The Importance of Faith

Let God Fight Our Battles

1966

	…and Lord, not only is that so, but we are a decided liability, and
we know, my God, that without Thee nothing can be done, for “except
the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who would build it.” This
morning, oh God, we admit our complete reliance upon You. And it is a
good reliance, Lord, for now our weakness can be turned into strength
and our inability can be capstoned with Your capabilities, and thereby,
Lord, we can become more than conquerors through Jesus Christ, Who loves
us.

	Grant unto us, oh God, this morning that Your Spirit bring every
thought into captivity, every spirit under control to the Holy Ghost.
And Lord, I pray that not one word shall be uttered, except it be Your
Word, for You have said, if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles
of God. And Lord, I pray, therefore, that also every ear shall also be
anointed, so that none shall hear what they want to hear, and none shall
hear except what is said exactly, and then, by the Holy Spirit be able
to understand it. 

	Lord God, I pray that not only shall every word be of You, but also the
very intonation, that the spirit shall not be of man, but truly by the
Spirit of God. Lord, this morning we know that the only measure of
success we shall have is if, in fact, if God be dealing in us and with
us. 

	And so, Lord, we humbly beseech You this morning to have full control,
to have right of way, that Your Will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven, that You, Who rules in the armies of heaven, now rule in these
armies of the earth. We give ourselves unreservedly over to You Lord,
knowing that Thou art our sufficiency. And we claim it in the name of
Jesus Christ. Amen.

1.	In Heb 11:1, we have a verse which we will use as our text, depart
from it and use scores of other Scriptures which dovetail with it. Paul
in speaking concerning faith, says that:

(1) 	Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, (it’s) the
(conviction) of things not seen.

	Now I do not use the word ‘substance’, although that is a good
word, but it’s meaning has changed over a period of years. So, we use
the more Scriptural term that ‘faith’ is “the assurance of things
hoped for,” and, not ‘evidence’ but, “the conviction of things
unseen.”

2.	Now, concerning this subject, I may say, that there is a hardly a
more important subject in the whole Bible, than of faith toward God
because the Scripture declares in the same chapter, but in verse 6 that
“without faith it is impossible to please God.”

	Now, if I were to ask you a question this morning, and I am more or
less convinced that we are all born-again believers here… If I were to
ask you and say, “What do you feel is the most important thing in this
life as a Christian?” Now you would have to say, “To please God.”
Because to please God is the one and important thing, that we as
Christians ought to entertain as our heart’s desire. And it is the one
important thing that God entertains as His heart’s desire, that His
people please Him. But the Scripture says this morning that “without
faith you cannot please God.”

3.	Now, this makes it, then, of the utmost importance to us because, if
the Scripture says “without faith you cannot please God,” then
you’re not pleasing to God without faith. It is just that simple. Now,
this would be negative, if I were to leave it there. And I could cause
you great confusion and perhaps great anxiety, if I were to just leave
it there and say, “Now, look; if you are not in faith, if you are not
walking in faith, then you are absolutely unpleasing to God.” You must
be in the faith; you must be walking in faith. 

	But let us read verse 6 the way It is written.

(6) 	But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that
cometh to God must believe that (God) is, and that He is a rewarder of
them (who) diligently seek Him.

	Now, a little exegesis here or a little analysis, now, will help us.
Now the thought is that God wants a people to please Him. They cannot
please Him without faith. Now, to what end is the faith reposed in God?
To the end that God may reward him.

4.	Now, why does God want your faith? Because God wants to do something
for you. So, this puts an entirely new light upon a relationship of
faith and God than, perhaps, we have previously seen. It is no longer
mankind attempting to persuade God to do something for him, but it is
God being displeased if man will not let God do something for him. Do
you follow me? Now, that this is a Scriptural revelation, based upon
God’s revelation of Himself to the faithful, is found in Genesis,
where the Lord appeared to Abraham and said, “…Abram; I am thy
shield, and exceeding great reward.”

5.	Now, what does ‘a shield and reward’ mean? A ‘shield’ is
‘weapon of defense or protection’, and a ‘reward’ is a
‘provision’. So, God said to Abraham, who is the father of the
faithful… And the first dynamic revelation that God gives to Abraham
is: “Abraham, I am your protector and your provider.” 

	Now, let me ask you a question, if you had a protector and provider,
what more do you want? Sure, it’s enough. That is exactly why a woman
is supposed to marry a man; strange enough it is working opposite these
days. But a woman marries a man because he is her protector, and
that’s the important one—and provider. Most people think women marry
a man because, then, she will be provided for. That’s where you women
went haywire. You wanted provision, not protection. See? Isn’t that
strange? I don’t mean you as a people here this morning, you women. I
mean women in general all throughout the world.

6.	God said, “I am your protector and your provider.” Now the reason
protection comes before provision, is it’s supposing you’re provided
for, but not protected, somebody can take away your provision. See? You
notice, God never makes a mistake the way He does things or says things.
And God is our protector and our provider. And, if you’ve got that, I
say, what more do you want? See, we lack a revelation of what faith is
all about.

7.	Faith is God’s assurance whereby you can receive from God, so that
God makes sure that you can get. Or, as, we’re all the time hoping
maybe God will do something for us, we cross our fingers right or hold
our mouth just right and say, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus” fifty times in a
row and jump a little higher than the next fellow, work ourselves up,
you may get something. That’s wrong! The furthest thing from the truth
is that God is withholding anything from you! He says, “I am not
pleased with you unless, or until, I am doing something for you by way
of protection and provision.” So, I say this morning, when did you
have the last prayer answered? When did God protect you the last time?
When did God provide for you the last time?

8.	You see, the evidence of God’s good pleasure is: Is God God to His
people? Now, if God is not God to His people, then He’s not God at
all. So, this morning, if God is not protecting you and providing for
you, then there’s something wrong. You see? God’s people must be the
center of the abundance of the Lord, not the periphery. Some are out
there getting a few drops as the ball spins around; this is not what
they call, the cotton taffy situation with God. You are in the center,
the vortex, the very center of God’s blessing, because, you see, you
are a child of Abraham. And the promise then… The revelation to
Abraham was that I am your Protector and your Provider.

9.	And God cannot be pleased with a people… And here’s where we’re
going to get it right now, and here’s where Lee Vayle gets it all the
time: God is not pleased with a people who fight their own battles.
That’s the number one trouble with every last one of us, the whole kit
and caboodle. It’s the one thing that nobody understood about Bro.
Branham. See, I bring it all in. Don’t worry. They never could figure
why William Branham let any man come in and do what he wanted, just come
in and take over, shove out somebody else, take his love offering, hug
him around the neck and say, “Oh, I love you Bro. Branham. Give me a
meeting,” and all the time putting a sword into his bowels. And he
knew they hated him. But he said, “God bless you, brother. Sometime
I’ll be glad to come. ” And he loved them all. 

	He was the only man who could walk through the cesspool of iniquitous
mankind and come out smelling like the lily-of-the-valley. Why? Because
he let God fight his battles. He… That’s the truth.

10.	I lived with that man. I was with him more than any other man in the
public eye, and that’s the truth. I know what I’m talking
about—except for his son Billy Paul. And it’s a high testimony when
a young man like Billy Paul can say, “Lee, I knew daddy had a great
ministry, but when you lived with him, and I lived with him, and knew
him as the man that I knew him, that’s something different.” 

	That’s exactly true. There are a lot of men today with ministries,
brother/sister. Oh, they lengthen legs by the power of God. They get rid
of tumors. They do. They save thousands of lives, and they are rotten to
the core. They live in sin, and they fight like a bunch of tomcats with
their tails tied together and hung over a clothesline. That’s not God,
brother/sister. 

	You know, Paul let them know about that when he preached at Lystra. He
said, “Now” he said, “Look, I’m not Jupiter, or we’re not
Jupiter and Mercury.” “Why,” he said, “we’re just men. Why”
he said, “You don’t understand.” He said, “You heathen…” He
said, “There’s a good God who gives good rain and gives you fruit
and does good things for you. He heals your sick and blesses your body
and takes care of your cities, does a million things for you. But that
doesn’t mean you’ve got God.”

11.	Fighting your battles: that’s the one thing that God wants above
anything else, and that’s the one thing He instructed Israel in,
“When thou goest to battle and you see horses and chariots and
soldiers mightier than you, do not fear because I am going to fight your
battles.” 

	And God is not pleased with the people who fight their own battles. The
last word of exhortation Bro. Branham gave to the churches was this, he
said, “If people of yourselves do not rise up to cause the people to
be hurt or confused or destroyed, the Devil will send somebody in
pretending he is accepting the Word of Truth and when he’s been there
long enough to gain confidence, then he will rise up. But,” he said,
“Remember this. Do not be drawn away with any type of infighting. Do
not be drawn away with any altercation. Treat everybody sweetly and with
love, and let God handle it.”

12.	You see, it’s too late now. There’s no use going on the grain
field today to chopping the tares out. They’re ripening. The farmer
doesn’t go out and pull out the ripened tares. He kills the green
tares. “Let them alone until the harvest,” God said. “I’ll take
care of the binding.” We must learn to let God fight our battles. And
God is not pleased with anybody who’s got enough strength to fight his
own battles. God wants you weak. That’s what Paul said: “In weakness
my strength is made perfect because it’s His strength.”

13.	Not only does God want to fight your battles, but God wants to
provide for you. I could never understand why people don’t believe in
divine healing, because if it weren’t in the atonement, so what?
It’s in the Word. I don’t care if it’s not in the atonement. I
believe it is, but I wouldn’t care if it wasn’t. It’s in the Word,
and He’s the Word, and He’s been doing it. God wants to heal people.
He wants to provide for them. He wants to give them the necessities of
life. Many people don’t realize that. 

	They think, “Well, now, let’s see. I work forty hours a week. I get
a dollar and a half an hour. That’s sixty dollars a week, and there it
is.” 

	No, it isn’t there at all. What are you cutting God out for? 

	“Say I… But I don’t see where it will come from.” 

	What do you care? Now I bet there’s not one of you this morning,
sitting in this congregation, if you knew that suddenly in your pocket
would be five hundred legitimate dollars, all yours, you wouldn’t give
a rap where it came from. But hallelujah, you’d sure spend it.
Wouldn’t you? Huh?

14.	Well, it’s the same I’m talking about; forty hours a week. I
don’t care about your forty hour week. I don’t have anybody behind
me but God, and that’s been plenty. Oh, I’m so glad I learned that
because I can actually get more of my life’s goods provided for me and
a better living just trusting Him than ever trusting a church or
anybody. 

	Years ago they’d say, “Brother Vayle, I’m going to help you.” 

	I believe it when I see it. I’m like old Luke Rader, a fellow came to
him one day and said, “Brother Luke,” he said, “I’ve got a gold
mine, and then, when I’m making money,” he said, “I’m going to
give you a million dollars,” he said, “because I believe it’s
there.” 

	And Luke said, “Have you got a nickel?” 

	He said, “Yeah.” 

	Luke said, “Well, give it to me. Thank you. I know I got this much.
Forget the rest.”

15.	Listen, the thing is that God wants to provide. Do you think I
don’t know what that is? Listen, I’ve preached in Canada with no
food in the house and patches on my patches. I don’t have patches on
my patches now, and there’s lots of food in the house. But there was a
time I had patches on patches, in the hungry thirties, and no food in
the house. And we simply got down, and we had a baby daughter, and we
had a friend staying with us, and he used to kinda sing a few songs or
something. He wasn’t really in the ministry, but he was a nice fellow,
and we kind of took care of his food problems, too. And we’d get down
on our face before God and pray, and God would bring the food in. We
never had a failure.

	God wants to provide for His people. And I want to tell you: that’s
the sorriest and the sickest mess in this world, in the eyes of God, is
to find a bunch of people who say they believe God, love God, are born
again, and then, they don’t have enough virility to have their prayers
answered, where God is doing something for them. That’s what you call
some kind of a dead fundamentalism. And believe me, it’s dead, and it
stinks. And it does because we are to be a sweet incense or a savor in
the nostrils of God; not the apothecaries ointment, you know, full of
flies. You see, the little flies spoil the apothecary’s ointment. And
God wants a people to use their faith because it gives Him great
pleasure to do things for them.

16.	Now, the first thing then this morning I want you to learn is: God
wants to do something for you. He wants to heal my body, and He does,
too. You may not believe that, but He does. Now, if you were in sin and,
therefore, you are sick this morning because of your sins, He wants to
not only heal your body, but get rid of your guilt complex, because the
Bible says, “The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord
will raise him up, and, if he done any sin, he’ll be forgiven.” See?
God wants to do things for people. That’s what He does. Not you
begging and pleading, but God wanting to. That is the basis of your
faith: that God wants to! And God is not pleased with a people that He
cannot bless. 

	The blessings of the Lord are myriad; the afflictions of the righteous
are many, but the Lord delivereth out of them all: healing all our
diseases, see; forgiving all our iniquities. As David said, “I have
been young and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,
nor His seed begging bread.” 

17.	I remember years ago, I was preaching in a town in Indiana, and
there was a fellow there that hadn’t had a job for a long time. I
don’t know why; guess jobs were kind of scarce. We had little bit of
an Eisenhower lull at that time, and oh, we had a Kennedy comeback. And
I used to blame it on the men anyway because I don’t think God was too
worried about the situation. He couldn’t get a job. 

	And I got up one morning, and I said, “Now, look here; the Word of
God distinctly says, if a man that doesn’t take care of his family, he
is worse than an infidel. Yes, the Bible teaches that; a man doesn’t
provide.” Now I said, “The Word of God also says that, a man
doesn’t work, he can’t eat. Now the point is this: if you don’t
have a job, then you can’t fulfill the Scripture that says that you
got to provide for your family, and you got to eat your own bread. So,
that means God is obligated to give you a job. You ever think of it that
way?” 

	He said, “No.” 

	He went out and got a job, then he quit that and got a better one. The
last I heard he was making money hand over fist for a fellow like him
because he never had very many capabilities. But he saw the truth that
God wanted to do something for that fellow.

18.	Now can you see a God this morning that doesn’t want to do
something for you? I believe like Dr. Bosworth. How many of you ever met
old Dr. Bosworth? Oh, he was priceless. There was a… I tell you, when
he died, I wanted to bury my hammer. That’s what I thought of that
town—when Doc was gone. He was priceless. Ned knew Dr. Bosworth. But
Doc said this, and I thought it was so wonderful. He said, “I would
sooner have a God who would say, ‘I’d like to do it for you, if I
could,’ than to have a God say that ‘I can do it for you, but I
won’t.’”

19.	Do you see? God can and God wants to. But folks, there’s a
condition laid down and, if you’re going to God credit for being God,
then you’ve got to admit that He is omniscient, He is all wise. And in
His wisdom He said, “I want to see your faith in Me and I want to do
something for you.” I don’t care what your problems are this
morning. You got a problem, I got a problem, folks it’s just as sure
as you and I are here today, that God can and will do something about
that problem if You’d just give Him a chance.

	You say, “Brother Vayle, there might be a condition to me.” 

	Who cares about condition? If you knew at the end of the road down
there, there was a pot of gold, don’t you think you’d go to the end
of that road. 

	You’d say, “Man, I’d…I’d…I’d swim through tar to get
there.” 

	Well, all right. God’s Word is bigger and better than a pot of gold
at the end of the road down there. He won’t lie. He can’t lie. Do
you know something that God can’t do: He can’t lie. Now you and I
can. That’s pretty shady talk, but we can. We’re sneaky, but God’s
not. See, God’s God. You’re dealing with the infinite: the can-do
and the can’t-do God, the can’t lie God, the
do-everything-else-but-lie God. See? So, God wants to do things for us,
and we can have things done for us.

20.	Now, not only is God displeased when we won’t let Him do things…
Now, remember that. Let’s say to ourselves, “God is not pleased
unless, or until, I let Him fight my battles and provide for me.” 

	See? He said, “Without me you can do nothing.” And we are very
nothingness people to what we should be. That’s why He said, “Shall
the Son of man find faith when He cometh?” Good question. Well, He
will, but maybe not as much as He ought to. There’ll be faith here.
See, but God wants to be good to me, see? God wants to be good to you;
He wants to do good things for me.

21.	Now, not only is this true, but let’s turn to Ephesians 5 or 6 or
somewhere in there. It’s Ephesians 6. It says in here, verse 11
reading: 

(11) 	Put on the whole armour of God that you may be able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.

	The word ‘wiles’ is the word we get our word ‘method’ from.
Does that ring a bell with any Methodists? I don’t mean to be vulgar
or crass. I just bring out a thought in the Greek: the ‘wiles’, the
‘methods of the Devil’. 

(12) 	For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, (Well, It says that.
Doesn’t it? It’s true.) but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places.

	Now, because this is so, that this is a picture or a description given
by God, It says: 

(13) 	Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be
able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand, 

(14)	Stand. (That means that’s going to be pretty rough.)

(14) 	Stand therefore, (number one) having your loins girt about with
truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness, 

(15) 	And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 

(16) 	(And) above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be
able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 

(17) 	And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit,
which is the word of God.

22.	Now, God gives us a picture of the armaments with which we are
equipped for our protection, both offensive and defensive, in our
warfare, which is not against flesh and blood. Now, you see, right away
the first part of the message comes out true: Don’t ever fight your
own battles; let God do it, see. Why? Because your battles are not Mrs.
Smith’s with her big, fat, long tongue. No sir. And it’s not Mr.
Jones’ with his vitriolic, crude, rough, spirit and his tight
stinginess. No. You may think it is, but it’s not. It’s not flesh
and blood. 

	That’s why you need God to fight your battles. Because how would you
like to tangle with…? How can you fight with your wife, if your wife
goes downtown? Fighting the air though. 

	“Wait till she gets home; wait till she gets home.” 

	Well, she may not get home. How can you fight with your husband, if he
goes out the door and goes to work? 

	“Oh, he gets home tonight.” 

	He may not get home tonight. Now you can’t fight if somebody’s not
there to fight. Can you?

23.	Well, the Bible says you don’t war against flesh and blood. So,
don’t waste your time. You need very special weapons to fight, which
is not flesh and blood. You fight… What do you fight? Principalities,
powers. That’s governments and governmental institutions of the
Devil—powers, authorities, rulers of darkness of this world and
spiritual wickedness. Whereabouts? In high places, right up in the
hierarchy. Ho, ho. You didn’t catch that one. You didn’t catch that.


	Why do you think Bro. Branham taught against organization? There’s
where your spiritual wickedness is: in your organized churches, where
men lay down their creeds and dogmas and said, “You stick by them, or
we’ll take away your pension,” and the poor preachers grovel. 

	I don’t have any pension. Ha, I may wish I had, but I haven’t got
enough, and I’m not losing any sleep either. I believe in the
Ebenezer. Is Ebenezer helper…hither to…[A few words not clear from
audio recording.]

24.	Now It says here, that you wrestle in this particular arena against
spiritual factors, and therefore, you are to take the whole armor of
God. Now, what’s the important part of your armor? 

	Well, someone says, “I’ll tell you what’s very important about
that amour of God. I tell you, I believe in having my loins girt about
with truth because you can do nothing against the truth but for it.” 

	Well, that’s very good. Well, I’ll appreciate that sentiment. 

	“Well I think the breastplate of righteousness, because when you get
identified with righteousness then you will lose all your guilt
complexes, and bless God, then you stand in His righteousness complete.
That does it.” 

	Well, that’s very good thinking too. I’m complementing myself with
your thoughts. Then the next thing, it says here, “Have your feet shod
with the preparation of the Gospel of peace.” 

	You say, “Now that preparation, get to know that Word, that’s
really the thing to do. Go off to a good Bible College and a few things
like that and…and that’s got it.” 

	Somebody says, “Well, I’ll tell you what I believe. I believe
“the helmet of salvation,” because you know you get that helmet on
there and after all the top part of the man is the head and you get that
covered with salvation you’re really going in the right direction,
you’ve got the thing solved. I’ll take that helmet of salvation any
day.” 

	Then somebody says, “No, you missed the whole point because even
Jesus Christ took the Word of God to defeat Satan. I’ll take the
Word.”

25.	But you see they’re all missing it because it said, “Above all,
take the shield of faith.” The most important part of your whole armor
is faith. But the Bible says… It says, ‘above.’ If you put things
above, it’s superior to. I’m telling you a bit of a fib, but hold on
because I’m not going to leave you stranded. But normally speaking, if
I said to you, “There are seven things I want you to go to the store
for, but above all, don’t you forget to bring back the half and
half,” you’d say, “Well, Bro. Vayle must be wanting a cup of
coffee. So, that’s what he really wants but the other things, of
course, are maybe used in the house later on, but he’s going to miss
that cup of coffee without that half and half, so that means I got to
get it.”

26.	You see, the Bible, although it sounds It’s saying that, and
although that’s good, ‘that’s good—that won’t lead you
astray’, it’s not really saying that. Because, you see, when I start
dressing, I, first of all, put on…Well, you put on undergarments.
Don’t you? And I put on my socks, and I put my shoes, and I put my…
Well, I put my trousers on, and I guess after my shoes, (I think I dress
that way, sort of sloppy.) and then I put my coat on, and then, at the
last of over it all—over it all—I put my top coat. And that’s what
this is saying. It’s saying, over all the rest of your armaments, over
the helmet of salvation, over the breastplate of righteousness, over the
girdle of truth, over the sword of the Spirit, over the preparation,
take faith—or not one works. Do you know that? That’s Bible.
That’s what It says. See.

27.	See, too many people been majoring in the wrong field.

	“Oh, bless God, I’m going to get to know this Word.” 

	You can memorize It. What good’s it going to do? It’ll do you a
certain amount of good, but it will not take the place of what the Word
mixed with faith does. Now I’m going to prove this to you, because It
says in Heb 4:2: 

(2) 	For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto (Israel that
fell in the desert): but the word preached (to Israel, who fell in the
desert) did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that
heard it.

28.	Do you know the Bible is just about as dead as the Koran, unless you
put faith in it? Do you know that? That’s true. Let me show you. Do
you realize that Noah had the message that could have, and would have,
saved the world, if anybody would’ve believed it? Do you know? Is that
the truth, or is it not the truth? Could it have saved the world? You
know it would’ve saved the world, but they didn’t believe it. But
was it the Word of God? Now, was it the Word of God, regardless if men
listened or not? It was the Word of God, but it didn’t amount to that,
except It condemned, but the only person that It did any good was Noah
and his seven, because he believed. 

29.	And today, this Word here has been preached by William Branham, the
prophet of God, more thoroughly vindicated than a Noah or an Enoch or
Elijah or even the apostle Paul, for the existing records of which we
have concerning his ministry, or even multiplied men put together. And
people still say, “Well, you really don’t have to believe it all,
you see, because, well because…” 

	Because what? What have you got to show that you almost know something?
Where’s your vindication? The Bible said the then-known world perished
because they didn’t believe the prophet, (He was prophet Noah.) and
only the hearts of the children will be turned back to the fathers.

30.	You say, “Bro. Vayle, you base too much upon a man.” 

	No, I base it upon God because God sent the man, and He put His Words
in his tongue altogether. You take your history books, as I have had
pleasure in reading a few of them. Read your ante- and post-Nicene
fathers, and read all you can, and I challenge you, that you will not
find one book of one hundred pages, to tell all that is recorded in
history concerning what God’s men have done through the ages, and I
will challenge you this morning that I can and will, write a book, if
necessary, of three hundred pages of what’s happened in Bro.
Branham’s ministry which are one hundred percent phenomenon.

31.	The Word of God, my brother/sister, has got to be believed. No Word
is void of power, but unless that Word is believed, It becomes an
instrument of condemnation. It’s time we learned to use our faith,
brother/sister. Jesus put the emphasis upon faith at the end time—not
love. Strange, but He did. The parables indicate the emphasis upon faith
at the end time not love, because at the end time He says, “As many as
I love,” they’re not loving Him, “But as many as I love, I rebuke
and chasten.” But when He comes back, my brother/sister, “Upon His
breast is written: Faithful and True Witness.” 

32.	We’ve got a very important subject here—very important. I just
want to start believing God like I never believed Him before. I don’t
mean I’m going to have to tear down buildings or rip up park bricks or
do something else. I mean it’s going to have to stand still and see
the salvation of God; stop fighting my battles. I don’t provide my own
way. God’s done that, and He’s done it liberally. I have learned one
thing: give tens you get tens, give twenties you get twenties, give
hundreds you get hundreds and give thousands you get thousands. It’s
just that simple.

33.	I wish I could translate all of my life in faith and just that
simple rule of knowing how God provides. I’d have a ministry that
you’d love, and I’d love, and God would love. He’d adore it,
because it’s all based on faith. But sometimes it’s difficult, but
it shouldn’t be because we are children of faith. It’s not difficult
for the robin to sing like a robin because it is a robin. It’s not
hard for the little nightingale to sing like a nightingale because it is
a nightingale. It’d be hard for you and me because we are not robins
and nightingales. But the Bible says we are believers, so it shouldn’t
be hard to believe. Yeah. The Word teaches us: above all, none of these
instruments that are given to you will work apart from faith. When you
use that Word, you’ve got to use It in faith. 

34.	Let me tell you a story. I don’t know if it’s going to fit in
later on or not, but I just feel led to tell you a little story.
‘Preparation of the Gospel of Peace:’ that’s the Word of God.
There was a young kid in or around Portland, Oregon somewhere, and I
don’t remember where it was exactly, but he got a… He got a
revelation from God, and God said, “I want you to go to a certain town
and open up a work for my Name.” 

	Well, if you know, that kid didn’t even know that town existed. He
shook his head, and he said, “That’s funny, I never heard of that
place.” 

	He looked on a map, and there was the place on the map. Why he said,
“Hallelujah, this is…this is phenomenal; it’s super-phenomenal.”


	He called the people together, and they said, “Praise God.”

	And he went down there, but it was during the hungry thirties. Well, he
looked around town and couldn’t find a building—at least he thought
he couldn’t. And after sort of beating around town, his funds got low.
“Well” he said, “I guess it couldn’t have been God after all.”


	And he went back; he went back. But you know, and this… And this
won’t call anybody here in the south, but we’re a little too far
south to make this too good a story.

35.	But the next God talked to was a little colored boy. The white boy
missed it, and He told that the little colored fellow and He said,
“You go to that town and open a work for my Name.” 

	And the little colored boy went down there, and, perhaps being a little
more humble or whatever it was, he looked around, and he found an old
garage building with grease on the floor and the doors waving in the
wind, and he said, “Well, I’ll just ask the fella if I can use this
building.” He said, “Of course. I haven’t got any money.” But he
said, “It aint worth no money; aint nobody in it anyway.” 

	So, he went and knocked on the fella’s door, and he said, “I wonder
sir, if you’d let me use your building.” 

	Well, he said, “What for?” 

	“Well” he said “for the Gospel.” And he said, “I don’t have
any money.” “But” he said, “your building’s setting idle, and
I could improve it for you, and then, when we get a little money,
we’ll be glad to pay you rent.” And so on.

	Well, the fellow said… I think as far as I know the story was pretty
much like that. And the fellow said, “Well,” he said “you go
ahead, take it over.” He said, “It’s all right, and we’ll work
something out, if you get…you know if you…if you fix the building
up.”

36.	So, the kid got in there, and he got an old scraper, and he got some
lime, some hot water, and he was in there scraping and a messing around,
with you know…winter time. But you know up there it’s not too cold,
you know, but women were still wearing fur coats, which I don’t blame
them. But that’s got nothing to do with the story. But anyway, here he
was working away, scraping away and cleaning up this old garage, getting
ready to move in, and a lady came by. And oh, she was dressed fit to
kill, mink coat and all, no less. 

	And she was kind of nosey that day, and she looked in and she said,
“What? What’s going on here?” 

	“Well,” he said, “ma’am, I’m cleaning the building up.” He
said, “Intend to move in.” He said, “because I’m gonna, I’m
gonna start…” 

	And before he got finished she said, “Well, what are you going to do
in the building?” 

	“Well,” he said, “ma’am, I’m gonna preach the Gospel.” 

	“Oh” she said, “the Gospel. Well. And what Gospel do you
preach?” 

	“Why” he said, “ma’am just the full Gospel.” 

	And she said, she didn’t know, but she was Pentecostal. She said
“Well, hallelujah, I’ve been praying for years for someone to preach
the Full Gospel to come in here.” She said, “Son, can you use some
money?” 

	Why, of course, he could use some money! So, she reached in her purse
and pulled out a hundred dollar bill, she said, “You use this to start
the work of God.”

37.	Now you see what I’m telling you. One kid was prepared as the
other when it came to the fundamentals of the knowledge of the min. But
when it came to faith, there was only one who used his preparation with
faith. And that’s exactly what we got wrong today with our Bible
Schools our seminaries and everything else in life. They have robbed the
pupils of faith. They organized them. And today you can go any place in
America and beat on the bush with a stick, and the Baptists and the
Presbyterians and the Nazarenes and all come jumping out like a bunch of
little chipmunks or nuts falling off a tree. They’re in there by the
thousands.

	You can go anywhere and start a church as long as you got an
organization behind you, and it’ll work. But God’s not in it because
it doesn’t take an ounce of faith. All it takes is energy.
Preparation, my brother/my sister: you’ve got to put faith behind it.
Just like Jesus Christ. He was prepared by God, not only his body, but
he was actually prepared in the crucibles of this life through faith.

39.	So, if you want to have the armaments of your warfare working, you
must use your faith. Again the Scripture says in 1 Jn 5:4: 

(4)	…and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our
faith.

	Why do people lack victory today? Because they won’t use their faith.
What is victory? You can’t fight your own battles; God’s got to
fight them. You can’t provide for yourself; God will bring you down.
So, what is it? It’s gotta be faith. Why aren’t people victorious?
They live under complexes. There isn’t any victory. There can’t be.
Why? “There is no rest, saith my God, to the wicked.” And what’s
wicked about this? Because it’s a walk of unbelief, and all sin has
it’s origin in unbelief. There isn’t any sin but unbelief. All the
rest are merely, what you call categorizations or departmentalization of
the one great sin, which is unbelief. 

40.	And the Scripture says: [1 Jn 5:4]

(4) 	This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

	People today would be victorious if they let God come in on the grounds
of faith. But if you won’t let God fight your battles, you can’t be
victorious. The very thing that you and I scream the most for, and cry
the most for, and fast the most for, and look to God the most for, based
upon this one thing: We just don’t let God do it. Why? It shows we
don’t use faith because, if we let God do it, shows we believe God is
going to do it.

41.	Do you know, what I got to thinking the other day, and I wondered
why Bro. Branham let God fight all his battles. And I talked to Bro.
Branham, and I’d say, “Well, Bill, the Bible says, turn it over to
Satan.” “Well,” he said, “Lee you’d better be prepared to do
just that if you are going to do it.” he said, “because don’t you
dare put your finger on it, when the going gets rough cause if God’s
going to…God’s going to hold you to it.” But he never would turn
people over to Satan. And I couldn’t figure, until after he died, why
he didn’t do it. And then I thought suddenly one day, “My God, what
would be worse than to have God for your enemy.” 

	You say, “I’m going to turn him over to Satan. He’ll do a good
job.” 

	You turn him over to God. God’ll do a better job. Did you ever think
of it? Well, start thinking about it. What would you do if God became
your enemy today? You’re finished; you’ve had it. The devil… Well,
he’s fine. He always was your enemy. That’s good, because God can
handle him, but who can handle God. See.

42.	This is the victory that overcomes the world. You want to overcome
the world? You’ve got to start using faith. There’s no other rest;
there’s no other way to do it. It’s a faith proposition. We don’t
get victory over the world, the flesh and the devil except by the Spirit
of God intervening on the grounds of faith. Again it says in 2 Cor 5:7: 

(7) 	(…we walk by faith and not by sight.)

	Don’t you know the Bible says men’s hearts are going to fail with
fear in this last day? Don’t you recall what Bro. Branham preached on
in “Knoweth It Not” that because women cut their hair, they’re
going to see locusts, as it were, by hallucination, with long hair upon
them? It’s nothing but hallucination.

43.	Already there’s a girl up north, claims she saw an ape-like animal
came out of the forest and beat on the car and tried to turn the car
over. Nothing but hallucination. What about those so-called bear tracks
of that abominable snowman and all. Nothing but hallucination. It’s
already here. Go to your institutions; there’s hallucination on every
hand. The world is full of it, hallucination or (hell)ucination. I
don’t think hell could be any more of a ravishing fire than
hallucinations. 

	When God turns the wicked into the Lake of Fire, to me that’s
hallucinations and would be as terrible a stream of fire as anything
could ever be produced, and that’s… Maybe that’s what it is. I
don’t know that God is going to burn with a literal fire. I don’t
know just what point there would be in that; maybe there is. He says,
“Fire.” I’ll let it go as fire, but there’s lots of things that
fire simply typifies. And what today is that fire burning the people
that… It’s that…that, that…place where they are walking as it
were, by their senses.

44.	And everything today encourages us to walk by our senses and not
walk by faith. You say, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the
bush.” Not if God didn’t say so. 

	You say, “I’d sooner have one beef steak in my fridge than hope to
get three more later on.” 

	Not if God didn’t say so. See, you only… We’ve got to stick with
God. How do you walk by faith and not by sight? You walk by that Word.
If the Word said so, you do it—that Word. The Word says a certain
thing, then you stand on that. Not because I say it, not because you say
it, but because God says It. And don’t ask questions.

	I used to question God about many things. The smarter I am in the
spirit, the more I find out that my smartness is just one thing: Don’t
question God; just believe God. See?

45.	Again It says: [Rom 1:17]

(17) 	The just shall live by faith.

	Live by faith! How many are living? Most of us are about half dead.
Right? Barely creeping through. Do you know what we are coming to? We
are fast approaching the day when we say, “Would God it were
morning,” at night. And in the morning you say, “Would God it were
evening.” We get up in morning and say, “My, I have a day ahead of
me, I wish it were night. I’d go back to bed.” And then night time
comes “Oh my, wish it were already morning because I just don’t know
what’s going to go on. I don’t know if I can stand it.” People go
to bed and they say, “You know, it’s funny. I woke up this morning
like I’ve been dragged through a knot hole. I feel worse than when I
went there.” Now, is that the way that God’s people should feel?
That’s not living. That’s dying. That’s sick.

	God said for you and me to inhabit the land. The true Christian shall
not say, “I am sick.” God wants something else for His people. And
what’s the trouble? They are not walking in faith. They’re not using
their faith. What is more… 

46.	Listen; let me show you something. What book thrills you? The book
written by Dr. Robertson. And let’s pretend that he is the head of
the… He’s the great bishop in the Methodist Church. I don’t know
if he is or not, and I care less. I’m just making up names about
people.

	Now Dr. Robertson said, “I was raised in a very lovely home; my
father was a fine man. He owns a distillery, but he was still a fine
man. And my mother was very sweet, and she saw that he saved twenty
percent of his net income into missions and into orphanages and all. She
had sort of a guilt complex, but she was very sweet, and they reared me
up to be a very nice child. And I was a very nice child, and I went
through childhood, not too happy that my dad, that he made liquor, but
it sure was nice the way the profits came in, and we did out best to
give them out in a nice way to help people, you see.” 

	“And then I went to college, and my mind was stirred that I ought to
serve God. So, I went through college, and I got my PhD and my ThD and,
ah, I was very happy with it. And now I have been promoted to the head
of the organization, and I go around the nation, and I go to Methodists
and I build churches and I help them.” 

	You say, “Oh, wonderful story.” [Bro Vayle claps his hands several
times.] 

	Do you call it ‘wonderful story’ and clap your hands? No!

47.	You read the story about a man like Dr. Lake who quit a fifty
thousand dollar a year job, gave it all away, gave away every cent away
he had. Then he said, “Now, God if I am to go to Africa, take me and
my wife and thirteen kids there.” And next morning a telegram comes
with money from California saying, “God woke me up last night at
twelve o’clock and said, ‘Send Dr. Lake fifteen hundred
dollars.’” 

	You thrilled with a missionary that went over there with nobody behind
him, and saw converts by the acres. You thrilled with a man that had
nothing but God and saw him do the works of God. 

	That’s what thrills you, and that’s what’s wrong with us today.
We’ve got so much of everything, but God. We stink. And we think a
dollar bill and a program will do it. Let me tell you I don’t care how
sincere you are, you’re wrong because, “except the Lord builds the
house they labor in vain that build it.” Anything you’ve done apart
from faith this morning, and I mean strict, absolute faith in God, is a
bastard kind of faith and it’ll never stand before God. It must be a
pure and unadulterated. Huh? 

48.	Do you love Him this morning? Well, He’s, quite a taskmaster, but
I love Him. But He’s a good one, and I tell you one thing, He’s a
whole lot easier than the devil, and He’s a whole lot easier than a
lot of people I know. He’s very understanding, too. And I’ll tell
you one thing: He must have been very wise to figure this thing out. And
if He’s as wise as I think He is, He did the best job possible. And He
says here, “The just shall live by faith.” And if you’re a child
of God this morning, you’re going to demand of yourself that you live
by faith. You’re going to take things out of your way that you will
live by faith, not put things in the way of your faith.

49.	I’ve seen many a preacher destroy himself because he said, “When
I get enough money, I’m going to go preaching.” I believe if God
puts a call in your heart, you’d better go. But if God didn’t put
that call on your heart, you’d better shut up and stay out of the
pulpit.

	I remember a couple of people back home, (And this is a true story.)
where I was a kid, raised up in this town in Canada, they were going to
a certain non-denominational church. They were, to the best of my
knowledge, Christians. They supposed to have had the Holy Ghost. I
don’t know that they really did. I can’t say because God is their
judge, not mine; but I’m telling you the story. 

50.	This brother said, “I am going to go preaching.” 

	And so we said, “Why don’t you go preaching?” 

	He said, “Because I haven’t decided to leave the farm yet, and I
don’t think I’ve got quite enough money. When I get a certain amount
of money, I’m going preaching.” 

	In other words he didn’t want to just lay it all aside and go out and
trust God. Now I can’t see that, not because that’s what I did,
because I didn’t really do it, I had nothing to lay aside in the first
place. I just went out trusting God with nothing to get there and not
knowing where I was going and I got there, and I’ve been doing it, and
it works, see.

	But this poor fellow, he said, “When I get enough money,” and he
was quite a wealthy farmer. He said, “I’m going to go preaching.” 

	And he kept on saying that. But one night he went to bed, he and his
wife, and the peculiar thing was that nobody knew that the flue in the
chimney, the flue, you see, was clogged up, and they turned the gas on.
They woke up on the other side, whatever the other side was.

51.	You see, if you’re going to live by faith and serve God by faith,
you’d better make sure that it is faith. Don’t get your emotions
mixed. Don’t get your ideas mixed. If it takes faith, then let it be
faith, see, because God wants us to live by faith. And “the just shall
live by faith.” And the last day into which we are entering we are
going to wish we’d used our faith, and maybe that’s why I’m here
to try to inspire you to begin to use that faith, because it is usable.

	I wondered many a time why it was that certain things never came my
way. Then I learned later on, it was because God wanted me to trust Him.
Then I learned to have Him fight all my battles. That’s the most
important thing I believe of all of it. It’s just the thing.

52.	And in Rom 14:23, It says very distinctly:

(23) …whatsoever is not of faith (to him it) is sin.

	You know, that ought to really do something to us this morning. 

	You say, “Is this thing done in faith?” 

	Paul said, don’t even eat without faith. If you can’t eat in faith
then don’t eat, if you can’t drink in faith, don’t drink. If you
can’t do a thing in faith, then don’t do it. But it must be done in
faith. In other words you must have that clear conscience. You must know
that this thing is right, and when you know the thing is right, because
it’s based upon the Word, and you step in faith, then don’t worry
about the dark corners. Just keep pressing on. We’ll talk about that
later on.

53.	But this is just an introduction this morning: It’s why your faith
is important. Why is faith important? Because without faith, you’ll
not please God. And that’s the one thing you’d better do. You
don’t please your children; you don’t please your family; you
don’t please the business world; you don’t please the devil; you
don’t please anybody. You please God. That’s what they said to
Peter. They said, “Now, just a minute now, we, you…you… you’d
just better knuckle down or else.” 

	They said, “Look here. We’re called to please God, not to please
men.” They said, “We just may kill you.” 

	He said, “Then you just may as well go ahead and do it.” 

	Say, “We don’t know what you’re going to do, or what God’s
going to let you do, because that’s the thing: what God lets you do,
that’s okay with us. But there’s one thing we know we’re going to
do: we’re going to please God.” That took faith. 

54.	And they had faith. And that’s the reason they could say to that
crippled man, he said, “In the name of Jesus, rise up and walk.” 

	They said, “What we have we give unto you.” 

	What’d they have? They had the name of Jesus and faith, and that man
was healed by the power of God because of that. Without faith, you
can’t please Him. There’s no weapon in your warfare prospers without
faith. None will work. Your best efforts will fail without faith. The
Word of God itself won’t work without faith. That Word can be preached
and preached and preached and preached and memorized. Listen to me:
don’t you know that Jewish children right today memorize whole books
of the Bible. Don’t you know there’s a fellow in Canada, (I forget
his name now.) he’s one of the biggest crooks in history. He’s a
Jew. He can quote you all of Isaiah, all of the Psalms, all of the
Proverbs, and other minor prophets. And he’s so far from God it’s
pitiful.

55.	I know of a man in Denver, Colorado, you name the verse, and he’ll
tell you what it is, and you quote the verse and tell you where it is.
And he believes at the North Pole there’s a hole in the ground and
little brown men live inside the earth, and believes in reincarnation.
Huh? Sure. I’m telling you; I’m not lying to you. I’m telling you
the truth. I know these things for a fact, see. I’ve read the
fellow’s books. I know what I’m talking about. Yeah, that’s not
it.

	It’s faith—that Word and faith. “I believe it. God said so.”
See. You overcome by faith. Defeated? Don’t fight it; let God do it.
Let God make you an overcomer. Why… How did Paul say you’re an
overcomer? Because of your union with Him. You can’t overcome; I
can’t overcome.

56.	We’re like the old colored maid. She used to like her bottle. She
liked it a little bit too well, and she was mostly tipsy rather than
topsy, and she wasn’t tiptop either. She was tipsy. Tipsy topsy was
what she was, and she got to the place where she staggered almost day
and night. Finally one day she heard from the Lord, and she got saved.
But that liquor craving hadn’t all gone out. So, one day the devil
presented himself at the door with a bottle, but she was covered. She
said, “Lord, I can’t handle this fellow, but I think You can. You
come over and help.” And He came over and took over. 

	Like the fellow who has been a drunkard, alcoholic. He said, “Jimmy,
they tell me you can go by those beer parlors now?” He said, “Jesus
and I go by those beer parlors everyday. No trouble at all.”

57.	Faith. Faith. God never said we could do it. In fact, He said we
couldn’t do it. It’s that faith, turn your faith loose. 

	You say, “Bro. Vayle, it might not work.” 

	Look, don’t you understand that you’ve already got all these
weapons here with faith. The devil can’t get you, as long as you hold
that shield up. Stand behind it. Stand behind it. That’s what God
said. Walk by faith, not by sight. Live by faith. Whatever is not of
faith is sin. That’s what it is.

58.	Well, that’s all we’ve got time for this morning. It’s after
twelve, but that’s just the thought of “The Importance of Faith”.
We haven’t even touched the subject yet. That’s just to let you know
that, we’ve got a hold of something, see. And now we want to explore
it and see what can happen. And believe me things do happen. What I
don’t know, what God might do, but I know one thing. I’ve seen
them… Well, that’s one reason why I don’t pray for the sick like I
used to, and try to exercise the gift, although I think that’s all
right. I’m for it, if it’s done right. This is why I teach the Word
because I feel, if you can get this Word, you’ve got what it takes,
see. You’ve got it, because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the
Word. 

	You say, “Does faith really come by hearing?” 

	The direction of your faith… In other words, you direct your faith
according to Word. See?

59.	Supposing today you got a million dollars, and you say, “Well,
“Bro. Vayle, that’s a lot of money. I know, but supposing I don’t
invest it wisely.”

	 You say, “I could lose it.” 

	That’s exactly right. So, what do you do? You go to a man who knows.
You say, “But nobody really knows” That’s right, but you see, the
Author of this Book really does. So, when He tells you, you can direct
your faith, see. See what I mean? How could… How could… How could it
be otherwise. You’ve got to… You’ve got to garner. See? You’ve
got to garner; you’ve got to harvest. Follow me? All right. God bless
you. 

	Let’s rise, shall we, and be dismissed. We’ll start early tonight,
and it’ll be a bit longer service.

	Father we thank You for the privilege we’ve had ministering to this
people. We believe, Lord God, that exactly as we’ve prayed has come to
pass, that every word, Lord, was the Word which should’ve been spoken
and every thought Lord was Your thought and every ear to receive it. And
now, Lord, because the ear received it, and the mind has received it,
now let the Spirit do the work which He was given to do, take over, and
that is to retain in each mind that same Word, until the Word becomes a
part of him.

	God, grant it that that Spirit now will cause Satan so that he cannot
touch it, that conditions of life cannot touch it. Spirit of God make it
now that the Word cannot be touched but become a part of each believer
this morning, until we become Word Bride in order to be united to Him,
Who loved us and is our Bridegroom. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray
this. 

	And unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be
all power and honor and glory through Christ living out His life in
ours. Amen. 

	God bless you.