THE BELIEVER’S TRAINING HANDBOOK (Chapter 5)
If You Are Not Believing God for Something, You Really Don’t Believe!
INTRO - We are in the middle of basic training. We’re learning how to believe God for anything and to believe God for everything because the basic purpose of a believer is to believe. For some of us this is initial training. For some of us this is remedial training. For some of us this is “train-the-trainer” training. But this is basic training for all of us, because the basic function of a believer is to believe. Fish gotta swim, birds gotta fly, and believers gotta believe. If we believe, all things are possible. If we believe, there are signs that will follow. So we have to be like a tree. We have to be firm and fixed, stable and established, rooted and grounded in the written word. We learned last week that you have to find the place where it is written about you. You’ll know your designation if you find the place where it is written about you. Jesus knew His designation because He knew how to find the place where it was written about Him. He knew the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him and He was anointed, because He was able to find the place where it was written about Him. You’ll know your destination if you find the place where it is written about you. Your destination may not be a where but a who you are called to. Your destination may not be a where but a what you are called to. Jesus knew He was called to minister to lost, crying, sighing, dying humanity because He found the place where it was written of Himself: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Your destination may not be a where it might be a what. Jesus knew His destination was the cross, to die on a hill called Calvary to save a wretch like me. You destination may not be a where but a when. Because Jesus was able to find the place in the bible where it was written of Him, He knew He was to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. I believe now is the acceptable time. It’s the set time! We set the time! The time we can receive our blessing is the time we can believe. It’s the appointed time! You have an appointment with a miracle. You schedule the appointment at the time you decide to believe. As a believer, it is imperative that we be firm and fixed, stable and established, rooted and grounded the written word of God because of what it says in Hebrews 4:12. It says the word of God is quick and powerful. Not quick as in fast, but quick as in alive. It is a living document and it will speak to you. It will speak life into your life for you to know your designation, know your destination, and know no resignation. You won’t be able to quit once you get rooted in the word and the word gets in you. You’ll be like Jeremiah. At the time he wanted to quit preaching the gospel, he couldn’t. He could not quit preaching the word that he was rooted in because it had gotten into him and it was like fire shut up in his bones. It was like fire shut up in his bones and he couldn’t shut up! Once you get firm and fixed, stable and established, rooted and grounded in the written word of God then the written word of God gets in you and it will be like fire shut up in your bones. You’ll know your designation, know your destination, and know no resignation and there will be no quit in your game. You’ll have to believe God for something.
TEXT - Luke 18:35-43
35 And it came to pass, that as he was come nigh unto Jericho, a certain blind man sat by the way side begging: 36 And hearing the multitude pass by, he asked what it meant. 37 And they told him, that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by. 38 And he cried, saying, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 39 And they which went before rebuked him, that he should hold his peace: but he cried so much the more, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. 40 And Jesus stood, and commanded him to be brought unto him: and when he was come near, he asked him, 41 Saying, What wilt thou that I shall do unto thee? And he said, Lord, that I may receive my sight. 42 And Jesus said unto him, Receive thy sight: thy faith hath saved thee. 43 And immediately he received his sight, and followed him, glorifying God: and all the people, when they saw it, gave praise unto God.
For us to be firm and fixed, stable and established, rooted and grounded in the written word of God is how we start as a believer but it is not where we stop as a believer. In order to be like a tree planted by the rivers of waters, not only does my faith have to reach deep into the water of the word like the roots; my faith must reach up toward the Son like a branch. I have to be fastened and connected, reaching up and holding on to a spoken word for me and a specific word for me. Faith must have a written word from which it comes and a spoken word that it is holding on to. Faith is much like a muscle. Every muscle is connected in at least two places; where it is anchored (the origin) and what it is pulling on (the insertion). If your faith is not anchored in the written word and pulling on a spoken word from God, then nothing will move. The bottom line is: If your faith is not reaching up for something, then you really aren’t believing God for anything. If the anointing on me does not move something in you to believe God for something new, then you need to find another pastor. If my preaching of the written word does not inspire a desire in you to reach toward the Son in prayer, you need to find another church. My job as the pastor is not only to get you firm and fixed, stable and established, rooted and grounded through the preaching of the written word of God. My job is to pray some prayers that get answered and prophesy and some things come to pass. I’m supposed to do more than just implant in you a faith in the written word of God. My job is to ignite in you a fire and a desire to believe God for a spoken word and a specific word for you. That’s why you can’t just stay at home when the church doors are open. You can’t keep attending services at St. Mattress Baptist Church. You can’t just attend the Church of God in Christ-in front of your TV-in your pajamas. You can’t just read the bible and pray by yourself all of the time, because you need a preacher the will preach faith to you, specifically. You need a preacher that can get a prayer through, specifically for you. You need a prophet that can say “Thus sayeth the Lord” and it come to pass for you, so you can believe what you hear when you pray and God speaks to you, specifically, intuitively, individually. You need a preacher that will provoke you to believe God for specifics. If you don’t believe God for specifics, you won’t know the Isaac from the Ishmael; you won’t know the real from the counterfeit. You can’t be satisfied with “anyway you bless me” faith, because if you are not rooted and grounded in a written word from God and you are not reaching toward the Son in prayer for a spoken word from God, you will not know the answer to prayer from a distraction of the devil. Even if you received a blessing from God, you wouldn’t know it was from God. You’ll thank your lucky stars and be grateful to the fates for smiling down on you because you won’t have a clue as to where your blessings come from if you are not praying and believing for a specific blessing from God.
Habakkuk 2:1-4
I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
We see the writer is standing upon his watch. He is watching and praying and looking up for an answer from God. He has set himself up on a tower, looking up for a word from the Living God. After I reach down and grab hold of something God has already said in His written word, then I have to reach up in prayer and look up to see what God will say to me, specifically. Then after I reach up in prayer and look up for God to speak down, I am to write it down. I have to write the vision down and make it plain to me see so it will remind me of what God said to me. The bible says so that he that read it may run with it. The first “he” that needs to read it is me! I need to read it periodically. I need to read it daily because there is not a day that will go by that the devil will not try to discourage me and dissuade from believing God for what He has promised me. You have to know what to believe God for. If you are not believing God for something specific, then you really don’t believe. You have to believe God every day because you never know what day will be the day. God told Habbakkuk For the vision is yet for an appointed time (say “It‘s coming!”), but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. You have to believe God for it everyday because everyday can be your day for a miracle. It’s coming! It’s coming! It’s coming! You have to believe God every day because it may take long for it to get here but it won’t take long to leave if you don’t believe. You have to believe God every day because your sent blessing my not stay if you don’t believe.
Lu 18:8 - I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
When God sends your answer to prayer, you have to be looking for it! When God sends your miracle, you have to be expecting it. That old “Any way you bless me” faith is not enough. You have to be specific. You have to believe God for your specific miracle and you have to believe God to do it at a specific time. My bible calls it “Now Faith”. I should always be believing God to do it, NOW!
Heb 11:1 - Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Your faith is dormant if you are not hoping for something NOW. Your faith is dead if you are not believing for something NOW! My bible says “Now Faith” is the substance for things hope for, the evidence of things not seen. The prefix “sub” means under. The root word “stance” come from the word stand. “Now Faith” understands that what I am hoping for belongs to me NOW. “Now Faith” understands that just because I don’t see doesn’t mean God cannot give it to me NOW. I have to believe God NOW. My job as a believer is to believe and if I’m not believing God for something specific NOW, I really don’t believe! If I are not believing God for something, you really don’t believe! It’s not enough to have had faith in the past. It’s not even enough to believe God for the future. You have to have “Now Faith” that is believing God for something specific, something new, something God has promised to you. And always believe God to do it NOW! John 11 gives the account of a man by the name of Lazarus. His sisters believe Jesus could have saved him if He had been there earlier. They also believed Jesus would raise Lazarus up in the rapture. Jesus wanted to teach them that now is always the time to believe God for a miracle. It’s not too late to believe God for what you thought He could have done earlier. Believe God NOW! And God doesn’t have to wait for a special day to bless you. God can bless you right now. Believe God NOW! Your primary purpose and your basic function as a believer is to believe, so believe God NOW! Believe God now, because if you are not believing God for something now, you really don’t believe.
