Lesson 5.
II. The Operation Of Faith.
A. Saying It.
In our text under study, Mark 11:22-24, the first time the
word "saith" is used by our Lord is in verse 22 which I'll quote
here.
"And Jesus answering *saith* unto them, Have faith in God."
This is our Greek word "lego" which I mentioned in our last
lesson. If you look it up, it is defined in many different ways.
It can be interpreted with the intent of:
(to say, to speak, affirm over, maintain, to teach, to exhort,
advise, to command, direct, to point out with words, intend,
mean, mean to say, to call by name, to call, name, to speak out,
speak of, and to mention).
With this in mind, I want to remind you of the other words I
used in my description of "Saying It." They were, and are,
Confession and Vocalization. Before getting carried away, let me
give you a dictionary definition of "vocalization."
Definition. (To produce with the voice; to give voice to).
The question may be asked, "Vocalize what?" I'm glad you
asked. the answer is in Mark 11:22 where Jesus instructed His
disciples, meaning us, to "have faith in God." Yes, that is what
we vocalize. He didn't say that we vocalize our faith in a man,
our favorite preacher, me, our pastor, a famous TV evangelist,
not faith in a church, the latest best selling Christian book,
not faith in a specific Christian, or Scriptural formula that we
are told generates faith, we aren't to express faith in a
Christian Hollywood personality, idea, Christian movie, plan, an
outline, sermon, a parachurch organization, or even in a
spiritual saying or quote. Our vocalized faith is to be "in
God." Let me illustrate what I think Jesus was teaching.
Illustration #3
Several years ago, well, to be more precise, it was over
thirty years ago, my wife and I were traveling. I was guest
speaking in churches. Our first born was a boy and even as a
baby, we took him with us wherever we went.
during a stay for several days while preaching in a church
in the state of Illinois, we were housed in the home of an
elderly couple. Well, they seemed elderly to me at the time
because my wife and I were in our middle twenties and these folks
were retired and in their mid sixties. They were wonderful
Christians and we enjoyed our week with them so much, my wife and
I still talk about it to this day. They had never known a blind
person before either so they really enjoyed getting to meet us
and to see how blind people functioned even while staying in a
home they had never been in before.
The husband, I forget his name now, had only been Born Again
for about four years but he read the Bible through each year and
he studied it a great deal. He was also one of the very first
men of faith I had the privilege of knowing. His stories were
abundant relating to his prayers, what he requested of God, and
the specific answers he received. He inspired me greatly during
our stay.
At that time, I had chronic headaches. This was ok as a
Baptist because we didn't believe in healing. So I gulped down
pills every day, sometimes several times a day, in order to keep
the headaches at a low level. This man, however, believe God
could do a whole lot more for us than just save us from our sins.
No, he wasn't Charismatic or Pentecostal. In fact, his pastor
was a Baptist, otherwise, I wouldn't have been preaching there in
the first place. We were separatist, don't you know, and that
meant church associations, too. Anyhow, this man, as I said,
greatly encouraged me by his faith and the way he prayed.
One day, figuring my God was as big as this man's, I decided
I would no longer take medications for my headaches. Why not? I
believed in prayer and I believed in the same God who was
answering this man's prayers. Why not mine, too? So, I took my
bottle of pills, store bought, thank God, into their bathroom one
day, and poured the pills all out into the toilet, excuse me, the
commode, and was now well on my way to walking by faith. I felt
good about my decision, too, and I fully believed God would honor
my faith. He didn't.
That night, I preached, I remember this well, on the subject
of prophecy from the book of Revelation at the little church. My
head had begun hurting long before this but, bless God, I was
walking by faith and no headache of any size was going to stop me
as a man of faith. My God could do anything.
By the time I got up to preach that night, I could hardly
stand. My head hurt so much, it was difficult to think. I
pushed on. By the time my sermon was over, I was leaning against
the pulpit to keep from falling. What did I do? I figured you
would want to know. I chickened out. On the way home, I asked
this older couple to please stop at the store and I purchased
another full bottle of my over the counter medication for
headaches. I was crushed. I had failed and it bothered me for
many years.
One day, I was thinking about this experience, as I often
did, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. I guess I was now
in my thirties, and I was turning the experience over and over in
my mind. I was trying to figure out where God went wrong. I
mean, after all, I had done it by faith. I believed; I really
did. I didn't want headaches and furthermore, I wanted to
testify to others, as I traveled and preached, that God heard and
answered my prayers and had healed me, a Baptist boy at the time,
from chronic daily headaches. So, it had to be God's fault
because I had done everything right. Hadn't I? Something was
wrong but what?
When I got done reviewing, for the umpteenth time, this
experience and was convinced I had done everything right, the
Lord spoke to me in my thoughts. When I finally broke down and
ask the Lord why it hadn't worked, He said, "It wasn't your
faith." This was like a theological nuclear strike to me
spiritually speaking. Could this be? I then saw it. It was
confidence and not faith. I was turned on, to use an old sixties
hippie expression, to what this man had with God through prayer.
He believed, when he prayed and asked God, and he didn't doubt.
I had attempted exercising my faith without, first, even praying
about it, big mistake, critical actually, and secondly, it wasn't
even faith. It was the faith of a man and his testimony in which
I believed and not God. "Well," someone is saying, "isn't God
obligated to honor what you did?" What ever gave you that idea?
God isn't obligated to do any such thing. Besides, didn't you
hear me when I said, it wasn't faith in the first place? I
wished, I hoped, I tried, I desired, I wanted, but if it didn't
work, well, then, I didn't believe. That was my real attitude.
No wonder it didn't work. That's why your faith isn't working
either.
Since the word "lego" was used by our Lord, let's look at a
couple of other places this same word is used to get a better
idea of it's proper application.
I'll begin with the very next verse, that is, Mark 11:23.
"For *verily*, I *say* unto you, that whosoever shall*say* unto
this mountain..."
Since the word "verily" is one of the words I listed
earlier, I'll make mention of it first.
The word "verily" is normally translated, in other versions,
as (truly), or (truthfully), or literally as (of a truth). In
every day language, we could say it means, (This is a fact. You
can bank on this. There is absolutely no doubt about what I am
about to say).
Now, this is were things are going to get repetitive so please
bear with me. I don't want to begin jumping around and causing
more confusion so I will be attempting to keep things as clear as
possible. Thus, I'm going to repeat myself a lot to try and keep
things focused.
The words translated "saith) and (say), appear multiple
times in the first two verses. So, once again, for perspective,
let me quote them. Stars, or the asterisk will again appear
before, and just after, the words to which I am referring.
22 And Jesus answering *saith* unto them, Have faith in God.
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*.
The words, as I just mentioned translated as "saith" and "say" in
these two verses are not all the same Greek words, although the
words collectively appear a total of five times in just these two
verses Jesus spoke.
One of the words we have already touched upon and defined.
It is the Greek word "lego." I warned you of this repetitiveness
but let me once again remind you the meaning of "lego" as defined
in Greek.
(to say, to speak, affirm over, maintain, to teach, to exhort,
advise, to command, direct, to point out with words, intend,
mean, mean to say, to call by name, to call, name, to speak out,
speak of, and to mention).
The other Greek word used in these two verses is "epo." It
is defined in Greek as simply to speak or to say. The word,
"epo," on the other hand, is a primary verb used only in the
definite past tense. In other words, it is something you already
said and is done. For example, we might say, I went to the
store." We are speaking about something which has already been
done yet we are still speaking about it.
Let me once again repeat these two verses but I am going to
plug in the Greek word "lego" and "epo" in the place of the
English words simply to give you an idea of their location in the
passage before we look even deeper into the text.
22 And Jesus answering *lego* unto them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I *lego* unto you, That whosoever *shall epo* 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 *lego* shall come to pass; he shall have
whatsoever he *epo*.
Before clarifying Mark 11 and verses 22 and 23 and the Greek
words for "lego" and "epo," let me show you a couple of other
passages of Scripture which also use the word "epo."
"And the devil said un Him, If you be the Son of God, *command*
these stones that they be made bread.," (Luke 4:3).
The word for "command" used by the King James Translators in
this passage is the same Greek word "epo" back in Mark 11:23 when
Jesus instructed his disciple to "speak" to the mountain.
Consider another verse where "epo" is used.
"And when His disciples James, and John saw this, they said,
Lord, will you that we *command* fire to come down from Heaven,
and consume them, even as Elijah did?" (Luke 9:54).
Once again, we discover the word translated "command" in
this verse, is our Greek word "epo." Let's return to where "epo"
was used by Jesus in our text concerning how faith works.
Now I am going to quote the two verses but with help from
the meanings of "leo" and "epo" using what we have learned thus
far in order to shed more light upon the passage. Keep in mind,
Lego" can also be translated as (teach) or (to instruct), because
that was exactly what Jesus was doing at the time.
Mark 11:22-23
22 And Jesus answering *taught them*, Have faith in God.
23 Because I am *teaching you a fact*, I *instruct and teach*
you, That whosoever *shall command* this mountain, (by saying),
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
*commanded* the mountain to do by his words, it shall come to
pass; he shall have whatsoever he *commanded with authority*.
The emphasis I am trying to show by these two different
Greek words, is that "lego" refers normally to a way of speaking
which is more instructive, spoken with the authority of God but
beyond the words being spoken, and "epo" are words spoken as if
what is being commanded, or spoken with authority, has already
occurred. Why? Because we believe that it has, or that it will,
obey us as Jesus promised.
I used the example earlier of Jesus commanding that no one
eat any more fruit from that particular fig tree ever again. The
next day, Peter, and the other disciples, saw the tree dead along
side the road and pointed it out. In other words, nothing happen
at all to the tree the moment Jesus cursed it. The next day,
however, on their way passed the tree once again, it was dead,
road kill, in other words, but when Jesus spoke to it the day
before, He spoke with authority, commanding it, and it obeyed His
Words. Why? Because Jesus spoke to the fig tree as if it had
already happened. He knew it had to obey Him because of what He,
Jesus, said to it.
"Yes, but," I can hear someone screaming, "it wasn't dead
yet."
You noticed? Great. I'm proud of you for seeing that and
I'll speak to that very issue as the study on faith progresses.
Don't get ahead of me, now. Be patient.
This type of faith is speaking with authority, by faith,
expecting something not only to happen, but to whatever you are
speaking, you are requiring obedience. It is speaking to things,
like Jesus did. For example, He spoke to people, even dead
people, or people who needed to be healed. It is speaking to
circumstances, as Jesus did. It is speaking to situations beyond
our control, as Jesus did, when he calmed the storms.
Let me point out one thing it is not, and that is, a
suggestion. He is not suggesting, for example, if it be the will
of God. That isn't faith nor authority speaking. If you speak,
or pray in that manner, you are revealing to anyone who might be
listening, that you personally do not know yourself what God's
will is and furthermore, you are vocally revealing that you don't
even know God's Word or His promises. Don't bother telling me
that you don't believe demons are listening when we speak or
pray.
Illustration #4
Years ago, when our children were little, we got a golden
retriever. He grew up to weigh about 110 pounds and he was
gentle and loved being with the kids and playing with them.
His name was Raleigh and he loved to play ball. His version
of throwing the ball and retrieving it, however, wasn't the same
idea our kids had about the game. If you threw the ball, he'd go
get it, of course, and bring it back but he wouldn't give you the
ball. This was especially true when the kids played ball with
him. He would fetch the ball, run back to where the kids were,
and then half swallow it. To insure they could not get the ball,
he clamp down with his strong jaws on the rubber ball to secure
it deep within the back of his mouth. I know I could hear
Raleigh laughing at these times.
One day, my daughter, Gretchen, when she was about 8 years
old, was in my office and bouncing the ball. It was a small
rubber ball and Raleigh thought it was play time. He grabbed the
ball and tried to swallow it. Gretchen came over to my desk
where I was working and said, "Dad? Raleigh won't give me the
ball."
I said, "Just call his name and tell him to drop it."
She did and he laughed at her.
"Daddy? Raleigh won't give up the ball. You get him to do
it for me."
"I turned around and at the highest volume, preaching volume
it was, I yelled at the dog and said, "Raleigh! Drop the ball."
I never even left my chair. Raleigh coughed the ball right up
and Gretchen ran over and picked it up as it was bouncing on the
hard floor.
Do you suppose the way Gretchen said it and the way I said
it had anything to do with why the dog spit the ball up when he
was told? If you are thinking it was because I yelled and she
didn't, that would be incorrect. Raleigh coughed up the ball
because, first, I spoke with authority, secondly, he was afraid
of me, thirdly, the dog knew that if he did not obey what I said,
I'd get up, walk over and literally take the ball from him. So,
what made the difference? The dog knew who he was, I knew who I
was, and we both knew I spoke to him with authority. That's what
made the difference when I spoke. How I spoke with authority,
caused the dog to obey me verses ignoring my daughter when she
spoke.
"I don't believe it really works that way," someone is sort
of suggesting about this point in time. Fine. Believe what you
want but don't play ball with dog because they'll know what you
believe about them just based upon what you said.
Since we are in Chapter 11 and verses 22 and 23 of Mark's
Gospel, let me focus on something else which will make you stop
and think. Let me quote verse 23 again but with the stars
indicating the words. Well, I will use the asterisk to indicate
the single word I want you to notice. I am going to quote it
with the Greek defining words translated so the picture of what
Jesus was saying will stay sharply focused in your mind but
please notice the new word we are about to consider.
23 Because I am teaching you a fact, I instruct and teach you,
That whosoever shall command this mountain, by saying, 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 commanded
the mountain to do by his words, it shall come to *pass*, that
is, he shall have whatsoever he commanded with authority.
The Greek word for "pass," which actually in the King James
includes the entire phrase of "shall come to pass," is "ginomai."
Here are a few things this word means.
To become as to come into existence, begin to be, receive being,
to become as to come to pass, to happen as of events, to arise,
appear in history, come upon the stage, to be made, finished, as
of miracles, to be performed.
Let me quote to you another verse that explains exactly the
real meaning of the Greek word, "ginomai."
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God.
2 The same was in the beginning with God.
3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing
made that was made," John 1:1-3).
I quoted all three verses to put verse 3 into context. The word
rendered "made" in the last verse, that is, "All things were made
by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made," is
the same Greek word, "ginomai," rendered as "pass" or "shall come
to pass," in Mark 11:23 concerning what has been literally
spoken, or vocalized, to the mountain. That's right, it is a
word which refers to Genesis, that is, the creation, or something
that is made, formed, or created, or done.
Let me show you yet another place which the same word is
used.
"7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so
shall ye be my disciples," (John 15:7-8).
The word "done" in this passage, "and it shall be done unto
you," is the same Greek word "ginomai" in all the other passages,
including Mark 11:23, "it shall come to pass." Keep this passage
in mind because we will return to it later in the study when
prayer is discussed specifically.
Illustration #5
Let me offer a practical example of how "Saying It" works in
the life of a believer.
A friend, by the name of George, told me that he had planted
some tomato plants one year in his garden. One afternoon, an
elderly neighbor saw him outside and told him, "George? You best
be coverin' up them mado plants tonight. She's gonna come up a
frost before morning comes." George figured the old man didn't
know what he was talking about. Since they lived in a hot
climate in the first place, he did nothing. It froze that night.
A couple of weeks later, George was out at his garden
inspecting his shriveled up, pitifully looking, dying tomato
plants. Those tomato plants, just a few feet away, in his
neighbor's garden looked healthy and were beginning to turn red.
Deciding it was a lost cause, he figured on pulling the
dying plants up. Then something came to mind. He decided it was
worth a try. He started talking to the plants. He spoke to them
and commanded them to grow. He said he felt stupid but he
dedicated himself, disciplined himself, to talking to the plants
several times a day when he walked passed them or saw them from
the window of his house.
Two weeks passed and they were worse. He couldn't stand it
any longer, he said, so he went out to pull up the plants. Just
as he bent over to reach for the first shriveling plant, a voice
boomed in his thoughts so loudly, it startled him. "What are you
doing?"
George said the voice in his thoughts was so loud, he jumped
up and back pedaled as fast as he could in order to get away from
the plants. He stammered and said, "Oh, nothing. I'm not doing
anything, Lord."
A few days later, the plants begin to grow again and by
harvest, George said they were the sweetest and largest tomatoes
he had ever grown.
About this time, I can hear someone saying, "That's crazy.
That sort of thing doesn't work. I don't believe it." That's
because you've been watching too many Star Wars movies that are
more than thirty years old. Remember when Luke skywalker's ship
was stuck in the swamp and Yoda told him to try and lift it out
of the water by thought alone? Luke tried but couldn't do it.
Yoda showed him, by just his thought power, it could be done.
Luke's response, once his ship was up on dry land, was, "I don't
believe it!"
Yoda simply said, "That is why you fail."
"but that was just a freaking stupid movie," you scream as
you pound your fists on the table top in protest.
That's right. Where do you think this concept of good and
evil, right and wrong, believing and receiving came from in the
first place? It didn't come from Star Wars or Eastern religions.
"But that can't be the way it works," you demand.
Ask Jesus how it works then if you don't believe. Besides,
you haven't read far enough to see the complete picture so don't
get your tail in a knot just quite yet. For now, let's just
agree on the truth, that is, you don't believe this is true and
you won't do it. With that attitude in firmly in place, let's
see if Jesus can prove it to you.
LIKE JESUS
Several years ago, when I began praying and asking the Lord
to show me the truth about faith and how it works, I heard Him
say, "Do it like my Son did." That sort of made sense to me
because, "verily," or of a truth, or factually, Jesus was, and
is, the only true example we have. Why? Because, he came to
live as a man, and proved He was God in the process. So, how did
Jesus do it?
"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children," (Ephesians
5:1).
The Greek word for "followers" in this little verse is the
word we get our English word (mimic). It is literally translated
"Be ye therefore imitators of God, as dear children." Yep, that
makes me nervous, too, but there it is, big as life, right in the
Bible. So what are we going to do with it? We are either going
to act and talk like Jesus or we aren't. which do you decide?
"Well, what did Jesus do?"
Is that a trick question you are asking? You know as well
as I do what Jesus did. We are talking about right now. He
spoke to fig trees, dead bodies, buried and wrapped bodies, dead
bodies on the way to the cemetery, dead bodies laying on beds as
family, relatives and friends stood around crying, he spoke to
blind people, deaf people, sick people, lepers, withered arms,
storms, fish, demons, and He even spoke to sick people who
weren't in his presence and said they were well. Now, how could
Jesus know a person was healed when that person lay dying miles
away? Skip that. It wasn't a real question.
"But I can't do that?"
Jesus said you could. You believed Him about your salvation
when you received Him as your Savior and made Him the Lord of
your life. Why not make Him the Lord of everything else?
"If I did what you are suggesting, I would just be speaking
words."
First of all, I am not telling you to do this but Jesus is.
Secondly, they are not just words. The words you speak are the
words of Jesus Christ, that is, based upon His instruction.
Remember what Jesus said when Satan told Him to command stones to
be made into bread? "But he answered and said, It is written,
Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of God," (Matthew 4:4). Your words
are not substance but the Word of God is substance. This is why
Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes out of hearing the word of God."
We hear words but if they are God's word, they are substance and
they are life.
It is often asked, "So, how long should a person keep
saying, or confessing, or vocalizing something?"
The answer is simple. Until you receive what you are
confessing.
"But I feel uncomfortable doing it."
Join the club. The truth is, it is our flesh that feels
uncomfortable doing it because are flesh, or our mind, are not
yet born again as I mentioned earlier in this study. This is
what James 1:21 is talking about, that is, disciplining our flesh
and our mind with the implanted Word of God.
"But how do I stop this uncomfortable feeling I have doing
this?"
You don't have to worry about that because that
uncomfortable fleshly feeling will go away the second that thing
you have been speaking comes to pass in the name of the True Lord
Jesus Christ.
Examples Of Saying It
As previously mentioned, and illustrated, faith works in a
spiritual environment. "Saying It" or confessing it, or
vocalizing it is operating within the spiritual environment.
Generating this spiritual environment will be discussed in the
next section on prayer. Faith words when we articulate what we
believe and what we believe is the Word of God. At the very
least, it is taking the Bible itself, or the rhema promises of
God's Word, and speaking them into the circumstances and
commanding the circumstances to listen to you and God's Word
which you are speaking. DANGER! If you are not speaking God's
Word, don't do this. Demons play for keeps. If you don't play
for keeps, I mean, don't do it at all.
PRACTICAL APPLICATION #1
We were in a man's basement meeting during the week for
worship, prayer, and Bible study. A man had just lost a good
job, a high paying job, and he was greatly concerned. He was
worried about his family, his bills, and a whole lot of other
things the Enemy wanted him to think and worry about. We were
standing in a circle, holding hands, and praying about various
prayer requests. Several prayed for this man's employment need.
Eventually, I felt led to pray. I prayed in tongues, mostly, but
if you still don't believe that tongues are a gift of the Holy
Spirit for today, just forget I even said anything about it.
That was, however, exactly what I was doing, that is, praying in
tongues.
All of a sudden, it felt as if somebody pinched me and hard.
I almost physically jumped. The second it happened, I felt the
truth as physically as if I really had been, in fact, bodily
pinched. In English I said out loud, "John has that job. It is
done." I had no idea what I was saying because I had been
thinking no such thing as I prayed. The next day, John reported
he got a job with another company, just as large as the first
one, and with just as good of salary and benefits.
Practical Application #2
Sandy came upstairs from the laundry room and was upset.
She had just lost the diamond out of her wedding ring by snagging
it on the side of the washing machine when she removed her hands.
My children and I ran downstairs and began to literally crawl on
hands and knees over every square inch of the floor. I began by
looking inside the washing machine but with all the water holes
to allow water in and out, I figured if it had fallen in there,
it was down the drain by now.
Getting out the vacuum sweeper, we swept the floor and then
emptied the contents of the machine on to a newspaper we laid
down on the floor. The children and I went through everything we
had swept up. Nothing was found. So we went back to looking and
literally feeling by hand. We did this for over a week.
One night, Sandy and I were in our living room. We were
reading the Bible and praying together. As I prayed, suddenly,
the situation with Sandy's wedding ring and diamond came to mind.
I had pretty much given up on ever finding it by this point.
Now, and it would seem for no reason, I was saying, "Satan, you
took what belongs to us. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I
command you to return that diamond immediately. If you don't, I
am commanding a twofold return so we can replace it. Father God,
in the name of your only begotten Son, I command one of your
angels to come and help us find that diamond that has been so
wrongfully taken from us. Angel of God?" I said. "You find that
diamond, and even if you have to bring it out into a place where
we can find it, that's what I am commanding you to do." I was
mad. I thought it was my anger, of course, but later realized
what I was feeling was of God and not me.
I realize that some people, at this point, think I was
praying to angels but if you go back and read the paragraph
carefully, you'll kick yourself for thinking such a thing.
The next day, my wife told me that she was done using the
washing machine and drier and that I could go down and plug in
the upstairs 220 volt air conditioner mounted in our living room
window. It was the only 220 volt outlet we had at that time so
the clothes drier and air conditioner had to share.
I wear moccasins most of the time in the house. Going down
to the basement, I stepped behind the drier, pulled its plug,
plugged in the air conditioner, and stepped back out in front of
the clothes drier to return to the stairs. I immediately felt
something under the heel of one moccasin. I kept walking,
although I felt it, because I simply didn't believe it could be
anything other than a small rock I had felt under my foot and
through the thin soft leather of my moccasin. I took a second
step. I heard it then. "Stop. Look." I ignored it and took a
third step. I heard it again. "Stop. Look." I stopped, turned
around, and got down on my hands and knees. I began feeling in
front of the drier. In a couple of seconds, my fingers touched
something that indeed felt like a small pebble but as I examined
it carefully, it felt almost flat on the bottom and pointed on
the top.
I heard the doorbell just then and I could hear the voice of
the pastor of our home group talking just above the laundry room.
I ran upstairs. "Hello, Bob," I said. Holding out my hand, we'd
had everybody in the church praying for the diamond, I said,
"Bob, does this look like a diamond to you?" He took it, stepped
to the window where more sunlight was streaming in and with a big
smile on his face, he said, "It surely does look exactly like a
diamond." I told him the rest of the story.
It cost us just 20 dollars to have it remounted. Don't you
say it. It was no coincidence and you know it, too.
Practical Application #3
I was sick to my stomach. I hadn't felt good since I had
gotten up that morning. It was getting worse by the minute, too.
I prayed but nothing happened. In fact, if anything, I was
getting even sicker. By the middle of the morning, I couldn't
take it and ran for the bathroom. It is always a humbling
experience being down on your knees in front of the commode but
normally by this point, we don't care much. I was going to vomit
and there wasn't a single thing I could do to stop it. At this
very moment, I couldn't even talk. I focused on just one word
and forced it from my lips. "Jesus!" My stomach immediately
stopped what it was trying to do. I waited. Nothing. I stood
up and waited. Nothing, I walked to the bathroom door and
waited. Nothing. I walked into the living room, the dining
room, through the kitchen and back into my two room office.
Nothing. I sat down and waited. Nothing. I went back to work.
An hour later, a voice said, "This isn't going to last." My
stomach started to rumble and turn. I said, "In the name of
Jesus Christ, I am healed by His stripes and nobody can take this
away from me." My stomach settled back down immediately. A half
hour later, the same words were spoken into my thoughts. I said
the same thing in response. My stomach again stopped what it was
doing. It never came back again.
Practical Application #4
Mr. Penny was a man in his seventies. He had started two
churches in his life and love God more than just about anyone I
ever knew. He told this story one day.
"I was driving down a road. It was getting dark. I
suddenly had the awareness that danger was near so I became
instantly alert. Then I saw it. A deer bounded out of the thick
roadside bushes and landed right at the edge of the road. It was
clear. His next bounce would take him right into the path of my
speeding car. There was no time. I raised my right hand and
pointed at the deer and said, "Jesus!" The deer sprang but the
deer's bound sent totally away from the road and I passed by and
praised God that he saved me and the deer."
Conclusion Of A. Saying It.
I realize I am risking telling such true testimonies because
many consider such stories as, least, anecdotal, and at the
worst, minutia. Regardless, I could write a book on such true
stories which have personally happened just to me. You will have
to decide what you will believe. If what you believe isn't Bible
based, that is, God's Word, in the first place, all the true
testimonies in the world, not to mention in the Bible, won't
change your mind at all.
Warning
If you plan on doing this and living this way:
1. Know the Word of God.
2. Don't stop and don't give up.
3. Call for help when you feel stuck. This is called agreement.
4. Make it your life and not something you are going to try.
5. Things often get worse when you begin living this way.
6. Don't overlook your own personal responsibilities.
7. No one else can do it for you.
End Of Lesson 5.
It Sounds Like God To Me.
www.SafePlaceFellowship.com
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