Mark 11:23-24 (KJV)
23 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.
24 Therefore I say unto you, what things
soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have
them.
This is one of the fundamental scriptures on the subject of faith which you
must have heard preached a number of times. In this scripture lies the secret
of possessing our desires in prayers when we realize that the words are the
very words of Jesus as he taught His disciples on the subject of faith. Jesus
established that there must be a desire, followed by prayers, then when you
have prayed, you must believe that you have received your desires in prayers.
This is the point where faith becomes difficult for many people. How do I
believe I have received when nothing has changed? First you must understand
that if something had to change before you believe that you have received, then
you wouldn’t be in faith, rather, you will be walking in the sense realm. As you look carefully at that scripture, you will notice that Jesus made mention of
the words “receive” and “have”. These are two different words which we tend to
mix up most times and make look as though they mean the same thing. The
“receiving” is spiritual, while “having” is the actual physical manifestation
of your request in prayer. The spiritual always precedes the physical, so in
the exercise of our faith in prayers, we must first believe we “receive” before
we “have”. Receiving is a spiritual reality and at the point of believing you
have received, it must be as real to you as though you already have whatever it
is you desired in prayers, this is the true meaning of bible based faith. You
don’t wait to have before you start believing you receive, that is the wrong
order and that isn’t faith, rather, that is simply walking by your five senses.
Faith is to believe you have received after you have asked in prayers even
though there is no physical evidence to show, your faith alone is your evidence
(Heb. 11: Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen).
“Having”, which is the physical part, follows "receiving" which is the
spiritual part, but sometimes it doesn’t all happen so fast. There are times
that the differences in time between receiving and having could be some years,
this is what separates the boys from the men in the exercise of faith. The
battle ground then shifts to the mind having prayed and believed you receive
with your sole evidence being your faith. The devil will try to work on your
mind in the best ways possible to get you out of faith; your mind will be
bombarded with all manners of thoughts, and people around you may even question
the rationale for your faith.
Smith Wigglesworth shared a testimony of a lady healed of goiter, this
testimony best explains the principle of receiving and having.
“A young woman with a goiter came to be
prayed for. In a testimony meeting she said, “I do praise the Lord for healing
my goiter.” She went home and said to her mother, “Oh Mother, when the man
prayed for me, God healed my goiter.” For 12 months she went about telling
everybody how God healed her goiter. Twelve months afterward I was in the same
place and people said, “How big that lady’s goiter is!” There came a time for
testimony. She jumped up and said, “I was here 12 months ago and God healed me
of my goiter. Such a marvelous 12 months!” When she went home her folks said,
“You should have seen the people today when you testified that God had healed
your goiter. They think there is something wrong with you. If you go upstairs
and look in the glass you will see the goiter is bigger than ever it was.” She
went upstairs, but she didn’t look in the glass. She got down on her knees and
said, “O Lord, let all the people know just as you have let me know, how
wonderfully you have healed me.” The next morning her neck was as perfect as
any neck you ever saw. Faith never looks. Faith praises God—it is done!”
It is worthy to note that it is possible for thoughts of doubt to arise
in your head even when your heart is in faith, but like Kenneth E. Hagin said;
faith will work as long as you believe in your heart even with doubt in your
head. Whatever the devil does to get you discouraged or to abandon your faith,
don’t give in, hold on strongly to your evidence – faith, and concern yourself
less with any physical sign until you take final delivery, which is the
physical “having”.
This is the simple order of possessing your desires in prayer, if you
understand this order, exercising your faith becomes a delight to you. You may miss
it a few times as you attempt to practice holding on to your faith but don’t
get discouraged, every faith giant has also missed it a few times, so get up
and try to do it right the next time. The more you exercise your faith the
stronger it gets and the richer your overall Christian experience becomes.
Shallom!
N.B
For questions on this subject and other subjects, kindly use the Prayer request/Testimony pane. You can also send me an email or reach me by Phone on 08081249992
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