BVOV Magazine 2013 - present

Certainly you do! The Bible says, “...God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3). Since that scripture was written to born-again people, you can be assured that if you’ve made Jesus the Lord of your life, you have faith within you. You may not be acting on it. You may not be speaking it. But it’s in there and the more you hear the Word of God, the more it will develop and grow, for “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Why is it so important for you to develop your faith? Because faith is what connects you to the blessings of God. It’s the force that gives those blessings substance in your life (Hebrews 11:1). And besides all that it pleases God (verse 6). It’s faith that reaches into the realm of the spirit, grasps the promise of God and brings forth a tangible, physical fulfillment of that promise. It brings spiritual blessings. It brings the car you need, or the healing for your body. It brings action in this earth. Romans 5:2 says we have access by faith into the grace of God. Therefore, if you want grace for the new birth, you must receive it by faith. If you want God’s grace for healing, you must receive it by faith. If you want God’s grace in your finances or any other area of your life, you must get it by faith. I like to think of it this way: When you believe the Word of God, you open the window to your life to give God the opportunity to move there. Oddly enough, that bothers some people. They can’t understand why God needs an opportunity. After all, He is God. Can’t He do anything He wants? Yes, He can. And He wants to respond to our faith. You see, He is not like the devil. He doesn’t force Himself on you. He waits for you to give Him an opening by believing His Word. We Believe...Therefore We Speak That’s what Abraham did. When God told him that he and Sarah were going to have a baby, Abraham just took God at His Word. In light of the circumstances, that was quite a step of faith. After all, Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90 and barren. Most people would have been overwhelmed by those problems. But not Abraham. He “believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Romans 4:3). Even though in the natural realm it was impossible for what God said to come to pass, Abraham believed God anyway. That’s what the spirit of faith does. It stands in the midst of the most impossible circumstances and believes God anyway! Then it begins to speak. It doesn’t say just any old thing, either. It speaks the Word of God. When cancer attacks, faith doesn’t say, “I’m dying of cancer.” Faith says, “I’m healed by the stripes of Jesus. Therefore I’ll live and not die, and declare the works of the Lord.” “Well, I’m just not comfortable with that confession business. I like to believe God quietly.” That may be what you like, but it’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible says, we believe, therefore we speak (2 Corinthians 4:13). If you want to change your circumstances, you must have faith in two places—in your heart and in your mouth. That’s why God changed Abram’s name to Abraham. Abraham means “father of many nations.” So every time Abraham introduced himself after his name was changed, he was actually saying, “Hello. How are you? I’m the father of many nations.” To most people that probably sounded ridiculous because, at the time, Abraham was still a childless old man married to a barren old woman. I’m sure they thought Abraham was a little crazy. But he wasn’t. He was simply following the example of God Himself, “who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were” (Romans 4:17). By speaking in faith, Abraham was doing exactly what God did when He created the earth. Read Genesis 1 and you’ll see what I mean. There the Bible tells us that in the beginning “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep” (verse 2). Yet God didn’t look at that darkness and say, “Oh my, the earth sure is a dark place!” If He had, the earth would have remained a dark place. No, God changed the natural circumstance by calling things that be not as though they were. He looked at the darkness and said, “Light be!” and light was. God spoke out by faith what He wanted to come to pass. All the way through the first chapter of Genesis we see God creating by speaking His Word. Over and over again it says, God said...God saw...and it was good. ****************************** "gems" "Sin isn’t normal for you. You’ll never be happy living the way the world does. You’ll never be satisfied doing things that are contrary to God’s Word. They might bring you pleasure for a season, but they always end in misery and death." —Gloria ******************************** 20 : BVOV

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