HOW DO WE GET THE GOD KIND OF FAITH !

HOW DO WE GET THE GOD KIND OF FAITH ?: Faith in God, we know grows out of the Word of God. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Another translation of this verse reads, "Faith is the warranty deed, that the things for which it you have fondly hoped is at last yours." God's kind of faith is "the evidence of things not seen," as we read in (Hebrews 11:1). To illustrate, you might hope for finances to meet a certain obligation, but the God kind of faith gives you the assurance that you will have the money when you need it. You might hope for physical strength to do a job you must do, but the God kind of faith says, "The Lord is the strength of my life" (Psalms 27:1). In other words, the God kind of faith says the same thing the Word of God says. And it keeps on saying it until it is manifested in one's life. That is what it means to hold fast to the confession of your faith. Unbelief is really taking sides against God's Word. There are those who talk unbelief and take sides against the Word of God and then wonder why God's word doesn't work for them. If We Want God's Word to work for us, we must agree with it. Many times when I ask people who came for prayer in the meetings if they believe they will be healed, they answer, "Well, I sure hope I will." I tell them they won't, because we receive from God by faith, not hope. Still others answered, "well That, I want to." But I tell them, "you might want a new Cadillac, but that doesn't mean you'll get one. You see, just wanting to won't get the job done. It's not hoping or wanting: it's the God kind of faith that gets the job done. You will not receive from God because you hope. Nowhere does the Bible says that when we pray, we shall receive what we hope for. God's word does say however, ". . . What things soever you desire, when you pray, Believe that you receive them, and you shall have them" (Mark 11:24). Jesus also said, "And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, Believing, you shall receive" (Matthew 21:22). Not hoping, but believing. Notice in the definition of faith in (Hebrews 11:1) ["Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"] , the verb "is" is in the present tense. Remember, if it's not now, it's not the God kind of faith. Faith is present tense; hope is future tense. Even though you might say you believe, if you are putting it into the future, you are not believing; you're hoping. In order for it to work, it must be in the correct tense--- the present tense. Some people always are believing that God is going to do something for them, but the God kind of faith believe that He has done, and is doing. Some years ago while I was preaching, a woman who hadn't taken a step in four years was brought to the service for prayer. She was in her 70s, and the doctors had says she never would walk again. At the close of the service when we were ready to have prayer for the sick, her friend brought her forward and set her down on the altar. I knelt in front of her, laid my hands on her, and prayed. Then I said, "Now arise and walk in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." She did her best to get up, but all the time she was crying and praying, "O dear Jesus, please heal me. Please let me walk. Oh, please . . . Please !" She continued in this vein for some time until finally I was able to quiet her enough to talk to her. I asked her, Sister, did you know that you are healed ? Astonished, she looked up at me and said, "Oh, am I ?" "Yes," I said, "you are healed, and I will prove it to you from the Bible." Then I opened my Bible to (1 Peter 2:24), handed it to her, and ask her to read the verse aloud. She read, "Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes you were healed." I asked her to repeat the last phrase, and she read, ". . . By whose stripes you were healed." Then I asked her the question, "is "were" past tense, future tense, our present tense ?" "It is present tense," she answered. If you were healed by Jesus stripes, then you are healed now, aren't you ?" I said. A smile spread across her face and her eyes lit up with new understanding. Then I told her, "just lift your hands and look up to Him. Began to praise Him because you are healed, present tense. Because you are healed--- not going to be--- you are. . . Now." With childlike God kind of faith she looked up and said, "Dear Lord Jesus, I'm so glad I'm healed." She hadn't walk a step and therefore had no physical evidence of healing whatever. Yet she said, "I am so glad I'm healed." I turned to her and said, "Now, my sister, arise and walk in Jesus name." Immediately she jumped off that altar like a 16-year-old, and walked, leaped, ran, and praise God. You see, we had to help her get it in the right tense--- because the God kind of faith is present tense. As long as we are struggling to receive, hoping to see the answer sometimes, it won't work. That is just hoping. The God kind of faith says, "it's mine. I have it now."