Preaching Faith Through Three Generations
Now Faith Is . . .
//Craig W. Hagin
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” —Heb. 11:1
Whenever we are standing in faith and it doesn’t seem as though anything is changing, it’s often good to check and see if we are in faith or in hope. It’s possible to think we are standing in faith when we are really just hoping.
Faith is always present tense. It’s always now. Faith believes we have something when it doesn’t yet exist in the natural realm. Hope is future tense. It’s the feeling that what we want will happen sometime down the road.
Faith will hold us steady no matter what’s happening around us. It doesn’t matter if we’re sinking in mud up to our nose and can barely breathe—faith still says, “I believe God.”
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Webster’s New World Dictionary defines faith as “unquestioning belief.” One way to know whether we are in faith is to check and see if we are questioning. Sometimes when we’ve been standing for a long time and don’t see any change, we can begin to wonder when and if God will move on our behalf. We can start asking, “Why isn’t my situation changing? When will I get healed?” And the moment we start asking questions, we’ve just stepped out of faith.
This is where the devil wants us. He wants us to doubt God’s promises. He tries to get us to wonder if our circumstances will change, or if we’ll be healed, or if our bills will be paid. If he is able to do this, he will defeat us every time.
Only Believe
Our part in the fight of faith is easy. We only have to believe that what God said is true. Jesus had the hard part. He was chained to the whipping post and bore the stripes on His back. He then died on the Cross, descended into hell, and defeated Satan.
Faith becomes easy when we focus on how big God is and on what Jesus did. God created the world by speaking it into existence. He formed man from the dust of the earth and woman from the rib of man. When you think about this, it’s pretty amazing. And while Jesus was on the earth, He healed everyone who came to Him in faith believing, delivered the demon possessed, and raised the dead.
When we’re tempted to doubt and wonder if, when, or how God will move on our behalf, we need to cast those thoughts down (2 Cor. 10:5) and focus not only on His ability but on His faithfulness. As we do, we’ll stand strong in faith and not in hope. And we’ll receive the manifestation of what we’re believing for.
A Little Will Get You a Lot
//Kenneth W. Hagin
S&H Green Stamps were very popular many years ago. Whenever customers purchased groceries or gasoline from certain businesses, they were given green stamps based on how much money they spent. Then they’d paste the stamps in a book. When people had enough books, they could redeem them for any number of things—from toys to household items.
When I was young, I remember going through the Green Stamps catalog looking for things I wanted. It took about 10 books to get a football and 40 to 50 books to get a bicycle. I often tried to persuade Momma to let me have the Green Stamps.
When it comes to faith, I think some people have a “Green Stamp” mentality. They believe they need different levels of faith for different things. For instance, if they have a headache, they only need two “books” of faith. But if they have cancer, they’ll need 42 books.
But if we need more faith for seemingly “harder” things, how will we know when we have enough? Is there some sort of gauge that will tell us when we reach that point? I believe our answer lies in Luke 17:6. It says, “If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.”
Jesus is letting us know that we don’t need more faith for one thing and less faith for another. Faith the size of a mustard seed is more than enough to believe for anything we need. The same faith that pays off five dollars will pay off millions of dollars!
It simply boils down to a little bit of faith and a great big God. As we take God at His Word and act on that Word, we will be healed, delivered, and provided for. Faith is very simple, and a little bit of faith will get us a lot. Let’s not make it complicated. Let’s just take God at His Word and watch Him do the impossible!
Faith Works by Love
//Kenneth E. Hagin
Throughout my years in ministry, I’ve seen people who’ve been prayed for by every leading evangelist and minister and are still not well. I’ve seen those same people make one trip to the prayer room and automatically get healed without hands being laid on them. Why? They dealt with unforgiveness in their lives.
Anyone connected with Kenneth Hagin Ministries is familiar with Mark 11:24: “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Although many people stop reading at the end of this verse, Jesus didn’t stop there. He continued in verse 25, “AND when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
The conjunction and shows that Jesus is joining what He just said with what He is about to say. You can’t have verse 24 without meeting the requirements of verse 25.
Although love is not mentioned in Mark 11:25, we can see love in the word forgiveness because love forgives. We also know from Galatians 5:6 that love is what causes our faith to work.
Many years ago, I wrote out every verse in the Gospels where Jesus said something relative to faith. I found that unforgiveness was the only hindrance He mentioned. That doesn’t mean there aren’t other hindrances, because there are. But it means that unforgiveness is the greatest danger to our faith.
The word ought in verse 25 means “anything at all.” Sometimes people feel that it’s all right to hold
something small against somebody, but it isn’t. Our faith won’t work when there’s an air of unforgiveness about us or when we harbor any unforgiveness.
Once after I preached my wife and I went to a restaurant with a young couple. Both were ministers. That night I had preached on First John 3:15: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.” While we were at the restaurant, the wife confessed to me that she hated her mother-in-law.
I knew she really didn’t hate her mother-in-law. Instead of letting the love of God dominate her, she was letting her human reasoning and her flesh dominate her. She was concerned because this verse says you’re a murderer if you hate somebody.
I told her to look me in the eye and say, “I hate my mother-in-law,” and at the same time check her spirit—her heart. She did that and told me it felt as if something inside was “scratching” her. “Sure it is,” I said. “It’s the love of God trying to get your attention. But instead of yielding to that, you’re letting your mind run wild and your flesh dominate you.” I told her to begin acting like she loved her mother-in-law, because she really did.
This couple later invited my wife and me to their home for refreshments. That night the woman said to me, “You’re right. I don’t hate my mother-in-law. I just wasn’t letting the love of God dominate me.”
This young couple had three children. Their youngest child, who was between 3 and 4 years old, had begun having epileptic seizures after she turned 2. Although doctors prescribed medication, it didn’t stop the seizures; it only made them less intense.
We were getting ready for church one night when this woman called and asked us to come over and pray for her child. She was having a seizure. As I drove over there, the Lord told me not to pray for the child, anoint her with oil, or lay my hands on her.
The Lord told me to tell the mother that when she walks in His commandment of love (John 13:34), He’ll take sickness away from the midst of her and the number of her days He’ll fulfill. Then He told me to tell her to rebuke the devil—to tell him, “Satan, I’m walking in love. Take your hands off my child!”
When we arrived, I did exactly as the Lord commanded. I barely got the words out of my mouth when the mother whirled around, pointing at the child, and said, “Satan, I’m walking in love. Take your hands off my child!”
The seizure stopped the very second she said those words. I saw the couple five years later and learned that their little girl was still healed. She never had another seizure.
Every step out of love is sin. It is a step in the wrong direction. But like this woman, if we’ll repent and get back to walking in love, we’ll see our prayers answered.