The Shield of Faith

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ORIGINAL: HansC

43.) God's Type Of Faith

In response to a miraculous wonder that Peter calls to Christ's attention, Jesus gives His disciples a lesson in faith.

Mark 11:22
And Jesus answering saith to them, 'Have faith of God; (YLT)

Many translations read, "have faith in God" as Jesus' response. Yet that seems to cover up a bit the fullness of what He was conveying to His followers. Having faith in God's Word is an aspect of what Christ said. But in it's most basic sense, He was saying that a person should have the faith that comes from God.

He was saying that a person should have the faith of God, or we could say God's type of faith.

Mark 11:22
And Jesus, answering, said to them, Have God's faith (BBE)

There is a natural type of faith, that people use in everyday life, but that will not work with the level of the miraculous that we are concerned about. For example a person could say that they have a lot of faith in modern medicine, or faith in the judicial process. That's good, but it doesn't take a gift from God for that kind of faith, nor will that type of faith experience the miraculous. You need God's type of faith for the miraculous. That's what Jesus was telling them.

Ordinary natural faith will not get the job done, you need God's type of faith. Many people are trying to do things for God with their natural faith, that won't work. We need to use God's type of faith for the work of the Kingdom.

God's type of faith is a different type of faith than the ordinary natural everyday kind of faith that people use in everyday life. Jesus was telling Peter here that, he needed to have God's type of faith if he wanted to experience the supernatural.

We have been trying to look at some of the aspects and characteristics of God's type of faith in this thread. One of the characteristics of God's type of faith is believing you have something, while it is still unseen or unfelt, and basing your belief solely on God's Word.

After Jesus tells Peter that he needs God's type of faith, He goes into a brief explanation of one of the aspects of God's type of faith, and we will get into that in the following post.

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Faith Quotation

"We need faith that will cut all the t's off all the 'can'ts' and make them into 'cans'."

___Anonymous.

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Question: How is God's type of faith different than man's type of faith? How do you get God's type of faith?

Hans

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ORIGINAL: HansC

44.) Say, Say, Say

After Jesus tells Peter that, he needs God’s type of faith to experience the miraculous, he goes on to point out some of the characteristics of God’s type of faith.

Mark 11:23
for verily I SAY to you, that whoever may SAY to this mount, Be taken up, and be cast into the sea, and may not doubt in his heart, but may believe that the things that he SAITH do come to pass, it shall be to him whatever he may SAY. (YLT)

Notice, in explaining God’s type of faith to Peter, the emphasis that Christ puts on speaking. Jesus only mentions believe one time, yet He mentions speaking four times.

Jesus’ chief focus in explaining faith here is in speaking. He calls us to pay attention to what we say. He says that what we say is what we get.

Jesus ties in the faith in a person’s heart with the words of their mouth. God’s type of faith has to do with speaking, calling, confessing and vocalizing. Faith is not silent, faith demands verbal expression.

Jesus said that what we say is what we get. When God by faith created the worlds, He spoke them into existence. God calls things that are not as though they are, that’s faith, God’s type of faith.

Romans 10:10
For with the heart men believe and obtain righteousness, and with the mouth they make confession and obtain salvation. (WEY)

Here Paul is saying the same thing as Jesus, but in a different way. Jesus said that we receive what we SAY by believing and speaking. That is, we get what we need by speaking in faith.

Paul says we “obtain” with our mouth. Both essentially say that what you say is what you get. What if you believe but do not speak? Well that’s not real Bible faith. God’s type of faith calls for confession and expression.

Jesus said, we receive by speaking, Paul said we obtain by speaking.

Now, faith works the same for all areas. By believing and speaking, we obtain the new birth, or healing, or finances, or a new job, or help finding a place to live, or whatever the need may be.

With the mouth confession is made unto… the new birth….healing….new job….deliverance…..

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"Faith is not only in the heart; it should be put into words."
Nachman of Bratslav

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Question: When you’re praying for things do you pay close attention to what is coming out of your mouth?

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

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ORIGINAL: HansC

45.) Got it, then Get it

Continuing on with Jesus explanation of God’s type of faith. Bear in mind our earlier mention of God calling those things that are not as though they were. Notice how the same thing is going on here.

Mark 11:24
That is why I tell you, as to whatever you pray and make request for, if you believe that you have received it, it shall be yours. (WEY)

Look closely, in simple terms, Jesus is saying that you have to believe that you HAVE it, and then you will get it. Faith says, I have it now, even though I can not see it.

You mean that a person has to believe that that they are healed, while they still feel every symptom? Yes, because if you wait for feeling, it’s not faith, it’s feeling based.

You believe that you have received it and then you shall get it. The actual physical awareness of possession comes after the believing part, not before. First we believe, then we receive.

In essence, you got to believe you got it, and then you’ll get it. We have to believe that we have already received it without any physical evidence and then we will get it.

If a person has to feel it before they will believe it, that’s not faith. Our faith needs to be activated, before substance can start to manifest. We must believe first, and then it will materialize.

We need to believe that we have it before we can actually physically receive it. Faith is the evidence of things not seen.

If we actually had it by sensual knowledge, then we wouldn’t have to believe it, because then we would know it. But Jesus tells us that the believing, comes before the having.

I often hear people say, “I just know the God is going to heal me.” Well as pious and consecrated as that may sound, it’s not faith. This person is waiting to feel something. They want to receive first, and then when they have sensual proof, they want to believe they have it. A person doesn’t need to do their believing then, then they will know it, and no faith is required for that.

I see people with that approach just wait and wait. They don’t ever seem to get healed unless it’s by natural or medical means.

Believing that God will heal you is not a stand of faith, believing that by His stripes you ARE healed, regardless of how you feel is a stand of faith. Faith is always a now.

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"Your faith is what you believe, not what you know."
-- Mark Twain

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Question: When you believe that you have something that you can not actually feel, what do you base that on?

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

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ORIGINAL: HansC

46.) An Atmosphere of Faith

Can our environment affect our ability to believe and receive? Can others impact our faith?

Mark 6:2-6
On the Sabbath He proceeded to teach in the synagogue; and many, as they heard Him, were astonished. "Where did he acquire all this?" they asked. "What is this wisdom that has been given to him? And what are these marvelous miracles which his hands perform? Is not this the carpenter, Mary's son, the brother of James and Joses, Jude and Simon? And do not his sisters live here among us?" So they turned angrily away. But Jesus said to them, "There is no Prophet without honour except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own home."

And He could not do any miracle there, except that He laid His hands on a few who were out of health and cured them; and He wondered at their unbelief.

He could not do any ……

It doesn’t say that Jesus didn’t want to do any miraculous, it says that He COULD NOT. Even though God had anointed Jesus with the Spirit without measure, still it is called upon men to believe. If people won’t believe, if they won’t act in faith, then even God is limited in what He can do for them.

Jesus wanted to help the people in His hometown, but because of their unbelief he was prevented from doing any mighty work there. He wanted to, but He could not.

The atmosphere in which we minister can have a strong impact in a person’s ability to act in faith. When we hang around people who doubt God that can have a negative impact upon our faith.

If we attend a church that teaches that miracles are a thing of the past, that has a negative impact upon our faith. Their unbelief and doubt can rub off on us. Sometimes in order to receive a miracle a person would do good to get out of the particular group of disbelieving believers that they are in.

Other times it’s good to just get the atmosphere affecting doubters out of the room. Notice what Jesus did here.

Matthew 9:23-25
Entering the Ruler's house, Jesus saw the flute-players and the crowd loudly wailing, and He said, "Go out of the room; the little girl is not dead, but asleep." And they laughed at Him. When however the place was cleared of the crowd, Jesus went in, and on His taking the little girl by the hand, she rose up.

Before he worked His miracle, Jesus kicked the doubters out of the room. Praying and believing God works better in an atmosphere of faith, than in an atmosphere of doubt and unbelief. When praying and believing for a miracle pay attention to the belief of the people that you are associating with.

You may even have to kick some of the unbelieving “believers” out of the room. We receive from Christ on the basis of our faith, and our environment can affect that.

Matthew 9:27-29
As Jesus passed on, two blind men followed Him, shouting and saying, "Pity us, Son of David." And when He had gone indoors, they came to Him. "Do you believe that I can do this?" He asked them. "Yes, Sir," they replied. So He touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith let it be to you."

Receiving from God is always according to our faith. At times, we may even have to separate ourselves from unbelieving believers, so that their doubt doesn’t have an adverse effect upon our faith and ability to receive. God can be limited by our doubt. Jesus was limited by the doubt in His own hometown.

Psalm 78:41
Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.

Let’s not be of the party that limits what God wants to do.

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"He who is small in faith will never be great in anything but failure”

Anonymous

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Question: Do you pay close attention to the level of faith or doubt in the atmosphere of your community?

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

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ORIGINAL: HansC

47.) Two Types of Faith

We have seen that there are different types of faith. Here’s a contrast between two types of faith.

Romans 4:16
…..the faith of Abraham,

One example of faith is Abraham.

4:17
who is father of us all (according as it hath been written -- 'A father of many nations I have set thee,') before Him whom he did believe -- God, who is quickening the dead, and is calling the things that be not as being.

First we notice that, we are told that believing involves “calling” things that BE NOT as BEING. Notice that God referred to him already as a father of many nations. In God’s thinking it was a done deal. It did not look or feel done, but God treated it as done.

4:18
Who, against hope in hope did believe, for his becoming father of many nations according to that spoken: 'So shall thy seed be;'

The manifestation of these nations was still future, Abraham at this point didn’t have any offspring. That was still future, but He did accept that God had made him the father of many nations at that point. The point was, the nations were yet to be, but Abraham was blessed when God spoke.

4:19
and not having been weak in the faith, he did not consider his own body, already become dead, (being about a hundred years old,) and the deadness of Sarah's womb,

Notice here, Abraham’s type of faith does not consider sensual evidence. It does not go by what it sees or feels. It goes by what God says, often in direct contradiction to sensual evidence. What Abraham believed to be true was in direct opposition to his seeing and feeling. He was going by only what God said.

4:20
and at the promise of God did not stagger in unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, having given glory to God,

To stagger at God’s Word would have been to prefer or go by what his physical senses told him rather that what God was saying. Abraham decided to go against his physical senses and rather gave voice and praise to God, in spite of what his eyes and feeling told him.

4:21
and having been fully persuaded that what He hath promised He is able also to do (YLT)

Faith is a complete persuasion in the veracity of God’s Word in spite of what things feel like or look like. Faith calls those things that BE NOT as though they BE.

Now let’s compare and contrast this with Thomas’ type of faith.

John 20:24
….Thomas, one of the twelve--surnamed 'the Twin' --was not among them when Jesus came.

After the resurrection, Jesus appears to His disciples, but Thomas is not there.

20:25
So the rest of the disciples told him, "We have seen the Master!" His reply was, "Unless I see in his hands the wound made by the nails and put my finger into the wound, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe it."

Notice here that in Thomas type of faith, he would not believe unless he could SEE something. Yet we are told that real faith, God’s type of faith is the evidence of things NOT SEEN.

He would not believe unless he could FEEL something. Thomas faith was not based upon what was said, rather it was based upon sensual evidence. Thomas did the opposite of Abraham, Thomas demanded to see and feel things before he would start to believe them.

20:26-27
A week later the disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them, when Jesus came--though the doors were locked--and stood in their midst, and said, "Peace be to you." Then He said to Thomas, "Bring your finger here and feel my hands; bring you hand and put it into my side; and do not be ready to disbelieve but to believe."

Jesus comes back, seeks Thomas out and gently reproves him. Jesus lets us know that what Thomas was doing was actually disbelief rather than real belief. Jesus let Thomas something to see and feel, but He told him that that was not t way to do it. Jesus called what Thomas did disbelief or doubt.

20:28
"My Lord and my God!" replied Thomas.

Thomas’ faith and confession was based upon sensual evidence. He went by what he could see or feel. Abraham disregarded what he could see or feel and went by what was said, even though it went against what he could see or feel.

Abraham called those things that BE NOT as though they BE. Thomas would NOT call those things that seemed NOT to BE as though they BE.

20:29
"Because you have seen me," replied Jesus, "you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Jesus sets doubting Thomas straight. What did Thomas do wrong? He wouldn’t believe unless he could see and feel it. While Abraham actually went against what he could see and feel. That’s the difference between Abraham which had God’s type of faith and Thomas who was working with a natural human type of faith.

When we pray for healing, finances, help, the new birth are we accepting as done what we are taking to God in prayer, or are we waiting to see or feel something before we believe and call it done?

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"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

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Question: When taking a stand of faith, are you tempted to look for sensual evidence?

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

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ORIGINAL: HansC

THE ACT OF FAITH

In this next section we will take a look at the relationship between actions and faith. Our actions will either make or break us. It is how we act that will put us over or under. We may say that we believe God and His Word; but how strong are our convictions really if we do not act accordingly?

True faith believes God’s Word and acts as if that Word were 100% true, which it is. Faith is perfected by our actions, not that we should go around trying to show or prove our faith as some mislead people do, but rather we just obey God’s Word and act in line with His Word.

The person who acts out and upon God’s Word in life will get the blessings of God, the person who does not, will fall short. The Word says that the “ doer of the work shall be blessed in his deed”.

Often people confess that they believe God answers prayer but then walk, talk and act as if He doesn’t. This type of double mindedness will not receive an answer, because it is not faith at all.

Some people try and live beyond their faith. That is they try and believe for a giant sized miracle when they only have baby sized faith. This is presumption and not true faith at all. Faith takes time to grow. Take time to develop your faith, with the proper diet it will grow. With an adequate amount of time watering and feeding your faith with God’s Word it will grow.

Faith in essence is doing the Word of God, and that will be our focus in this section.

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"It is not faith and works. It is not faith or works. It is faith that works”

Anonymous

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Question: Can you separate faith from action?

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

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ORIGINAL: HansC

48.) And the Walls came Down

James 2:14-17
What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond? Can such faith save him? Suppose a Christian brother or sister is poorly clad or lacks daily food,

and one of you says to them, "I wish you well; keep yourselves warm and well fed," and yet you do not give them what they need; what is the use of that?

So also faith, if it is unaccompanied by obedience, has no life in it--so long as it stands alone.

So often people view faith as an intangible belief, yet actually faith is better viewed as an action. Faith without corresponding action, is actually not really faith, but mere intellectual assent.

We need to come to the realization that real Biblical faith, God’s type of faith is acting upon the Word of God. Real faith will cause a person to get into action.

Basic faith principle # 5.) Faith is acting upon God’s Word.

If we stall and wait until we get something before we believe by faith that we have it, we are too late. We have to believe we already have it and act upon God’s Word.

Let’s see how this works in the area of looking for a job. A person can pray and believe God has provided a job for them, somewhere. But once they pray, they need to exercise their faith, they can not just sit there and expect the job to fall through the roof. They need to get busy and act on God’s Word.

They have to get into action, they must act on their faith by actively looking for a job and filling out job applications and so on and then something will happen. Real faith calls for action. Real faith is something you do.

Faith without a corresponding action has no life in it.

Joshua 6:20
So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets: and it came to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

The children of Israel acted on their faith while the walls were still up. The inhabitants inside Jericho must have thought that the Israelites were crazy. Did they really think that you can simply shout a wall down.

And yet, as improbable as it seemed, the walls came down at a shout. The Israelites had put their faith in action. Anyone can shout when the walls are down, it doesn’t take any faith to do that. Anybody can shout after the miracle, that doesn’t take any faith. No, the children of Israel acted in faith, while the walls were still up. Their faith gave substance to the promise that God spoke to them.

When they acted upon God’s Word, His promise to them became a reality and then the walls came down, after they acted on their faith.

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"Workless faith God never regards. Faithless work God never rewards”

D.L. Hood

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Question: How do you put God’s Word into action?

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

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ORIGINAL: HansC

49.) Self Deception

James 1:22-25
But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

There are many types of deceptions in the world, but the worst has to be self deception. Here the Bible tells us that not doing the Word, but only hearing the Word leads to self-deception. There are many people that love to hear the Word preached, or that even enjoy reading the Bible. There are a whole lot less doers of the Word.

There are a lot of hearers of the Word, there are a lot of rejoices over the Word, there are even a lot of shouters about the Word, but when it comes down to doers of the Word, the herd gets thinned down a lot.

Often, when a person has only an intellectual understanding of the Word through mere hearing, but not actually doing, they can come to some real doctrinal misconceptions. Not putting into practice, what the Word says can lead to some real serious errors of understanding.

23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:

24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.

If we simply hear or read the Bible, but don’t do what it says, we fool and deceive ourselves. Faith calls for us to put the Word into action. Often, when a person merely reads or hears the Word, but doesn’t put it into action, they will end up confused as to what the will of God really is. They often end up believing that because something didn’t happen that it wasn’t God’s will. Yet, the real reason will often be that they didn’t act upon the Word.

God’s will is for people to get saved, but unless a person acts upon the Word, they will spend eternity lost. God will not automatically bless them just because they heard the Word, they need to take action.

25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

…in his deed

Notice, the blessing does not come until the person gets into action. It may well be God’s will to save or heal or provide for a person, but the blessing does not come until they do something. Faith is said to be perfected or completed by action.

Simply believing that Jesus is Lord is by itself not enough, a person must take action and confess and receive Him. Faith is completed by action. Until we act, our faith is not complete.

When we act on God’s Word, that’s real Biblical faith. When we act in faith, we will receive answers to our prayers.

If however, we fail to act on God’s Word, and just wait for something to come to us first, before we believe, we will not receive what we need from God, because we ask amiss.

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"Faith is an act of rational choice which determines us to act as if certain things were true and in the confident expectation that they will prove to be true”

William R. Inge.

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[b]Question: How do you put God’s Word into action?

Hans

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God understands me. why don't you?!

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ORIGINAL: HansC

50.) Is Belief Enough?

So often today we hear people say to just believe. But is mere belief enough. Does just believing get the job done? If I just trust and believe in God is that good enough to secure the blessing of God?

In a way, it depends on what we mean by belief. Real Biblical belief is doing the Word of God. Real Biblical belief is an action. If a person’s belief does not involve them doing something, then they don’t have real Bible belief and merely have mental assent and that will not get the job done.

Here is how James put it.

James 2:17
….. faith, if it may not have works, is dead by itself.(YLT)

Faith without corresponding actions, is not really biblical faith. In order for faith to be real and vital it must involve some sort of action.

2:18
Nay, some one will say, "You have faith, I have actions: prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I will prove mine to you by my actions.

In a nut shell, faith is doing the Word of God. Notice in the healing miracles of Christ, how often He calls upon the person being healed to do something. So many times, Christ’s recorded healings are calls to action. He’ll say something like, “take up thy bed”, or “rise and walk” or “go give” and so on. Then as the person responds in action, God blesses them.

2:19 You believe that God is one, and you are quite right: evil spirits also believe this, and shudder."

Notice how James sandwiches this verse in here about evil spirits also believing. The point is, even evil spirits believe in God, but that alone is not enough. A person MUST have corresponding actions.

Simply believing that Jesus is Lord and that He saves is not enough, a person MUST have corresponding actions. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that we are saved by works.

What I’m saying is that a person must take the corresponding action of receiving Christ by faith. The must receive and confess Him as Lord. The receiving and confessing are actions based upon our belief.

If a person were to go to church, hear the Gospel, then say, “yes, Jesus saves”, but then they just leave. They are not yet saved. They need by an act of faith to receive Him and confess Him as Lord.

Believing in Jesus, without receiving Him is not good enough.

2:20 But, idle boaster, are you willing to be taught how it is that faith apart from obedience is worthless? Take the case of Abraham our forefather.

There are a lot of people who “believe” in Jesus, but have never actually received Him. I read in a Barna poll, where 35% of evangelical church goers, don’t even believe in a literal resurrection. There are a lot of people, in a lot of places, who merely believe, but have never actually taken any corresponding actions to receive Him.

2:21 Was it, or was it not, because of his actions that he was declared to be righteous as the result of his having offered up his son Isaac upon the altar?

This is not a salvation by works. This is still salvation by faith alone, yet real faith has action attached to it. That’s why, when a person hears the Gospel, and believes its message, they must then take action and receive Christ.

2:22 You notice that his faith was co-operating with his actions, and that by his actions his faith was perfected;(WEY)

When James says, “faith was perfected” what is meant is that faith is taken full cycle or completed by a finishing action. That’s why Jesus when ministering healing so often called upon people to DO something. Their action completed or perfected or we could even say brought to full bloom their faith.

Simply believing is only the first part, a person must complete or perfect their faith by a corresponding action. When praying for people, and you wish to see the supernatural power of God, get people to do something based upon the Word.

God blesses people, as people get into action.

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"Faith and works are like the light and heat of a candle; they cannot be separated”

Joseph Beaumont.

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Question: How do you put God’s Word into action?

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

Quote:

ORIGINAL: HansC

51.) Arise, Take, Go

Luke 5:15, 18-20,24,25
But so much the more went there a fame abroad of him: and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.

to hear, and to be healed …..

Notice how healing and hearing go together. Healing is connected with hearing. The miracle process essentially starts with people hearing the good news. Why? Because faith comes by hearing.
Often, I’ve seen people try and pray for others in regards to healing without first giving them the Word on healing. That’s often unprofitable because our faith is based upon hearing. Before praying for a sick person make sure they have heard the Word on healing.

5:18 And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him.

5:19 And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.

When these man heard of Jesus, they received faith from that hearing. Their faith then was perfected or we could say completed by their following actions. Notice that it says, they “brought”, they “sought”, to “lay”, they “went” and they “let him down“. They were accounted full of faith by Christ by what they did.

Real Bible faith is doing something based upon the hearing of the Gospel. Faith is an action.

5:20 And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.

What Jesus saw was their actions. Jesus called their actions faith. He knew that their actions were motivated by what they had heard of Him. Jesus knew that if a person really believed something, then they would act accordingly. Real faith will cause a person to get into action before they have any other evidence other than the Word.

5:24 But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house.

Many of Christ’s healings were enacted by Christ giving a call for action, the healing power would then come upon the person as they responded to Christ’s call for action. Why? Because faith is completed or perfected by action. When praying for healing, most of the time the healing power will come upon the recipient as they finish off their petition with some sort of action.

Notice, how Christ calls for the man to do something. He asks him to “arise”, “take up” and “go”. When praying for sick people, call for them to do something in line with the received Word. A person’s faith is perfected by their actions. Faith is cooperating with God. Faith is doing what God in His Word or by His Spirit asks us to do.

Many people believe that God’s healing power just comes on them and makes them do something whether they want to or not. That’s not how God works. He urges, encourages, prompts, gives us a little nudge, but does not force us. It’s up to the person being prayed for to cooperate with God by their actions.

5:25 And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.

It is as people ACT on their faith that they are healed. Some say that people don’t get healed because they do not have enough faith. To be honest, every Christian has enough faith to be healed, but they are often uncertain of God’s will in the matter and therefore don’t act upon the faith that they have.

Healings happen as people act upon the faith that they have. Notice how it says the man, “immediately rose up”. What if instead of that, he would have said to Jesus, “sure, I’ll get up but first you got to heal me”. Sounds funny, but that is the approach that many today take.

So many people want to feel something before they will believe and act upon God’s Word. Yet, the healing power comes as a person is convinced by the Word that they are ALREADY healed in spite of what feelings may be telling them and then ACT upon that Word.

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"The faith of the head is the faith that is dead. The faith of the heart is better in part. But the faith of the hand is the faith that will stand. For the faith that will do must include the other two”

Anonymous.

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Question: When praying for sick people what are some ways you can call them into action to complete their faith?

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

Quote:

ORIGINAL: HansC

52.) Building on Solid Rock

Luke. 7:24-27
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock.

And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand:

And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

doeth them,……

Jesus said that doing His Word was building on the solid rock. Faith comes by hearing, but unless we choose to act upon what we hear, we are not building on the rock.

Jesus said that not acting upon what we hear to be the same as building upon sand.

Faith is perfected or we could say completed by our actions. A person could hear that Jesus saves, a person could even acknowledge that to be true but unless a person acts on that belief and receives Christ as their savior they are not saved.

When people pray for healing they often want to feel healed before they will believe that they are and take action. That doesn’t work.

Often I’ve seen that the healing manifestation will come about as the person gets into action. If a person will not act upon the Word they will not get healed.

Faith will not work without an expression or action. Faith is an action.

I realize that there are times when God in a sovereign action moves, but I’m not referring to that here. I’m talking about the prayer of faith.

If a person acts without real faith, nothing will happen, it will not work. But also, if a person believes without taking action, nothing will happen, that won’t work either. However, when a person combines Biblical faith with action, then the Word works, and brings forth fruit.

I’ve noticed that if I can get people to stop hoping to get healed and to stop seeking healing, and to start believing that they receive their healed and to take some sort of action, that the healing will then manifest.

Faith is acting upon God’s Word, faith is doing the Word. Doing the Word, acting upon the Word is building upon the Rock of the Word.

We build upon the rock of the Word by our actions.

* * *
"If faith produce no works I see that faith is not a living tree. Thus faith and works together grow, no separate life they e‘er can know. They‘re soul and body, hand and heart, what God hath joined , let no man part”

Hannah More.

* * *

Question: What are some ways a person act upon the sayings of Jesus?

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

Quote:

ORIGINAL: HansC

53.) At Thy Word

Luke 5:4-6
….he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.
And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.
And when they had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.

Peter and his fellow fisherman had worked all night and caught nothing. They were fishermen by trade and knew the business, yet here comes a land person and tells them how to catch a bunch of fish.

The normal reaction would be to explain to the land person just who the professional was and who the amateur was in this area of the fish business.

Yet, Peter, not yet realizing who Christ is out of difference to a wandering teaching Rabbi, says , “at thy word I will let down the net.”

Peter gets a revelation that Jesus is not just a regular wandering teacher, when he acted upon Jesus’ words. Nothing happened until Peter got into action. No miracle happened until after Peter acted upon the Word.

Often in healing, no manifestation will occur until the person being prayed for acts upon God’s Word. Faith calls for action to be made perfect, or as we would say in the modern vernacular complete. Action completes our faith.

Faith is acting upon God’s Word, regardless of what things may seem or look like. Faith says, “At thy Word”.

God must have something to anoint, He blesses or anoints our action. If we do not get into action, then there is nothing to anoint or bless. Peter was blessed in his deed. We also must get into our “deed”.

When we get into action based upon God’s Word, then God will also bless us in our deed.

Believing is simply taking a step of faith. Real Faith is HAVING by faith what you have asked God for and ACTING accordingly.

To be in faith, a person has to take steps of faith because faith requires corresponding actions. Faith is cooperating with God by our actions.

* * *
"Faith will beget in us three things: vision, venture, victory.”

George Riddout, The Wesleyan Methodist“
* * *

Question: What are some ways a person act upon the sayings of Jesus?

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

Quote:

ORIGINAL: HansC

V. THE Spoken Word: Key to Faith

Many people do not realize how important words are in our lives. So many people are very careless with their words, often thinking that idle words do not count for very much. Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Bible tells us that by our words we will be either justified or condemned. By our words, we either confess or reject Christ, heaven and hell hang in the balance, one of them will be the eternal home for every person ever created.

If our words are that critical, it would be worth our while to watch them very carefully. Jesus said that what we say if we believe it, we will get it.

Think of all the times people say things like, “I’m sick and tired of this or that”, or, “ That person is driving me crazy.” Jesus said, what we say is what we get, if we believe it. With these type of words coming out of people is it any wonder that many are not up to par physically, mentally or spiritually.

James in his epistle tells us that the course of our life is set by our mouth, therefore let us set a course for heaven.

God gives to us according to our words. If we have faith to receive it will show in our words.

In this next section, we will take a look at the role words play in the life and walk of faith.

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

Quote:

ORIGINAL: HansC

54.) Christ’s Faith Lesson

Mark 11:13-14
… having seen a fig-tree afar off having leaves, he came, if perhaps he shall find anything in it, and having come to it, he found nothing except leaves, for it was not a time of figs,

and Jesus answering said to it, 'No more from thee -- to the age -- may any eat fruit;' and his disciples were hearing.(YLT)

Some wonder why Jesus did this, I think he did it to give His disciples a lesson on how faith works. He made sure that they heard Him, and that they observed the whole process. He knew that one day they also would be asked to act in faith and that he would not be there so they had to learn these things.

He made sure that they heard Him speak to the tree. He gave His disciples an object lesson in believing and speaking.

In this lesson pay close attention to the emphasis that is given to speaking. In fact, this whole section will be focused upon the role that speaking plays in regards to our faith.

Mark 11:20
And in the morning, passing by, they saw the fig-tree having been dried up from the roots,

The following morning, Jesus leads His followers back past the tree. They could have taken a different route, but then they would have missed the tree. I think Jesus wanted them to see the tree, it was a part of the faith lesson he was setting up for them.

Mark 11:21
and Peter having remembered saith to him, 'Rabbi, lo, the fig-tree that thou didst curse is dried up.'

Jesus was not the one who brought it up, but he took them past the tree. It’s better for the pupil to notice on his own what is going on, then you know you are making progress and that people are paying attention.

Notice that Peter draws attention to the fact that Jesus spoke to the tree. When Mark wrote the Gospel of Mark, the Holy Ghost inspired him, to recall to Jesus spoke to the tree. Faith is tied in with our speaking, that’s what Jesus was trying to point out.

Now that He has their amazed focused attention, Jesus steps in and starts to comment on the faith life lesson that He has set up.

Mark 11:22
And Jesus answering saith to them, 'Have faith of God;

To Peter’s amazed comment, Jesus first tells them to have the faith that comes from God, that is to say God’s type or style of faith, as opposed to a natural or earthly type or style of faith.

As I mentioned before, this kind of faith, the type that Jesus is talking about involves believing and speaking.

Mark 11:23
..for verily I SAY to you, that whoever may SAY to this mount, Be taken up, and be cast into the sea, and may not doubt in his heart, but may believe that the things that he SAITH do come to pass, it shall be to him whatever he may SAY.

The basic parts of Christ’s lesson here involves believing with the heart and then confessing with the mouth.

Notice how in Christ’s lesson on faith He puts the focus on what a person says. He mentions believe only one time, but He mentions “saying” four times. People often focus on the believing part but totally over look the saying part. People often get the believing part but then miss out on the saying part.

Essentially Jesus says, what you SAY is what you get. The Bible does not teach that simply believing is enough, it does not teach that we get what we believe. The Bible teaches that believing and saying leads to receiving.

Faith is turned on or activated by believing and speaking. In the previous section I talked about how faith is perfected by corresponding actions, well speaking in a manner is a type of action.

We are called to believe God’s Word, but after we believe in our hearts the truth of God’s Word, we then get what we need by our words. The pattern repeats in the Bible over and over, we receive from God via faith, and faith involves believing and speaking.

Romans 10:10
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Here Paul in a different way, hits upon the same principle, believe in the heart, and then get your mouth going. It is with the mouth that confession is made UNTO….

It is with our words or mouth that we are brought UNTO that which we need.

* * *
“They always win who side with God.”

Frederick Faber

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Question: Do you pay special attention to what comes out of your big mouth?

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

Quote:

ORIGINAL: HansC

55.) Ye shall SAY

Matthew 17:20
….If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall SAY….

Notice that Jesus is telling His followers that faith demands a confession. What we believe will come out of our mouth. Real Biblical faith, God’s type of faith will inspire a person to say something.

Faith demands expression. If what a person has does not inspire them to expression, then they are probably mistaking mere mental assent for real faith.

The real deal Bible faith will cause a person to SAY something, and that something will be in line with what the Word says. When a person speaks in faith, they will say about themselves exactly what the Word says about them, regardless of what things may look like.

Matthew 12:34-35
For it is from the overflow of the heart that the mouth speaks. A good man from his good store produces good things, and a bad man from his bad store produces bad things.

What is in a person’s heart will come out of their mouth. Sure a person can fake it for awhile, but in the end, the mouth will reveal what’s in the heart.

God calls for us to make a confession of faith. That’s how we release our faith. It is by our faithful confession that we receive from God. I’ve often asked people how you get saved, and I get answers all over the board. They Bible way to get saved is to repent and confess Jesus as your Lord.

Jesus becomes a person’s Lord, when that person repents and makes a public confession of Christ’s Lordship. That is to say confession is made unto salvation. We get unto salvation by the words of our mouth.

Romans 10:10
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Our words release our faith. Faith is something that is released by an intentional act of the will. We release our faith by speaking.

Romans 4:17
…God, who is quickening the dead, and is calling the things that be not as being. (YLT)

Speaking in faith creates a reality of what is spoken. That’s why we are told that confession is made UNTO. Our confession gets us there. Of course, just saying things apart from God given faith will not make it so. But when a person combines their confession with the God given faith that comes from hearing the Gospel miracles happen.

* * *
“In faith there is enough light for those who want to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don't. .”

Blaise Pascal

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Question: Do you pay close attention to your words?

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

HansC wrote:

56.) Hearts Revealed

Our words reveal our heart, whether they are full of faith or doubt. You can tell if a person is full of faith or doubt just by listening to their words. A person’s confession will show where they are spiritually.

By confession, I don’t mean just the confession of sin that so many associate with the word confession, but rather I mean all the words that come out of our mouth. What I am trying to show here is the link between faith and the words that come out of our mouths.

I am actually focusing on the positive aspect of the act of confession.

Notice the link between that which is spoken and faith in the two following stories.

Matthew 8:5-10
When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him, and saying, "Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented."

A Roman soldier seeks out Christ on behalf of his servant, we saw from the section on actions, that the act of the soldier seeking out Christ was in itself prompted by faith, it was an act of faith to just go look for Christ, and that faith had to come about by the centurion HEARING about Christ at some point.

7 Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."

Jesus notices the centurion’s act of faith and without hesitation responds. Notice that Jesus, first responds with a positive confession. Jesus is already by His words declaring that the servant will be healed. Jesus words reveal His heart. Notice in the Bible how often acts of faith begin with a declaration of faith, followed by an action.

8 The centurion answered, "Lord, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.

9 For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one,’ Go,' and he goes; and tell another,’ Come,' and he comes; and tell my servant,’ Do this,' and he does it."

The centurion response shows Christ that he understands that faith is released by words. He understand that the words of our confession lead us unto that which we want. Faith is released with the words of our mouth.

Earlier we saw that Jesus told His disciples that if they believe in their hearts that they will have what they SAY. In essence, what Jesus said was, “what you say is what you get”.

The Bible does not teach that if we ONLY believe in our hearts we will get an answer, but it does teach that if we believe in our hearts AND say with our mouth, we will receive from God what His Word promises. All things that we receive from God come on the basis of faith, and faith declares that with the mouth confession is made unto.

In essence that is what the centurion did here, he made a confession with his mouth unto his servant being healed.

10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, "Most certainly I tell you, I haven't found so great a faith, not even in Israel.

Jesus evaluated the centurion to have great faith based upon what he heard the man say. Faith will reveal itself through a person’s words.

Jesus saw that the centurion understood this basic principle of faith. That it is released by the word of command, and that it believes it is done before anything can be seen. Speak the word, believe you have it and THEN you will get it. The centurion employed exactly the principles that Jesus was teaching His disciples in Mark 11:23.

On a side note, when Jesus said that He had not seen the level of the centurions faith, not even in Israel, that included His disciples.

* * *
“"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."
-- Martin Luther King Jr.

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Question: Do you pay close attention to your words?

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

Quote:

ORIGINAL: HansC

57.) Hearts Revealed, II

In the preceding section we saw how the centurion’s heart full of faith was revealed by the words of his mouth. Approaching the topic from the another angle, let’s see how doubt is also revealed by our words.

Jesus and His men got into a boat and launched out into the water, notice again the role words play.

Matthew 8:23-26
…..he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.

24 Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.

Does it seem at times, that when the storms and waves of life hit, that God is asleep? Many Christians act that way. They often talk as if one more wave like that hits us , we are going under. They wonder why God is allowing certain things to happen. To be honest, God expects us by faith, and by using the name of Jesus to take control of the situation. God expects us to exercise our faith.

He has given us the name of Jesus, so that we can use His name when the storms of life seek to overwhelm us. There are times when we have to stand in the prow of the ship of our life and command the wind and waves in Jesus name.

25 They came to him, and woke him up, saying, "Save us, Lord! We are dying!"

Notice their words, the words of the disciples also revealed their hearts. Their words were full of fear, doubt and unbelief, and Jesus was actually physically in the boat with them. When Jesus woke He immediately saw the condition of their heart by their words. With that kind of doubtful fear being confessed, if Jesus had not of been there, they probably would have gone down.

26 He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.

Jesus chided them for their faithless confession. In another version of this same story, Jesus asks them, where is your faith. I think he was real tired and would have liked it if one of the disciples had of stepped up to the plate and rebuked the storm in Jesus name, rather than waking Him up. There are times when God expects us to do stuff with what He has given us.

In keeping with our theme of receiving on the basis of what we say, notice what Jesus does to still the storm. He speaks to the storm. In other words, with the heart man believes and with the mouth confession is made unto, in this case the stilling of the storm.

Basic faith principle # 6.) Faith is activated by believing with your heart and confessing with your mouth.

* * *

What we need are more people who specialize in the impossible.
-- Theodore Roethke

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Question: Has your boat been in any storms lately?

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

Quote:

ORIGINAL: HansC

58.) The Power of Words

Proverbs 6:2
You are trapped by the words of your mouth. You are ensnared with the words of your mouth.

We need to be careful with our words. Jesus said that a person will be called to give account of every idle word. The point is that every word matters. The point is that our words do make a difference. They reveal our hearts, they can bless , they can curse, they release our faith, and with them we tell others the good news of life in Christ.

Now while it is true that a person can be trapped by their words, the opposite is true and a people are set free by their words, that is to say, with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Jesus said, “if ye have faith ye shall say……” With our mouth we either accept or reject Christ.

Proverbs 18:21
Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Notice how similar in principle this verse is to the statement, “with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” With our mouth we release our faith, and we then eat the fruit and consequences of our words. Much of what we experience in life is a long term consequence of words that have left our mouth.

Are there some things that you wish you would have said, or perhaps even not have said? Pay close attention to what you say, there are consequences. As a moderator on a Christian forum, I’ve noticed that nearly all bannings, fights, hurt feelings etc. are due entirely to words and the power they exert over people.

James 3:4-5
Behold, the ships also, though they are so big and are driven by fierce winds, are yet guided by a very small rudder, wherever the pilot desires. So the tongue is also…

Our words will steer our life. What we say often determine which road we end up going down. Words are powerful, they put into motion, chains of actions and reactions that once launched can be difficult to recall. Words are often the deciding factor in relationships. Words will often determine whether we go over or under in life. Words can make or break us. Sometimes an unkind word between a couple or parent and child will take years of effort to overcome, and many times will never be overcome.

Your words have power pay close attention to them. In our walk of faith, we need to pay extra close attention to our words.

* * *

“The greater danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we hit it.
Michelangelo”

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Question: Do you pay close attention to your words?

Hans

_________________
God understands me. why don't you?!

HansC wrote:

59.) The Word Watcher

God watches over His Word. He will not confirm our words, or opinions, or theologies, but He will always confirm His Word.

Jeremiah 1:9-12
Then the LORD put forth His hand, and touched my mouth; and the LORD said unto me: Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth;

Even as God put His Words in Jeremiah’s mouth, He has also given us His Word to proclaim to a lost and dying world, His message of salvation in Christ. Not only has God given us His Word, but He has placed His Spirit inside of us. God has touched our hearts and our mouths, and expects us to deliver the Word to the World.

10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, and to destroy and to overthrow; to build, and to plant.

11 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying: 'Jeremiah, what seest thou?' And I said: 'I see a rod of an almond-tree.'

God has given His church authority to root out and pull down the spiritual strongholds of the enemy. He has given us the name of Jesus to use in our conflict with the power of darkness and he has given us His Word to speak.

12 Then said the LORD unto me: 'Thou hast well seen; for I watch over My word to perform it.'(JPS)

God watches over His Word, He loves to honor His Word. So it is our job to give forth the Word and God who is watching will perform and confirm His Word.

If you are a born-again child of God, and are not experiencing the miraculous and supernatural then it is because you're not boldly proclaiming the Word.

Signs, wonders and miracles follow the proclaimed Word. When we hold forth the Word of God faith comes to people whereby God is able to bless them.

Blessings follow the Word. Faith follows the Word. Signs follow the Word. Wonders follow the Word. Healings follow the Word. If you want to see the supernatural power of God in action then hold forth the Word with boldness.

1Samuel 3:19
And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him, and did let none of his words fall to the ground.

Don’t be afraid to boldly proclaim God’s Word. He watches over His Word, and when we proclaim His Word, He will not let that Word fall to the ground.

It is because of the principle of "wonders follow the Word" that I strongly believe that whenever there are "healing" services, the Word on healing should first be proclaimed. This allows people's faith to be built up to the point where it is easier for them to receive. It also gives God something to confirm.

Mark 16:15-16, 20
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.

God loves to confirm his Word. That's one of the reasons so many wonderful things follow his Word. In Mark 16, Jesus tells the church to go out and "preach the gospel" and that signs and wonders will follow those that believe those words. To the extent that a person boldly gives forth the Word to that same extent will the supernatural follow in their wake.

What did the Lord confirm ? His Word. Signs, wonders and miracles follow the Word. My point is that it is not so much power that spirit-filled Christians needs to focus on, instead focus on boldly proclaiming the Word. God confirms His Word.

Basic faith principle # 7.) Signs, wonders and the miraculous follow the preaching of the Word, because it is the power of God.

It isn't just those who have special ministries, who can pray for a miracle. God is no respecter of persons. Any child of God can hold forth the Word. While God is no respecter of persons, He does respect faith. He does respect His Word.

Therefore, give out the Word, and w