Leon Fontaine - Fully Persuaded
Hey, everybody! Welcome! It is so good to have you with me today. I'm on a topic that lights me up because this topic changed my entire life as a teenager. At 17 years of age, I had this revelation. That I could develop this process of faith and that I could change my life, the situations. That God would be on my side. And so I want to dive in and teach you some of the things that I developed and learned. And faith first of all is a process. If faith is something that you can be doing every day and you should be. That you are persuading your heart. You are renewing your mind. You are meditating in His Word, gathering the evidence of who you are, what the Word says. And as you do this, this process of faith. You might not have persuaded your heart yet for the miracle you're believing God for. So you speak His promises as done.
As you close your eyes, you see that end result of what is, what you desire see it done. Speak and talk as though it's done. And this confession is persuading your heart. There's a hope and excitement because soon all of a sudden this Word that you're planting in your heart through meditating and confessing His Word out loud as done, etcetera. And man, it just changes your world. Today, I want to go to Hebrews 11:1, and let's talk a little bit about faith because so many people see faith as just a feeling, and it's a part of it but that's not the whole process. And so I want to dive in, and you might, "Oh, I've heard so much before".
You know what, there's nothing new in the Bible, or I mean, yeah, it's been here for a thousand of years. Everybody wants a new teaching, a kind of a new doctrine. And they've got itchy ears. I've found for me. I love it when pastors and leaders teach me something that I know and they take me deeper, further. They see it through another way. They climb that same mountain from a different perspective. And it just excites me to know how to use and operate and function in faith. Because the way to have a consistent life of miracles is faith. And so we need to know it and we need to be focused on it every day. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the assurance. It is the confirmation. It is the title deed of the things we're hoping for".
All right. We're going to just take this apart piece by piece. The first thing I want you to know is that faith is not this wild leap of hoping and praying and seeing what's happening. But faith is an assurance. In one of the verses in Romans, it says, "Faith is fully persuaded". And this fully persuaded is so powerful it becomes your title deed. You know, if someone was to walk up to me right now and say, "Leon, I'm going to give you my cabin at the lake. It's got a beautiful beach. There's a boat in the garage, a gorgeous dock. There's tress all around it, sand for the kids. I'm giving it to you". And they signed and they gave me the title to that cabin. I have not seen it. I have not been there. But I know them, and I know what this title deed looks like. And I go, "Oh, my! They just signed. It's mine". I will be ecstatic, happy, loving, rejoicing because I've got the title.
The Bible's teaching us that as you begin to be assured, that as you begin to work this process of faith. There is this fully persuadedness that come and rises up in your heart. And that's the title deed to something very real. And so faith, when you begin to develop your faith, when you begin to work this process of faith which is of the heart. Something rises up in there and you know that you know that you know. That it's mine. It's a done deal. And that is, this fully persuasion. That's the title deed. And you go back to hanging on to that when your senses begin to bother you and go, "Oh, I don't see it. I haven't been there". Because you've got the title deed. It goes on to say, "Faith is the confirmation, the title deed of the things that we're hoping for. It's being the proof or evidence of things we do not see and the conviction of their reality. Faith perceiving as real, the fact that is not revealed to the senses".
Oh, this is remarkable. Beautiful when you realize that you have five senses and that is how the sciences of this world and that's how we look around and we live in this world. But there is another world that is more powerful than the physical world. That's the spiritual world where God is as a spirit. And that the way we sense that world and is that we have faith. And so as you dive into God's Word, you begin to gather the evidence. What did Jesus do for me? What is the Bible said He did for me? And as you begin to see that He died in my place, took all my sin, took all my punishment, all the curse. He rose again, gave me new life. His life. Life filled with healing. Life filled with prosperity. Life filled with joy and hap... That's His life, and He gave it to me. And the more you dive into His Word, you are convicted, or you are convinced of this. And then it says, "Faith perceiving as real".
Now, your heart perceives things. You've done that. You just don't realize it. Like, you know, you might have met somebody. You don't know why you don't like them. You don't want them babysitting your kids. You've got a gut feeling. That's a perception. You couldn't, you know, you couldn't see her doing anything bad this babysitter. You don't know of anything. But inside you're not letting her babysit your kids. You perceive something is wrong. Your heart can perceive things in God that you could never see with your five senses. And so as you dive into God's Word and you gather the evidence of God's Word and what it says. Then you've got the evidence being gathered by your five senses. You don't see that healing. You can't feel that healing. You can't see any change to your finances and the bankruptcy that's looming.
So because your five senses can't sense any answer taking place when you turn your attention to your five senses and your mind. You begin to gather evidence of failure. It's not working. You begin to gather evidence. There's just no way this is going to happen. But the Bible says in Romans 8 that if you keep your mind focused on the things of the Spirit of God, the truths of God's Spirit. And you continue to gather evidence from the Word. The Word says, the Word says. And you then begin to believe. You begin to work this process of being fully persuaded. Something begins to happen on the inside of you. And as we look at this definition of faith. You know, I'm speaking to believers who've... maybe you haven't any teaching on faith or maybe you have. But when you talk about the word "doubt", the Bible says that, "Whosoever shall say to this mountain, be thou removed, and cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart". Not in his head, in his heart. "But believe that what he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatever he says".
This is a phenomenal teaching. It does not say that as you believe you move God to deal with the mountain. It doesn't say that as you believe, God does something. No. It is literally teaching us that God's already given us an ability to change our world into the reality we desire. And so we're not trying to impress God, move God, command God. It's saying here that just like when God spoke the world into existence, He used faith and things came together. You are His son, His daughter. And you and I have this God-kind of faith. And so as we understand what it is, and most Christians don't. As I travel the world teaching and preaching and ministering, I just see this massive void of understanding new covenant faith. And so doubt is an opposing belief. Doubt does not mean you don't have enough faith.
If you believe God for something and it doesn't happen. It's not you frantically trying to get more faith because you don't have enough. The Bible doesn't say get more faith. The Bible says don't doubt in your heart. So if you focus on a doubt which disagrees with God's Word. God's Word say... Let's speak on healing. God's Word says that you were healed 2.000 years ago. That you were given that healing, Peter teaches us, and that all the promises are yours. And so because of that, it's a done deal. Now, the doubts are that although it's been given to me. I feel pain. I can still see the sore. If that's what you're believing God for. So I can see it. I can feel it. I mean, I can touch it. It's still there. It's what my five senses are saying and that's fine. We don't deny what the five senses are saying because that sore is very real. But faith denies its right to stay there.
So as you speak to the mountain or the problem in your life, and you declare sickness you're leaving. You can't be on my skin. There's no way and in Jesus' name sickness go. And Father, I believe it's done. Because it says that when you've faith believes that you got it now. Another words, faith is in the finished work of Jesus. Faith is knowing that what Jesus did on the cross through His death, His burial, and His resurrection. Paid for the healing. Delivered the healing. Actually now God has nothing to do with when it happens, if it doesn't happen, etcetera. Because He's already given it to you and it's now in your hands.
In Matthew, He teaches twice. I think it's chapter 16 and chapter 18. He says that whatever you allow in this world is allowed. Whatever you stop is stopped. Whatever you bind is bound. Whatever you loose, is loosed. It's not a prayer. It is showing you the incredible authority that every individual person has over their world and their reality. And, you know, last time I was teaching how that you've got to understand God's love because most people they just struggle because they have this teaching that, "Well, God is sovereign. He might change His mind. He might allow it. He might not. He knows better. He might not keep His Word. He might keep His Word".
It's a ridiculous teaching that has destroyed our confidence in God. But I love this Scripture in the Amplified because, let me read it to you now. "Now faith is the assurance, the confirmation, the title deed". Now, where is this title deed? Well, it's not on a piece of paper. This title deed is in your heart. Your heart has the ability to just, "I have the title deed. It's mine". And so then it goes on to say, "It's the title deeds of the things we were hoping for". People will say, "You know, God knows better and He's doing in my life what needs to be done. Everything happens for a purpose and there's a reason for everything". And none of those are doctrinal truths in the new covenant. It's actually saying here that the things you're hoping for is where you work the process of faith.
When you're fully persuaded, that's the title deed. It's done and you know it. And so, then it says, the things you're hoping for and it's being the proof or the evidence of things you can't see. Now, evidence is, if you're a policeman and you're gathering evidence against somebody. You might find their DNA. You might find their hair. You might find the video that shows them. They might have left a shoe behind at the crime scene. You might have an eyewitness who saw them do it. So you're gathering the evidence that the five senses can gather. But there's another kind of evidence that you can gather for the heart. And that evidence is in the Word of God. The Bible teaches us that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
So as you dive into the new covenant and see what Jesus did at His death, His burial, His resurrection, and you begin to learn and grow in this. Something happens to you and you begin to... then it says here in the Amplified that being the proof the evidence of things we do see or sense with our five senses and the conviction of their reality. Faith perceiving as a real fact what is not revealed to the senses. So if we pick on this healing, healing is a revealed fact. It is a fact in the spirit realm. It's a fact in God's Word. And it's been given to you. God has given you all things that pertain to your life and to godliness.
And so this life of faith is, and one of things I'm trying to teach you right now, focus is key. Are you focusing on God's Word, on the teaching? Find people who teach the Word that really explain faith. And it's not making excuses for and mixing it all up. But beautiful, clear teaching of making your faith rise up on, planting the Word in your heart. You know, the Bible has a teaching that says that faith is the servant of the believer. He has given you this ability to trust in Him and things change. Things in your life change.
So let me read it to you again in the Amplified Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is the assurance". Not going to be, if you keep praying and saying, "Well, Father, I thank You that You're going to heal me". That's not faith because faith works in the now. It's a done deal. And so your confession is, "It's mine. It's done. Jesus died for it. Jesus gave it to me. It's mine". And if you'll say, "Well, it's not". You're lying. Well, no. I don't go by my five senses. It's mine. You know, when Jesus cursed the fig tree in Mark 11 and He said, "No one's going to eat from you anymore". And nothing happened to the tree that they could see. How we know that? Because the next day when they were walking by, they saw this tree drying up from the roots. So they couldn't see below the ground where the roots were to that tree.
And the same is true for faith. That as you begin to speak and declare, "This is mine". It becomes yours internally. You know, inside of you where you can't see with your senses like the roots below the ground. If you plant a seed, you can't see the roots going out and gathering moisture and nurturing and growing until they come up through the ground. Then you begin to see this thing begin to change. And so as you begin to look at this faith, it's not a blind leap. It's not something that no one can figure out. It's very simple. Look to the Word and begin to meditate, begin to declare, begin to dream of the end result, begin to dream of that.
I remember when I had bone chips in my ankle as a young man, and I was to get a surgery because my foot would just lock up and the pain was excruciating. It affected my job, my life, everything. And as I began to work this process of faith, one of the things that became very real to me was closing my eyes and letting Holy Spirit show me the end result. One of the things Holy Spirit does that John teaches us, is that He leads us into all truth, and He shows us things to come. So as I see the truth of faith and I close my eyes. I could see myself jumping and running and playing basketball going, "Look, there's no pain. These bone chips are gone". And I would rejoice. I'd see myself working and walking down the ditches. That, you know, I was a paramedic back then, going to accident scenes and if it locked up, it was, I couldn't do my job.
So I'm walking down the ditch at a certain angle that would make my foot lock up. And I would just say, "No problem. I'm healed. Thank You, Jesus". And so I would just quietly meditate in God's Word. My eyes closed and I would see myself enjoying sports again basketball and football and doing my job. And I would see the end result. Holy Spirit works with you to show you things to come. The Bible says that your sons and your daughters, that they'll dream dreams. They'll see visions. Did you know that dreams and visions are the language of your heart. It's the language of Holy Spirit because words paint pictures. So if I say, "A bear just walk into the room. A big grizzly bear. It's got red in its eyes and it's dripping spit off its teeth as it growls". You're not seeing those words. I'm painting a picture.
So when you go into God's Word and you see what Jesus did for you. When you see the promises are yours, whatever you're believing God for, your time of prayer and meditation is to personalize that verse. Like, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me". You can say all you want until you personalize that for you. Where do you want strength? Well, I never have enough energy. I'm always sickly. Then close your eyes and see you working all day so energized and filled with life. Holy Spirit will take the verse that you're meditating on and He'll begin to help you develop this picture seeing with the eyes of faith the old-timer Christians years ago used to say. And so focus on the end result from that promise.
So, you know, if you say, "I want to teach children in Sunday school, but I don't have enough nerve". So I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I'm going to claim that promise and speak that promise, connect to that promise. Well, personalize it. What is it you want strength for? And say, "Well, I believe God that I can teach. I teach children and I can do all things through Christ. I can stand up in front of a class of children and teach them the Word and change their lives". And you see yourself doing it with joy and your not stuttering or fumbling. You are good. You are amazing. And you see this. Why? You must personalize the Word of God. Then you begin to convince your heart. Then you begin to establish your heart in grace. And the only thing that will stop that is that when another belief rises up, and that belief will come through your five senses.
"Well, it doesn't happen. I don't feel it. I don't see it. What about this? What about that"? Don't fight with that doubt. Just get your eyes off of it and get back on to God's Word, and every day just close your eyes and in that promise walk this out to completion. Jesus is the author and the finisher of your faith. And I'm actually telling you a story that a lady doubt with me on her. She said, "I'm believing God. I want to teach Sunday school. But I stuttered and I'm afraid and I'm nervous and I can't do it".
And I thought give her this verse and I said, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Speak that every day and every time you have some quite time say, I can teach children through Christ who strengthens me. And let Holy Spirit in you begin through the power of imagination which is a part of your mind that needs to be renewed. Let Him renew it with images and video of you laughing and loving and kids lives being changed. Do that every day. Do it three times a day. And in no time, you will literally begin to rise up with confidence. You'll begin to study kids' quarterlies and how to teach this. Because you, when you are fully persuaded, the title deed is in your heart. You're fully persuaded. It's mine. What you prove and in its faith without works is dead.
So once faith, this full persuasion is done in your heart. You just rise up. You go volunteer. You go to the training and the police checks. You can't wait to get up there or help out teaching children. And one day you realize, "Look what I'm doing"! Well, it's because you began to work this beautiful process of faith. And there is just, it is so gorgeous. That the more you dive into the new covenant and realize what's been done for you. The more you begin to speak and declare. You speak to mountains and problems. You speak to your future and you declare what it's going to be like. People say, "Leon, what's this new year going to be like"? And I don't go, "Well, I'm hoping and praying things are good". Because I don't rely upon what is going on in this world to give me a good life.
I declare it's going to be the best year I ever had because the Word of God goes brighter and brighter, because I'm the head and not the tail. And so I'm believing God that every area of my life is going to increase. The favour of God is on me. Everything I put my hands to, from our church to our television stations, to the schools, family, marriage, my personal finance, and health. It is all just getting better and growing. This is how I look at the new year. Whereas others, "Well, you know, we'll have to wait and see what the government does, what business does". No, you don't. The Bible doesn't say that you, your faith is tied to what goes on in this world. It says even a thousand could fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand are all failing but it's not coming near you.
As you begin to dive in and understand this beautiful teaching and the Word of God. That you and I are to grow in the Word and gather evidence. Something happens in you that is stunning. In verse 6 of Hebrews, and there's so much more I love to talk about but, it says, "But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him". What does that mean? Can't please God. What he's saying God wants you to bear fruit. He wants your life to change. He wants you to live this life that Jesus gave you. And so please Him. Get up and live this incredible life. Be like Jesus. And it says, "Whoever would come near to God must believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him".
God is a rewarder. He's not the judge. He's not the condemner. He is not the executioner. None of those things. He's a rewarder. He's continually, He has set this in motion. That what Jesus did on the cross. That all of His blessings you are now qualified for. You have the gift of righteousness, Romans 5:17. And so because you're qualified in Christ and because He is your righteousness, He is your hope, your faith. You just, He is rewarding you. That's what loving God and developing your faith life does. And so I just pray this has inspired you to jump back in and not give up, or if you've just started to hear this, be excited about it. And if you don't know this Jesus I'm talking about, just say:
Jesus, come into my heart, come into my life. I give You my life. Thank You for dying in my place so I can have all my sins forgiven. And I'm following You for the rest of my days. In Jesus' name, amen.
Keep watching this and let us know you gave your life to Christ, because you just started the most amazing journey. And the messages you hear however you're getting this one now. Keep following because it will guide you quickly into this beautiful wonderful relationship with Jesus. Not religion. Religion is awful. But a relationship with Christ is amazing.