Faith part 2 | |
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Romans 10:17 which says, “So faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.”
Matthew 21:21-22, “Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Do you realize this verse says to speak to the mountain? It says, “Say to this mountain.” What does “mountain” mean here? It means any problem you may have. If it’s a huge problem, then it’s a huge mountain. If it’s a small problem, then it’s a small mountain.
Jesus said to speak to the mountain just as He spoke to the fig tree and commanded the problem to leave. This is the mountain that Jesus is talking about in the above verse of Matthew 17: 20. But this verse also says to have faith and not doubt.
I know that back when my husband had to travel often that I had to have faith that God would protect me when I was home alone. Sometimes I was really tempted to fear at night. I realized that I was playing different scenarios in my mind and how I would handle these negative scenarios if they happened.
Finally I said, “Enough of this! God, You’re going to have to keep me safe. What am I doing?”
There is no way that I could possibly protect myself no matter what I practiced over and over in my mind on how to defend myself.
So I said, “God, I am completely trusting You to protect me. I am not going to worry about it ever again. I trust You to protect me and keep me and my children safe, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
From then on, I had peace. I never worried again. I chose faith. I chose to believe what His Word says that He would protect me (Ps. 91). There were times the devil might come to me with a temptation, but I resisted him (Jam. 4:7) and refused to fear.
We can boldly come to God and ask for anything we need. He provides for us (Ps. 23:1, Phil. 4:19, Ps. 34:9, 10). Think back to when Jesus was on the earth. He met every, single one of the disciple’s needs. Peter’s mother ’n law was sick with fever and He healed her (Mt. 8:14). They were hungry and He fed them (Mt. 14:17, Mk. 6:38). They were scared of the storm and He calmed the storm (Luke 8:22-25). They needed money to pay their taxes and He provided for them by having one of His disciples catch a fish with the amount they needed to pay in the fishes’ mouth!
The Word says in Philippians 4:19 that God meets all of our needs. Jesus met the disciples’ needs and He wants to meet your every need too! Believe and you will receive all that you need!
I heard Keith Moore once say, “Faith is required. It’s not optional. You can’t refuse to believe and get God to move for you some other way.”
People try it all of the time. They try to move God with their emotions, but He’s not impressed with someone’s emotions. He’s impressed with faith. They may try to impress Him in all kinds of ways, but the way to please God is by practicing faith. Faith moves mountains (just as the verse said above).
Now real Bible hope is not wishing something would happen. When the Bible says to have hope it is fully believing and expecting something to happen (Heb. 11:1). People are not in faith when they say, “Oh, I hope so.” “Oh, it may or it may not happen, we’ll see.” According to the Bible that is not real faith!
Hope means: confident, joyful expectation. Are you in expectation? Are you confident that what you pray is going to occur? If not, then you just have worldly hope. It’s called wishing.
Every single thing we do every day from morning until night should be of faith because the Word says, “But the righteous will live by his faith-”, (Habakkuk 2:5, Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11). Jesus taught faith. He demonstrated faith. He prayed in faith. He was always walking in faith. He never wished or hoped something would happen. He was always persuaded and trusted in God to carry it out. He lived by faith. He is our example.
Mark 16:14 says, “Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe.” I’ll never forget the first time I ever “noticed” this verse. It was amazing! I was surprised to see that Jesus actually rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith.
Now I want to show you another verse that is shocking. You’ll have to read carefully because it’s probably something you’ve never considered before. It’s Mark 6 verse 5 and 6 and it says,
“He could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them. And He was amazed at their lack of faith.”
This verse does not say Jesus would not do miracles there, but it does say that He could not do miracles there. Let that sink in.
Some would say that Jesus would have performed miracles if He wanted to, but no, that’s not what the verse says. Let’s read it as it really is written: “Jesus could not do miracles there.” Why? Because of their lack of faith.
If Christians don’t begin to realize that faith matters when they pray, then they’re going to continue to live a defeated life. They’re still going to fall short of God’s plan without faith and without practicing faith.
I want to encourage you to look up all the verses that have the word faith in them and take note of how many times Jesus said it was according to their faith that it would be done unto them. “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted”, (Matt. 15:28).
Matthew 8:10, “When Jesus heard this, He was astonished and said to those following Him, “I tell you the truth, I have no found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” Verse 13, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.”
I want to meet Jesus one day and hear Him tell me I’ve had great faith! I want to please Him.
Harvest International Ministry, Inc ©
Matthew 21:21-22, “Jesus replied, ‘I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Do you realize this verse says to speak to the mountain? It says, “Say to this mountain.” What does “mountain” mean here? It means any problem you may have. If it’s a huge problem, then it’s a huge mountain. If it’s a small problem, then it’s a small mountain.
Jesus said to speak to the mountain just as He spoke to the fig tree and commanded the problem to leave. This is the mountain that Jesus is talking about in the above verse of Matthew 17: 20. But this verse also says to have faith and not doubt.
I know that back when my husband had to travel often that I had to have faith that God would protect me when I was home alone. Sometimes I was really tempted to fear at night. I realized that I was playing different scenarios in my mind and how I would handle these negative scenarios if they happened.
Finally I said, “Enough of this! God, You’re going to have to keep me safe. What am I doing?”
There is no way that I could possibly protect myself no matter what I practiced over and over in my mind on how to defend myself.
So I said, “God, I am completely trusting You to protect me. I am not going to worry about it ever again. I trust You to protect me and keep me and my children safe, in Jesus’ name, amen.”
From then on, I had peace. I never worried again. I chose faith. I chose to believe what His Word says that He would protect me (Ps. 91). There were times the devil might come to me with a temptation, but I resisted him (Jam. 4:7) and refused to fear.
We can boldly come to God and ask for anything we need. He provides for us (Ps. 23:1, Phil. 4:19, Ps. 34:9, 10). Think back to when Jesus was on the earth. He met every, single one of the disciple’s needs. Peter’s mother ’n law was sick with fever and He healed her (Mt. 8:14). They were hungry and He fed them (Mt. 14:17, Mk. 6:38). They were scared of the storm and He calmed the storm (Luke 8:22-25). They needed money to pay their taxes and He provided for them by having one of His disciples catch a fish with the amount they needed to pay in the fishes’ mouth!
The Word says in Philippians 4:19 that God meets all of our needs. Jesus met the disciples’ needs and He wants to meet your every need too! Believe and you will receive all that you need!
I heard Keith Moore once say, “Faith is required. It’s not optional. You can’t refuse to believe and get God to move for you some other way.”
People try it all of the time. They try to move God with their emotions, but He’s not impressed with someone’s emotions. He’s impressed with faith. They may try to impress Him in all kinds of ways, but the way to please God is by practicing faith. Faith moves mountains (just as the verse said above).
Now real Bible hope is not wishing something would happen. When the Bible says to have hope it is fully believing and expecting something to happen (Heb. 11:1). People are not in faith when they say, “Oh, I hope so.” “Oh, it may or it may not happen, we’ll see.” According to the Bible that is not real faith!
Hope means: confident, joyful expectation. Are you in expectation? Are you confident that what you pray is going to occur? If not, then you just have worldly hope. It’s called wishing.
Every single thing we do every day from morning until night should be of faith because the Word says, “But the righteous will live by his faith-”, (Habakkuk 2:5, Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11). Jesus taught faith. He demonstrated faith. He prayed in faith. He was always walking in faith. He never wished or hoped something would happen. He was always persuaded and trusted in God to carry it out. He lived by faith. He is our example.
Mark 16:14 says, “Later Jesus appeared to the Eleven as they were eating; He rebuked them for their lack of faith and their stubborn refusal to believe.” I’ll never forget the first time I ever “noticed” this verse. It was amazing! I was surprised to see that Jesus actually rebuked His disciples for their lack of faith.
Now I want to show you another verse that is shocking. You’ll have to read carefully because it’s probably something you’ve never considered before. It’s Mark 6 verse 5 and 6 and it says,
“He could not do any miracles there, except lay His hands on a few sick people and heal them. And He was amazed at their lack of faith.”
This verse does not say Jesus would not do miracles there, but it does say that He could not do miracles there. Let that sink in.
Some would say that Jesus would have performed miracles if He wanted to, but no, that’s not what the verse says. Let’s read it as it really is written: “Jesus could not do miracles there.” Why? Because of their lack of faith.
If Christians don’t begin to realize that faith matters when they pray, then they’re going to continue to live a defeated life. They’re still going to fall short of God’s plan without faith and without practicing faith.
I want to encourage you to look up all the verses that have the word faith in them and take note of how many times Jesus said it was according to their faith that it would be done unto them. “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted”, (Matt. 15:28).
Matthew 8:10, “When Jesus heard this, He was astonished and said to those following Him, “I tell you the truth, I have no found anyone in Israel with such great faith.” Verse 13, “Go! It will be done just as you believed it would.”
I want to meet Jesus one day and hear Him tell me I’ve had great faith! I want to please Him.
Harvest International Ministry, Inc ©