The Bible is filled with amazing promises from God. God covers everything we could possibly need or want in those promises. What a good Father. He takes such good care of us. He knows what we have need of even before we do. Knowing the promises of God will enable us to ward off the lies the enemy so loves to whisper to us. Believing God’s promises will strengthen us to go hard after them, even when everything around us says otherwise. The Bible says, “God’s promises are YES and AMEN,” and so we must become a people who refuse to take no for an answer! As we all know, however, this can be challenging. When our bodies are dealing with sickness, or one of our relationships is broken, or something important to us seems to be slipping from our grasp, we may be tempted to lose heart. But THIS is where faith comes in.
“For all the promises of God in Him are “yes”; and in Him “amen” unto the glory of God by us.” –2 Corinthians 1:20
I remember years ago going through a very difficult time and someone telling me “You just have to have faith.” And you know what? I felt angry. Looking back though, I realize my anger came from shame. The shame of struggling to have faith and feeling as though I failed. I felt that no matter how hard I tried it was impossible for me to have faith, and wondered why God would ask me to do something I’d never be able to do? He wouldn’t. God is good and He never asks us to do anything that He doesn’t equip us to do.
“The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” -1 Thessalonians 5:24
Yes, God even helps us in our faith. We see this in the story of the man whose son was possessed. Read his interaction with Jesus.
“And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” –Mark 9:20-25
All God asks of us is to have a tiny mustard seed of faith. Have you ever seen a mustard seed? These days without my reading glasses I wouldn’t even be able to see it that’s how tiny it is. 🙂 All God is looking for is a heart that is willing to believe, just like the father in Mark 9. When we’re willing to believe, God is able to move supernaturally in our lives. He doesn’t ever force anything on us. We have free will. It’s by grace through faith that we receive salvation (Ephesians 2:8), and it’s through faith we continue to walk this journey with Him. And friends, God will help us every step of the way.
As we see in these verses above, the father was struggling to believe. He cried out, “I believe!!!” and then immediately after, “Help me to believe!” This is the struggle so many of us have in our faith walk, but the beautiful thing is that Jesus has compassion on us. He didn’t get angry at the father or cast him away saying, “Well if you can’t believe then I can’t help you.” No, Jesus healed the man’s son because He saw that tiny mustard seed of faith; the man’s desire to believe. Just the fact that he ran to Jesus for help showed faith. When we struggle, we can keep running to Jesus. That alone shows our faith in Him. The rest will come. And in running to Jesus, our faith will grow, because knowing and experiencing Him is key to our faith.
Back in the day when I became angry at that person for saying “just have faith,” it was because I didn’t truly know God. I doubted He would come through on what He said. When we struggle to believe what is at the root of that? It’s fear and doubt due to a lack of knowledge and personal experience. Is there someone that you absolutely trust in your life? Maybe you can’t think of anyone you absolutely trust and this will affect us in more ways than we realize. When we’ve been let down, hurt, and betrayed by others we often fear God will do the same. But God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19). He is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). When He makes a promise He keeps it (Deuteronomy 7:9). His word never returns void but always accomplishes what it sets out to do (Isaiah 55:11) Those statements are all truths from God’s Word. Truths we combat the lies of the enemy with. Truths we gain confidence in the more we get to know God. But back to my question… if there is a person you can name that you trust explicitly then my next question is, “How did this come about?” I would venture to say it came about by getting to know that person and your personal experiences with them. They gained a track record of keeping their word and showing up for you. THIS is exactly how we grow our faith in God. We grow in our knowledge of God as we run to Him and spend time with Him. We walk with Him. We experience Him. We watch as He moves in our lives and our faith grows from these personal experiences. We see who God is for ourselves, not just because someone told us about Him. When we know, that we know, that we know who God is our faith becomes unshakeable. We truly believe that if God said it then He will keep His word. Even though we may not be able to see it yet, or feel it yet, we trust that God will do it because He is God and He has proved time and time again that He is faithful.
This is what standing on God’s promises looks like. Standing means there is a period of time we wait and believe for the spiritual promise to manifest in the natural. When I was sick years ago and told I may never have children it didn’t look or feel like I was going to be healed. In fact, it looked like things were getting worse for a while. But I learned how to have faith in that season as the Lord led me to Abraham’s example in Romans 4:
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God,21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. –Romans 4:18-21
In the natural, Abraham’s body was as good as dead, but He chose to believe God in spite of that and He received the promise. Abraham had many experiences with God because He had a personal relationship with Him; following God and seeing God come through for him. One of the great lessons I learned about standing on God’s promises is that standing is not passive. I wrote a blog about this. You can read it HERE. But just briefly in regard to faith, I’ve learned that while we’re standing for that promise to come to pass, God is at work in our lives if we allow Him to be. For example, with my physical healing, I needed to learn to care for my body. Much of my sickness came from neglect and abuse. I had to learn how to love and respect the body God entrusted me to care for. I also had to deal with unforgiveness and self-hatred because those heart conditions were stealing my health. When I surrendered to the process and let God work in me things began to change. God transformed my life from the inside out. This is what He wants to do for each one of us. Not just once, but again and again, as we walk with Him. This is partnering with God for our breakthrough and something I often share about. When we partner with God, not only will we receive that breakthrough, blessing, or healing, we’ll be able to sustain it. God can fix our problems, but if we continue as we always have, most likely we’ll mess it all up again. The point is, while we stand on God’s promises it’s important to allow the Lord to work in us. He wants to speak to our hearts and give us strategies to overcome. He wants to heal our hearts so we see, think, and respond differently in life. He wants to set us up for success so that we not only receive the victory, we can walk in it!!
So what are you believing God for? Don’t let go of it. Keep standing on God’s promises for you. Whether it’s physical healing, a marriage relationship, a financial breakthrough, or anything else, have faith in God. Stand on His promises for you that are yes and Amen and refuse to take no for an answer. Don’t focus on the circumstances, on what it looks like in the natural. Focus on what God says. Write it down. Meditate on it. Confess it. Envision it happening. And when you struggle, run to Jesus and He will help you each step of the way. God is faithful!
“But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.” –Matthew 19:26
