Faith
What's
Faith Do For A Believer?
2Chron 20:20 tells us: "...Believe
in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe His prophets, so shall
ye prosper."
Faith assures us of spiritual success, of being established as one of the 'King's Kids'.
What's
Faith Provide?
Ephesians 6:16 says: "...taking up
the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of
the wicked"
Faith provides us with a defensive weapon against the fiery attacks perpetrated on us by the wicked, the powers of darkness.
Is
Faith A Requirement For Believers?
James 1:5-6: "But if any man
lacketh wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in FAITH,
nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is like the surge of the sea driven
by the wind and tossed."
Faith is absolutely a must for anyone who would approach God for anything.
How
Do We Find or Acquire Faith?
Hebrews 11 Tells us: "Now faith is
assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen."
The remainder of this passage talks about previous leaders, believers trusting God for the things they could not or had not seen. The important thing is that faith comes by exercising HOPE. A belief that God can and will keep His promises.
With all these statements in mind, let's discuss our use of this powerful part of the believer's life.
This little dissertation would probably better be named, How To Succeed Without Saying If.
Have you ever prayed, "Lord, IF you'll just do this or that, I'll..." Or, Maybe the prayer went, "Oh Lord, please work this or that miracle" and then said, "I wonder IF God will answer my prayer for that." Do you think maybe Jesus said, "IF I can, I'll go and prepare a place for you. Would he have said, "IF I can, I'll perform a miracle or healing." Not likely, huh?
Matthew 7:7 says: "Ask, and it shall be given you..." Matthew 21:22 tells us: "And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, BELIEVING, ye shall receive." In the previous verse Jesus said "Verily I say unto you, if ye have faith and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
In other words, without the exercise of Faith, miracles won't happen, healing won't take place and mountains won't move.
Mark
22:22-24 reiterates all this:
1) Have faith
a) First in God
2) This Godly Faith
a) can even move real mountains
b) can even move real mountains of problems.
3) Lack of Faith
a) Prevents Salvation
b) Prevents the real mountain from moving
1) if the mountain is real
2) if the mountain is a mountain of
problems
4) Over and over again the scripture reinforces the statement found in Mark
11:24 "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, BELIEVE that ye shall
receive them and ye SHALL have them."
a) You WILL have
b) You WILL receive
NO MAYBE or MIGHT but YOU SHALL, YOU WILL.
For believers, the hardest thing in the world is to pray, believe, and then not worry about the results. I suppose one of the reasons for this is that even with the exercise of faith, God sometimes says no. Instead of interpreting this no as a valid response from the prayer answerer, we often interpret the no as a negative result or failure of faith.
I think it's about time we quit believing every no God means failure. We must enjoin prayer every time with faith that God does hear, God does answer and, surprise, God does say yes many, many times. If He doesn't say yes this time it does not mean failure, it simply means that He knows more than we do. He knows that the success of a particular prayer may well rest in a 'no' answer.
What I'm trying to say is, "Pray believing that God hears and always answers and then have courage that His answer is the right answer". "If you don't use it, you'll lose it".
When I quit worrying about what the answers to prayers should be, I quit asking for so much. I found that God starting giving me more yes answers and my faith increased considerably. The result was that I found I really didn't want (or need) everything I thought I did.
I've seen folks healed, situations miraculously reversed (when nobody could see how that could happen), and incredible spiritual happenings (the things of God, not spiritism, not dark stuff). Things I read about and wondered if I would ever see personally. How? Faith.
Have Faith, brother, sister. Keep the faith!!!
