Welcome to the Quality Christian Living Podcast.
Once again, I am your host, David Friend. We're
in a series dealing with the Holy Spirit and
today's topic is The Holy Spirit Brings Unshakeable
Faith. We're going to talk about how the Holy
Spirit can strengthen our faith today and discover
how to walk in faith greater than what we've
currently experienced. We will understand the
difference between faith and unshakeable faith
and where does the Bible show us how to receive
and maintain greater faith. Well, there's a lot
to cover but we're just going to ask the Holy
Spirit now to come in and help us and guide us.
Heavenly Father, I come to you once again and
ask for your touch, that you would anoint this
podcast, that you would bless it, and I ask the
Holy Spirit to take charge, to take control as
I yield to him. All that I've put together and
everything that we've come up with, Lord, it
will be of no value unless the Holy Spirit anoints
it and touches it. And I also lift up those who
are listening in today that you would bless them,
that they would receive what they're looking
for, greater strength in their prayer life and
greater faith than they've ever known before
and understand how the Holy Spirit will bring
unshakable faith, faith that is absolutely not
impacted by circumstances. So Lord, I believe
this is going to be a wonderful podcast that
will help a lot of people provided I yield and
submit to you. I pray now you would bless those
who are listening in, and I'll be careful to
give you the praise and the glory and the honor
for what you're about to do and how you're going
to touch and bless lives, and I'll thank you
for it now. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Well,
today we're going to look at a lot of different
areas of the Holy Spirit, bringing us powerful,
greater faith than what we have ever imagined
or even thought possible, and we're going to
look at how many of us want to have unshakable
faith. Now, some people think, well, that's impossible.
No, it's not impossible because the Bible tells
us that we can be anxious for nothing, that we
don't have to worry about anything, that we can
bring everything to God. And so if we allow ourselves
to be led by the Spirit of God, I believe we
will experience unshakable faith. So the question
was, how many of us want to have that? Well,
we've got to decide in our own heart and mind
that that's what we desire in our prayer life
and our walk with God. You see, I defined unshakable
faith as never being anxious or worrying about
anything. Paul was one of the greatest examples
of unshakable faith that we read about in the
Word of God. The example of that would be all
the powerful scriptures that he wrote under incredible
pressure when he was in prison. He was beaten
and bruised and they were trying to kill him,
starve him to death and yet he had incredible
unshakable faith and I believe he could only
do that through the power and the anointing of
the Holy Spirit and it's the same way for us
today. We all know that sometimes we need a boost
in our faith. Now if you don't feel that way,
well then maybe we ought to humble ourselves
a little bit more and say that all of us have
wished that we'd have more faith and I certainly
believe there were times in my life that I wish
I had more faith and those things pop up when
you never expect them. The Bible shows us that
there are many different levels of faith. I've
talked a lot of this about this in prayer podcasts
on having faith for miracles and having faith
to believe for things that are not as though
that they are and these are all part of this
series that we're talking about on Holy Spirit
led prayers and on Holy Spirit brings unshakable
faith and the Holy Spirit leads us and guides
us into greater faith. You see, the Bible talks
about little faith. It talks about great faith.
It talks about mountain -moving faith. We all
go through times of a lack of faith. The secret
to having great faith consistently is to surrender
to the leading of the Holy Spirit. God's Word
shows us the best source of unshakable faith.
that lives inside of us. It's the Holy Spirit.
As Christians, we have that unshakable faith
living and dwelling in us because it's the person
of the Holy Spirit who lives and resides in each
one of us. So if that powerful faith is in us,
why can't we receive it? Why can't it come out
in our heart, in our mind, in what we speak and
what we say and what we pray and what we have
faith for? Because I believe it can. It is obvious
that I'm referring through this whole podcast
to the Holy Spirit. He has the power to take
us to great faith, to greater faith, to unbelievable
faith, unwavering faith. We must never forget
though that God's promise to his followers is
that he wants to bless us. He's given us hundreds
and hundreds of examples of promises that he
has for us, and those promises come and are fulfilled
when we operate and submit ourselves under the
leading and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We see scriptures all over the place talking
about the power of the Holy Spirit. Let me pull
this one out that I found. very interesting the
other day, found in Zechariah chapter 4 and verse
6. It's not by might nor by power, that's referring
to man's power, but by my spirit says the Lord
Almighty. So we can't force ourselves to do things.
You know, it reminds me of years ago when I was
first diagnosed with incurable cancer. I've had
that several times, fought some amazing battles
and God's brought me through every single time.
But a lot of people, when they win the battle
over cancer, they try to take credit for it.
They say, well, I'm not gonna let that do that
to me, I beat it, I beat it, and people say,
you beat it, and I would never ever acknowledge
that any cancer that's been defeated in my body
that I beat it. It's the power of the Holy Spirit
inside of me that gave me the ability to go through
it, through the circumstances, and it's the healing
power of Jesus that took that cancer from my
body. So we must never take credit for things
that we accomplish in our life. It's only by
the Spirit that really great things are done.
So read Zachariah once again, four and six. not
by might nor by power, that's man's power, but
by my spirit, says the Lord. That really means
that only the Holy Spirit has what we need when
we need it and how to have unshakable, unwavering
faith. Now, to have greater faith, we must ask
the Holy Spirit for help. We can pray for strength,
for stronger faith, for unmovable faith, provided
we surrender our strength to Him. and his strength
and his power and we must never forget that powerful
unmovable faith is a promise from God. He desires
that his followers will be led by the Holy Spirit
and he desires for his followers to have great
faith, unshakable faith. I hope that you're enjoying
this as much as I'm enjoying speaking because
I really feel the presence of the Holy Spirit
just all over this podcast today and so I believe
he's lifting hearts, he's helping people, he's
encouraging them, he's blessing them, he's telling
them that they have hope and a future and a plan
for their life has been designed by Him and I
pray the Holy Spirit will reveal that to those
who are listening and in Heavenly Father I just
want to lift up those listening right now Father
that you would open their hearts and let them
to receive Father the understanding of how the
The power of the Holy Spirit that dwells inside
of them is greater than anything that they'll
ever face in their life. And that power is far
greater than cancer, far greater than sickness
or illness or financial issues or marriage issues
or kids going astray, whatever it might be. And
that they have that power and that strength that
they can draw upon to have greater faith, to
have greater strength in their prayer life and
have unwavering and unshakable faith, Father,
like the Word of God tells us that we can have.
And I pray you'll bless them with that. Jesus
name. And for those who are listening in who
don't know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior,
I would be making a big mistake if I don't take
just a moment right now to tell them that this
is the time to surrender their life to the Lord
Jesus Christ. So if you're not sure, if you're
not positive where you're going to spend eternity,
if you're not positive that heaven is in your
future, that when we pass from this life to the
next, that you don't know where you're going
to go, we can settle that right now. So those
of you who've never given your life to Christ,
just repeat this prayer with me. I'll take just
a moment to do this, but I really feel that of
the Holy Spirit that this is the time. Say, Heavenly
Father, I need you. The Bible tells me that I
need a Savior. I need to make Jesus Lord of my
life. But I've sinned and I've fallen short of
his glory. So this day I repent of my sins and
I ask Jesus to forgive me and cleanse me from
all unrighteousness. And I receive Jesus as my
Lord and Savior. And I believe that he was born
of the Virgin Mary. He suffered. He died through
that horrendous crucifixion. But He rose from
the dead so that we could have eternal life with
Him and He sits by the Father now. So I receive
and I claim Jesus Christ as my Lord and my Savior
and I promise to serve Him all the days of my
life. In Jesus name I pray. Amen. If you prayed
that prayer, I'm telling you it's been settled.
Your relationship has changed and now you're
a follower of Jesus Christ. You need to find
a good church, get into the Word of God, get
a good Bible and start reading the Gospels, Matthew,
Mark, Luke and John and read the book of Romans.
These are powerful. scriptures that will help
you in your walk with God, but you've got to
get around fellow Christians and fellow believers.
Okay, we're going to move on, but it wouldn't
have been right for me to go past that moment
and not give people an opportunity. We never
know how many people are listening in just because
they're curious about the Holy Spirit, they're
curious about what the word faith means, and
they're listening in, but they've never surrendered
their life to Christ. And those of you who are
listening in today, if you have friends who don't
know Jesus, or you're not sure what the relationship
with the Lord is, make sure that you do. Make
sure that you ask them if they've given given
their life to Christ, if they know that they're
going to spend eternity in heaven, and if they
don't, then you can lead them in that prayer,
a prayer that just tells them to confess their
sins and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior, and
then help them to be discipled and get into a
church and get the Word of God into them. So
I guess the Holy Spirit wanted us to have a little
session here on that right now, so I feel perfectly
comfortable now to move on. I believe the Spirit
of God is pleased with that. All right, now in
the Bible, let's get back to our topic today
on how the Holy Spirit brings us unshakable faith.
In the Bible, in Romans chapter 10 and verse
17, the New Living Translation, it says a few
words that are so powerful. It simply says this,
faith comes from hearing, that is hearing the
good news about Christ. So what that means is
we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.
We have the faith to receive Him because by faith
we come to Him and it's by grace that we're saved.
So our faith and God's grace comes together and
we're born into the kingdom of God. We're born
again and we receive Jesus as Lord and Savior.
Now once we receive our faith, in Jesus Christ,
then we receive the infilling of the Holy Spirit
and we then get into the Word of God and where
it starts to become... taught and inspired by
the Word of God. Listen to this scripture here
that talks about what the Word of God has to
do to help us. In 2 Timothy chapter 3, verses
16 and 17 in the New International Version, it
says this. I'm going to read it slowly because
I think it's so important we just salivate on
each word. All scripture is God breathed. Wow,
you could stop right there and realize that's
the Holy Spirit who breathed those words into
Paul, into James, into John, into Matthew, and
Mark. Moses and all these people thought the
Word of God, they were inspired by the Holy Spirit
to bring words that were put into the Word of
God, both Old Testament and New Testament. It
says, all scripture is God -breathed and is useful
for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, and
training in righteousness. And verse 17 says,
so that the servant of God may be thoroughly
equipped for every good work. makes some of you
think that we're kind of moving away from the
teaching here on the Holy Spirit and having unshakable
faith. But if we don't get into the Word of God,
if we don't start reading the Word of God, the
Holy Spirit inspired Word of God, we're going
to miss out on understanding how we can have
unshakable faith through our relationship with
the Holy Spirit. Because the Holy Spirit brought
all those words to us to help us, to instruct
us, and to teach us. It says, and to rebuke us,
and correct us, and train us in righteousness.
So that's the Word of God. It's powerful. walk
with unshakable faith unless we get the Word
of God in us. I believe every time that we are
faced with a challenge, we need to find a scripture
that helps us beat that challenge or come up
to that challenge or at least confront that challenge
or defeat that challenge. And the reason I say
that is that because the Holy Spirit inspired
that word and then we need to get that word inside
of us so that we can then rely upon that word.
Otherwise, we'll not have greater faith. We will
be tossed around by every wind of doctrine. We'll
be tossed here and there. We'll run to this church
and that church and this teacher and that teacher
and we won't get solid and have a relationship
with the Word of God and a relationship with
Jesus, a relationship with other believers, and
build that Christian walk that we want so that
we can have greater faith than we have today.
All right, let's move on. Now this scripture,
and these scriptures that I've been reading today,
quite frankly, point us to the Holy Spirit, that
he teaches us, and I love it that he rebukes
us. You ever get that little voice that says,
you need to go back and apologize to that person?
Or you get that little thought in your mind that
says, I need to call my mom or dad or I need
to do this or I need to do that. I believe as
a follower of Jesus Christ, that's the Holy Spirit
telling us there's something we need to do. It
might be a slight rebuke. It might be a major
rebuke. It might be that you had a discussion
with someone and after the discussion, you just
don't feel right about it. That's the Holy Spirit
helping you. So then we need to correct that
and make it right and go back to that person
and just say, I'm sorry. feel you did anything
wrong just say I feel like I'm supposed to apologize
to you so therefore I do I want to please accept
my apology and move on with our life that's the
Holy Spirit rebuking us and helping us with our
walk with God he teaches us he helps us in and
trains us in what we should do how we should
do it when we should do it and who we should
do those things with and to now All of this prepares
us to be equipped in everything we do our desire
to do. I want to repeat that because I think
that's so important. Let me just write that down
so that I can get that, stress that to you a
little bit. That all of these things that I'm
giving you, they prepare us and they equip us
for everything that we do or desire to do in
our entire life. Because of the Word of God,
their Spirit led and the Holy Spirit who dwells
inside of us will help us to do the things that
we should do. Therefore, if we desire greater
faith, we must go to the Holy Spirit, who is
the source. of our faith. He helps us in our
faith. He encourages us in our faith. He helps
us to walk in faith. He helps us to step out
in faith, to take the challenges only faith can
give us. Now, let me give an example of that.
Many years ago, when I had a real estate development
company, my wife and I were happy. Things were
well. I was doing very well financially. We were
being blessed. We were attending our church.
We had a wonderful Sunday school class. Things
were just going really great. We had a huge Sunday
school class, had like 600 people on the roster,
and we'd have well over 300 people every week
in attendance in this Bible class at church.
It was between the church services. And it was
just wonderful. And I thought, well, this is
it. This is what we're going to do the rest of
our life, make good money, give a bunch to the
Lord, and bless other people, and teach this
class, and help people, and pray for people.
And I thought, this was it. We're done. And then
one day. Out of nowhere, I read a book on the
life of Smith Wigglesworth, a great evangelist,
and how he went from becoming a plumber at the
age of 48 to becoming a full -time preacher and
evangelist. He was an incredible evangelist.
He lived to the age of 88, and he died in 1946.
And when I read that, I was so touched because,
now some of you are going to be shocked when
I give you this next statement, I was born in
1946. I know that'll shock some of you. Some
of you think that I couldn't be more than 30
or 40 years old, and some of you know I'm pushing
80. I can tell you the experiences that I've
had since I became a... follower of Jesus Christ
are greater than any experiences I had before
that. And so I read that book, this incredible
man who went into full -time ministry, and I
was 48 years of age at the time. And I felt the
Holy Spirit tell me, if you'll go into full ministry
and stay involved in full ministry, I'm going
to bless you, and you'll be involved in ministry
and active ministry until you're going to be
at least 88 years of age, which is the year that
how old Smith Wigglesworth was when he died.
So the Holy Spirit was really dealing with me
and teaching me to make a change. And we were
comfortable in what we were doing. I mean, we
had things going right. We were serving the Lord.
Our marriage was just phenomenal. And at the
time, we'd been married for 28 years. And I remember
after reading that book, going to dinner that
night with my wife, we were on the beach over
in California. And I remember telling my wife,
you know, honey, I felt the Holy Spirit speak
to me today. And I think we're supposed to close
our company down, shut it down, and go to work
for the church for free. And she started crying
in her tears and her eyes. And I thought, oh,
it's OK. It's OK. We don't need to do it right
now, because I thought maybe I would shock her
a little too. And she said, no, no, no, I'm just,
I'm crying because I'm happy. She said, when
I was a little girl, I believe the Lord told
me that I'd be married to a pastor or preacher
someday. And when she said that, I was touched
because we'd been married for 28 years. I'd never
heard that. And think about it. Why would she
tell me that when I was a banker for a number
of years, then a real estate developer for a
number of years? Things were very successful.
We were in church. Everything was wonderful.
Why would she share that with me and condemn
me or put me through difficult times? So I thought
she was very loving to hold that back and hold
onto that promise. Well, when we did that, we
went into full -time ministry. And when they
made that transition, I said, Lord, I'm going
to need something to carry me through this. And
the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, get to
the book of Proverbs and read Proverbs chapter
3 and verse 5, trust in the Lord with all your
heart, lean not on your own understanding, in
all your ways acknowledge Him and He'll direct
your path. That scripture absolutely led us through
the huge transition from our business going to
work for the church, get rid of our expensive
home because I couldn't afford a big house like
that anymore and our cars had to be changed and
our travel plans all stopped. Everything changed
in our life and we were so thrilled about it
and so happy about it because the Spirit of God
says, I've got something better for you. And
since that time the Lord's blessed us with a
wonderful church. The Lord allowed us to build
a beautiful church in North Scottsdale. At one
time the attendance of that church was running
over 2 ,000. and people, we had three locations.
And what a blessing it was because the Holy Spirit
spoke to me in the midst of when I think everything
was gonna go great, but then He didn't just speak
to me, He gave me a source of strength. He gave
me the scripture that would carry me through.
And some of you may have needed that. I don't
know why I went in that direction. I had no intentions
of talking about this story, but I believe the
Holy Spirit gave me that. So some of you out
there are thinking about making a change. You're
wondering about whether you should change jobs
or switch things or move to a different city
or buy a new house or not buy a new house or
whatever it might be, you want to make decisions,
I'm just going to tell you, pray about it, seek
God, get the word of God out, find scriptures
that speak to you, and allow the Holy Spirit
to guide your steps, and you'll never regret
that. I guess there's an old saying that says
time flies when you're having fun. Well, I'm
finding this fun. I'm finding this encouraging.
I hope that you're being blessed. I hope you're
receiving this and I'm speaking from my heart
and I believe the Holy Spirit is leading and
guiding us in this particular podcast especially.
So in closing, unshakeable faith is not impossible.
Remember what Paul said in Philippians chapter
4 and verse 13. All things are possible through
Christ, he said. Christ the one who strengthens
us. Unshakeable faith is when we learn to live
above what we are going through and look at what
we will go to. Now let me stop for a second.
to have unshakable faith, when you go to a challenge,
they're tough, they're difficult. I've faced
some incredible challenges in my life. I've had
death sentences given to me by the doctors that
you're only going to live so long. I've had that
happen two, maybe, I guess three times if I throw
in the loss of the kidney. And when I think about
that, that I could have been lost in that and
lost all that God had planned for me and not
being able to do things. I would have never started
podcasting. I would have never stopped writing
if I would accept what they were saying, but
just had to believe in what God had to do with
me and that He had a plan for me. And we've all
got to believe that. We've all got to receive
the power of the Holy Spirit working and operating
us and believe that He's able and willing and
desires and wants to do that for us and in us.
Only the Holy Spirit is able to bring greater
unshakable faith. to each and every one of it.
He is the only one that can do it. So if you
want to read a book where just do this and do
this or have this diet or exercise a certain
way and you'll have greater faith, don't buy
that. It's only by the Spirit of God. It's not
by might or by by. by power, but by my spirit,
says the Lord. And that's how we will have unshakable
faith. So I'm going to pray for you now, and
I'm going to believe that God's going to give
you unshakable faith. Maybe not instantly. It
might take months, weeks, years. I don't know.
But if that's what you desire, just listen. I
was going to say close your eyes and bow your
heads, but you might be riding a bike or you
might be walking, so you can't do that. But those
of you who are listening in right now, just receive
this prayer now. Heavenly Father. The people
that have listened in today, Lord, you know they
desire greater faith. They desire a closer walk
with the Holy Spirit. They want to understand
that the Holy Spirit that dwells in them has
greater strength than they can imagine or even
think. So Father, I pray now that you would bless
them now. That you would let them be blessed
in every area of their life. Father, that they
would walk in strength and power and trust in
your word. That they would understand, Father,
that greater is he that is in us than he that
is in the world. And they would understand that
the word says that Nothing is impossible with
God. So Father, I just pray in the name of Jesus
for an outpouring, an outpouring of the Holy
Spirit in the lives of people listening in, that
they'll receive unshakable faith. They'll read
the Word of God where Paul says to be anxious
for nothing and don't worry about anything he's
saying, that they'll receive that and the anxiety
will go away and their trust and their confidence
will be in you and not in others and not other
situations. But Lord, I believe that's going
to happen in their lives so I believe for that
and I claim it in the name of Jesus. I call forth
those things in their life that are not, that
they've been looking for, that they need to have
happen in their life. I call them forth as though
that they are. That's just a quote from the Word
of God from the Apostle Paul. And Father, I believe
that for their life and I pray they'll receive
an anointing. Father, and a powerful anointing
of the Holy Spirit would guide and direct them
and lead their steps and help them, Father, to
be more than overcomers, more than conquerors,
Father, and live a great life filled with faith,
unshakable, unwavering faith. And I believe for
that in them, and I pray that that will start
even at this moment right now, for we ask it
in Jesus' name, I pray. Amen. Well, once again,
I hope that was a blessing to you. I can't imagine
enjoying doing a podcast more than I did this
one, and I pray that you would just continue
to be with us and stay with us as we continue
this series. Our next podcast is going to be
entitled, Holy Spirit, Faith and Power. Now it's
kind of a little choppy in that title, but just
stay with me because we're going to get into
something. We're going to talk about how the
Holy Spirit brings greater power than we can
even think about. In the next podcast, we're
gonna see how the Holy Spirit brings faith and
power together, and that we'll learn that from
the life of Stephen, as we read about him in
the book of Acts chapter 7, and we'll better
understand how faith and power bring great results,
and how can we be full of the Spirit like Stephen
was. Boy, what a... powerful comment that is.
We're going to get into that in our next podcast.
Well, I encourage you to invite your family and
friends to join us for this upcoming podcast.
If you'd like to know more about Quality Christian
Living, I would encourage you to go to my webpage
at davidcfriendauthor .com and when you go there,
the very front page, it talks about Quality Christian
Living and the front page has a link to all my
podcasts and this is podcast number 322 and so
I really believe that you can tell that there's
been a lot of podcasts we've covered and there's
There's topics there dealing with how to get
out of debt, how to walk in the Spirit, how to
experience miracles in your life, and how to
have faith for miracles. There's issues there
dealing with how to find your purpose in life.
There are just a number of topics that we've
covered over the last nearly four years now we've
been doing these podcasts. So I would encourage
you to do that. And if you would like to, after
you look at that link that's on there to those
podcasts, just scroll down one page and you'll
see a list of books that I've written. I hope
that'll be a blessing to you. I've got some books
there, a couple of them on for because I'm a
Vietnam veteran, so there's books there to help
veterans with PTSD and problems with exposure
to Agent Orange and things that will help them.
In addition to that, there's about it, I have
a book there entitled Generosity, What's in it
for Me, because that's on the premise that give
and it should be given into you. There's a book
on faith entitled Receive Everything from What
We Call Nothing, and so it's really the premise
of calling forth those things that are not as
though they are, so I hope that'll bless you.
In addition to that, if you'd like to subscribe
to my podcast, you can do that by going to cp
.com. Well, once again, I hope this has been
a blessing to you and before I close this podcast,
I'd like to give you a little blessing. Now may
the Lord bless you and keep you. May his face
shine upon you. May he be gracious to you and
give you peace. May you prosper and be in good
health even as your soul prospers. So until next
time, may God richly bless you. May you walk
in unshakable faith. May you receive the power
of God in your life. have greater faith and greater
trust in God and walk filled with the Holy Spirit.
As we continue these series, I know the Lord
has something very special intended as we've
got a lot of topics yet to cover. So I pray that
you'll be richly blessed. Once again, I want
to thank you for listening to Quality Christian
Living. This has been podcast number 322, The
Holy Spirit Brings Unshakable Faith. Thank you
once again for listening.