So what has that got to do with you and me? Earlier in Jesus' ministry, before His resurrection, the disciples were being taught about faith. After the disciples had seen some of the miracles that Christ did, they were amazed at just what He could do. One instance of what Christ did was to cast out a demon that the disciples could not cast out. This caused them to question Christ as to why they could not cast this demon out. Christ responded with this statement, "because you have so little faith, Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20. Faith is the mountain mover, not ones own ability, not some secret prayer, not something one does under their own power, faith is what accomplishes the task. So that leaves us with a question, What is faith?
If we do not understand what faith is, then we cannot understand Christ. Christ only did what he seen His Heavenly Father doing, Christ only spoke what His Heavenly Father told Him to say. Christ believed in God His Father. He trusted God in all that He did. It was His faith in His Father that accomplished every miracle, every demon that was cast out was done by faith with authority, every word that was spoke was done by faith. Jesus, as the son of man, accomplished these things. In Hebrews 11:1 we have a very unique but simple description of just what faith is. "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." So faith is first of all confidence or as another version says, hope. When we ask for something we hope we will get what we ask for, we are confident that it will come. Secondly, these things that we ask for are unseen, we cannot put any sense of feeling on it, it is a hope. Third, because we have this confidence or hope, we can rest assured that we will receive it even though we cannot see it physically, that's faith. When we put that confidence in Christ we can rest assured that He will keep His promise and deliver what we hope for. Christ taught His disciple's that all they needed to move a mountain was faith that amounted to no more than the size of a mustard seed. Now that doesn't seem like a lot does it. Yet Christ called out those who followed Him on this subject more than once. He called many a perverse and unbelieving generation because they could not understand that faith was what they needed. They could not let go of their traditional ways and accept Christ for who He was and what He was telling them. Christ was in essence saying that if you have any amount of faith you don't need me present, you just need to trust in me and use God's words to accomplish the task. In other words, put your faith to work and believe that what you ask will happen.
What happens when we pray and we do not see the results as we want them? One problem is that to many of us believe with our heads. We think that just because we say something it should happen. Then other's think that all you have to do is quote scriptures and it is supposed to take place. Yet, someone else thinks that if you just concentrate and expect something to happen, it will. This my friends is not faith. It is using your own ability or supposed strength or power to make something happen. Christ did not accomplish anything on His own, He did what He seen or heard His Father do. Look at John 14:9-14. Christ is telling His disciples and all those who trust in Him that He and His Father are one. Christ did not do anything except for what the Father did. Now He is telling all of those who follow after Him to use their faith in Him, Christ, to accomplish the same works that He did. In doing this we can accomplish what He did and even more.
The problem we face today is that we don't really believe what He told us. Mark 16:15-20 says that we can go into the world and do everything that He did. We have the authority to cast out demons, we have the authority to heal the sick, we have the authority to do everything Christ did. Matthew 28:18-20 makes this plain, and in Luke 10:19 it says that Christ passed on this authority to those who believe in Him, "I have given you authority." This authority is the same authority that was given to mankind in the beginning before mankind was actually created. Check out Genesis 1:26, pay attention to the word "rule" or "dominion." These words carry the same meaning, "rulership," "kingship." "in charge of," "authority." Mankind was to have authority over the rest of God's created world and were to take God's image out into the rest of the world and use that authority to bring God's Kingdom of heaven to this earth. The problem back then, in Adam's time is that Adam gave that authority over to satan. That is why our world was then and still is in such a mess, the power of darkness ruled this world then and now by gaining authority illegally. When Christ was crucified and buried, He spent three days in the grave. In Revelation 1:18 Christ says that He has the keys to death and hades or hell. That means that he took back legally the keys from satan and now has all authority. This would be the same authority that Adam passed off to satan. I believe that during the three days Christ spent in the grave, He went into hell and set the captives free. He could only do this if He had the keys and the authority to do it. He regained the authority legally by paying the price for them with His death. When Christ returned to His disciples after the resurrection He told them to "go into all the world and preach the gospel (good news), baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." He also told them "to heal the sick and cast out demons." Again in Luke 10:19 Christ gave that same authority to those who believed in Him. This is the same authority that Adam handed over to satan. That same authority is now back into the hands of the followers of Christ, God's only Son. So what do we do with this authority? We use it to free those in bondage, or set the captive's free. How do we do that? Through our faith in Christ Jesus and by applying His promises to whatever situation that confronts us on this earth, using the authority in Christ with faith. You see, our authority is in Christ, it is through Him that we have authority over the kingdom of darkness, and it is by faith that we exercise this authority. We use our authority along with faith to overcome the darkness in this world, they work together. Your authority is useless without faith. Why? Because if you don't apply what you believe then all you get is a lifeless belief. The scriptures tell us that "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." Read the account of the faithful one's talked about in Hebrews 11, it gives us a good picture of just what faith is. We have to learn that believing is more than head knowledge, more than scripture quoting, and more than thinking about something. Believing is an action word, it requires us to show that we believe. Check out James 1:22-25, he makes it clear that faith involves more than just believing, it involves doing what God's Word says. It is putting what we say we believe into action, that is faith. The authority is our right to take charge over this world by bringing the Kingdom of heaven to the Kingdom of earth, Matthew 6:9-13 gives us the way we need to pray, vs. 10 says this; "your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." We are to bring God's will into this world so the world can be changed.
Look at some of the promises that are given to us through God's word; Isaiah 53:5 tells us that by the wounds that Christ suffered we are healed. In fact the whole chapter is a prophecy of what was going to take place long before Christ was born. Here are some promises that are found in God's Word that tell us specifically that He will not only hear our request or prayer, He will answer them. Charles Capps is an evangelist that has traveled the world for years. He started out as a farmer and obeyed God's call to the ministry he is in today. Here is what he has to say about the words we use and how to apply God's word into our lives and the lives of other's.
"Your words are building blocks of which you construct your life and future. Your words set the cornerstones of your life, and you live within the confines of that boundary you create with your own words.." "People that have an image of themselves being in poor health will talk about poor health. Even though they may be in good health, they seem to live out the reality of the image they have of themselves even unto death."Proverbs 18:21 would confirm this, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." Look at these scriptures and get them implanted into your heart and mind. (hold cursor over the scripture ref., it will bring up the scripture). Job 22:28; Proverbs 18:7; Mark 11:23; Proverbs 18:20-21. You can see from just a few references that God's Word has a lot to say about words and their effects on you and your health. There are many, many more. Medical science aids healing through physical means by administering medicine into the physical body. God's Divine Healing is Spiritual. It is administered through the human spirit. 1 Corinthians 2:9-12 tells us that we can't even imagine what God has prepared for those who love Him. Psalm 107:20 tells us that God sent His Word and healed them. Notice it doesn't say "to" heal them, it says "and" healed them. If we believe this, and have faith that it will happen according to God's Word, then God will or has already accomplished it, it is already done even before we see it. That is faith.
Here are a few more scriptures that may help you to see that faith is in you. You must believe that God's Word is real, and that it is meant for you. God cannot break His promises. Use His Word according to His will and see what great things God not only can do for you, but will do for you. This is not a name it and claim it type belief, this is doing things according to His will, not ours. So look at the following scriptures and apply them to your situation.
Psalm 107:20; Isaiah 54:5-6; 1 Peter 2:24; I am forgiven and free from sin and guilt. Colossians 1:21-22; I am free from unforgiveness and strife. Matthew 6:12; Romans 5:5; I am dead to sin and alive unto God because Jesus bore my sins in His Body on the cross. 1 Peter 2:24; Romans 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Father, because of Your Word I am an overcomer. 1 John 4:4; Revelation 12:11; No evil will befall me, neither shall any plague come near my dwelling, in my pathway is life, healing and health. Psalm 91:10-11; Proverbs 12:28; Jesus took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses. Matthew 8:17; John 6:63; Therefore I refuse to allow sickness to dominate my body. Galatians 3:13; I am redeemed from the curse the redemptive act of Christ is flowing in my blood stream, Mark 11:23; Luke 17:6. In Romans 10:6-8 Paul says that the righteousness which is of faith says..."the word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart." Notice, the Word is first in your mouth and then in your heart. God's Word becomes engrafted into your heart as you speak it. There is nothing more important to your faith than declaring what God has said about you with your own voice. Giving voice to God's Word is a method of calling for things that God has given by promise and are not yet manifest. You are establishing what God has said to be true concerning healing even though it is not yet a reality in your life or body Galatians 3:13; Colossians 1:13.
Friends, you must understand this, and this is from Charles Capps little book called God's Creative Power for Healing.
"Your body will respond to the demands of the human spirit. If you feed the spirit man God's Word, it will make demands on the flesh to line up with the Word of God."Your faith is essential, if you do not exercise it, it is considered dead. Faith and works go hand in hand, so why not exercise your faith in God through the Lord Jesus Christ and use the authority He has passed onto you. Faith will move the mountain out of your way if you can only believe that God will keep His promises. Can you do this? It is not impossible because "All things are possible through Christ Jesus." Mark 10:27, which is referring to salvation, but the word "everything" carries this much further. In Paul's letter to the Philipians, Paul told them that "He can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength," Philipians 4:13. Use your faith and see what God can and will do through you, He is waiting for you to step up and be counted with all the other faithful believers. It is your choice, faith is not hard, it already dwells within you, all you have to do is put it to use. Be strong my fellow believers, God loves to reward those who trust Him, and He loves you very much, just ask His Son Jesus, after all He did give His life for you.
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