Word pictures are good teaching tools.  When Moses was on the mountain for forty days receiving the Law from God, the people turned away from God.  “They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it (Ex32:8).  Those are the people for which God established the Commandments.  Those are the people that were overthrown in the wilderness.  We, as believers, are to learn from them: not to be idolaters, not to be fornicators, not to tempt Christ, nor murmur or to lust after evil things (1Cor10:5-11).  We are to crucify the flesh with its passions and lusts.  We are to mortify the deeds of the flesh.  We are to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.  We are to live by faith. 

            It is not enough to know how to speak to the mountain.  It is not enough to know how to bind and loose.  It is not enough to fast and pray.  It is not enough to know scripture.  We must learn to live in the Spirit.  We must learn to obey God’s inner voice.  We must learn how to partnership with God.  Unless we get alone with God, learn to hear the still, small voice, learn how to move in the Spirit and speak and act as he leads, no formula will work against sin, sickness, disease, poverty, lack, accidents, turmoil and chaos.  Unless our words and actions proceed from the Spirit aligned with the word of God, we will live ineffectual lives.  There will be no victory.  There will be no power.  There will be no miracle.  There will be no healing or deliverance.

            What “living by faith” means is that obedience to God is better than sacrifice.  When God impresses upon us to do something small or great, we must learn to overcome the tendency to weigh our actions against public opinion.  We must learn to make God our number one priority regardless of other considerations.  We must learn to act from faith and not merely from rule, ritual, or routine.  St. Paul’s prayer in second Thessalonians says ‘may God by his power fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by faith.’  When we partnership with God and begin living by faith is when we begin to see God fulfilling our intentions.  If we stay safe under justification by law, thinking that God honors our works, we fail to recognize the value of Christ’s redemption.  We are made righteous by faith not by the works of the law.  Unless we come out from being under the law we are still in our sin and subject to all the curses associated with sin.