Have Faith in God

By Craig W. Hagin

Christianity is based on faith. We are saved through faith, healed through faith, and receive financial blessings through faith. Faith is a simple belief that God will do what He promised in His Word.

It doesn’t matter what the need is—healing, finances, salvation of loved ones, deliverance, peace, or anything else—faith in God is the answer. Some Christians, however, are not seeing the manifestation of their faith. Over the years, I’ve heard people say, “I just don’t have enough faith.” When I hear this, I am reminded of Mark 11:22 where the Bible instructs us to “. .. Have faith in God.”

Although some Christians are saying and believing the right thing, their faith really isn’t in God. They’ve moved away from simple faith and trust in their Heavenly Father, and they are trying to convince God to move on their behalf because of the things they do and say. They’ll make loud confessions and pray long and hard. They’ll stomp and even do somersaults if they have to. But what these Christians don’t realize is that they have left God out of the picture. You can make faith confessions and pray in your own strength all day long. But it’s through God’s power that our answers come.

According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, faith means “unquestioning belief.” And having faith in God means that we don’t question His willingness or ability to move on our behalf. We don’t have to try to move mountains in our own strength and ability. We just have to believe that God will move them.

Many of us today are facing financial mountains. And one way we can tell if we are truly relying on God is by how well we sleep at night. Are we sleeping soundly, or do we toss and turn all night long?

In my own life, I have found that the devil usually bombards my mind with thoughts of doubt and fear in the nighttime. When my wife and children are sound asleep, the devil says things like, “You’re not going to make it. What are you going to do? There’s no way out of this problem. Look at all these bills. How are you ever going to pay them?”

If we can’t sleep because we are worried and fearful, then we’re not fully trusting God. Instead of tossing and turning, we need to get out of bed, open our Bibles, and meditate on the Word.

Some Christians have more faith in the faith of others than in their own faith. Although they say they are believing God, they are really believing in their pastor’s faith. Or their confidence is in their spouse’s faith or in the faith of someone they believe is “more spiritual” than they are.

I have had Christians ask me to pray for them. And I am always happy to pray and join my faith with others, because my heart’s desire is to see people walking in the fullness of what God has for them. But as I talk with some of them, I learn that their pastor, all of their friends, and every prayer line in the country is praying for them. Everyone is praying except them!

This shows me that these Christians don’t really believe that God will hear and answer their prayers. They don’t have any faith in their own faith. But having faith in God is not hard.

Jesus said in Matthew 17:20, “. . . If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” A mustard seed is very small. Jesus said that’s all the faith we need to move a mountain. It’s not much at all.

When we face adversity, we can make the mistake of putting man’s limitations on God. We can look at the situation and say, “I can’t see how this will ever work out.” And because we can’t figure it out, we don’t think that God will be able to, either.

We can limit God in the same way when it comes to healing. It shouldn’t be hard for us to believe that God can heal incurable diseases. How far medical science has advanced doesn’t have any bearing on what He can do. God is not bound by mankind’s limitations. Remember that whatever is impossible with man is possible with God (Luke 18:27).

We need to take ourselves out of the equation and simply have faith in God. The Worrell New Testament translates Mark 11:22 as “have the faith of God.” We could also say, “have the kind of faith that God has.” What kind of faith is that?

When God spoke, it happened. When He said, “let there be light” (Gen. 1:3), light immediately came into existence. God didn’t have to wait for an hour for light to appear. He didn’t have to fast, pray, or cry before light manifested. It appeared immediately after He spoke.

When we try to figure out how God will move or how a situation will work out, we immediately limit Him. Our part of faith is to believe that God will move on our behalf. It’s up to Him to work out the details. We don’t have to know the steps He will take to get us out of our situations. We just have to believe that He will work it out.

When we’re assured that God is working on the problem, we won’t be moved by what we see when things don’t look so good. Everything may appear to be falling apart around us, but we can rest in a peace that passes all understanding (Phil. 4:7) when our trust is in God.

God is good. He wants us healed, prosperous, living in freedom, and filled with peace and joy. He is able to turn any situation around. And because of His great love for us, He is more than willing to work on our behalf. It’s not up to us to try to figure things out. We simply need to have faith in God.