First Faith Produces Identity
by
Richard Hays

Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see." (NIV) (The traditional translation in Spanish says, "Faith is the certainty.") I want to lay down some foundations to explain what I want to say here. We need to understand that everything that happens in the Kingdom of God happens through faith! Faith plus key concepts, faith plus biblical concepts cause a great change in our lives if we can have "certainty." Hebrews 11:1 tells us "Faith is certainty," now, we must understand that faith is not hope it is certainty. "First Faith" must be exercised. I am inventing a new phrase "First Faith!" "First faith" is where we first direct our faith.
I want to use an illustration. Microsoft is the biggest software company in the world, and the owner's name is Bill Gates. It has been declared that Mr. Gates is the richest man in the world. If I were to make a phone call to the Microsoft Company saying that I want them to sell me 30% of the company, do you believe that they would sell it to me? Of course not! The first thing that they would ask is who in the world are you? You are just an American that lives in Monterrey and you speak a lot of Spanish; but who in the world do you think you are that we should sell you 30% of the stock of our company just because you tell us to. They would correctly conclude that we do not know you and we will not sell it to you. Now, lets suppose for a moment, that Mr. Gates came up to me and says, "Mr. Hays, I want to adopt you as my son. Here are all of the legal documents, you only need to sign here, saying that you are in agreement and you want to be my son." I sign the papers, and something happens the very moment that I sign them. I make my will known, and I declare that I am the son of the richest man in the world. Consequently, I am this mans son, with an inheritance. Then he tells me, Richard, as my son, I want to place you as CEO of the company, and I say, "Thanks, dad," and then I pick up the telephone and I say, "I want you to sell me 30% of the Microsoft Company. Now, what will they do? They will sell it to me! If they do not, I will fire them.
This little illustration shows us why many Christians do not receive anything from God. Many Christians are like me before receiving the inheritance from Mr. Gates. You are shouting, "I want this!" "Give me that", rebuking the devil, but you do not know who you are. In the illustration, if I were to call Microsoft and I tell them that I want them to sell me 30% of the company and they ask me who are you? I will tell them, "let me tell you who I am! And I will tell you what I will do if you do not sell it to me, I will have your job by the afternoon!"
This is what I am talking about when I say "First faith." First faith is always designed for you to accept your identity or your inheritance first. Once you legally possess your inheritance or identity, you can make the phone calls you want and you can exercise orders as you desire, because you are possessing your inheritance, which is to say, what God has given you. It is God, not Bill Gates that has told you, "today, I want for you to be my son." I tell him, "It is impossible for me to be your son, look how I am, I do not even have your same nature," "I am just a common Joe, and you are God!" God tells me "NO!" "First, I have forgiven you and I have taken away all of your sins. Secondly, You were born again and you have my nature. And thirdly, I have obeyed all of the requirements of the law, so you can be totally accepted and you can have authority and power."
This is what we call the "New Inheritance" or the "New Testament." What I want you to catch is this: Until the moment that I accept the inheritance that Mr. Gates offers me, I do not possess anything, even though I have inherited everything. That sounds exactly like what the book of Galatians tells us: I do not possess anything, even though I have inherited everything." That is what happens with many Christians today. The Lord has offered us the inheritance, but we have not taken it, we have not believed it, we have not identified ourselves with it. Hence, we are not giving orders based in who we are, and consequently, the spiritual world and the natural world, do not pay us any attention. God is offering to us what is called "The new inheritance" or "the new testament," and He is telling us: "I am giving you all an inheritance." The first benefit of this inheritance is that we are forgiven; the second we can have the Fathers nature; the third we are given Jesus total righteousness; the forth we can have authority; and the fifth we can have power. That inheritance is mine RIGHT NOW!
Many Christians today have the attitude that says "daddy Gates, I want for you to run the business while I just sit here and watch television." If this describes your attitude, that is OK, but although you are heir of everything, you will have nothing. Many of us want for our leaders, the spiritual people to do everything for us. They do not understand the Bibles message; in the Bible, God is making YOU His son, He is adopting YOU and He is giving His authority, His resources, and His power TO YOU, so that you can take a hold of His resources in this life right now. You can rise up and change the things that are inside of you, do not wait for others to do it, but you yourself begin to do it.
Now, first faith is where I understand what God is offering me, and I aggressively take it. If we do not exercise our faith in this manner, it will never produce anything. Going back to our example. If I am not a son, no one in the company will pay attention to me. But if I am a son, the business would will listen to me in a way that you cannot imagine. That is what is happening to us in the natural and spiritual world of today.
Several of us have put "First Faith" in the new inheritance or in the New Testament. And the consequences are, that we begin to give orders in the spiritual world and they listen to us, demons manifest, healings occur, lives are being changed, economic situations are being changed because we are a kingdom that is called "more than conquerors. God is planning for us to overcome and for us to overcome Big-time!
Ephesians, chapter 3 tells us that God will fill the earth, and after that, our government (the church) will govern it. Ephesians 3:9 tells us: "To make plain to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages past was kept hidden in God, who created all things." This is the hidden mystery that is being made manifest in verse 10: "His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm." How will the wisdom of God be made manifest? Through me! The manifold wisdom of God will be made manifest through us, the church! Pay attention to what I am about to say: Who is going to know it? Rulers and authorities, principalities and powers in heavenly places.
God is depositing such an inheritance in you, that demons are being ruled over, and their activities such as poverty. You know what, poverty is disappearing from this church, (The Christian Community, International). Sickness is disappearing from this church (CCI). Why? Because some of us are exercising our "first faith". People will make fun of us, every once in a while, they make fun of me, but I continue to be what my inheritance says that I am. I continue to exercise first faith, which produces identity.
Proverbs 23:7 tells us: "As a man believes in his heart, so is he." If I want to be different, what is necessary? I need to exercise my first faith within the inheritance of what God has given me, which produces my identity. Faith is the certainty, I am certain of what? This is Jesus! That this is what Jesus did! This is who I am; this is what He has given me! As you believe in your heart, SO ARE YOU! "First faith" is obligatory; it is necessary, if you do not exercise it correctly, what happens? Nothing! That is what happens. But if you exercise it correctly, that which always has been God's goal of producing an inheritance, and you take the identity that this inheritance produces, it is impossible for it not to produce your identity. If Mr. Gates offers to adopt me and I accept it, it is impossible for it not to be. You and I need to understand "The Kingdom of Heaven suffers, violence, and the violent (the valiant ones take it by force." This is where you and I need to be an aggressive people. This is where you need to believe with certainty. Why? Because the document of the inheritance will not change. This is what God has offered us.
God is not planning to do it, NO! God is doing it! God is taking the church and He is showing the celestial powers His manifold wisdom. Demons are saying, "Watch out for those from Christian Community!" Do not allow them to enter into the Universities because they will win all of the students. "Watch out for the businessmen of Christian Community!" They get involved and leave with all of the customers. They have favor on their lives, like you cant imagine. They prosper, they tithe, do not get involved with them." God is revealing His manifold wisdom, not to the world, but to those who exercise power. He is showing his manifold wisdom over whom? God is showing His manifold wisdom to the powers and principalities through us.
Everything begins and finishes here. God's plan is to show His Glory and His manifold wisdom through the church. If you are going to be involved in what God is doing, you need to involve yourself all that you can in a local church, because that is where God is doing business. If you want God to raise up and bless your business, get into a local church. Gods plan is for professional people to get involved in Gods purposes in the local church and to be the ones who are advisors in their particular areas. Why? Because God is planning to win! You have entered a team that will win, that is where we are going. Lives, churches, families, businesses, the mass media, etc. Everything is changing for those who exercise "first faith".
"From the days of John the Baptist until now, the Kingdom of God has been preached, and the valiant ones, take it by force." They exercise great faith. Someone has to play the role of the most handsome, half bald, half chubby guy in the world, so, I will do it. Who needs to believe it? Does it matter to me if you believe it? No, not at all, I am the one who must believe it. If I believe it, soon, everyone else will believe it. That is what separates the boys from the followers or the disciples. I can believe it with you, but only you can believe it for yourself! If you are truly born again, you must conclude that your inheritance includes these four things that I mentioned in the beginning of this lesson:
I know God!
I have His nature!
His resources are mine!
I have his destiny!
These are four things that you need to be repeating, over and over and over again.

Richard Hays