Have Faith In God

In Mark 11 Jesus taught His disciples and us the power of faith in God.  So much has been and is being taught on faith to the Body of Christ.  But at some point we have to move from teaching to believing and acting on what we believe.  We have been saturated with teaching.  It is time to get up and do what we have been taught.

Do you know what the word “doing” involves where faith is concerned?  It may involve a few failures as we move toward consistent success in our praying and doing.  We can only go as far in our doing as our knowing.  Do you know and believe that faith works for you?  Or do you leave it to your pastor?

When is the last time you stood steadfastly on God’s Word for yourself?  So you have had disappointments and discouragements. We all have.  The difference between a successful prayer warrior and an unsuccessful one is persistence and consistency.  If there has been a failure, find out where it failed and keep on going, learning and succeeding as you go.

If business people gave up when they failed, they would never have a successful business.  I am told that every successful millionaire (I guess we should jump it to billionaire in today’s world.) has declared bankruptcy maybe more than once.  The difference between the successful one and the one who failed was that the successful one did not give up but got up, dusted off his britches and got on that horse and rode again.  If the horse of life has thrown you a number of times, bucked and knocked you out of the saddle, get on that horse and ride again and again and again until you succeed.  Persistence is a good companion of a praying person.

Faith—-in the beginning of our walk of faith, we do not understand many things.  But we put into practice what we know and keep on growing.  We all know that faith comes by hearing the word of God.  What word are you hearing?  If you are listening to your television more than you are listening to the word of God preached and taught, you are listening to exactly what is producing your faith.  Most of the things on television today are very negative and doom and gloom oriented.  If that is what you are hearing, that is the faith you have.  It is a faith in the negative happening.  It will definitely affect the way you pray.

Take a television fast for a week or two and see what it does to your faith.  In the time slot you have previously allotted to television viewing, listen to ministers teaching the word of God in faith.  Watch what happens to your faith level in the Word of God and prayer.  It will grow greatly.  You will see Godly results.  Try it!  It does work!

Effectual Faith

We cannot talk about effectual prayer without talking about effectual faith.

In Philemon 6 we read that the “communication of your faith becomes effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.”

The participation with others in the sharing of our faith, in the fellowshipping with one another in social settings, produces power, becomes operational, by acknowledging every good thing which is in us in Christ Jesus.  To acknowledge means to admit the existence, the reality, the truth of something.  This acknowledgement releases force, power.

What does all this mean to us as people who pray?  When we talk about, when we recognize all the good things in us because of Jesus, we are encouraged, we move to a level of determination that our prayers work.  That is really what faith is all about—-having confidence.  That is another word for faith.  Have confidence that your prayers are releasing God’s power into the situation about which you are praying.  Then continue to acknowledge the good things that prayer is releasing for you and the people for whom you are praying.

The more we talk about good things, the more confident we are that good is coming our way.  The more we talk about negative things, the more we are convinced that bad stuff is going to happen and that we can’t do anything about it.

Negative thoughts and words tend to immobilize us and, yes, even paralyze us regarding receiving anything from God or anyone else.  Think about this for a moment.  Who do you as a person tend to gravitate toward—-the negative person or the positive person?  The answer is:  the positive person.  Why do you think that is true?  Positive people encourage us, build us up and help to propel us to believing in successful results, even when things look pretty gloomy.

Faith, confidence is produced as we talk about the goodness of God and think on what His Word says to us.  He is a God of faith.  He is a God of encouragement.  He wants us to succeed in all that we set our hands to.  When we pray, He wants to hear faith and confidence in His ability to answer our prayers.  It is His ability that is released on our behalf.  It is not our ability.  Have confidence in God’s ability being released to answer your prayers.

Today, make a quality decision that you will be that person who is positive and uplifting for yourself and for others.  Make that quality decision that you find good things to acknowledge in your conversations with others and with God.  This world right now needs people who confidently know that God Almighty is going to take care of them, regardless of what they see in the natural which is looking them in the face.  Don’t let circumstances speak louder than God in any situation you encounter.  Pray and let God and His Word speak louder for you and those for whom you pray.

Effectual Prayer

James 5:16b, KJV, Amplified Bible, NEB, Moffatt’s, NLT

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].

A good man’s prayer is powerful and effective.

The prayers of the righteous have a powerful effect.

The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results.

Since James was a part of the household in which Jesus was born, I sit up and take notice to what he writes.  He lived with Jesus 24/7, as he grew up.  He heard and absorbed the words Jesus spoke, whether he knew who he was or not, at that time.  Words are powerful and lodge in your mind and eventually in your spirit and become a part of you.

So, listen up, everyone!  James says that our prayers as righteous people produce powerful results.  Yet so many Christians feel like they can’t pray like the preacher in the pulpit or the intercessor who spends hours a day in prayer.  You and I as “ordinary” Christians have the same Jesus as our Savior and Lord, the same Holy Spirit residing on the inside of us.  He is the One Who directs our prayers.  It is not we who direct our prayers.  Maybe your words don’t sound as eloquent as some others.  So what!  God does not analyze your every word.  Talk with Him.  Speak what He says.  Speak His Word.

The first thing we must establish here is that you are righteous if you have accepted Jesus as your Savior.  You have right standing with God.  You have His ear open to your requests.  He has given you rights in His Kingdom.  One of those rights is prayer, communication with Him, and results being produced from that communication.

What is effectual prayer?  The Greek word used here is energeo.  Do you see an English word in this?  Of course you do.  The word is energy.  Your prayer as God’s child is energizing, producing God’s results, working and operating in His Kingdom with His Word, by the Holy Spirit of God.  Yes, your prayer!  Not your best friend’s or your pastor’s, but YOUR PRAYER!

I want to encourage you today.  Pray, talk to God all the time.  He wants to be your best friend.  He loves to be with you and discuss your life.  When you are washing dishes, taking out the trash, shopping, going to meetings, working in the office, cleaning house, taking care of children, having a date with your spouse or girlfriend/boyfriend, wherever you are and whatever you are doing, God wants to be “in on it.”  Talk to Him about everything.  He is a good listener.  But also you be a good listener when He wants to speak.  He knows a whole lot more than you do.  So do more listening than you do talking.

Your prayers are effective; they are mighty; they work; they produce results.  According to Webster’s 1828 Dictionary, effectual means producing the effect desired or intended or having adequate power or force to produce the effect.  Wow!  Look at that!  Mighty man or woman of God, when you pray, your prayers produce the effect desired.  God has given you His power to produce the effect intended.  Believe in yourself as much as God does.  Know that your prayers are powerful.  Receive God’s encouragement and know that your Godly prayers are producing results.  Believe it!  Receive it!  Have it!

PEACE AND VICTORY

Are you ready for victory?  Are you ready to walk in victory in 2013?  OK, let’s do something about it.

In chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians at the end of the chapter Paul talks to us about death and sin and our perishable bodies and this perishable world and our being delivered from it to heaven.  What most of us fail to realize is that Paul is not only talking to us about what waits for us but he is also encouraging us while we are here on this earth.  We have need for victory right now.  In verse 57 he says: “But thanks be to God, Who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Again, in 2 Corinthians 2:14 he says:  “Now thanks be to God, Who always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of His knowledge by us in every place.”

The Apostle John in 1 John 5:4,5 tells us that we who are born of God overcome the world.  This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.  Who is he that overcomes the world?  It is he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

What does the scripture say makes us world overcomers?  Our victory that overcomes the world is our faith—-faith in what or who?  Faith in God and His ability to take care of us and keep things complete and whole for our lives.  We overcome the world by believing that Jesus is the Son of God.  Well, as the Son of God, He is our Prince of Peace, our source of completeness and wholeness.

When we know who we are in God, we have a sense of well-being, which is as far as most people go in defining peace.  That sense of well-being comes from knowing who we are and that we are whole in the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the One Who delivers us, gives us safety, heals us, prospers us, sets us free, makes things OK for us.  In other words, He keeps our lives all in one piece by His peace, SHALOM, wholeness.  No more little pieces and fragments for us!  We are One with Him, Who is the Prince of Peace.

We are always victorious in Him.  As He is, so are we in this world (1 John 4:17).  How is He?  He is joyful, full of love, healthy, successful, lively, and victorious.  There you go!  That is who you are also because as He is, so are you in this world.  Here is the really good part.  In that verse, it says that perfect love (Jesus) casts out fear.  No more fear to those who know who Jesus is in them and who they are in Him.  This is looking better and better all the time.  Glory to God!

A person who goes into prayer, knowing that he/she is praying from the victory side already has won because Jesus has won the victory for us.  There is a great difference in praying to get something and hoping that somehow or other God will come through for you and praying, knowing that the Lord has already taken care of it for you ahead of time and trusting Him to work it all out for you.  That is victory prayer.

I will close with (as you have discovered) two of my favorite scriptures, which you see much in my teachings.

John 16:33 and Luke 10:19, Amplified Bible

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence.  In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]!  For I have overcome the world.  [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

Behold!  I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and [physical and mental strength and ability] over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you.

PEACE AND AUTHORITY

Mark 4:39

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still.  And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

Last week’s teaching leads into this week’s teaching.  There is an authority that the children of God carry, which is felt by those around them.  That authority is demonstrated in their peace.

There is absolutely nothing that can shake God’s peace, when we finally get an understanding of what we carry.  We are carriers of God’s peace.  He lives in us.  The Prince of Peace lives in us.  What we have to do is allow Him to be the One in charge when stuff begins to break down around us and bring panic and fear.

We must refuse panic.  We must refuse fear.  We must refuse the dictation of turmoil and stress in our lives.  No one said it is a cake walk to refuse these things of the world.  If it were, everyone would be doing it.  No, it takes a determination and courage to stand up in the face of contradictory circumstances and say:  No you don’t!  You are not determining my life!  You are not going to dictate the outcome of this circumstance!  The Lord Jesus Christ is in charge of my life, and no one else has that authority or right.  Now, leave me, in the name of Jesus!

Jesus told us when He left this earth that He was giving us His authority.  I often thought what a risk God took in releasing the power of His authority to us as His children.  Wow!  He must have some confidence in us.  Well, don’t you think it is about time we have some confidence in His authority in us.  Let’s do something with what He has given to us.

As carriers of God’s authority we speak and it is done.  Yes, it is that simple.  You’re saying it doesn’t happen when you speak!  Why?  I’ll tell you why.  I have had the same challenge.  When I speak God’s Word in the face of circumstances telling me the opposite, I don’t see anything change, week after week, month after month.  What is going on here?  There is an enemy, satan, who is attempting to convince us that we are weak little nothings who have no power and no authority.  He tells us:  “Oh, yes, those preachers tell you that you do have all of this and all of that, but look at the reality of your life.  Does your life demonstrate power and authority results?”  Of course, you agree with him and say, no.  Here is where it gets interesting.  Turn the tables on him.  Stand your ground.  Don’t give that lying devil one inch of ground.  Tell him that you will stand until hell freezes over if that is what it takes.  Of course, we all know that is not going to happen.

This authority of God is yours, given to you by the Prince of Peace, the Prince of wholeness in your life.  Today, make a quality decision that you are carrying God’s authority in this world and you are going to walk in the results of that authority operating in your life of prayer.  It is time to see the move of God in your life.  Don’t back down any more.  What have you got to lose?  You have already lost much.  Stand in your authority and take back what has been stolen from you.  It is time for restoration.  Make this your year of restoration because you have been given the authority of the Prince of Peace to walk in the wholeness of God in every area of your life—-spirit, soul, body, socially, financially.

WHAT IS PEACE?

John 14:27, Amplified Bible

Peace I leave with you; My [own] peace I now give and bequeath to you.  Not as the world gives do I give to you.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.  [Stop allowing yourselves to be agitated and disturbed; and do not permit yourselves to be fearful and intimidated and cowardly and unsettled.]

Peace is so much more than the absence of turmoil.  The Hebrew word SHALOM indicates far more than absence of turmoil.  In essence, it means: Completeness, wholeness, with nothing missing out of your life and nothing broken in your life.  Most of us cannot say that exists in our lives.  There is brokenness all over the place for us—-broken relationships, broken bodies, broken finances.  My question to us is this:  Why is it that we who have accepted Jesus as our Savior have the same brokenness dictating our lives as the world has?  What is the problem with us?  What is going on?

I’ll tell you what the answer is:  We know Jesus as our Savior but we do not know Him as our Prince of Peace.  We are living in, and surrounded by, a world full of brokenness, a world of darkness and sin and sickness and poverty and broken relationships.  Instead of pondering and submitting to that brokenness, we need to be submitting to the Peace of God, to His SHALOM, His wholeness.  We as God’s children are living in the Kingdom of God while we are here on this earth.  We are to be living in His presence, the One Who is the Prince of Peace, the Prince of Wholeness.  And we have been giving more attention to the brokenness of the world than the wholeness of Jesus.  We have been allowing the world and its circumstances around us to determine the way we feel about our lives.  Our focus has been on what is wrong rather than what is right with Jesus.  We are looking with our physical eyes at the mess and listening to others describe the mess to us.

When we take on the vision of Jesus as our Prince of Peace, we see wholeness in the middle of the mess and have confidence in Him to bring completeness out of chaos, wholeness out of brokenness, deliverance out of bondage, safety out of harm, and sweetness out of destruction.  He is the One Who makes the desert bloom like the rose.  He is the Rose of Sharon, the Lily of the Valley.  He takes our stinking circumstances and brings a sweet-smelling savor to make our world brighter when the one around us is dark.

It is all about our focus.  Where is our attention being drawn?  That which is given priority on the inside of us will determine the direction of our prayer life.  We are either praying from a place of turmoil or a place of peace.  Turmoil brings the world’s results.  Peace brings God’s results.  Let us determine to learn to walk in God’s peace.  It is time we give the world an alternative to their destruction direction.  Instead of their dictating our destiny, let us present to them by our words and actions a better way, a better plan, one which is a pathway of freedom.  It is the way of PEACE.

Lest you think that I am presenting a “lay me down rug” mentality, do not be mistaken.  God is a protector of His children.  His peace is more powerful than anything the enemy can bring against us.  Anything of God is His pure power.  When we learn that, we have nothing to fear.  His peace overrides anything brought against us.  Remember that no weapon formed against us prospers, is successful.

THE PRINCE OF PEACE

Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:  and the government shall be upon his shoulder:  and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

When you pray, what is the platform for your prayer time?  Are you praying because you want to have a conversation with God, or are you praying because you are troubled, scared, upset, etc. and want God to quickly fix your problems?  Are you coming to Him because you need Him, or are you coming into that place of prayer because you have purposed to come to the Prince of Peace, Who has everything under His control, Who is the Supreme Ruler and Governor of Peace?

The questions I have just asked you are valid questions for all of us to ponder.  We have just come through the month of December when we focus on the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the Prince of Peace, come to this earth to give us peace.  In the middle of a world that seems to be out of control in every direction, let us make this year our year of PEACE with the PRINCE OF PEACE as our direction finder.  In every situation you and I encounter this year, let’s make a quality decision to yield to peace instead of panic.

All of us have had circumstances in 2012 which gave us much cause for concern.  They were challenging to us.  They went to the very core of our being, challenging our peace and joy and love.  2013 is here and we made it!  But I want to do more than make it this year.  I want to be on top of things.  In Deuteronomy 28 we read that we are the head and not the tail.  We are above and not beneath.  How do we stay in the midst of that declaration?  Below I am going to list a few practical points for consideration for our new year of prayer.

First of all, every day we must make the Lord Jesus Christ #1 in our lives.  He is to have center stage.  Before we even get out of bed, we dedicate our day to Him and ask Him to guide us by the power of His Holy Spirit.  We ask Him:  What is it You want to accomplish today through me?  Guard my heart; keep a watch over the door of my mouth; cause me to see Your good today.  Keep me in the center of Your perfect will.

As we get ready for the day, let’s focus on His goodness and mercy to us, see His supernatural favor going before us and preparing a way where there may seem to be no way.  Open our eyes, Lord, to see You in everything we encounter today.

Whether it is at the beginning of the day or at the end of the day, have a special time set aside for your Lord, where you fellowship with Him in prayer and praise and absorbing His Word through reading, meditating and confession.

During the day, let’s purpose to think on Jesus and let Him direct us.

Over all, let us be people of prayer for our families, our friends, our co-workers, our leaders, our churches, our nation.

BELIEVING IN PRAYER

What a way to start off our new year of 2013, which will be here in a few days!  Believe!  What will you believe in this year?  Will you believe at all?  If you do, will you believe big or small?  What is your goal this year for which you are believing?  Whatever you believe for, that is what you will get.  Believe big and receive big!  Believe small and receive small!

Take an inventory of this past year.  What did you believe for?  Did it come to pass?  Did you rejoice and thank God when it did?  Were you excited and did you tell others, to encourage them in their walk of faith?  Or were you too afraid to believe, for fear that you would not receive.  Regardless of what this past year held for you, why not make a decision to believe God for good things to happen to you this year.  Believing costs nothing.  It is a free choice.  Why not believe!

Believing God is trusting Him, having confidence in Him, relying on Him, regardless of what you think or what you encounter.  He is capable!  He is reliable!  He will bring you through to victory every time.  Blessing is the only vocabulary He knows.  We as human beings try to interject many other words into God’s vocabulary like failure, defeat, giving up, letting go, and walking away.  What is so encouraging to me is that God never gives up, never lets go and never walks away.  He is always right there, cheering us on to the victory line.

Prayer is about believing, never giving up, never letting go, never walking away.  There is nothing too hard that God cannot do something about it.  As one preacher said:  It is impossible for God to do nothing.  Put that sentence on your iPad and your smart phone and even on the outdated 3×5 card on your mirror as the first thing you see in the morning, on your refrigerator as the first thing you see when you open the door for food for breakfast.  IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR GOD TO DO NOTHING!

Mark 11:22-24 tells you and me to have faith in God (that is believing).  Speak to your circumstance (not talk about it).  Tell that circumstance to move out of your way.  Once you speak to it, believe in your heart that those things YOU SAY shall come to pass.  Believe you shall have what you say.  THEREFORE, Jesus said to us, what things you desire, when you PRAY, BELIEVE you RECEIVE them and YOU SHALL HAVE THEM.

BELIEVE WHEN YOU PRAY!  This year go for it—-decide to believe, regardless of what you encounter.  Make it your goal that you are a believer, even if nobody else believes.

Psalm 27:13,14

[What, what would have become of me] had I not believed that I would see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living!

Wait and hope for and expect the Lord; be brave and of good courage and let your heart be stout and enduring.  Yes, wait for and hope for and expect the Lord.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HOPE IN PRAYER

This is the week we celebrate Christmas, the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the hope of the world.

In our modern world, especially in the time which we find ourselves living today, hope seems to be such a lost cause for many.  Economic downturns, jobs lost, marriages on the rocks, children having no futures, people murdered, wars and rumors of wars, natural disasters are the headlines of the day.  What is the use of hope in such a dark world?  Is there hope?  Where are we headed?  The Bible tells us that hope deferred makes the heart sick.  There are many today whose hearts are sick and not whole.

Many will say that the next statement I make is trite and useless.  But here’s the bottom line:  worldly hope produces nothing but heartache because it is dependent upon circumstances.  Hope in God produces expectancy because it is dependent on God Who never fails.  He is bigger than economies.  He is bigger than death.  He is bigger than divorce.  He is bigger than natural disasters.  He is bigger than wars.  He is bigger than anything you can see here in the negative.  God is bigger!  God is a good God!  We can hope in Him.

Where is your hope today?  Without hope in God, there is no faith.  Without faith, prayer produces nothing.  Hope is not wishful thinking, hoping something will happen.  Godly hope is a white-hot expectation, based on the Word of God, that God is in charge, and everything is going to be alright.

This Godly hope is not based on what you do or don’t do.  It is based on God.  It is not dependent on you.  It is dependent on God.  It is knowing that He is in charge, and He will hold you up, regardless of what you encounter in this life, whether it is good or bad.

In the end, Godly hope will produce results.  All we have to do is look at Abraham in the Bible.  For 25 years he had an earthly hope, based upon what he and Sarah could produce as an heir.  Then we are told in Romans 4:18 that against earthly hope Abraham believed in Godly hope that he might become the father of many nations.  We know the rest of the story.  Within the year he and Sarah had a baby boy born to them as a result of their union in their old age—-an impossible situation because they were too old to conceive.

But God——————!  God is the factor in our equation of hope always.  Without Him, there is no hope, only artificial clouds of expectancy that evaporate as quickly as they were formed.  People go from one worldly hope to another, never quite satisfied, never quite achieving the peace of knowing all is well.  On the other hand, Godly hope produces a sense that all is well.  We can truly say shalom, all is well, nothing is missing and nothing is broken.  That is what the prayer of Godly hope produces.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  HOPE IN THE ONE WHO WAS BORN TO GIVE YOU HOPE!

EXPECTANCY IN PRAYER

Have you ever heard someone say:  You get what you expect!  That statement is true.  Our lives gravitate toward our expectations.  We are now told by even scientists and physicians and psychologists that our physical bodies, our emotional responses, our very future or destiny can be determined to a large degree by what we think, which produces expectancy.  What we think releases chemicals from our brain into our systems to direct our actions.  Actions are a result of thinking.

Don’t you consider it absolutely awesome that God has provided a divine connection called prayer between you and Him to guide your expectancy through His Word and through His Holy Spirit.  A Spirit-directed prayer, based on the Word of God, produces God’s expectancy and thus God’s results.

Once again, we must talk about the fact that we do have an enemy who does everything possible to steal our God-given expectancy for good.  I am not being negative here.  We must be aware of the expectancy stealer.  Don’t let him steal your expectancy for Godly results when you pray.  Never give up your expectancy.  It is your lifeline to victory.

Honestly ask yourself the question today:  What am I expecting when I pray?  Am I expecting disappointment based on past history?  Am I expecting God’s Word to work in my life?  Evaluate your position.  Perhaps you are one of those rare people who always expect the best.  That is what our God designed us to do.

For most people expectancy of good Godly results has to be cultivated and nurtured to fullness.  Life and its problems tend to rob us of the right kind of expectancy.  Disappointment, discouragement, disillusionment creeps in and reduces us to people who merely pray because it is the one thing we are told to do.  And we enter into that vicious cycle like a gerbil who goes round and round on that same wheel of prayer defeat time after time.

Today make a quality decision that regardless of what has happened in your past, this is a new day where you decide to expect the best for you and your loved ones.  You expect results in prayer.  You expect good.  God is good and His mercy endures forever.