by Gloria Copeland
Wouldn’t it be great if our faith always produced instantly visible results? Wouldn’t it be fun if we could believe for our dream house today...and start moving into it tomorrow? Or believe for healing and see every symptom of sickness disappear immediately every time? Sometimes even something as seemingly simple as a new—or different—car can seem like a tough faith project.
Believing for things like a new car reminds me of my own journey of learning to walk by faith. Ken was a 30-year-old freshman at Oral Roberts University. I was staying at home with our two small children, listening to tapes about faith by Kenneth E. Hagin. One day I was typing some notes I’d written about the power of faith-filled words, and I heard the Spirit of the Lord say this to me:
In consistency lies the power.
That one phrase changed my life!
It helped me realize I can’t move mountains by just saying faith words now and then. It’s what I say with patient consistency—all the time, over time—that brings results. That meant all negative, doubt-filled, unbelieving words would have to go! So I went to work right away getting those words out of my vocabulary. Ken was doing the same thing.
First, we focused on getting poverty out of our mouths. We began to speak words of faith (and only faith) to the mountain of debt we were facing. In 11 months the debt that had seemed so staggering a year earlier was completely paid off!
We needed a car at that time, too, so we did the same thing where that was concerned. We released our faith in God’s promise to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). Then we prayed and said, “We believe we receive a car.”
Once again, we saw no immediate result. We didn’t find a new automobile sitting in our driveway the next morning. But we just kept speaking faith. We talked with such confidence that even our son, John, who was just a toddler at the time, got caught up in the excitement. One day when Ken was praising God for our new car, John said, “Come on, Daddy! Let’s go get it!”
A few months later, we did!
Over time, we learned to receive everything that way—a new car, healing, finances, everything. If you are in need of a new—or newer car—begin to put your faith muscles to work. Begin proclaiming—out loud—Philippians 4:19 over your situation. And if you need help getting your finances in order, read the article, “Lord, Help My Finances!” Let this be the beginning of a focused life of faith where you learn to apply God’s Word to every area of life!