you seeking to live by faith? 

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, for His glory alone.    

Living a life of faith is one that is encompassed by a life of supernatural action.  These are actions that take place and cannot be explained by any other way than to say that God had to do it.  One man in particular exemplified this life of faith, and that is George Muller.

George Muller lived in England during the 1800’s as a Christian Evangelist, but it was his faith that has made him a name worth knowing today.  There are several books and articles that you can read to better understand who George Muller was, besides the numerous quotes of his that paint a clear picture of his beliefs.  However, I only wish to share about the four rules of living by faith that Muller lived by as these are rules that we too should be considering.  Today is rule #1.

As George Muller was a full-time minister, his first rule of living by faith is also intended for those called into full-time ministry.  This rule is pretty simple; never receive a fixed salary.

This rule Muller lived under is of great importance in not receiving a fixed salary from the church you are called to serve.  Ironically, before I found this rule of Muller, God was already speaking to me this same point.  If I as a minister of God to a local body take a fixed salary then where does my faith in my dependency upon God come in?  Where then is there room for God to do a supernatural action if I have already placed my trust of income into the hands of men within the body I serve?  Essentially, receiving a fixed salary from the church is turning the call of God into a job, having a similar vocation to those who are working in the secular world. 

As God was teaching me about this topic, He sent me to the Old Testament church.  When a parishioner brought their sacrifice to the temple, the priest would take the offering and complete the sacrifice as described in the law.  Specific portions of the sacrifice were to go to different places.  Of these portions, there was a section that was to go to the priests and their families to consume as this was what they were to live on.  The same is to be true today; there is a percentage that is to go to the shepherds of the house and their families.

Taking a fixed salary typically means that either too much or too little of the offering is going to provide for the shepherds of the church.  The result of this will either maim or kill the church or it will maim or kill the shepherd.  We wonder why statistics say over 7,000 churches close their doors each year and over 1,700 ministers abandon the call per month in the USA?  I know it is not all based around a fixed salary, but I will venture to say it is based around faith, the lack of supernatural action of God.

I guess what bothers me the most on this topic is that many of our universities are instructing young men and women who are called to a life of ministry to have a strong minor so they can be bi-vocational ministers.  They are saying that the church cannot support a full-time minister, so they must support themselves outside of the church.  Essentially they are saying that God cannot meet the needs they will have in life.  To use plain and clear words, these ministers are being trained to not live by faith.  So if we are training our ministers to not operate in faith, then how can we expect our churches to operate in faith? 

For us ministers, are we taking a fixed salary now?  Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you about faith, and let Him guide you into how to go about changing your church.  For those who are not called to a life of full-time ministry, are you currently doing your part in tithing into the church?  Ask the Holy Spirit to teach you about faith, and let Him guide you into your role in supporting your Shepherd and encouraging the rest of the body to also live in faith.

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, for His glory alone.    

What exactly is faith? If it could be measured physically, we know that at maturity it would equal the size of a mustard seed (Matt. 17:20).  The story mentioned in Matthew 17:14-21 has always grasped my attention because of where it is located in the sequence of events of the disciple’s ministry during Jesus’ life. 

In this story, a man comes forward to Jesus out of a crowd to make his request known on behalf of his son.  He had already taken his son to the disciples in order to be healed and he was not.  In perseverance this father goes up the ladder to the Teacher of the disciples to receive the healing his son so desperately needed.  Jesus responds to the disciples in what is interpreted as disgust to their inability to overpower the spiritual binding on this child.  The reasoning for this failure was, “Because of the littleness of your faith” (Matt. 17:20a, NASB).  Their faith was yet to mature.

We have to admit that the disciples had a pretty remarkable faith by this time frame.  They had already been sent out as the twelve to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleans the lepers, and cast out demons (Matt. 10:8).  They had already been doing the works of the Lord, operating in faith.  A lack of success happens and when the answer was sought as to why the failure happened, it was because the faith they did have was not enough.  So I am led back to the original question of what exactly is faith?

Before one can have faith, they must first have hope.  Once they have hope, then there must be belief in the hope being accomplished.  Once these two things are in place, then the hope and belief is put into action resulting in faith.  Faith is an action word.  It is easy to quote a Scripture verse stating, “…but with God all things are possible” (Matt. 19:26b, NASB).  We believe this verse in that all things are possible with God, but it is a totally different topic to put this belief or confidence into action.  Therefore, I define faith as, supernatural action.  It took a supernatural action to save you from your sins.

So when I ask, do you live by faith?  I am asking if you live a life that is completely encompassed by supernatural action?  Little faith accomplishes little actions, such as those things mentioned in Matthew 10:8 (this is what Jesus implied as being little actions).  How is this greater faith that Jesus implied we need to have in the passage from Matthew 17 attained?  It is by following Jesus’ answer to the disciples; we must understand what Jesus meant when He said to live a life of prayer and fasting (Matt. 17:21).  He wasn’t merely talking about speaking general prayers and not eating food!

I desire to live a Faith-Full life, for His glory alone.