Last week I shared a story about a neighbor’s house in Israel. It was built to be a beautiful two-story home. However, when a third level was added, the original foundation, not designed to carry the extra weight, began to tilt, crack, and eventually collapse.

I also shared Christ’s blueprint on how to establish a strong spiritual foundation:

Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock. (Luke 6:47-48, NKJV)

With so many foundations crumbling around us, the need for unshakable believers has never been greater than now!

Basic Requirements

The most important message from Christ’s blueprint for an unshakable faith in Luke 6:47-48 comes in three basic requirements for strong foundational spiritual success. In these few words, Jesus gives us the three requirements for spiritual success:

1. We must come to Jesus—“Whoever comes to Me…”
2. We must hear what He is saying—“…and hears My sayings….”
3. We must do what He says—“…and does them.”

But how do we build a substantial, stable Christian life using those three requirements?

On so many occasions, I have met and counseled individuals who have come to a crossroads in their life. They cry, “Pastor, I just don’t know what to do?”

That’s a natural, human reaction to the dilemmas we all face. The answer, however, is found in those words of Jesus. He is telling us, “Come to Me. Hear what I am saying. Do what I tell you.”

How do you begin?

Spending time in the Word and in prayer is the most basic of all essentials. These are the ways to approach Jesus, to be with Him, to hear His voice.

Doing these requirements are how God begins to speak to you and reveal the steps you must take to follow Him. There is no substitute for meeting Jesus regularly through His Word and prayer.

Someone said, “Successful people do daily what others do occasionally!”

It’s true in every area of life, especially in your spiritual walk.

And as you spend time in the Word and prayer, it’s important to have a balance.

The Spirit and the Word

It is the Holy Spirit that gives life to the Word of God, and it’s the Word that gives you an essential foundation:

• The Spirit without the Word will produce fanaticism. I’m sure you have encountered people who can dance and shout before the Lord, yet their lives don’t seem to ring true? Why? There is no grounding, no anchor, no doctrine.

• The Word without the Spirit produces formalism. Scripture warns of those, “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” (2 Timothy 3:5). It is sad to hear someone in the clergy who only speaks words. We may comment, “Oh, what a wonderful speaker,” yet no lives are changed.

• The Word and the Spirit produce balance.

Years ago, I heard someone share this phrase: “If you have the Word alone, you will dry up. If you have the Spirit alone, you will blow up. If you have the Word and the Spirit, you will grow up.” What good advice!

It is God’s desire that we have both the Word and the power. Jesus said, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.” (John 6:63).  And Peter declared, “Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:21)

Some read the Bible “just to read the Bible.” It is good literature, but it must be more. They don’t absorb it or obey it. Others pray out of routine and it becomes a meaningless exercise.

Scripture says, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). Your fellowship with the Lord must never be the result of duty; it must spring from delight.

The Breath of the Spirit

Just as your words cannot travel without your breath, neither will God’s. His Word and His breath are united. Scripture tells us, “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, And all the host of them by the breath of His mouth” (Psalms 33:6).

Jesus declared, “’Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4) The word proceeds, present tense. God is speaking now.

Our Heavenly Father speaks through the voice of the Holy Spirit. He is the channel that carries God’s voice. The Spirit is the breath of God.

It should come as no surprise that when you take the Spirit out of the Word, the Bible will not touch you. The Apostle Paul said, “The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).

We know that “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Timothy 3:16).  The word “inspiration” is from the Greek word for breathing. It speaks of inhaling and exhaling. The in-breathing of God occurs when the Spirit releases the Word into our being.

Without the Holy Spirit, it is impossible to truly hear what God is saying. “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). That is why I come before the Lord, open my Bible and say, “Holy Spirit, feed me. Show me. Help me to receive from the living Word of God.”

I’ve heard well-intentioned Christians tell others, “Say it. Just say it! With His stripes I am healed! Just say it!” They fail to realize that without the breath of the Holy Spirit carrying those words, they are only sounds, only desires. God’s Spirit must be infused in those words. There must be His life!

This balance is one of the most essential of all foundational basics for believers!

Walking Through the Fire

Foundations of the faith are crucial, for when the storms come and when the earth shakes beneath your feet, will your faith hold?

I have been asked many times, “Do Christians face adversity?” On the authority of God’s Word, I can guarantee it!  There is no such thing as a storm-free passage to glory. “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God” (Acts 14:22).

God does not say, “IF you go through the flood or fire,” He says, “WHEN it happens.” The Almighty declares:

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, Nor shall the flame scorch you. (Isaiah 43:2)

Without a life anchored to the cross, every wind of false doctrine can blow you off course. Only a firm relationship with Jesus and His continual revelation can keep you from hopelessly drifting.

Scripture declares, “This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast” (Hebrews 6:19). With God, we have a firm foundation.

Ask Jesus to become your foundation and allow the truth of the Spirit-inspired Word to encompass your life and spend time with Him in prayer. Upon these foundations, your life will stand, no matter what!

My Prayer for You

In closing, let me share this request with you. I believe that this year will be an extraordinary season of unlimited power and blessing. I want you to be part of what God is doing by taking a step of faith!

This ministry is reaching the world every day, as we have done for 47 years. Together with you, we reach millions of people through television, social media, and in our recently reinstated in-person meetings.

This ministry is fertile, verdant soil—the perfect place for planting.

Whatever need you have in your life today, make the divine connection between your need and your seed.

We are told,

“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you” (Luke 6:38, NKJV).

And as I’ve shared, your seed is the key! Your breakthrough is in your hands!

Giving towards the spread of the Gospel is visible proof that you are aligned with God’s desire to bring salvation and healing to the world during these end times.

Will you prayerfully ask Him what you should plant today? Then, sow your most generous financial seed so multitudes can hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As you do, remember our Father’s glorious promise to both tend to your need and multiply that seed as you sow it.

I am eager to hear from you very soon, and I pray that your gift will bring multitudes of lost souls to the cross. At the same time, I pray that your seed-gift will be multiplied into a vast harvest of financial blessings in your own life, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!

I want you to know that I love you deeply, my precious partner, and I pray for you and your loved ones daily.

I can’t wait to hear from you!

With heartfelt thankfulness for all that you mean to the Kingdom and me,