Becoming a Man of Unwavering Faith (14 page)

Check up on your promises. Find out what God says. See if He has told you the truth. See if He still says what you think He says.

Did you put your confidence in His Word in the beginning? Did you have faith in Jesus before you were going through this valley? God’s Word will not change.

Remind God and remind yourself of what God says.

Quit mumbling, murmuring, moaning, groaning, grumbling, and complaining.
Check your promises!

Jesus said, “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says” (Mark 11:23).

You will never rise any higher than your confession. You will never sink any lower than your confession.

A lot of people have the idea that if they can just take God’s Word in an emergency and quote it, it will work. It will not!

You will have whatsoever you say or whatsoever you have been saying continually. You cannot just talk any way you want to all the time and then suddenly quote God’s Word and expect a miracle. It doesn’t work that way.

You must train yourself to continually speak and believe God’s Word and live it out daily.

Death and life are in the power of the tongue
(Proverbs 18:21).

Check up on your words. Usually when you are having a problem, it is because you are not saying what God says about the situation. Instead, you are speculating, surmising, reasoning, and looking at the circumstances instead of God’s Word. The Word of God says we are to be “casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).

If there are all kinds of contrary
thoughts in your mind, as long as you refuse to say those thoughts, they will die stillborn. Once you speak them, you give them life! Replace negative thoughts with God’s thoughts—the Bible.

Meditate on God’s Word. Say what God says about your situation.

Before you ever get out of bed in the morning, pray in the Holy Spirit. Confess what God’s Word says about you. Know who you are in Christ. Pray the following prayers:

“… that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:17–23).

“… that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:17–21).

If the devil ever gets you in the arena of reasoning and looking at your symptoms, he will defeat you every time. Stay in the arena of faith and you will win every time.

Check up on the arena in which you are fighting. Are you trying to battle Satan in the arena of reason? Are you trying to intellectualize your problem? Are you battling symptoms and trying to reason why?
Stop!
Get into the realm of faith. Say this: “It does not matter what the situation looks like. It may look like these circumstances may never change, but Jesus said in Matthew 21:22, ‘And all these things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer,
believing, you shall receive’ ” (quote His Word).

Believe God!

Are you in constant fellowship with people of faith? If you associate with people who cannot support you in faith, you may find yourself struggling to hold on to your promise.

You will become like the individuals with whom you associate. “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character’ ” (1 Corinthians 15:33
NIV
). Fellowship with men and women of faith. Of course, open your heart to all people and share the love of Jesus, but where you counsel and fellowship and when you listen and are exhorted, be sure you have chosen those who are established in the Word of God and in faith.

Your ears are not garbage cans! Mark 4:24 says, “Be careful what you are hearing. The measure [of thought and study] you give [to the truth you hear] will be the measure [of virtue and knowledge] that comes back to you—and more [besides] will be given to you who hear” (
AMP
).

Do not agree with unbelief and doubt. Do not counsel with people who bring reproach upon the Word of God.

Take your stand!
Do what is right. Do not compromise God’s Word. If somebody says something to you that will bring you down, answer with the Word of God.

The apostle Paul reminds us to find our fellowship with the people of God: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

Check up on your companions and fellowship.

Many people live very worldly lives. They disregard the commandments of God. When they try to appropriate God’s promises, they fail.

The Bible says, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God” (Philippians 4:6).

“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11).

You must know who you are in Christ so you can resist the schemes of the enemy.

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural
face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:22–25).

You must
do
the Word of God. It will not do you any good unless you obey the Word.

Jesus told this story about the men who built a house, one on a rock, the other on the sand: “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall” (Matthew 7:24–27).

The one house stood because that man was a doer of the Word.

When the Lord says, “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26), you must obey. When the Lord says, “And be kind to one another” (Ephesians 4:32), you must obey. When the Lord says to “forgive” (Luke 6:37), you must forgive.

James 4:7 tells us, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” Make certain you are submitting all of your life to God.

As Peter did, obey Jesus when He speaks to your heart and say, “Nevertheless at Your word I will…” (Luke 5:5), even when it doesn’t all make sense to you.

Are you showing your faith by praising God
before
you see the answer. The Word of God tells us: “I will bless the L
ORD
at all times. His praise shall continually be in your mouth.”

Check to see if you are praising God as if you already had your answer. If you will act like you have it, talk like you have it, praise God like you have it,
you will have it!

Let me remind you of what I said previously. Jesus praised God that Lazarus was raised from the dead
before
He ever raised him. He stood before that grave and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. [I thank You that You have already raised him as far as I am concerned]” (John 11:41).

Somebody said, “I would be afraid to say that. Lazarus might not come out!” Certainly he would not come out with that attitude of doubt!

Joshua and the children of Israel shouted triumphantly
before
the walls fell down (Joshua 6:5).

Abraham praised God
before
he ever saw Isaac (Romans 4:17).

If you will do the checking, you will find where there has been a loose connection. With a minor adjustment, you will be on the road again.

God’s Word never fails
.

Man of faith, the Lord Jesus will never fail you. Put your unwavering confidence in Him. You will have victory every time!

T
here is no limit to what a man of faith can do for God no matter where he is, if he will learn the basics of faith, dare to believe God, and act on His Word.

As I close this book, I want to remind you that faith is not something you
try
occasionally. Faith is not something you pull out of your back pocket in emergencies or during difficult times to try to make everything better. Many people teach about faith, but they never mention the Lord Jesus Christ, presenting faith as if it were a formula or a mechanical thing.

Faith is a way of life
.

We read in Hebrews 12:1–2: “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith
, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Faith has to do with a living Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is alive and doing very well. He is still the Lord of all creation. He is still the God of the whole universe. He still has all power and all authority in heaven and in earth.

Jesus is the Author and the Developer of our faith.

So… fellowship continually with the Lord Jesus. Be aware of His sweet presence in your daily life.

Love Him. Adore Him. Praise Him.

Take time to get with Jesus and let Him minister to you. Let Him teach you the Word of God.

Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19).
Living a life of faith is following Jesus.
It is not just being in a stationary, comfortable place where you can say to yourself, “I’ve got it made.” As men of faith, we are continually subject to the call of the Master. He did not say to follow Him for a while and then sit down and stop following. Wherever Jesus goes
and beckons you to follow Him, you should continue following Him.

There are great rewards when you follow Jesus. If you will follow Him, He will lead you where the fish are. He will lead you where the coin is in the fish’s mouth. He will supply your needs. He will give you a life where His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).

Our responsibility as men of unwavering faith is to follow Jesus.
You are not to make up your mind as to what you want to do and where you want to go. Follow Jesus as He directs! No matter what hardships you endure, Jesus walks the same path you are walking. He knows every crevice, every obstacle, and every blessing. Your part is to follow.