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Tips to Tuning Faith
There is the capacity in God to speak to us through His Holy
Spirit direct from Heaven. And there is in us the capacity to hear through our spirit
when He speaks.
For example, a
room is filled with hundreds of sound signals beamed out from radio and television
stations. But we can't hear them unless we turn on a radio or TV set. As soon as we tune
the set to the station, those sounds are transmitted into something audible or visible. In
the same way, we can "tune in" to God and receive His signals, some of which are
audible and visible!
1) Fasting
- Sharpens Your Hearing.
One of the ways
we can sharpen our receptivity to God's signals is through fasting . This is like
fine tuning a radio. When Jesus taught His disciples about their need for growing faith,
He made clear (Matt 17:21) that prayer and fasting was often a key to
greater faith. Fasting is an aid to increasing faith when our motive is to draw closer to
God so we can better hear the word of the Lord to us.
Fasting Needs Right
Motivation.
The
motivation in fasting, then, must be carefully weighed. When God speaks, it's always
an expression of His will. When we know what He wants done, faith comes by hearing the
word of God. This is safe faith.
2.
Faith Grows by Speaking
Safe faith is based on hearing, obedience and love. We open our spirit to
the voice of the Lord by having an open, responsive heart to hear and to obey
because we love Him and He loves us. It is because of that love that faith works.
Otherwise, faith is stifled and ceases to grow.
Hearing, obeying
and loving, then, are the three central ingredients to the growth of
faith. To these we now add a fourth essential ingredient saying.
The Faith Of God :
In Mark 11:22 and 23, Jesus, teaching His disciples, says: "
..have faith in God." The literal translation is: "Have
the faith of God. ...For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this
mountain... " The implication here is that
the faith of God is a faith that speaks. In the first chapter of Genesis, God said: "Let
there be light: and there was light."
God said "Let there be... " and there was! The faith
of God is speaking faith or saying faith.
Saying faith is a
higher faith than asking faith. It takes faith to ask, but there is a faith
that goes beyond asking to a faith that speaks. "For verily I say
unto you, that whosoever shall say unto this
mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast
into the sea; and shall not doubt in his
heart, but shall believe that those things which
he saith shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he saith." The original Greek says: "Whosoever
believes that those things which he says have
already come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he says."
3.
Speak What God Says
The
progression and growth of faith is related to what you say or speak forth with the very
words of your mouth. Solomon makes it plain that what we say can curse us
or bless us, and states IN PROVERBS 18:21 "Death and Life are
in the power of the tongue"
Examples Of
Speaking Faith
a. Abraham.
We can
see this principle of the positive confession of faith in the
biblical record of Abraham in Romans 4:17-22. God had promised to
make Abraham the father of many nations. Although Abraham was
close to 100 years old and beyond bringing forth a progeny, he was
not weak in faith, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God."
This
means he went about positively praising God for all the things that He
had promised him, confessing what God had said and giving Him the glory.
Abraham had heard God' s word; "and being fully persuaded that
what he had promised,
he was able also to perform.
He probably said, "Hallelujah!
God's promised me a son and I'm going to have a son. Even though I'm
100 years old and Sarah's 90, still I'm going to have a son. Glory
to God!"
Because Abraham confessed the word of God instead of circumstances,
"...if was imputed to him for righteousness" (vs22).
4.
Take Your Stand In Faith
You,
too, can today take a stand in faith by what you say and speak in
faith.
When you know God's will, you can call some things that "be not" as
though "they were." Ultimately, you can see them fulfilled in your
life.
If you
accept God' s word to you, you can stand and confess that word (like'
Abraham) in the face of devils, opinions, circumstances, and all
manner of contrary things . God "...will stand behind his
word to perform it" (Jer 1:12). God is waiting for you to get the
word in your mouth and speak it forth, believing it in your heart!
By
Ralph Mohoney
World MAP
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For all
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