Join Brother Hardy as he unpacks the concept of Abraham’s kind of faith, taking listeners on a deep dive into what it truly means to believe unwaveringly in God’s promises. This episode explores the different types of faith that people hold, from little faith to historical faith to the wavering faith that can afflict even the strongest believers. Brother Hardy reveals how each form of faith operates and how individuals can cultivate a steadfast belief that can withstand life’s greatest challenges.
SPEAKER 01 :
Greetings, friends and new listeners. Welcome to this program of the R.G. Hardy Ministries. I’m Sharon Knotts, thanking you for joining us today because we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And today’s message by my father, Brother Hardy, is certainly a faith-boosting, refining, and energizing Word of the Lord. Abraham’s kind of faith. What is it? Do you have it? Let’s find out together as we join Brother Hardy for Abraham’s kind of faith.
SPEAKER 02 :
Our God is an awesome God. How many say amen? He’s awesome. And I found out over 50 years that he can do anything, but one thing I found out he can’t do, he cannot fail. Hallelujah. Now we’ve been studying on and having a series of messages on Abraham’s kind of faith taken from my book, Abraham’s Kind of Faith. And the last week we taught a little bit on of different kinds of faith. How many say amen? But I want Abraham’s kind of faith. First, we taught on people that got little faith. When Jesus was on the boat going across to see a Galilee, then the devil tried to destroy him. He thought he had the Lord and the disciples right where he wanted them. All the apostles and the Lord on that boat, and if he could have capsized that boat, they would have drowned, and we wouldn’t be here. And here Jesus is asleep on the boat, because he had ministered, prayed for thousands of people. Remember, he was human like you and I. He got tired. He got weary. He had to sleep. And the devil got in that storm, and he was going to try to kill him. And Peter and John and the disciples that spent their whole life working on that water, Knew that this wasn’t a regular storm. It scared them. How many say amen? Until they ran and woke up Jesus. Jesus was so tired, he was sleeping through the storm. Or else, his faith was so high, he was sleeping through the storm. I think it was a combination of them both. They went and woke him up and said, Master, Lord, carest thou that we perish? And I could read the Lord’s mind. How in the world are you going to perish when I’m on board? How are we going to be destroyed and defeated by the devil when Jesus is on board with us? Hallelujah. Heavenly knows he’s on board. He said, I’ll never leave you and I’ll never forsake you. And though I’m with you always, even to the end of the age. And then we found that temporary faith in the four grounds. Second ground said that some fell on stony ground because they didn’t have root. They sprung up real quick. But when the sun came out, it withered them. Jesus likened the sun to those that believed for a while. Now remember, these are believers. How many say amen? Said they believed for a while. But then when trials and tests came and persecutions, they quit. They threw their faith away. And the Bible said, cast not away your confidence, which is a synonym of faith, for it has great recompense and reward. And then we had the third one called historical faith. In other words, people believe the account of God that he made the heaven and earth, but it’s a mental assent. How many say amen? It doesn’t commit their faith to God. They don’t believe God for anything. They just believe that there is a God, and they believe that Jesus is his Savior, and that he sent him to die on the cross. Have you met sinners? And you can answer, don’t you believe in Jesus? They say, yeah, we believe he came. We believe he died on the cross. How many say amen? But they haven’t committed their faith to the Lord. Just believe in the historical facts, and that won’t save you. Now we’re going to come to the fourth one. This is called wavering faith. These are people that got a deeper ground than the stony ground and believed just for a while. It’s like a temporary faith. It is a temporary faith, but it’s a little longer. They’ll even go through trials and tests and persecutions and still hang in there. But sometimes a calamity will come in their life and they just waver. What does the word waver really means? It really means that they divide their self into two people. One of them believes and the other one doubts. And they go back and forth. It’s according to the way the wind blows. If everything seems to be all right, they believe. Something negative comes to what they are asking God for, they don’t believe. God can do it, and then the devil talks to them and brings them reasons why they should doubt, and they doubt. How many say amen? They’re wavering. James… cause them unstable souls. Amen? James said that in 1st James, the fourth chapter, the first chapter, and I believe it’s around the fourth verse, he said, if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. but let him ask in faith, in believing, in faith, for he that wavereth is like the waves of the sea driven by the wind and tossed, and said, let not that man think he shall receive anything for the Lord. How many say amen? And that’s a perfect picture of of wavering faith. Here the water is, and then when the wind blows this way, it’s over here. And then when the wind blows this way, it’s over there. And when the sea churns, it’s up and down. No stability. Wavering. And the devil’s always going to make a bad wind blow. When you begin to believe, the devil’s going to make a bad wind blow. How many say amen? Let me read that again. If any of you lack wisdom, man, that takes a whole lot of us, don’t it? If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, no vacillating. Nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like the waves of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. You see, it’s just like this. You believe, God gets ready to give it to you, and then bang, the wind blows, and you don’t believe. You have a doubt. So he pulls it back. Then all of a sudden everything looks rosy, hunky-dory, and you believe, and God gets ready to give it to you. Boom, the devil sends some more wind, and you’re over here. You’re vacillating. You’ve got to make your mind up. You’ve got to put your faith on something and then stand on it. I think one songwriter brought the song, Standing on the Promises, I Cannot Fail. when the howling winds of doubt and sin come against me, trying to make me fall, but when I stand on promises and believe that Jesus is my all in all, when the wind stops blowing, I’m going to still have the victory. Amen? Hemi’s going to have the victory. Give him a good clap off him. So wavering faith is temporary. It’s motivated by sense knowledge. I say sense knowledge a lot. And what I’m talking about is what you see naturally, what you smell naturally, what you taste naturally, what you feel naturally. How many say amen? The five senses. That’s not governing faith. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4.18, while we look not at the things which are seen, he’s talking about with the natural senses, but we look at the things which are not seen. That’s talking about with the eye of faith. You’ve got two eyes. You’ve got the natural eye that only sees the natural and the physical. And then you had the spiritual eye that sees beyond the natural and the physical, and it sees in the spirit world. He said for the natural eye, those things are temporal. How many say amen? For that which is seen as temporal, temporary, passing, one of these days it won’t be. David kind of said, I’ve seen the enemy spread himself like a green bay tree, and then when I looked away, and I believe he looked unto the Lord, the hills from whence cometh his help, when he come back, looked back, the enemy was gone. How many say amen? We put our faith in what God says and our spiritual eye sees the fulfillment of our faith. Amen? The devil is always coming when you pray the prayer of faith to bring suggestions to you that it can’t happen. And he’s a pretty good liar. You listen to him long enough, you better watch out. He’ll almost convict you. He’s going to say why God can’t do it. Because he’s going to bring sense knowledge. That’s why you’ve got to stay prayed up, read up, go to church and get fed up instead of being empty. Because the more you’re empty, the less spirit you have on you, the more natural reasoning comes from sense knowledge controls you. Amen? Because the eye of faith, spiritual knowledge, just believes God when everything’s the opposite. And the devil’s going to bring everything that’s opposite. I’m going to give you a picture of what the devil does once you pray. The prayer of faith. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God, and you’re getting a service, and God’s anointing the Word of faith, and you’re catching it, and you’re getting inspired, and then all of a sudden, they give you an invitation to turn that faith loose for whatever it’s for, and you get up there, and you say, I believe God. I thank you, God. You’ve done it, and you rejoice then. And then the devil comes. Two things he does. First of all, he sends a lying demon to you to lie on God. How many say amen? And then he goes to God and lies on you. I can hear him say to God, I know that they prayed a fair faith. And if they hold on, you got to do it. He said, well, just delay it a little bit. Delay it a little bit. And they’ll cast their faith away. And a lot of people fall into that category. If it don’t come right now, they’re all shook up and throw their faith away. How many say amen? It’s kind of like me, I’m a creature of this. If I send away for something and they tell me, UPS is going to send it at a certain time. Amen? I’m going to have patience the first day. It’s going to be hard, but I’m going to have patience. But after that… I’m looking down there for the UPS truck. In fact, I get too much stuff through the UPS. I don’t have to see it. I know the Saturn motor. How many say amen? And if that thing doesn’t come, man, in the natural, I get all shook up. What’s the matter with this thing? You know, UPS trucks gets flat tires too. Huh? Sometimes man makes a mistake and sends it to the wrong place. I know Brother Ed, our missionary in Kenya, was sending me some pictures and material about the meetings over there. And it was supposed to come to us. And you know what? I gave it its time when it should have been here and it didn’t come. And finally I called DHL, that’s the people that were supposed to deliver it, and usually it’s within about five days. How many say amen? And you know what I found out? They sent it to Europe. But you see, I had to have patience. I couldn’t say, it ain’t going to never come. I had to have patience. And sometimes when you pray, the enemy asks God to let him delay it. Because our faith is not to be in the natural. Our faith is to be in the Word of God. And we’ve got to see the fulfillment of it with the eye of faith. Remember this. Daniel prayed three weeks. Finally, Gabriel come with the answer of his prayer. And he said to Daniel, the first day you prayed, God heard. And God sent me with the answer. But I had to come through the domain where Satan rules and the evil prince that stands there. for Persia withstood me 21 days and hindered me. How many say amen? You see, that’s where faith comes in and patience, because we’ve got to wrestle against not flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world. We’ve just got to keep praying. See, Daniel kept praying 21 days, and that fortified him. Gabriel, until finally God said, okay, I’ve got to release this prayer, because probably the devil done said to the Lord, if you delay it, he won’t do it. But here’s old Gabriel hanging in there, and he sent Michael down to take him and whip the enemy and release the prayer. So a lot of times the devil tries to get in it and messes it up. But you hang on in there, and if he has to, he’s going to send Michael and Gabriel to loose the thing. It’s going to come. See, most of my prayers are answered by angel messenger service. God sends the angel and sends the message. If it’s really something that the devil don’t want me to get, he’s going to try to stop it. And then he’s going to work on me and ain’t going to come see. What are you believing for? Man, I told you in the beginning it was impossible. What are you believing for? How many say amen? But you don’t give up. You know, Abraham had to believe for 25 years. Whoo! Some people can’t believe 25 seconds. He had all kind of things to stop him. How many say amen? But God’s working out a purpose and a plan. Amen. When God first spoke to Abraham, he spoke in the future, I will make thee, I will give this, I will do that. But as Abraham grew and his faith didn’t fail, then God spoke in the past, I have made thee a father of many nations. And Abraham believed it when he wasn’t even a father of none. And his wife got in it with his concubine. And brought Ishmael, and that’s why Israel’s got all the trouble now. You know, a lot of times we try to get in and help God, and we mess the thing up. You just stand still and believe. Stand on the promises. How many say amen? As far as God is concerned, the minute he makes a promise, it’s done. Amen. How many say amen? The minute God promises something, it’s done. You can take it to the bank. The moment he makes the promise, the fulfillment of it might be not seen then. Just like if you had a loved one that you hadn’t heard for in years, and they’re in Europe, and you say, God, send that loved one to me. He ain’t going to reach over in Europe, grab him by the hair, and bring him over the ocean and bring him in your prayer room. He’s going to work it out. How many say amen? You’ve got to bring that faith. You’ve got to bring that second stage of faith and hope, patient, confident expectation to receive what you’ve already believed God for. How many say amen? Amen. When God makes a promise, the fulfillment of it might not exist at that time. The promise is made, but the guarantee is there. Amen? You can take it to the bank. The moment that God says to Abraham, I will make thee a father of many nations and your seed shall be like the stars of heaven and the sands of the earth, you can take it to the bank. And Abraham never saw the fulfillment of that promise. How many knew that? He didn’t see his seed that’s now like the stars in the sand. He didn’t even see Jacob and his 12 that would bring the 12 tribes in. How many say amen? But that promise was guaranteed and nothing could stop it and Abraham stood on it. I believe when he got in heaven after a while, God let him see all of them. You know, the stars, someone said, of the sand is natural Israel, and the seed of the sand is natural Israel, and the stars are spiritual Israel. And he’s got more spiritual seed than he has natural seed. You can take it to the bank. Like somebody said, God said it, I believe it, that settles it. And the devil’s going to run up to God and say, let me see if he really means that. Let me see if he’s going to doubt. Let me see if he’ll take, and if I show him everything opposite, he’s going to throw their faith away. Cast not away your confidence. which has great recompense and reward. For you have need of patience. Here’s the definition of hope. That after that you have done the will of the Lord, that you might receive the promise. Patience. How many say amen? And the thing that works patience is tribulation. But tribulation works hope. And hope makes not ashamed. You won’t be ashamed because you doubted and threw your faith away. You’re patiently, confidently expected. You’re waiting for the heavenly UPS truck. You’re waiting for the fulfillment. You are assured. Your faith assures you. Your hope believes in what faith has done, and he’s waiting. You know, what is one of the greatest illustrations of of patience. It’s that the Lord’s going to come. That promise was made 2,000 years ago. He hadn’t come yet. I’m glad he hadn’t come because we’re still here. We would have missed it. You know, some people say he’s come. I’m glad he hadn’t come yet. Because I’m expecting to go. I’m not going to be expected to be preaching anymore up here. Somebody said to me that my mother’s preaching in heaven. No, she’s done all of her preaching. She’s shouting. When I get to heaven, I won’t have to preach no more. How many say amen? I’m going to be in my shouting phase, in my glory phase. Huh? Now, the Lord didn’t come and the devil come to you today and say, well, you got faith. Because that’s what they did in Paul’s day. They came and said, where’s the promise of the Father? Since the beginning of time, for the fathers, everything’s gone on the same. Where is the promise of his coming? And then they say, amen. The devil said, he didn’t come today. I said, stick around. He might come tomorrow. But one thing I’m sure, one of these days he’s going to come. And another thing I’m sure… It’s because I won’t cast away my faith and confidence in the Word of God. I’m sure I’m going to be in that number when the saints go marching in. Do you plan to be in that number? You just stand on the Word. Come on, give them a good clap offering. How many say amen? Don’t you accept anything negative or contrary to what God says. Let every man be a liar, but let God be true. When the devil comes, you need to get it straight up front. Say, devil, let’s get it straight up front here. Let’s have an understanding. God said it. God can’t lie. And he’s not a son of man that he has to repent because he can’t do it. Because God said, if I’ve said it, shall I not bring it to pass? If I’ve said it, shall I not make it good? Now, God said it. He cannot lie. His word cannot fail. It’s going to happen. So save yourself a lot of energy and don’t come around and talk to me no more. Because I believe God. Amen?
SPEAKER 01 :
Amen. What an inspirational and soul-strengthening word of the Lord by my father, Brother Hardy, Abraham’s kind of faith. What do you need when you have prayed the prayer of faith, but time is passing with no visible fulfillment, when things seem to be getting worse instead of better, when you’re facing insurmountable obstructions and even setbacks, and you just feel like giving up? Amen. Amen. Amen. You need the faith of our father Abraham who believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. The Hebrew literally says Abraham believed God and said amen. And Paul told us in Romans 4 that we are to walk in the steps of our father Abraham. And this anointed, insightful teaching by Brother Hardy will tell you how you can walk in Abraham’s kind of faith, how you can have hope when even hope is against you. This entire message is on CD and can be ordered for a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. Request offer 100. That’s offer 100. Our mailing address is R.G. Hardy Ministries, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or order online at rghardy.org. That’s rghardy.org. Once again… The offer is $100 for Abraham’s Kind of Faith and your love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Until next time, this is Sister Sharon saying, Maranatha.