How You Can Obtain
An
old woman in her eighties gave birth to a child as a result of the prayers and
faith of her husband. Her name: Sarah. Her husband was Abraham. Their
incredible story is told in the Bible.
The
reason God performed this amazing miracle was because Abraham had "strong
faith" (see Romans 4:20). God will do almost anything for the person who
has strong faith.
All
you ever need in life is in heaven. Heaven is the treasure chest that contains
all the blessings you need for successful living. And faith is the key that
unlocks the storehouse of heaven. Jesus often mentioned "little
faith" and "great faith." When He saw great faith in people's
lives, then He would help them. If you want God to help you, Jesus must see
great faith in your life.
If
you will possess strong faith, God will heal you, prosper you and bless you in
every way. You may admire certain saints and wish that you could have the
strong faith that they had. Isn't it time you quit wishing and started to do
what these strong, faith-filled Christians did to get their strong faith?
A
diamond is the strongest mineral in the earth. It is strong because it is
nearly pure carbon. Yet graphite is also carbon, but why is the diamond strong
while graphite is soft and rubbery. It's because in a diamond the carbon atoms
form and bond differently than in graphite. Same substance, but strong or weak
forces between the carbons cause either the carbon to be diamonds or
graphite. The same is with our faith, if we allow certain truths (carbon)
to bond strongly in our lives, our faith will become strong. Otherwise if we
hear the truths of the Word but do not allow the truths to bond into our
spirits, then our faith will become soft and weak. God wants your faith to be
pure and strong like a diamond, not weak like graphite. Pure faith is strong
faith!
Strong
faith comes by combining several spiritual ingredients. These ingredients come
in the form of spiritual realities that you must know are absolutely true.
Getting a revelation of these truths will make your faith strong.
THE REALITY OF GOD'S WORD
The most important
ingredient for obtaining strong faith is this: You must know the reality of
God's Word. You must be convinced that the Bible is God speaking to you today.
2
Timothy 3:16 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed..." Not just some
Scripture...all
Scripture. One of Satan's favorite tactics in order to destroy the believer's
faith in God's Word is to convince him that certain promises that God made are
not for him.
Religionists
often say, "We know that God promised this, but that promise is not for
us." I've heard many well-known preachers try to talk Christians out of
believing that healing is in the atonement, even though Matthew 8:17 says,
"[Jesus] took up our infirmities and carried our diseases."
They
deceptively teach, "The only infirmities that Jesus took away were for the
people in Jesus' day, not for our day. Jesus did take up their infirmities, but
not our infirmities." Yet the Bible says that He took up OUR infirmities
and diseases. Not just THEIRS. "Ours" includes "us" as
well. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever!
Whenever
the devil tells you that a certain promise that God has made is not meant for
you, remember this Bible verse: "For no matter how many promises God has
made, they are "Yes" in Christ..." (II Corinthians 1:20). Notice
this. No matter how many promises God has made, they belong to you. You are not
excluded from any of God's promises!
SPIRITUALIZING THE BIBLE
Satan has a backup
plan, just in case he can't convince you that a promise is not meant for you.
His other tactic is to spiritualize the promises of God. He will come to you
and say, "Yes, God did promise that to you, but He really did not mean
exactly what He said. You are misunderstanding God by taking Him literally. You
need to learn to interpret God's promises spiritually, not literally."
Let
me show you how Satan does this. The Bible says in II Corinthians 8:9,
"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become
rich." This scripture explains the reason why Jesus became poor. He became
poor so that we might become rich. But the devil will come--sometimes through
preachers!--and say, "Yes, Jesus became poor so that you might become rich
SPIRITUALLY, not materially."
You see how we often mistakenly spiritualize God's promises.
I
find it interesting that people will use this verse to prove that Jesus was
poor materially. Yet when they try to explain why He became poor, they say it
was so that we can become spiritually rich. This doesn't make sense! Since the
word "poor" means "materially and financially poor", the
word "rich" should mean the same thing-- "materially and
financially rich."
This
scripture promises the believers material and financial riches!
Someone
may argue and say, "You're taking the Bible out of context!" No, I'm
not. The context of this verse is concerns money and giving. Read it yourself.
It is true that some verses of the Bible must be taken spiritually, rather than
literally, such as the beast with ten heads in Revelation. But where the
context is dealing with practical matters, we should interpret the scripture in
a strict sense. This is true concerning II Corinthians 8:9.
TRADITION VERSES GOD'S WORD
The other tactic the
devil uses to destroy your faith in God's Word is to use tradition to
contradict God's Word. Tradition is probably Satan's most powerful tool.
Jesus
said to the religious leaders of His time, "You nullify the word of God by
your tradition..." (Mark 7:13). It is amazing that people would rather
believe in their traditions rather than believe in God's Word. Yet they do!
Tradition
is Satan's most powerful tool because tradition does not need any facts. This
makes it hard to fight against. It doesn't matter how many verses of scripture
you show some people, they are not going to believe the Bible as long as
tradition says something else. They don't care about facts.
They
will argue, "I don't care what the Bible says! This is what I have been
taught!" They never consider that the teachings may have been wrong.
Most
people are like the newlywed bride who was proud to cook her first pot roast
for her husband. She took out the defrosted roast and cut off the two ends
before placing it in the oven. Her husband asked, "Honey, why do you cut
off the two ends?"
She
answered, "That's how my mother did it."
"But,
why?"
She
scratched her head, "Well, I don't know why. She must have had a good
reason."
Out
of curiosity, they called the mother and asked her why she cut the ends of the
roast. The mother answered, "That's the way my mother cooks it."
So
they called the grandmother and asked why she cut off the ends of the roast.
She
answered, "Because my cooking pan is too small."
Are
you like this new bride, believing and doing things just because that is the
way others believed and acted?
The
only way you can win over the traditional ideas you may have is to be
teachable. You must be willing to reject tradition when you see that God's Word
says something different. This takes humility!
Accept
God's Word as speaking to you today, and your faith will become stronger.
Share this
EmoticonEmoticon