ABCs of FAITH - Break Through Mental Assent

ABCs of Faith 10
MENTAL ASSENT – How To Break Through!

We are studying the ABCs of faith. One reason for these lessons is that there is very little “real Bible faith” being practiced in the Church today. Most Christians are following the popular fads of the day and not the Word of God. Most churches are catering to the carnal, entertainment desires of carnal Christians and people are losing their grip on the Word. We need an awakening of “real Bible faith” today! This ministry has accepted the challenge to help Jesus find faith on the earth when He returns. Jesus spoke to me in no uncertain term just before this economic crisis hit to “GO TEACH FAITH…in a balanced Biblical way!” In order to see this happen we must get back to basics or the ABCs of Faith. Too many ministers today teach faith teach with the wrong motives. Most of it is money motivated and God is about to release judgment on that, just watch. We need the pure, unadulterated, Word of God which produces faith taught today, not some prosperity pimp hyping people up about money. AMEN, AMEN, & AMEN!!!

WHAT FAITH IS
We have been discussing the first thing you should know about faith which is; “What Faith Is.”As we have said, one of the best ways to analyze what something is, is by contrasting what is; is with what it is not. So far we have studied that faith is not hope because hope is always future and faith is always now.
Today let’s continue to study “Faith is not mental assent.” We will also take a look at how trusting feelings often s the child of God. Mental assent is to mentally agree that the Bible is the Word, but refusing to act. Mental assent is what defeats the child of God who regularly attends church more than anything else. Most Christians are not missing it in what they believe, but in refusing to act upon God’s Word. Faith is an act! Mental assent just says; “I am blessed and highly favored” while refusing to act on the blessing that has already been provided in the Word.

UNDERSTANDING MENTAL ASSENT
• Mental assent agrees 100% that the Bible is true.
• Mental assent agrees that Jesus is the Son of God.
• Mental assent agrees that Jesus was raised from the dead.
• Mental assent will say I believe the Bible from Genesis to Revelations
• Mental assent is beautiful, BUT IT WILL NOT ACT ON THE WORD.

FEELING VS HEALING
Here is a way to test mental assent vs. real faith. Try this sometimes. The next time you are with a believer politely ask the person if they believe in healing. Most spirit-filled believers will immediately say, Yes! Amen! Sure I believing in healing! After they settle down ask the person; Are you healed? Now starts the clearing of the throat and the religious rhetoric; Well brother Smalls, I am trying to get my healing, but I am still sick. So, let’s think about this. You believe in healing, but you are not healed. We bra Smalls I believe in healing, but I can’t make God heal me before He is ready to heal me. Listen folks, that is not faith. That is foolishness and confusion due to mental assent. First of all the Bible says; by His stripes, you are healed (1 Peter 2: 24) and Himself bore our infirmities and carried our sicknesses. Faith says; if he say I am healed, I AM HEALED! End of discussion! Yeah but Bernard, I don’t feel healed. Let me ask you a deep question; What does faith have to do with your feelings? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! Do you feel saved? The manifestation of feeling and healing follows faith, not the other way around. Most believers are dominated by sense knowledge and not by the Word. The Word says we walk by faith, not by sight (2 Corinthians 5: 7). Sight could have been translated “senses”. We walk by faith and not by the senses, so what world does feeling have to do with your healing. Healing is received by faith, not feeling.
The woman with the issue of blood in Mark chapter 5 is a great illustration of this. The last thing she experienced was the feeling of her healing. She said it, did it, received it and told it!!! She operated the faith principle.
25 And there was a woman who had had a flow of blood for twelve years, 26 And who had endured much [a]suffering under [the hands of] many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was no better but instead grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports concerning Jesus, and she came up behind Him in the throng and touched His garment, 28 For she kept saying, If I only touch His garments, I shall be restored to health. 29 And immediately her flow of blood was dried up at the source, and [[b]suddenly] she felt in her body that she was healed of her [[c]distressing] ailment.
Mark 5:25-35 (Amplified Bible)


Notice the last thing she experienced was “she felt in her body that she was healed”.
Why was feeling the last thing she experienced? Faith had to come first. Faith is simply taking God at His Word. Faith is not a feeling, it is a spiritual force. It will produce feeling, but it is not a feeling. Faith will make you feel good when your body is healed, your needs are met and your life is victorious! But it is not a feeling! The feeling and the healing (manifestation) follows the saying and the doing (faith)! You say it by faith when you feel nothing or even feel terrible and you act like what God has said is true. This is so simple that a child can understand it yet most children of God struggle with grasping it.

Here are the four principles to break through mental assent:
1) Say it! – Start saying what the Word says regardless of feelings.
2) Do it! – Act you faith. Faith without corresponding actions is dead.
3) Receive it! – Not in manifestation only but by faith!
4) Tell it! – Praise God for the answer in advance and testify to others.
If you continually practice and do these things by faith, how can you operate in mental assent? Bible faith leaves no room for mental assent.