I want to pass on to you what I have experienced, a dynamic faith from a life committed to Christ. For over 60 years I have lived and live to fulfill the command of Romans 12:1, offering my life in 'reasonable service'.
Showing posts with label when you believe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label when you believe. Show all posts
We all accept the need of faith in our lives especially as without it we cannot be saved, but the kind of faith which moves mountains is different. It is a real gift (see the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12), but also it is demonstrably necessary to those who are called into service. It must be a vital part of our experience if we are to engage in spiritual warfare. The believer who has not yet moved a 'mountain', has not yet begun the real task of the ministry because Jesus went on to say that 'nothing is impossible'.
So often we are limited by our faith and our inability to believe God. How often are we within sight of everything we are desiring, often with earnest prayer and with the clear knowledge that God HAS promised... yet that final step is not taken, we don't go in and possess the land. It occurs in the realms of healing, finance, evangelism and missions, possibly even revival, certainly in most areas of our lives, and especially our service for God.
Believer YOU are so near to the fulfilment in your own life! Why look at the problems which make the fulfilment impossible? Look at Him and then go in and claim the land! Begin to act in the power and authority of your faith. So many times I have had to face the impossible and seen God move in power, and I challenge you to begin to do it yourself!
I have written in my office, 'Think God, think big!' How big is your God? My God has the greatest power in heaven, earth and the whole of creation. There is nothing He cannot do! For my God there is no miracle too big, no question too hard, nothing is impossible. The Bible says that the things which are impossible with man are possible for God.
It takes faith to possess all that God has given and act on it. Real faith does not come easily, it is a specific gift from God through the Holy Spirit and you can ask for it, as I do. First, you must come into an experience of receiving the Holy Spirit, then you can receive His gifts. In 1 Corinthians 12 there are nine gifts. One is speaking with other tongues, when you receive this, why not also ask for the gift of faith? If you will fight this spiritual battle, God will give a miracle - but choosing to have miracles is the hard way! Not many people have the faith to fight this battle and win. Spiritual warfare is not merely against the devil, it is also when you fight your own unbelief. My God answers prayer. If you are totally convinced, God CANNOT fail. But it takes a lot of faith to believe God to work miracles.
I want you to be the strongest believers anywhere in the world: people with fire, people with power, people who pray, people who will change the world!
When there is a crisis in our lives our only hope is Christ, our only strategy is prayer. You - we - have to get an answer from God! When Jesus was on the earth, people asked Him direct for what they wanted. - We have to do the same, but through prayer. We have to learn again the power and effectiveness of prayer. We also have to learn how to get an answer to our problems.
Mark 11:22-23 is so revolutionary, so powerful, it will change your life! Jesus said: "Have faith in God!" Did you hear? - Have faith in God! Then He said (v23): "Truly I say to you, whoever you are, look up, see the mountain over there - if you have got faith in God, you will say to that mountain 'be cast down into the sea' and if you don't doubt in your heart but believe that what you say will happen, you shall have whatever you say!" Wow! If you really believe what you say, you will speak - and the mountain will move! Whatever you say, if you speak with faith and authority, and don't doubt, you will be healed, your family will be blessed, your financial burden will move - even if these things are mountains in your life!
Do you want God's blessing, healing deliverance? If you believe what you say, and don't doubt in your heart, you will have the answer you are looking for! Jesus said it! Do you have mountains in your life? Have faith in God! Command them to go! God's in the business of moving mountains! But you must declare (and actually believe, with no doubts), that in the Name of Jesus, they shall be moved!
We've got to begin to understand the positive! Too often we fill our minds with negatives! Speak words of faith and victory - then the mountain will move!
If you are sick, I want to help you pray. But first let me just say, I believe that with God prevention is better than cure, and we should not abuse our bodies, which can cause sickness. Often when people ask for prayer I can recognise, without being a doctor, that their problem is due in part to a wrong lifestyle. If you smoke, you are likely to get lung cancer; if you put on excessive weight, you increase the risk of diabetes and heart problems; these are medical facts. We have a responsibility to take proper care of ourselves. Yes, God can heal you, but I recommend that a healthy diet can often mean prevention, and can promote health and healing.
I want to say clearly: sickness is not part of the cross we must carry. Healing is part of our redemption: 'He was wounded for our transgressions… And with His stripes we are healed.' And nor is sickness God's punishment for our sin or the sins of our ancestors: just as God forgives sin, He wants to heal you. When Jesus healed the blind man the religious leaders asked, "Who sinned, this man or his parents?" Jesus said neither! Healing is for God's glory!
Jesus wants you to live in health. In Luke 5:12-13 a man with an advanced case of leprosy came to Him, fell to the ground and said, "Lord, if You want to, You can make me well again." Jesus reached out and touched the man, saying "I want to. Be healed!"
If you want God to touch you, fight for your healing. Stand up and fight! Fight the old devil! Where does sickness come from? If there were no devil, there would be no sickness! The Bible is very clear, 'resist the devil and he must flee!'
If you want healing, put your hand where the sickness is and say this prayer with me:
I know Jesus is alive, I believe the Bible, God cannot lie! Your Word says Jesus took my sickness and healed me - and I take my healing by faith. In Jesus' Name I will fight in prayer and in the Word of God until I am healed! I command you devil, get out of my body! My body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit. Devil, get out of my life, my home, my family! In Jesus' Name I defeat you devil! I will live in victory until Jesus comes! Amen!
The Bible says in Revelation 12:1 'And they overcame the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony.' Confess healing Scriptures every day; they will bring you health and healing!
Exodus 15:26 He is the Lord my God who heals me. Psalm 118:17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. Isaiah 53:5 He was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities: the chastisement of my peace was upon Him; and by His stripes I am healed. Matthew 21:22 Whatsoever I ask in prayer, believing, I shall receive. Luke 17:19 I will arise and go my way, my faith has made me whole.
Not every experience can be 'prayed' away. When God's heavy hand is upon you, nothing can change the path He has chosen, even though it is one we would never have taken. If after all your praying you've ended up some place and you don't know why, that place is where God intended for you to be. God will do what is appointed for us in accordance with His plan; therefore we'd be wise to submit to it. It must be as God wills. Scripture teaches us 'Whatever God does is final; nothing can be added or taken from it' (Ecclesiastes 3:14).
Jesus too was in agony and tried to pray away the path chosen for Him, to the extent that He sweated blood, yet He submitted Himself to God's plan and prayed 'Yet not My will but Yours be done' (Luke 22:41-42).
God has a dynamic, divine purpose in everything He does, with a clear beginning and end. His plan is a kaleidoscope of movement with innumerable processes, each with its own character and period of sowing, blossoming, ripening, harvesting and pruning. His actions are not simply arbitrary, but appropriate, not simply confining, but releasing. From the beginning God determined there to be set times and seasons as clear evidence of His providence.
If we could see from God's perspective, we would see that His plan is perfect; for there is nothing unnecessary in it, nor any experience that can be spared. It has all been designed by a master architect. As the Word of God is final and settled in heaven, so the works of God determined for us must be fulfilled. It is presumption for us either to add to them or to diminish them. It is therefore as much our interest, as our duty, to bring our wills into accordance with the will of God. As the hymn writer wisely wrote: 'there is no other way but to trust and obey'.
The power of God is absolutely without limit! Yet His power is only as big as our ability to believe. That's why Ephesians 1:19-20 talks of the 'exceeding greatness of His incredible power to us who believe'! The power is only released according to what you believe. At the start of this year, I want to encourage you to be bold in your praying; if God has revealed a promise to you for 2015, have the same attitude as David who declared in 1 Chronicles 17:25, 'O my God, I have been bold enough to pray to You because You have revealed to Your servant that You will build a house for him, a dynasty of kings!' David only dared to pray such an outlandish promise because God revealed it to him. Just think for a moment, unbeknownst to David, contained within that promise was the birth and resurrection of Jesus, and its fulfilment is found in Revelation 19:16 where Jesus is declared to be King of kings!
When God raised Jesus from the dead, that wasn't an ordinary miracle. Our annual rituals and repetitions can make it seem meaningless. We've got to come back to the realisation as to how big the miracle actually is! Jesus was dead and buried in a tomb, but God through the power of the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead - and He is alive today! That same resurrection power is in you and me! I need this incredible power, you need this power of God.
In the Bible we read what God did with Israel in Egypt: the plagues, the crossing of the Red Sea, it's a nice encouraging story. But do we realise that Egypt was the greatest power on earth at that time, one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen?! God overthrew the power of the greatest empire, destroyed all Pharaoh's army and delivered Israel! What a triumph! Moses said to the Israelites in Deuteronomy 4, "Don't you see, this is the greatest miracle ever seen on the face of the earth?!"
I am talking about the absolutely incredible, unbelievable power that God has! If only we understood! That power is available to every one of us who will believe.
