Faith Part 2: Faith and Humility Kathryn Kuhlman

We're talking about faith. Volumes have been written and volumes more have been spoken regarding this something that's called faith. And yet, in the final analysis, you and I actually know so little about this subject. And it's just like that. Each one of us desires faith. Oh, how I desire. And yet, it's not something that you and I can work up. It's not something that I can put in my pocket and then take it out of my pocket anytime I want to. Whenever I need it, you know, like you would a handkerchief. You stick the handkerchief in your pocket and then whenever you need it, you put your hand down your pocket and you... take it out, and use it. It isn't like that. It isn't something that I can put away as great a treasure that it is, guard it well, put it safely in a box someplace, and then whenever I need it, go take it out of the box and say, here it is, look at it, examine it, and use it. No. Faith is a gift. of God or the fruit of the Spirit. And whether it be gift or fruit, the source and the origin of faith remains the same. It comes from God. It's a gift of God. When in the world will we stop our foolish and needless struggles? and begin to believe. I say it just exactly the way I feel it on the inside of me. Please, if you've struggled low these many months, if it's been a struggle for you low these many years, crying to manufacture faith. I'm walking out of the little lady's head. Well, honey, just stop looking at it. When will we put an end to our unscriptural mental and intellectual gyrations in our attempt to find a faith that we do not possess? Never will. unless we get it from God. You'll never have faith unless you get it from God. It has to come from Him. Any faith that I might have, I have gotten from God. It is not of myself. It is not through my good works. It is nothing that I have done. It isn't something that I have manufactured. Any faith that I have now, ever have had, or will continue to have in the future, must come from God. We are capable of belief and absolutely incapable of the exercise of Bible faith. Because of that, thousands have wandered into the era of thinking that belief is faith. Belief is not faith. There is belief in faith without a doubt. But remember something. The devils also believe that Scripture gets something very great today. It's another one of those things that If you forget everything else that I say, remember this. Belief and faith are not the same. You can believe mentally and yet go to hell. It is only when you believe to the point of action, when you believe to the point of faith, that you do something about it. Read the scripture. And the Bible says the devils also believe. Belief is cold. Belief is intellectual. Belief is mental. Wood operates as far as the human goes, but it's in the realm of the intellectual. Thousands of sinful men and women believe the Bible, but such belief does not save them. This is something that I feel is vitally needed, and we need to preach it more from our pulpits. We need to have this clear understanding that belief and faith are not one and the same. You stop a hundred people and ask them, do you believe? And they'll say, sure. Oh, sure. 99 out of 100 will say, sure, I believe the Bible. Sure, I believe that. Say anything that you want about God. Sure. I believe there's a God. I believe in a divine being. I believe that Jesus was the Son of God. But such belief does not save them. It does not transform their life. Faith is living. It moves and operates and sweeps the enemy of the soul before its irresistible march. You say all the faith in the world? No. You need only as much faith as a grain of mustard seed if it is God's faith. Your sin -sick soul will behold the glory of the Lord. But it must be God's faith. It must come from Him. He must impart it. And He will. If you are truly sincere, if you are truly honest with Him and with yourself, if you truly want faith, He'll impart that faith to you. That's the gospel of grace that I believe. That's the gospel of grace that I preach. That's what the Bible teaches. Now, the Jericho Road without Jesus is just the Jericho Road. But with Jesus is the shining highway of salvation in here. Its very rocks cry out for its glory. Without him, it's dust. All is sorted. Its tears are real. Its blindness is so dark. But with him, its dust begins to grow the flowers of grace and glory. Its tears are turned to pearls. Its blindness and darkness is turned to light. It takes the presence of Jesus to work the miracle of the transformation of the Jericho Road. The blind man did not sit in the sand and say to himself, I am healed. I can see. I can see. Only I can believe that I am healed and can see, then I will. No, it's nothing like that at all. And yet that's exactly the way scores of even professing Christians are acting today. No, ma 'am. The blind man heard that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by and he cried, Jesus, Jesus, help me. Help me, for I cannot help myself. He threw himself completely on the mercy of Jesus. And don't forget the words of Jesus. What did Jesus say? What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? It wasn't, what wilt thou that you should do? No. What wilt thou that I should do unto thee? What do you want me to do? Go. thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole. Thy faith, said Jesus. Where did the blind man get the faith from? Who gave it to him? Was it his faith all the time? If it was, then why was he not here before Jesus came? Before Jesus ever came near him, why was he not healed before if it was his own faith that he might have manufactured? It wasn't. It was the faith that Jesus had given him and yet Jesus said, thy faith have faith in thee. If you give me a watch, it's my watch. But where did I get it? You gave it to me. It was yours before I received it. Right now, you're right by your side. I would take the watch from off my arm and give it to you. You say it's my watch. She'll eat your watch. But it was mine before I gave it to you. But since I gave it to you, it's yours. It's that simple. Not something mental. It's there. You put the watch on your own arm and use it. It's there. Remember something. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. Oh, such matchless grace. Oh, such matchless love. I'm telling you something that is so simple that most folks miss it and yet so profound that... You see it. It's that simple. Once upon a time, there was a tiny little seed planted in the ground. It was an acorn. And after a while, it shed its little overcoat and cuddled away on the arms of Mother Nature so that it might be fed and grow. And all through the long winter night she kept that little seed warm when the wings came and when the snow came and it got cold and the trees were covered with ice. Oh, Mother Nature took such good care of that little seed. to keep it nice and warm. And when the springtime came, something happened. The sun came out. And the little acorn heart just burst open with joy and delight. And it started to grow. Then a man came along and put a big heavy rock over the little seed. It began to worry and to fretful fear it would never be able to raise its little head to where it could see the light of day. It wanted to wear a garland of leaves for its hair and to grow to be beautiful and strong. One day its little feeble hands touched the rock. They were such Tiny tender little hands. And the little growing tree felt so helpless. It was so tender. It was so small. But it didn't struggle to try to move the rock. No. It didn't try to move the rock. that was the enemy of its heart and its life, it just grew. It just continued to grow. And then one day the rock was lifted. It was pushed out of the way and the little leafy hands clapped for joy. Who lifted the rock? The sea? No. It was something within the seed that no man in the world has ever been able to produce. It was God's power that pushed over that rock. You and I are that little seed. You are that little seed. But you can grow into something noble. You can grow into something beautiful for God. Something wonderful for God. The power of faith can be manifested in your life until men and angels will wonder. but when the battle is over and the victory has been won do not say look at what i have done through the lord but rather kneel at the feet of jesus and say is it not wonderful that his grace and his Faith should be manifested in me. You see, it's like the Holy Spirit. And when I brought you that series of messages on the gifts of the Spirit, on the power of the Holy Spirit, it is the Holy Spirit who takes a yielded vessel. And when we yield ourselves completely unto Him, then He works through that which we have yielded unto Him. All that He asks is for our yieldedness. All that He wants is our yieldedness. He wants our bodies. He wants our lives as the vessel through which He works, through which He can do His work. And then, when it's all over with, and bodies have been healed by His power, and men and women have found that Christ is their Savior through what He has done, and lives have been transformed through that which He has done. And faith has been restored through His wonderful gift. Do you want to know what He does? On the Books of Glory, He would view and give me credit for what He actually did. Do you want to hear something? I could cry and cry and cry when I think of it. When I remember that all that I have to do is to supply the willingness. All on earth that I have to do is to just give myself to Him. All. on earth that I have to do is to give him body, soul, and spirit. That's it. It's not my talent. I have none. I don't have a thing. Nobody knows any better than I do. Oh dear people, nobody in the whole universe knows any better than Catherine Kuhlman. But I have nothing. I have no... that. I have only very average intelligence. I know that. I know myself better than anybody else in the whole world. But I also know that if I give myself, my body as a living sacrifice, the little that I have, I surrender to Him. And I can look up and say it isn't much. It's so little. But I give it to you so willingly. In that moment, the mighty power of the third person of Trinity, the Holy Spirit, Fills this yielded vessel with himself the greatest power in heaven and earth. And he works through the lips of clay. And he takes the mind and he works through that mind. He'll take the hands and work through the hands. He'll take that body. He'll take the strength from that body. And he will work. through that body as it is yielded unto him. It's not by might, it's not by power, but it's by my Spirit, saith the Lord. He is the one who does it. And souls are saved, and bodies are healed, lives transformed, miracles take place. And then, because of His wonderful grace, one of these times, we may stand in His presence. One of these days, when the last sermon will have been preached, and the last days were done, He's promised to give you and to give me the glory and the reward for what He Faith, beloved, believe me when I tell you, I have no faith of my own. I have no power to manufacture faith. It isn't something I can put in a capsule. and send to you. Faith is a gift of God. It comes from God and is a gift that He gives to you and to me.