Becoming a Man of Unwavering Faith (7 page)

A
t the beginning of the previous chapter, the prophet Elijah was praying on Mount Carmel and had sent his servant to look toward the sea for rain clouds. The servant climbed up the hill and looked out toward the sea, then gazed and gazed as far as the eye could see. When he went back, he told Elijah, “There is nothing there.”

Elijah responded, “Go look again.”

So the servant went a second time and looked. He came back and said, “There’s still nothing there.”

Elijah told him, “Go look again.”

The servant went a third time, a fourth time, a fifth time, and a sixth time. I imagine he got pretty tired. Every time his answer to Elijah was the same. “There is nothing there.” Each time Elijah prayed a little bit more, then told him, “Go look again.”

“Seven times he [Elijah] said, ‘Go back’ ” (1 Kings 18:43
NIV
).

Elijah kept on praying. He kept on believing and resting in faith. He had seen God’s promise in the Word. He had already heard the sound of rain in his spirit. Elijah knew if God said it, He would do it. So he just kept sending his servant to look again.

As demonstrated by Elijah, the fourth quality of a man of unwavering faith is that he keeps going back to God’s promise and expecting Him to fulfill it.

When you get discouraged and it looks as though God isn’t sending the answer, go again to the Word of God. Read it again. Remind God again of His promise. Go two times, three times, four times—however many times it takes—until the answer comes! Keep going back. Don’t give up.

To become a man of unwavering faith, you need to get it settled in your heart that
faith has nothing to do with emotion—nothing.
Faith is simply acting on the Word of God, believing He told you the truth. Some people wait for some great manifestation of faith. They expect goose bumps or lightning bolts! That is ridiculous! Faith is an act!

Faith is not an emotion.
Faith is believing and acting on a legal contract based on God’s Word.

This truth can change your life. When you read a scripture that you can apply to your life, faith grows in your heart. You can simply receive God’s Word and begin to act as though it is so, as Elijah did.

I want all of the Word of God to profit me. Even though the Word was preached to the Israelites in the wilderness, it did not profit them, because it was not mixed with faith. Hebrews 4:3 says, “For we who have believed do enter that rest…” When you believe, you enter into rest! You don’t have to wring your hands in worry and fear.

Those who believe enter into God’s rest. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9–10).

Faith rests.
When God’s Word gets down into your heart and you know that God has heard you, there is an unshakable rest.
Your part is to seek God and study His Word every day. Meditate on His truths until one day a sweet, divine rest engulfs you. Then you will know that everything is all right. Faith has rest. No matter how much the storm blows and the wind howls around you, you can have rest.

Years ago there was a painting contest. Each painting was to illustrate peace and rest. There were many entries—beautiful paintings of pastoral scenes, majestic mountains, seascapes, and sunsets.

But right in the midst of these tranquil scenes was a painting of a storm. Storm clouds hung low on the horizon, and the lightning was flashing across the black sky with such detail that you could almost hear the thunder. There were mountains in this picture, and right in the crag of a rock, hiding from the wind, was a little mother bird with her nest safe in the cleft of a rock. She sat there singing with all her might while her little brood was in the nest. This is a picture of real peace and rest.

That little bird had known by instinct that all the winds of this world could not blow that mountain down! The same Creator who created safety for the bird is your heavenly Father, who will keep you safe throughout all the storms that life can bring. The divine rest that God gives is not necessarily getting to a place where you don’t have any storms. Jesus’ rest can be yours in the midst of the storm!

As we have seen in Elijah’s example, from the time you read and believe the Word of God and the time that you actually see the manifestation of the answer, you can rest, knowing that God is faithful to His Word.

As you wait in faith for the finances to arrive, for a child to come home, for emotional stability and the overcoming of fear, or whatever you are desiring from God,
what shows your unshakable confidence in God is a life of praise for God and His Word alone.
You can enjoy rest that simply looks up into the face of God and praises Him, because you know God loves you and is true to His Word.

The Bible states, “Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation” (Psalm 50:23
NIV
).

When you believe that God has given you the desire of your heart, but there is as yet absolutely no outward manifestation, you should live a life of praise that glorifies God and confesses the Word in joy before the Father’s throne.

I have three daughters, who are always wanting new dresses. Suppose my little girl comes and says to me, “Daddy, I want a new dress. Please!” I would say to her, “Darling, this is Monday, but if you will trust me and wait a bit, I will buy you that dress on Saturday.” Similar to my previous illustration of the thousand dollars in my wife’s coat, my daughter would leap for joy, because she knows
she is going to get that dress on Saturday. She trusts that I will deliver what I’ve promised, so between Monday and Saturday all she does is live in joy. She’ll tell everyone she meets about the new dress.

Notice that I only spoke to her once about the dress. She never came back to make sure I wasn’t lying to her. She knows that my word is good from Monday until Saturday, and she knows that Saturday is coming.

Years ago, when I was writing the book
There’s a Miracle in Your Mouth
, I was in the greatest pain of any time in all of my life. I had muscle spasms in my back, and I couldn’t sleep at night. I had such excruciating pain in my back, it seemed as though every disc were ruptured and every vertebrae were out of place.

During those weeks of writing, I was tormented with thoughts such as,
You’re going to have to have surgery, and you’ll end up paralyzed, in a wheelchair, and never live a normal life again. You are a hypocrite. While you sit there writing your miracle book, you are sicker than anybody! You are not going to get well. There’s no miracle in your mouth or life. Why should you tell anybody else about how to get well? It’s not working for you.
Those were haunting lies and the chiding of Satan!

Despite the pain and sleepless nights, I would get up in the morning, go outside, and walk and talk to God.
I would say, “Father, I praise and thank You that I have received my healing. Galatians 3:13 says, ‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”).’ Thank You that I did receive my healing at the very moment I asked You. I have received it. I know this is Monday, but
I thank You that Saturday is coming
. I am going to spend from now till Saturday just praising You. Yes, I praise and thank You, Father.”

As I praised God and thanked Him for the manifestation of the answer, I could see myself out of that situation. I could see myself delivered. I became filled with joy as I beheld myself completely healed!

Praising and thanking God when you are in the midst of a battle gives the enemy a nervous breakdown! It puts him on tranquilizers! As I prayed on Monday, I looked forward to Saturday. I knew that God had promised me more than a new suit. I knew that healing was mine. I did not spend my time begging or questioning God, but with an unshakable confidence in the Lord, I just praised Him.

After I finished writing
There’s a Miracle in Your Mouth,
the pain left me, and I have never had a bit of back trouble since that time! The Bible teaches us to live a life of praise.

When you say what God says about your situation, you will begin to see yourself as God sees you. You can allow trials to shake your confidence in God or you can trust God. Doubt and fear come when you believe the circumstances rather than God.

God says of Abraham: “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God” (Romans 4:20). He grew strong in faith, giving praise to God. You see, he praised God before he ever saw Isaac.
Sarah did not conceive Isaac until she was ninety years old and Abraham was ninety-nine—twenty-four years after God had spoken the promise.
Yet Abraham just looked up to heaven and said, “Saturday’s coming! Saturday’s coming!” He praised God and grew strong in faith as he looked at the Word of God and praised God that His Word is truth! He had an unwavering confidence in God.

In Joshua 6, we read the story of Joshua marching around the walls of the city of Jericho. They went around praising God and shouted
before
the walls fell down.

Praise is faith at work. Between Monday and Saturday we should praise God, because the answer is on the way!

In 2 Chronicles 20:21–22, King Jehoshaphat heard
that a vast army of Moabites and Ammonites had come against Judah to battle. King Jehoshaphat was so overwhelmed by the news, he began to seek the Lord, proclaimed a fast, called the people together to seek the Lord and ask for His help. He reminded God of His promise to hear them when they cried to Him in a time of affliction and He would hear and save them. As a result, the Spirit of the Lord came upon the prophet Jahaziel who proclaimed, “The Lord says to you: Be not afraid or dismayed at this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” Based upon that Word from God, the king sent singers out before the army, saying, “Praise the Lord; for His mercy endures forever,” and the opposing armies turned on each other and destroyed one another! The battle was won miraculously because they began to praise the Lord!
Praise was their secret weapon.

Perhaps you say, “Jesus certainly would not have to praise God before a manifestation of a promise of God.” If you think that, you need to read the story of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead (John 11). In that situation, when Jesus came to Bethany, they told Him all about Lazarus’ death. “Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him,
‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept” (John 11:33–35).

Jesus was so merciful and compassionate. The Jews mocked Him, thinking wrongly that He wept for sorrow and despair. Some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man should from dying?” (v. 37). Jesus gave a groan in Himself. He came to the grave, which was a cave with a stone in front of it. He told them to take away the stone, even though Lazarus had been dead for four days.

In verse 40, Jesus said, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” They then took away the stone, and Jesus lifted His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have [past tense] heard Me.” Lazarus was still dead, but Jesus was saying, “Father, I thank You that he is alive. I thank You that he is out of the grave.” Jesus praised God
before
Lazarus was raised from the dead.

Actually, Jesus was saying, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I have already received the answer to My prayer. I already see Lazarus raised. I thank You that You
have
heard Me.” Jesus praised the Father when there was no evidence of life. It is not that you are
going
to be victorious; you
are
victorious.

You must be able to stand in the midst of all the evidence of deadness and say, “Father, I thank You that You have heard me. I am healed. I am delivered. I have the desires of my heart.”

Between Monday and Saturday, we will praise God and rest in Him. Praise is faith at work!

Consider the story of Jonah: “Now the word of the L
ORD
came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.’ But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the L
ORD
” (Jonah 1:1–3). Instead of obeying God, Jonah ran the other way.

Have you ever run away from God? Jonah didn’t get far, and neither will you. If you read his story, you know that Jonah ended up being thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish. He found himself on the inside of that fish, in the slime and gastric juices and Have you ever run away from God? Jonah didn’t get far, and neither will you. If you read his story, you know that Jonah ended up being thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish. He found himself on the inside of that fish, in the slime and gastric juices and
with seaweed wrapped around his head. I’m sure he was certain he would die.