But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost (Jude 1:20).

Today I am writing to you about holy faith. The expression holy faith implies that there is also unholy faith. Unholy faith is faith that relies on favorable circumstances or luck rather than on God. It is wishful thinking like a teen hoping for his basketball team to win.

On the other hand, holy faith does not depend on circumstances. It depends entirely on God. It can work as well with a headwind as a tailwind because it operates by the power of God. It does not need a boat to cross a sea (Exodus 14:29). It does not need a field of grain to get bread (Exodus 16:4). It does not need a doctor for healing (Matthew 4:24). It does not need money to get what is needed (Mark 6:37-44). It does not need favorable circumstances to walk on water. Jesus, the night before He walked on water, did not consult a meteorologist to see if the weather would be in His favor. Unholy faith needs to check this and that and every little thing before it will move forward. Holy faith rejects the crutches the world offers it. It needs nothing of the world to hold it up. Are you getting the song, the melody of this? If you want to do a little dance at this, my friend, it is ok.

If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth (Mark 9:23).

Throughout history, the Germans are known for their industry, the French for their diplomacy, the Spaniards for their courage and the Russians for their resilience. Israel , even though one of the smallest nations in the world, has been known for her faith. Because of that, as long as they exercised holy faith, they have proven to be the most powerful people in the world. God’s footprints are all over Israel . Holy faith made them invincible. My friend, this is for you! What makes you invincible is not money, nor health, nor education, nor earthly connections, but holy faith. Holy faith does not know how to lose a battle.

If we want to get what God has for us, we have to stop looking at circumstances, we have to stop letting circumstances frighten and govern us. The just shall live by faith, not circumstances. Most all people live by circumstances, by the moldy bread of circumstances. Man was not designed to live by circumstances. He was designed to live by faith!

Holy faith gives itself in total abandonment to God. First you must understand that God has prepared beautiful things for us, enjoyable things for us, from before He put the stars in the heavens. Look at this marvelous Scripture:

But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him (1 Corinthians 2:9).

Do you see that little phrase, hath prepared? It does not say is preparing, or will prepare. It says He hath prepared. It is done – things beyond your imagination: to have, to enjoy and to employ. This includes houses and lands, a spouse and travels, souls to be saved, bodies to be healed, an easy yoke and the discovery of the treasures of the kingdom of God . This is the fruit of holy faith.

[Oh parents, saturate the minds of your children with the things of eternity. Do not let your children saturate their heads with the names of ballplayers, but with those of missionaries, of great men of God, of men with holy faith. Prepare them to walk with God. Maintain a sanctuary atmosphere in your home every day. Do not let your children miss what they are here for.]

How many people are there who have everything God wants them to have and are everything that God wants them to be, who love God enough that they have abandoned all the things of the earth?

What is involved in holy abandonment?

It involves first of all a putting off, a clearing of the table. In Psalm 23:5 the Psalmist says: Thou preparest a table before me...  For you to get His stuff on your table, you first have to take your stuff off of it. You have to have faith that His stuff is better than yours, even though at first it may not look that way. As long as you have the least bit of the self-life on your table, the Lord will refuse to prepare His table before you. I suggest you just grab hold of a corner of the table cloth and yank all your stuff off in one sweep and see what He will replace it with!

The Lord has the capacity to prepare a table before anyone. He can do it for the man in a dungeon, for the man on his sickbed, for the mother at her child’s graveside and for the businessman going bankrupt. If you have holy faith, you can eat of His table every single day, no matter what the circumstances. Yes, He even prepares a table before you in the presence of your enemies.

God is looking for people who will trust Him so He can give them what He had planned for them even before the foundation of the world. That requires blind faith in the all-seeing God: a blindness to the circumstances that want to crush our faith, and a vision of God who makes us shout, “Glory!” So, it is not the blind leading the blind, but the Seeing One leading the blind. That makes it safe and sound.

Abraham had to learn that. You have to learn that. God sent Abraham to a land..., what land? ...without details. He did not know what land until he got there. And what was there for him? Rocks, idol worshippers, a foreign language – plus GOD. It is there where God had laid a table before him and it is there where He planned to feed him from His table even through a famine. If a Canaanite can make it through a famine without God, why can’t a man of God make it through with God? But Abraham got distracted by the circumstances in the land where God had sent Him. He took his eyes off God. The Bible says that he went down to Egypt . Did he ever go down! From this time on, he never built an altar again until he returned to Canaan . In Egypt he lied, he put others into jeopardy and acquired a servant who bore him a son (Ishmael) that is the cause of all the trouble in the Middle East to this very day. Finally he was thrown out of the country (Genesis 12). Abraham let negative circumstances move him away from the table God had set before him. What are the fruits of being governed by circumstances, by going by what you see instead of what God sees?

Your best is not in circumstances, but in God. Oh how we keep looking and striving for the best of this world. We want the best doctor, the best neighborhood to live in, the best school to send our children to, the best piano for our church. We sweat and stress ourselves out, we sacrifice to get the best of this world instead of seeking it in God. And in this process of getting the best of the earth, we rob God of our tithes and offerings. God is the best and He will give you His best. His best will never disappoint. True, it may not look like much to the world, but my friend, it will have heaven in it. It will bring happiness. It will be without stress. The just shall live by faith, holy faith.

How do I get this faith, this holy faith?

Let us get this in the right order. First of all, we need to read and hear the word of God (Romans 10:17). Second, as mentioned, we need to forsake all (Luke 14:33). Third, we need to be holy to have holy faith. Holy faith cannot grow on unholy soil. In the only prayer Jesus taught us to pray, He makes man’s quest for holiness his primary petition: Hallowed be thy name (Matthew 6:9-13). Before you ask for your bread, ask for holiness. Holiness of heart, holiness in lifestyle is the foundation, the guarantee, that your petitions will be heard about anything. Until you want holiness more than bread, you will not come to holy faith.