Leon Fontaine - Walking by Faith, Part 2
Hey, everybody, welcome today. It's good to have you with me. We're on part 2 of Walking by Faith. And last time we talked about and I shared a lot of stories and how it revolutionized my life as a young man, to understand that faith is something that can overcome this world and you can build an amazing life as you begin to believe God. Now, so I really just kind of encourage people to get back if you've learned this, are you walking in it every day? So many people at one point believe God to a certain level and they just quit. They just kind of live there and they don't really use their faith or activate their faith until they get sick or there's financial need. So they're only on defense. They just kind of stay where they are, and if things push them too much, they start to defend himself by faith. They believe God and often they can kind of get themselves back up to where they were.
But I want you to understand that faith builds. You can build an amazing life. Go to a whole new areas of life and finance and relationship. Your relationship with God, your family, your home, your career, your health, your emotions, all of these things. Faith has an incredible impact on. And so today I want to just dive in again and teach a little bit more as we look at this. And I want to review that whole message. But if, I encourage you to go back there and listen to it. Because there was such a resurgence when I was a child of the topic of faith. And it just started out and I mean, it grew and great big faith conferences. I mean, the topic of faith has impacted every denomination and every content of the planet. And I'm so glad that it's brought this back to the kingdom of God. Now for every mile of truth, there's two miles of ditch. Meaning, yes people are going to take it too far. And when people are taking it too far and do crazy things that weren't even in faith, just kind of lazy stuff.
People begin to back away from the faith message because they saw people misuse it, abuse it. When they lost loved ones, someone say, "You just haven't enough faith". I mean, just hurting them deeply. And so faith has been really abused by a small group of people. And it's gotten lots of, you know, attention and people just back away from faith. I refused to back away from it because in the last 40 years of ministry in life and marriage and kids. I have found that it has been activating my faith every day, walking by faith every day. I'm going to show you what that is, that has helped me to grow and to see God do things in ministry, to where from just a little church. We begin to rise up multiple sites and thousands of people and television stations and schools. And then begin to go on languages around the world and equipping pastors around the world. That all the things got, it was this literally aggressive faith that said I'm going to believe Him.
And so wherever you are in a life. Faith will affect your career. Faith will affect your relationships, your marriage, your health, your sex life, your children. It affects everything. What you believe is absolutely crucial because you begin to walk by that. Now, many people have such doubt. And there's an, the Bible talks about evil reports. Now, it's hard to grow in faith when you don't understand what an evil report is. Now, the ten spies and that, there's twelve spies that spied out the promised land when Moses said, you know, all right, go to the promised land. Let's spy out the land. He wasn't asking any of them if they could do it or not do it. Just spy it out. Tell us what the cities look like, what the inhabitants are like, and roads and bridges and all the rest. They came back and they all said the same thing. The giants are huge. They are war-like and the cities are huge and walled.
And, oh, man. And there's lots of beautiful agriculture. It's a rich prosperous country. They also said that. But now the ten made another statement. They said, "We cannot do it. They are too big, too war-like. We're like, we are like grasshoppers in their sight and in our sight". And then two said, "Now, let's go do it. These are all the problems. These are the giants. These are the walls. Now we can do this. Let's go get it". And the Bible, all through the Word of God calls those ten spies of what they gave was an evil report. Now the evil wasn't the things that they saw with their five senses. It was the interpretation of whether or not they could do what God had promised them. And so God called their report evil and it cost them their lives. Did you know to not learn and grow in this topic of faith is going to cost you so many of God's promises in every area of your life. Did you know that because the entire company who were walking through the desert of Israel. They believed the ten spies. None of them could have the promises of God.
And so they died in the wilderness and Joshua took in the kids. An evil report isn't looking at what is going on in the physical. It's believing that God in you are greater and bigger than any storm, any obstacle, and the ten couldn't believe that. Now, God had literally parted the Red Sea, done incredible miracle after miracle after miracle for them and they still doubted His Word. When we do not believe and activate our faith, it's not pleasing God because God's good pleasure is to give you the kingdom and every promise in the Bible. I mean, what pleases God is us believing Him. And then acting on those beliefs so He can just bring His mighty love and power into our lives which attracts the world to us. Not this religious craziness of Christians just, you know, cursing the world and telling them off and pointing out their sin.
Now, you and I are to live for Christ and have such an attractive life in our relationship with God and friends and family that they get jealous of us. The word blessed literally has that meaning in it, as a part of that meaning. That they're going to be envious. But the world's not envious of the church, church's marriages. It's not envious of the church's careers, their joys, their passions. And so something's wrong here. We've got to get back to understanding this topic of faith. Get up and live so great, so excited, so passionate, so blessed. That all these promises are working in your life and the world who works on their own ability looks and goes, "What in the world? They look so lucky. They look so blessed. They're so favored. What in the world is going on"? And then because of the joy, the peace, the sense of God, and all that goes on in our lives. They want what we've got.
Well, let's just cover a few points today in our time together. Now, we talked last time about this. That what you say with your mouth takes control of your mind, your soul, and it is establishes your heart in grace. So it's crucial that we speak the Word of God. Once you've given your life to Jesus Christ, your spirit man is filled with God. You are, your spirit man is righteous. Your spirit man is just filled with life. Now it says you and I must speak His Word. And as you speak God's Word, what begins to happen in this process of faith is that you begin to take control of your own mind, emotions, and will. Some people use their will for crazy things. But you begin to, the presence of God within you begins to dominate this soul. And if you don't do that, the world will.
All the old beliefs, the old hurts, the old traumas, the things you grew up. The beliefs that are established in your heart are the ones your parents taught you. The ones that you learned in school through traumas, etcetera. I mean, repetition and strong emotion have written beliefs on your heart. And you were walking those beliefs out. Someone is watching right now and you're single and you want to get married. You can't find, every person you date just tend to be such a loser and it's... But listen, before you blame them. Do you really believe that marriage can be beautiful and that men are amazing? There's amazing men out there, amazing women out there. There's beliefs from hurts and parents' teaching. You all, you know, men only want one thing, or there's no good guys out there, or look out for women. All these beliefs have been established in hearts. And the beliefs about money, beliefs about God, beliefs about church, beliefs about pastor. These beliefs of the heart, okay, not just your casual in and out of your head. These beliefs of the heart are literally determining your future.
So the way to change that is to begin to speak the Word of God. And you begin to literally take control of this mind and these emotions, and your heart begins to get connected to the life that you want. In Joshua 1:8, it says, "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. But you shall meditate therein day and night, that you can observe to do all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will deal wisely in life. You'll have great success". This is amazing. It is literally telling you and I here, that to start this meditative process, it should not leave your mouth. So make sure that your mouth is speaking the Word. And you might not even feel like that verse applies today but you get up and declare anyway. That today, I walk in joy. Today I walk in peace. Today I am inheriting everything that Jesus died for and it's mine and my business, my family, my career. Today peace is on this house.
Now, you might not feel like any of those things. But you begin to declare them before you see them. There's something about declaring with your mouth the Word of God that prophesies to your future and causes it to come about. It's interesting when you study God's Word, that is says in Matthew 12:34, "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks". Now, people can say things once in a while, here in there. But when you're around people a lot, you'll notice they begin to say things. It might just be, "Oh, well". But it's the way they end everything they say. It's like, "Ah, nothing's going to work". But here it says that your mouth without you realizing it, your mouth begins to speak and say what's really in your heart. You know, sometimes it can be called a little like a Freudian slip, or but it's going to come out of them. And if you can't see it, apply pressure to somebody, stress to somebody, and what's in their heart comes out. It's like taking a can of beans and putting it to a vice and then screwing it down tighter and tighter until that can pops. You put enough pressure on that can of beans. It might not even have a label on it and you will know it's beans when it bursts.
When you put enough pressure in life on people, what's really in their heart comes out. And what's exciting is that you can change your heart to the Word of God. And as pressure pushes at you, the Word of God begins to come out of you. You begin to speak it, believe it. It's from that abundance of the heart. And that storm that was supposed to destroy you, can literally blow you faster and quicker on your journey. What the enemy meant for harm, God can turn around for good. Or like one friend said, "It's like you're going back in the sling shot of God". And all of a sudden, it looks like the storm going to take you out. But you respond in faith. When pressure is applied to you, your heart's been established in grace. Your mind has been renewed in the Word. And what would destroy everybody else. If you're in business, a storm can come.
And I've seen this so often with businessmen in our church. Hard times come to a city, to a province, to the nation, and all these companies go belly up. And this guy just stand strong, believes God. God guides him and leads him in what he should do. And now the storm has taken out all those competition and he just explodes. I mean, it just goes to places that he says, "Woo, look what God is doing". Faith is crucial. So we need to make sure the abundance of our heart is full of God's Word and God's beliefs, because your mouths going to speak it. Your emotions are going to feel it. Your, you know, your imagination is going to see it whatever is in your heart in abundance. And so we've got to establish our heart in grace. What does that mean? What Jesus did on the cross. The finished work. He took your sin. He arose again with new life. And He is sitting at the right hand of the Father and He has qualified you for every promise. There are no longer ifs on promises. He qualified you for it. All you need to do is believe it, act on it. And so it's crucial that we understand the power of beginning this process of faith, of speaking God's Word.
Now, when you take a look at faith, confession, the words that you speak about yourself, your life, your finances, your government, etcetera, your kids, your future. Your confession and your action are the spirit of your faith. You can tell what someone believes by watching what they say and watching what they do. And it's crucial that we understand this. That some people go to work and they talked defeated. They don't even work hard. They're not even a blessing to have on the job. And that but they'll do maybe enough to hang on to their job. They always want a raise. They always want to get ahead. They're always whining because they think they're smarter than their boss. But there is no faith in them to get up.
And others will go to work and they will work is unto the Lord. They will work strong. They'll work hard. They know their boss isn't perfect. They know that their job isn't perfect. They know that others are, you know, lollygagging. But they're not working for the boss. They're not working for their supervisor. They're working as unto the Lord. And this passion in them causes the gifts to rise up. Their faith rises up. And they will rise up in that organization and help that organization do amazing things. And so the spirit of your faith can be seen in your, what you say and how you live, how you treat your spouse. You know, I see couples and I watch the defeatedness. They don't even try to be a blessing, to love, to be romantic, to be caring, to be kind.
All these beautiful things that are attributes of love. They just kind of our, what's the word. They kind of just drift in that area. And they're not kind. They're not loving, complementing, touching, hugging. No wonder their marriage is going nowhere. They're not, do all these things that is love. They don't act and do it. And you just see. There's no real spirit of faith in that marriage or in one of them, or there's no real spirit of faith when it comes to raising kids. I've watched parents tell me that, "Well, you know, I'm going to put my girls on the pill by age 12 and, because it's a rotten world out there. It's so much temptation. I mean, let's be realistic here. Oh, you can't even expect that your kids are going to stay away from drug".
I've actually had parents tell me that over and over. Now, they have no spirit of faith what they say and what they do. And so when the kids want to, "Well, can I just go spend the night at my boyfriend, or can I spend the night". Well, I don't want you to, but I know you're going to do it anyway. There's no spirit of faith in them. I'm not saying to control, but no, I'm saying rise up and believe the best about them. Believe you're the child of God. You're going to be an amazing husband, an amazing wife. You're going to do great things for God. And I got to train you and raise you and get you to the church and believe in you and spend time with you. Because you, you're going to be a world changer.
You know, if Abraham Lincoln's mom knew he was going to be, you know, Abraham Lincoln in the future. Like, I wonder if she had done it differently. And all of us need to know that we're raising kids that can change the world. And that will change your parenting. You get off the couch and you're shouting at them all the time. And I just want to watch my TV shows and get together my friends. And put him in front of an iPad all the time and, you know. No, no, no. If you believe these are world changers, you're going to love playing with them, laughing with them, teaching them, instructing them, spending energy and time. Even when you're tired, you're rising up to believe in your kids. This spirit of faith is crucial. Because your confession, what you say on a regular basis and your actions. They show where and what you believe. And too many of us have doubt.
Now doubt is an opposing thought. Doubt is not having enough faith. You've got faith. You've been given the measure of faith. And so as you find out the Word of God and what your rights and privileges are, and who Jesus is and what He did. As you learn the Word of God, your faith rises up because you just know what's yours. But nobody does not have enough faith. You just need more of God's Word to show your rights and your privileges. And so this ongoing action of learning more of God's Word, growing, etcetera, is just crucial. Now, for you to live and to walk by faith. Another principle and I'm not going to get through all the principle. There's so many wonderful ones. But faith for today comes from hearing today, believing, meditating today. It's kind of like food. Food has a very short lifespan. Something you've eaten will only give you energy and help you survive a certain length of time.
And faith is the same way. That's why faith is the substance of things hoped for. It's not like, "Well, I understand the faith message, Leon". I don't care what you understand. Are you activating it in your life? Well, yeah. I've heard all that before. Done that. I got the T-shirt. Now, good for you. Go ahead and live out what you're doing. But I in my life, I'm just so excited because there's so many areas of my life that are growing. In the areas that are not, I know how to change them. Holy Spirit's guiding me and I'm believing for change and things are going to happen. So faith in Romans 10:17, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God". Another words, your faith needs to be activated every day, by meditating in His Word, reading, feeding on the bread of life. Then communing with Holy Spirit. And as you believe and get to know His Word, Holy Spirit will guide you and He'll bring the Word to your remembrance as to what to do in every situation, of business, marriage, home, family, etcetera.
Now, in Hebrews 4:14-16, it says, "Therefore since that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession". What? We must hold fast our confession. Next it says, another words, your confession of faith, your confession of Jesus, your confession of who you are in Christ, your confession of, "I'm an overcomer born of God and nothing form, no weapon formed against me is going to prosper. And in the name of Jesus, I can run through a troop and leap over a wall. I can run through every storm and I can leap over every financial boundary and all the attacks of people, of the enemy. I blow right through it because"... These are the words you need to be speaking. And it says here and next in this verse in Hebrews 4:14, it says, "For we do not have a High Priest who can't sympathize with our weaknesses," He says, "But one who has been tempted in all areas like we are, yet without sin".
Now, the word sin means to miss the mark for God's best. He was tempted but He never missed the mark for God's best. "Therefore it says let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so we can receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need". When you believe God, as new covenant believers, we believe what Jesus did on the cross, not just a forgiveness of sins. But He rose again with new life. And this new life is ours. This grace which is God's favor. And grace doesn't just mean God's favor. It's God's ability coming to you as a favor. This favor, this grace. We must rise up and believe it. And I'm telling you the ability of God will be on your marriage. The ability of God will be on your parenting. The ability of God will be on your career and your skill set and your giftedness. The ability of God will be on your leadership as you rise up and know how to start businesses and careers and be amazing part of the team that you're on.
Oh, man. This is so exciting. And I want to challenge you to hold fast is what it says, hold fast to your confession. But once people have a loss. Another words something happens in your life where you believe God for something and maybe you didn't get. And it just discourages people. And they just quit. Faith doesn't work. And you must continue to speak and declare God's Word. And as you do, yes, you're not perfect. What you're doing first of all is you are taking control of your mind, your emotions. You're establishing your heart in grace. That those deep beliefs that your parents and your upbringing have established need to be cleaned out by the Word of God, and His beliefs established in your heart. And then this auto pilot, this heart on the inside of you, not your physical heart. That this spiritual heart, the center of your being. This deeper believing where your identity is. You begin to rise up. I am the healed. Healing is mine. I walk in health. And that thing comes out, that belief comes out of you regardless of what's going on for virus or sickness or injuries, etcetera.
And you just continue to walk in health. You recover from all the things that are going on in your life. And so make sure that this topic of faith. That you should be speaking the Word of God. As you speak the Word of God, and you'll find that they begin to take the place of beliefs that have risen up because of failure. I've watched people go through one storm and lose something, a career, a loved one. And from that point and on, a new belief has been established. Faith doesn't work, or God let me down, or and they hang on to that belief. Now, that is a doubt. And that doubt... See, they still, if they're born again, they still have that measure of faith. And anytime they want, they can break free by getting the process of faith working in their life again. And they can break free from that doubt. That doubt is an opposing belief. And they can break free from that and rise up in faith again.
But I've seen too many people who live in that new belief which is a doubt. A misbelief I call them. Those misbeliefs are not biblical beliefs. And the Bible calls them an evil report. That you can have a wicked heart of unbelief is what I calls it. Rather than believe God, you're going to believe yourself. Rather than believe what God promises, you believe something else. I challenge you today. Let's break free. Get back to the topic of faith and get it activated in your life. Watch this program over and over. Go back and watch the first one as well and begin to grow in these areas. There's lots more messages as well that you can watch here on the MIRACLE CHANNEL or on leonfontaine.com. And just feed on the Word of God and grow strong in the topic of faith. If you don't know Jesus but you're listening to this. And you say, "I don't know if I even know, am I a Christian"? Just right now say:
Jesus come into my heart. I give You my life. I choose You and I choose to follow You. I'm going to get to know You better. I'm going to learn Your Word better. But right now I just choose You and I'm asking You to come into my heart. I believe on You as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, amen.
Pray that prayer and keep following us. Let us know you made this decision, and together we're going to help you rise up to an overcoming, amazing life of walking by faith.