A lot of people have been playing games when it comes to the Word. They claim to be faith people in public. But, in private, they never open the Bible at all. Then, when a time of trouble comes and they try to stand on the Word, they fall flat on their spiritual faces.
Well, the time for playing games is over. It’s time for us to realize that real faith involves action. James 2:20 says faith without works [or corresponding action] is dead.
So many times when we need insight into a problem, we try to get it by focusing our attention on that problem. We study it. We ponder it. We examine it from every angle. But the Apostle Peter gives us a different approach. He says we should take heed (or focus our attention) to the written Word of God until the answer to that problem dawns on us through the light of revelation.
If you want your deeds to be blessed, if you want to see supernatural results in your life, you’ll have to do more than simply read the Word of God. You’ll have to put it into action.
That’s what I did. Years ago when I realized that God was the One who had the answers to all my problems, that He was the One who could supply all my needs, I committed myself to do everything His Word told me to do. I made a quality decision to step out in faith on every command I saw there.
When you’re facing a problem, the very first thing you should ask God for is wisdom. Not money. Not power. Not even healing. But wisdom.
God’s wisdom is the key that will unlock every door in your life. It will turn your every failure into success. So, stop wasting your prayer power begging God for things you think you need and spend some time instead listening to what He has to say about your situation.
If you’ve never tried that before, practically speaking, here’s what you need to do:
God is not full of surprises. He’s not an unpredictable being who likes to keep you guessing. Countless believers, however, have the idea He is.
“You just never know what God is going to do,” they say. They base that idea on 1 Corinthians 2:9 which says, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” They interpret that scripture to mean that God is keeping secrets from His people.
But, praise God, He isn’t!
Some people say you need to “give till it hurts.” Don’t you believe it. God doesn’t want gifts given in pain. He wants gifts given in joy! In fact, those are the only kinds of gifts that please Him.
That’s why He tacked His promise of abundance onto His command about cheerful giving. The two are connected.
Some people find it difficult to believe God’s promises because they’ve seen so many things in the natural world that seem to contradict them. They’ve seen faithful tithers go broke. They’ve seen sick Christians fail to receive their healing.
In reality, it would be more accurate to say that they think they’ve seen those things. Because, you see, there’s a deceiver at work in the world. A deceiver who’s busily doing the same thing he’s been doing ever since the Garden of Eden: tricking mankind into believing God’s Word isn’t true.
Do you ever have seasons in your life when it seems like every time you go to church and every time you spend time in prayer and every time you open the Bible, you receive a revelation from God? I do. Spiritually, everything will be going great. I’ll be higher than a Georgia pine. Then, suddenly, something starts to happen. I start drying up in spiritual things.
It seems like it doesn’t make any difference what I pray or how much I read the Word, I can’t get anywhere spiritually. I’m so dry my spirit’s creaking!
You’ve been walking by faith. You’ve been believing God to meet your need. But what do you do when the results seem slow in coming and you are tempted to give up?
Be patient!
There is not much said about patience these days. But, when it comes to receiving from God, it is just as important as faith.
It will make the difference between success and failure for you.
If you’ve been crying and asking God to run the devil out of your life, stop! The Bible says you’re the one who’s supposed to overcome the devil.
How? By resisting him. By rebelling against him when he tells you to do something and doing what God says instead! When Satan tells you some lie, contradict him with the Word of God. Oppose him. This verse says when you do that, he’ll flee from you. He’ll “run as in terror.”
That means everywhere you go, as you walk in faith and oppose the devil, darkness is pushed back.
Do you know what it’s like to face a problem so big it seems downright irresponsible not to worry about it? There may not be a thing you can do about it, but you feel like you need to at least be concerned. After all, someone needs to! And no one else seems to be volunteering for the job.
In this day and time, trouble seems to surround us on every side. If it’s not a failing economy, it’s a failing business, a failing marriage or failing health. Yet, in the midst of seemingly overwhelming problems, God has promised to deliver us.
If you hang around God very much, it won’t be long before you’ll start wanting to do things the world considers supernatural. You’ll start wanting to lay hands on the sick and have them recover. You’ll start wanting to cast out demons. You’ll start wanting to cast mountainous problems into the sea.
What’s more, you can do it if you want to!
How? Not by jumping out and “trying” to do supernatural things, but by obeying God one step at a time. By doing the things He’s already given you power to do.
God uses words to create. He used His Word to “frame” the worlds. Just look in the first chapter of Genesis and count how many times you see the phrase, “And God said.” “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.... And God said, Let there be a firmament.... And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together.... And God said, Let the earth bring forth...” (verses 3, 6, 9, 11).
Once you’ve made the Word of God final authority in your life, your first step to victory over the attacks of the enemy is to go to the Word and lay hold of God’s promises concerning your situation.
Notice I said, “Go to the Word.” It’s good to have the Word committed to memory. But don’t let that substitute for getting the Word before your eyes on a daily basis.
Truly, it’s time for us to stop looking for the living among the dead. It’s time for us to stop wandering around in the cemetery of sin, sickness and failure and to step into resurrection life!
As a resurrected creature, you’re no accident going somewhere to happen. Your life isn’t just a loose web of events and circumstances. God has specific plans for you.
New Covenant. It's a familiar phrase to most of us. But do we really know what it means?
No we don't. Because if we did, every one of us would be faith a giant. Instead of struggling, "trying" to believe the promises of God, we'd be like Abraham: "Strong in faith...fully persuaded that, what [God] had promised, he was also able to perform" (Romans 4:20-21).
The Bible calls us kings and priests (Revelation 1:6) and world overcomers (1 John 5:4). But for most of us, those are just phrases. They haven't become real to us. That's why the devil's been able to hoodwink us into living lives of defeat. It hasn't actually dawned on us who we really are.
If you'll look in 1 Chronicles 14, you'll see that David had a similar problem. He'd been anointed king by the prophet Samuel when he was just a teenager. He'd known for years that someday he'd rule over Israel. Yet somehow, it hadn't really sunk in.
You are an ambassador for Christ! If you have made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life, you have been sent to act as a representative for Him in this world. Just as nations send ambassadors to represent their interests in other countries, you've been sent here to look after the interests of the kingdom of God.
If you give the devil place, he will take it. You have to stay alert and keep your shield of faith high because if you don't, he'll turn around and steal back from you the ground you just took.
There have been people who have received their healing and have fallen back into their old thinking patterns of sickness. They let their faith down and gave the devil an opening. When he came along with an old symptom, they weren't ready for him. They fell victim to his counterattack.