Dear friends:My hero is the greatest faith preacher of all time. He said such radical things as:
“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him” (Mark 11:23).
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).
“I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:12-14).
These are some of the radical faith words of our Lord Jesus Christ. This preacher would not be welcomed in many churches today. He would be criticized as "one of those faith preachers." But His words are nevertheless the words from the Father and Creator of us all and are 100 percent true for all time. Is the Son of God reliable? Does He tell the truth? Can you believe Him?
The late Smith Wigglesworth was a giant in the faith who repeatedly witnessed God’s miracle-working power, even raising from the dead. Here are some of his words, so profound that I must put them in bold: “There is something about believing God that will cause Him to pass over a million people to get to you because of your faith.”
What Wigglesworth said is scriptural, because the Bible says:
For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (2 Chronicles 16:9, NKJV).
Faith and loyalty are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have loyalty without faith, and faith without loyalty is dead.
Imagine the great Creator of the universe constantly scanning the human race and the world looking for the person of faith. Then He sees you! Out of the sea of humanity, your faith beams upward toward heaven like a laser light, and you catch His eye. He smiles. He listens to and heeds your words, because you are praying, speaking, and acting according to His own words, to which He is faithful, which you believe, and to which you are loyal. God will not deny His own words and promises.
In Romans 3:27, Paul speaks of “the law of faith.” The Bible has been described as a deep mine of treasures, continually inviting the seeker to dig deeper to discover them. Certainly “faith” is one of the treasures. We cannot exhaust the subject here, but I will share a few of the great truths, which can set you free.
Amazing faith. Faith is the most amazing phenomenon in the universe.
David Wilkerson observes, “When God says to humankind, ‘Believe,’ He demands something that is wholly beyond reason. Faith is totally illogical. Its very definition has to do with something unreasonable.”
Yet, even though illogical from a human standpoint, it is very real and transcends human logic as well as the physical world of the senses.
It is invisible, yet it has substance. God says:
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1, KJV).
Faith gives actual substance to what we hope for (which becomes real), and in itself is the evidence of results not yet seen.
Faith is the ingenious invention of the Creator that makes sure every person in the world is treated equally. It is an equal-opportunity opportunity. An amazing thing about faith is that anyone can possess it, no matter how young or how old, no matter how strong or how weak, no matter how high or how low one’s intelligence, no matter how rich or how poor, no matter how much education one has, and no matter what race or nationality.
Faith cuts across all lines equally. Its potential is a common denominator of all human beings.
However, keep in mind that faith can also be negative. Fear is negative faith. Fear-filled and negative words can have the opposite effect of God’s words. They can cause torment, depression, sickness, and even death.
An example of negative faith is given by retired Canon Jim Glennon of the Anglican church Australia, who had a healing ministry there for over 40 years and saw many supernatural healings. He described a tribal custom of the native Australian Aborigines. If a member of the tribe violates one of the tribe’s taboos, the witchdoctor comes to the man and performs a ritual over him. The ritual is to reach into a small leather bag, take out the bone of a bird, then point the bone at the violator. In all cases, after the bone is pointed, the person dies, sometimes instantly, but always soon. The ritual is called “pointing the bone.”
A similar practice in the civilized world is when a medical doctor tells a person that they have cancer or some other serious disease, and says that he may have only a certain amount of time to live, such as six months. In effect, that doctor is “pointing the bone” at the patient. While well-intended, this is nevertheless placing a self-fulfilling verbal curse on the person. Such curses are powerful, as with the bone. Typically, the patient has more negative faith in modern-day medicine than he does positive faith in God’s Word, and he typically dies within the time frame given. Glennon says that people trained in God’s Word are able to “step outside” such a diagnosis, calling upon God’s Word as a resource unknown to medicine. A doctor’s diagnosis and prediction cannot change God’s Word, but God’s Word can change a doctor’s prediction. Glennon has seen many miraculous recoveries, unexplainable by doctors.
What would happen if a person rejected the bone being pointed by a doctor and decided to believe God, when He says: Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up (James 5:14-15).
That passage does not say, “unless he has cancer, or lupus, or multiple sclerosis,” or “unless he has _____ (fill in the blank).” And it does not say, "...he should call the doctor..." (but the elders). Of course, calling the doctor is sometimes wisdom, but people typically do that first without thinking about what God said.
Can you imagine how national health care costs would plummet and how many medical offices would go bankrupt if every person believed and acted upon those two verses, words from God Himself? It doesn’t happen because most people, even Christians, do not believe God or take His Word literally and seriously.
Of course, people would have to find a church with elders who also believed that verse, but they are available.
Several years ago I heard Rev. Glennon speak at a Methodist church in my city. The speech summarized what Jesus said about faith and healing, and how they are tied together. To my shock, there were a few of the members who became upset that he placed emphasis on faith for healing. But that is the mindset among many Christians today. They just do not like what the Bible says about it.
Biblical faith is our access to the Creator. It is also the only way we can please Him:
Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
Faith is the door to the invisible, supernatural world.
The source of faith. What is the source of this mysterious but essential ingredient? Where does faith come from? God gives the answer in Romans 10:17:
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (NKJV).
Faith comes from God’s Word, the Bible. Faith originates in the heart of God, who makes it available to us through His Word. As we prayerfully read and meditate on the Word, faith is transmitted to us. It becomes part of us. We become people of faith.
While faith comes by hearing, it stays by doing. But actually, you do not want faith to stay. You want it to be released. God does not want you to be a reservoir, but a river. He wants His power to “flow through” you to others. A man was bragging to a well-known minister, “I have a lot of faith.” The minister replied, “That’s your problem. You still have it. You need to release it.”
Faith is dormant, inactive, ineffectual, and actually dead until it is acted upon by releasing it, as power is only latent power until detonated. That is why God says through James:
Anyone who doesn’t breathe is dead, and faith that doesn’t do anything is just as dead! (2:26, CEV).
Faith is an action word. Believe is an action verb. As mentioned, faith always presupposes doing something¾acting on our faith. For faith in us not to be dead, it must be released, and a principal way for faith to be released in us is through our words, as we agree with and confess God’s own words and known will into the world and into our life situations.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says (James 2:22).
A favorite quote I discovered says, “Faith is going to the edge of the light that you have, and then taking one more step” (anonymous). In other words, a faith person goes over the edge! For example, Peter went over the edge of the boat and walked on the water, by faith in the Savior. God always meets us at our point of faith. When we are over the edge, miracles start happening, like walking on water. I love the exhilaration of being “over the edge.”
The world says, “Show me and I’ll believe it.” But God says, “Believe me and I’ll show you.”
(Excerpted from chapter 6 of the book, THE POWER!, by James Bramlett, available free online at http://www.choicesforliving.com/book/the_power.htm)