June 13 – Whatever you ask for…

…whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  (Mark 11:24  NET)

“I have faith,” is a common statement I hear every week, and people say it sincerely believing that what they’re saying is true. But what many people refer to as faith is not faith at all according to the Bible. Real faith is not at all fragile; it’s tough and determined; real faith refuses to give up no matter what’s happening around it. Real faith is not based on circumstances or abilities or even a person’s merits; real faith is based on God’s promises and takes a bold, adamant stand on them believing that they have to come true. Because faith is based on GOD’S promises, it’s the most powerful, enduring, persistent thing in the world.

When people say “I have faith,” most of the time they do not mean that they are already believing that what they have asked for is theirs, what they mean is that they hope that they’re lucky enough to get what they’ve asked for, but know that the chances of that happening are slim and unlikely. Sadly, most people who say “I have faith” do not have a track record of overcoming the impossible and seeing extraordinary miracles in their lives, and because of this they give God a bad name. Though they say they have faith, their type of faith is not genuine, godly faith at all, it’s their own version of faith.

When we decide to have real faith in God we do exactly what Jesus explained, we believe that what we’ve asked for is already ours, even though it’s not in our hands yet. It sounds crazy to the world — a foolish exercise in false hope — but this is what transformed the lives of Abraham and Sarah, Hannah, Ester, David, Noah, Peter, Paul, Mary Magdalene and so many others, in the past and today. In Hebrews eleven is says: Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. So faith is anything but false hope… it gives substance to what we’re asking for, it’s our evidence. Faith gives us access to the spiritual world, to God, and just like we cannot see God but know that He exists, we cannot see what we’ve asked for but know it exists and is already ours.

The simple truth is that we cannot please God without faith. If we say we know God but have not see His miracles in our life, something is seriously wrong because the God of the Bible has always done miracles for His children when they believed. So let’s rise to the challenge and start having genuine faith like never before!