ANB 31, your faith works

Hello all,

You must come to understand that God has great desires for you. God's greatest desire is that
you be saved of your sin, washed by the blood of Jesus Christ, so that you can fellowship with
Him for eternity in Heaven. God's next greatest desire is that you fulfill His plan for your life.
Now, fulfilling God's plan for your life does not only mean doing all God tells you to do, but also
having all God has promised. For example, God will be happy if you do all He tells you, but He
doesn't want you to have to do it gimping with sickness and living in a shack. He has given you
faith to obtain perfection for your life (Psalm 138:8). Surely He helps, but without Faith it is
impossible to receive anything from Him (James 1:5-8). Moreover, without Faith it is
impossible to even please Him (Hebrews 11:6).

So once we see the importance of our Faith we'll understand how badly we need to work to
increase our faith. Everything you ever do or obtain for/from God will be by faith. Now let's see
what the Word says about this.

"When He reached the house and went in, the blind man came to Him, and Jesus said to them,
'Do you believe that I am able to do this?' They said to Him, 'Yes, Lord.' Then He touched their
eyes, saying, 'According to your faith be it unto you.' (Matthew 9:28,29).

We could call this the keynote verse for this study and likely for our entire understanding of
faith. Exactly what you have faith for will happen, if you have no faith, nothing will happen,
at least nothing from God.

So what happened here. They believed something specific. They had faith for something
specific. They had faith that Jesus could heal their eyes. They didn't just go up for a touch
thinking something magical would happen, they had faith He could heal their eyes. We could
wisely surmise that as they felt His hands draw near they felt within themselves, 'this is it.' We
know the whole time they must have been expecting and believing within themselves that He
would heal their eyes. (If they had doubted once they likely would have received nothing, see
James 1:5-8). They had faith for this healing. And Jesus answered their faith, Jesus responded
to their faith. Praise God. He said that according to their faith, it was done to them. Not Jesus'
faith, not God's faith, but their faith. They were healed because of their faith.

And so will it be for the rest of us. God responds to our faith. He doesn't respond to 'maybe God
will' or even 'if God wills it will be so' (despite what many people may think). NO. We must get
God involved. We must put our faith on something specific. This is how we receive from God.
Not with 'maybe.' Not with 'if.' We must be very careful with those words. I believe the only
time to use those words is when they will be followed by a question not covered in the Word of
God. For example, God wants you to be saved (Matthew 15:11,14), prosperous (Joshua 1:8),
healed (Matthew 8:3) and many other wonderful things. There is no 'if You will it' about those
questions. He wills it, and He will do it.
Let's say you want physical healing and you pray, 'if it's your will God.' I was so guilty of that
until I learned the truth. The truth is that sentence insults God in that area. God sent His Son to
have His body broken for your body (among other reasons). By His stripes you were healed (I
Peter 2:24). If you ever think to ask such a question of God again, let me answer it for you now:
"I (Jesus) am willing; be cleansed." (Matthew 8:3). So God is willing. He is willing to give you
all His Word promises you. He's willing to give us far more than we ever could imagine. "What
things soever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have
them." (Mark 11:24). You never need to ask "if you will" or say "maybe He will again." You
should stand on the Word of God, for What He has said He will do if we get what He has said
involved in our lives.

God wills for us to have many things. But as we see in this last verse as well, it requires faith.
Read the Gospels and see what Jesus told the people He healed: "Your faith has made you
whole." and "Your faith has saved you."

Praise God. I don't just have to wait around for some miracle. I can get active about getting
prayers answered and receiving from God. I do this by building my faith up and asking of God.
For Me, the times I have received the greatest things from God where those when I earnestly
prayed for something, repeating what I needed and confessing the Word of God.

Let's look at one woman who can teach us all how to receive from God. (It should be noted that
this story appears in three of the gospels).
"
And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, when she had heard of Jesus,
came in the crowd behind, and touched His garment. For she said, If I may touch but His clothes,
I shall be whole. And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body
that she was healed of that plague. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue had
gone out of Him, turned around, and said, Who touched My clothes? And He looked round
about to see her that had done this thing. And He said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made
thee whole. (Mark 5:25-34).

This is a powerful tale of how to receive from God. Here's how you do it. She did not have a
Word from God, but she knew of Jesus' power. You have the Word, a book filled with promises
that you can pray and confess to yourself over any area of your life. She got specific about her
problem. She came to get healing on this one sickness. She then spoke out what would happen.
She declared that when she touched him she would be made whole. The amplified
Bible indicates that the verb context says she was actually saying this over and over to herself.
Well what was she doing? She was building her faith. So she repeated what she believed for.
She then stepped out and did what she had to do. She touched Jesus. You can't touch Jesus, but
you don't need to. The Holy Spirit lives within you. The very power of God that can be
contained within a man is within you, just like it was with Jesus.

Set it up. Father God, when I pray this and lay a hand on my hurt area, or when I pray this and
then make a phone call for a job, I believe I receive your healing/favor/power whatever in this
area. Thank you God, I stand on a promise in your Word (fill in appropriate scripture here) and I
know you are willing. So thank You. According to Mark 11 I believe I receive it now in Jesus'
Name. And I know I will have it. In Jesus' Name I pray, Amen.

Get your faith built up on God's Word and in praise and prayer first. For according to your faith
it will be given you.

I'll tell you. I am currently believing for many things in my life. One thing I pray for is that you
all would walk in the fullness of God's plan for your lives. I pray that as I write these letters,
and speak with you all individually, that you are getting closer and closer. I believe I have
received this already. Now I can't see it. It may take time. But if something happens, I just say
'thank you God that I know person blank is walking in your fullness and you are protecting
them. I do the same thing if I have a physical issue or an issue at school. I (1) get my faith in
the right place, (2) declare what will happen, (3) ask for it, (4) do what I have to do in the
natural, (5) believe I have received it, (6) then stand on that prayer until I can see it with my
natural eyes. Praise God. That may sound like a long process, but it will become second
nature to you as you start walking it out.

You may not have everything yet, at least to where you can see it, but you have faith. Your faith
is the substance of what you hope for, the evidence of what you can't see. (Hebrews 11:1)
According to your faith you will see soon enough, so keep your faith in the right place.

Lastly, two biblical ways to increase your faith:

1) Read the Bible.

Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Build yourself up on
the Bible. Read God's promises over and over again, train yourself to believe everything God
says without exception. This is a spiritual force, when you get that Word in you, you will see
your faith grow mightily. And you will begin receiving mightily.

2) Plant your faith as a seed.

Luke 17:6, "If you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you might say unto this sycamine tree,
'be plucked up by the root, and be planted in the sea; and it should obey you.'" The mustard seed
is a very small seed that can grow into a mighty tree. When you pray for something, you have
planted a seed (if you have asked in faith that you would receive). Your faith is now in the
ground and growing. Let it continue. Let it grow. It will reap your mighty harvest if you don't
dig it up with unbelief and doubt. Water it with continued thanks and praise for whatever you
prayed for. It will grow and do according to what you believed it would. Sometimes you see a
harvest immediately, like the woman with the issue of blood. Other times it takes longer. Even
Jesus had to wait overnight to see what He prayed for once (See Mark 11:12-26). (This is a
powerful process that we must all study more and more.)

So read these scriptures over and over. Get more scripture on whatever you are believing for.
Work the process. Pray and in Jesus' Name it will be done to you according to your faith. Praise
God.