If you cannot please God, you may never experience the actualization of His promises. Faith is not optional; it is foundational.

2. Faith Can Keep You Alive When Things Are Tough

Consider Rahab, the woman in Joshua's account. Hebrews 11:31 tells us:

"By faith the harlot Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe, when she had received the spies with peace."

Rahab protected the Israeli spies based on faith in God's promises. That faith saved her life. When circumstances are difficult, when everything around you seems to be collapsing, faith can sustain you.

3. Faith Can Stop You from Sin

Romans 14:23 warns us:

"But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin."

Actions undertaken without faith—without trust in God's direction—become sin. Faith is what keeps us aligned with God's will.

4. Faith Attracts What You Desire

Matthew 9:28-29 records Jesus's interaction with two blind men:

"And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, 'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said to Him, 'Yes, Lord.' Then He touched their eyes, saying, 'According to your faith let it be to you.'"

According to your faith, let it be to you. The measure of faith you release determines the measure of blessing you receive. Faith attracts the very thing you desire.

5. Faith Is Your Shield Against Satanic and Demonic Arrows

Ephesians 6:16 tells us:

"Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one."

Whether you acknowledge it or not, spiritual warfare is real. We wage war not against flesh and blood, but against "principalities and powers...spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians 6:12). Many people are stagnant today because they don't recognize they're in spiritual conflict. Faith is your primary defense.

Let me share a personal testimony. Many years ago, while I was in the corporate world, I was placed on a project I genuinely loved. A contractor on that project—for reasons I never fully understood—decided he didn't want me there. He went to the project manager and simply said they didn't need me. Though I was a full-time employee (not a contractor like him), they removed me from the project. That was a satanic attack. It was designed to discourage me.

Years later, when the church was just starting, I was working full-time and pastoring in my lunch breaks. One day, while writing a sermon about communion and the flesh and blood of Christ, I emailed it to myself. Within five minutes, HR called me in. A panel of three people sat me down and said, "Pastor Eddie, you sent an email about flesh and blood. We have a sophisticated system that monitors company communications." It was clear they were looking for any reason to remove me.

I got up and walked out. That same week, my family had just moved into a larger house—we'd doubled our mortgage. I came home having lost my contract. I could have despaired. But faith became my shield. I did not wage war in the flesh. I waged war in faith, and God sustained us.

Two Realms of Reality

Now I want to establish something critical. There is physical reality—what you see, what you can touch, what your circumstances tell you.

But there is also spiritual reality—what God has spoken, what exists in the Spirit realm, what is loaded in your spirit by the Holy Ghost.

Read 1 Corinthians 2:9-10:

"Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God."

God's provisions for you have not been revealed through your eyes or ears. They've been revealed through the Spirit. Your spirit man must search the Spirit of God to access what has freely been given to you—things your eyes cannot see and your ears cannot hear in the natural.

What you see is not all there is.

Many people struggle to give or tithe because all they see is limitation. They see a physical paycheck and think, "I don't have enough." But the Bible declares that far more exists in the spiritual realm than in the natural.

Look at Isaiah 54:1-3:

"Sing, O barren, you who have not borne! Break forth into singing, and cry aloud...For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman, says the Lord. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes."

This is radical. God is telling a barren woman—a woman who has never conceived—to sing as though she has children. To enlarge her house. To buy bigger curtains. To plan for more space. It doesn't make natural sense.

If you told your friends, "I don't have children, but I'm redecorating my house for the children I'm going to have," they would think you're mad. Yet God is calling you into a different realm of reality—spiritual reality.

The woman is not living by what she sees. She's living by what is loaded in her spirit. In the spiritual realm, those children already exist. By faith, she acknowledges them. She sings. She dances. She prepares.

It's difficult for someone believing God for a child to imagine that "your descendants will inherit nations" (Isaiah 54:3). It's difficult for someone who is unemployed to see themselves as captain of industry. It's difficult for someone with a bad credit history to envision owning homes. But in your spiritual reality, it is very possible.

Romans 4:17 shows us Abraham's example:

"I have made you a father of many nations, in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did."

God called Abraham "father of many nations" long before Sarah conceived. In what realm was this true? In the spiritual realm. Abraham was operating from spiritual reality, not natural reality.

Living by Spiritual Reality

Joel 3:10 declares:

"Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'"

Not "I will be strong." Not "I hope to be strong." Let the weak say, 'I am strong.' This is not natural reality. This is spiritual reality.

Your natural reality screams: "I'm going to fail. I don't have enough. I'm barren. I'm unemployed. They're going to deport me." But in the school of faith, we don't live by natural reality. We live by what is loaded in our spirit.

Let me share another story. Years ago, when I committed to full-time ministry, my family made real sacrifices. Before that, my children had seven different kinds of cereal for breakfast. One day, my son opened the fridge and found it empty. He asked, "Dad, are we skins?" (He meant "broke.")

Instead of despairing, I saw an opportunity. I said, "Son, look at this fridge. Don't you see how full it is? Look at all this food!" He looked at me strangely. The fridge was physically empty, but I was calling him to see with the eyes of faith—to see what God had already provided in the spirit realm.

Within an hour, the doorbell rang. A church member arrived saying the Lord had put us on her heart while she was shopping. She brought groceries. Suddenly, the fridge was full—matching the spiritual reality I had declared.

I called my son back: "See? I told you the fridge was full. Now it's full in the natural too."

If you could see what is loaded in the spirit concerning you, you would break out in dancing. If you could see the provision God has made for your children, you'd rejoice. If you could see what He's prepared for your marriage, your immigration, your career, you would stop anxious striving and start celebrating.

The Application

This is the foundation of releasing your faith. You must understand that:

1. Your physical reality is not your final reality. What you see today is not all there is.

2. Spiritual reality is accessed through faith. God has revealed His provisions to you through His Spirit, not through your natural senses.

3. Your declarations and actions must be aligned with spiritual reality, not natural circumstances. Like the barren woman singing and preparing for children, like Abraham being called father before fatherhood, you must act and speak from faith.

4. Faith must be released to be effective. Knowing these truths in your head is not enough. You must release your faith through your words, your actions, your declarations, your giving, your obedience.

Don't miss this school of faith. As we continue this series, we'll go deeper into exactly how to release your faith so that the promises of God become your lived reality, not just your mental knowledge.

What you see is not all there is. Believe God.