“When you pray and you ask for something, believe that you have received it and you will be given what you asked for.” (Mark 11:24 TEV)
Faith is not believing God can do something. Faith is not hoping he will do something. Faith is thanking God in advance.
Jesus said, “When you pray and you ask for something, believe that you have received it and you will be given what you asked for” (Mark 11:24 TEV).
You say, “Wait a minute! I’ve got to thank God in advance before I get it in order to get it?” Yes. If you thank God after you’ve got it, that’s gratitude. When you thank him in advance, that’s called faith.
If I handed you a check right now for a thousand dollars, would you wait until you cashed it to thank me? No! You’d thank me right now. But it really wouldn’t be yours until you actually cashed it, because that check is really a promise. When I give you that check, you go, “Thank you, Rick,” believing that I was credible and that I had enough money in the bank to cover that check for a thousand dollars. Faith is thanking God in advance.
What I’m saying is this: If God tells you to go after Moby Dick in a rowboat, take the tartar sauce with you. You’re going to have a fish fry tonight!
Jesus said, “Because of your faith, it will happen” (Matthew 9:29 NLT, second edition). PLAY today’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick>> Talk It Over
Think about some of the common phrases we use in prayer. Do they reflect faith in God?
How would your perspective and attitude change if you truly believed God was going to provide everything you asked for?
What do you need to say to God today to show him your faithfulness?
We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
--1 John 3:2
Who do you trust when you are in pain or uncertain about life?
Now, there are many people who can help us when we hurt. There are pastors, counselors, friends, and others. We need people to hold us up and give us hope.
But too often, we put our complete confidence in men and what other people tell us when there is no substitute for the truth of hope in Jesus Christ!
Have you lost sight of the fact that our greatest and only everlasting hope is from God? I want to remind you that Jesus is sufficient for your needs and mine. He provides a hiding place in the storms of life.
He is a Father to the fatherless. He is the Great Physician to those who are wounded and sick. He is the Beginning and the End to those who face uncertainty. He is the Resurrection and the Life. And He is your Eternal and Living Hope!
If your hope is in Jesus Christ, there is coming a day when all your physical pain will be no more. You and I will have a new body and a new life as Christ and we will live with Him forever. That’s the blessed hope of eternity.
No matter what you’re going through today, no matter how much you hurt, persevere. Hold onto your hope. Turn to Jesus today. Tell him about your struggles.
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