Living Faith Church of Augusta

1. Don’t curse your own fig tree.

Don’t speak against your finances, your car, or your business.

 

2. Don’t substitute faith for good business practices.

There is an element of common sense that must be included. Don’t forget it.

 

3. Don’t substitute formula for principle.

Don’t just speak your desire, but believe what you say will come to pass. Believe everything you speak out your mouth will come to pass.

When you believe what you are saying you are releasing spiritual forces. It won’t work just because you say it, but saying it is involved in working the principle. 

So many times when people pray, they only pray the problem.

“Dear God, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I owe all this money! I’ve lost my job! No money is coming in. Lord, I’ll never get these bills paid! This is a big mountain in my life, Lord, and I pray that You’ll move it out of the way. Please do something about these problems.”

In a prayer like this, the goal is set only on the problem; and as it is prayed, the impulse is released to the heart to produce that goal.

But Jesus said that the Father knows what we have need of, even before we ask Him. (Matt. 6:8.) Our part is to pray the answer.

“Father, in the name of Jesus, Your Word says that whatever I desire, when I pray, believe I receive it and I shall have it. So I am doing that now. I have given, so I believe that it is being given unto me-good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. I proclaim that all my needs are met according to Your riches in glory by Christ Jesus. I can pray this, Father, because it is according to Your Word, and I know that Your Word works!”

When you pray such a prayer as this, there will be people around you who will try to talk you out of it. Don’t listen to them. Set your goal on the solution and keep it there!

One lady said she received healing for arthritis after hands were laid on her in the name of Jesus. She was almost totally well for several months. Then people started calling her and leading her into conversations like this: 

“How are you doing?”

“Oh, I’m just doing fine.”

“Well, you know these things come back sometimes. Don’t you feel any pain?”

“Well, yes, there is just a little bit.”

“Yes, that’s what I thought.”

That lady said she began to listen to that until she eventually lost her healing. When she started talking about her problems, her mind was soon back on the arthritis and it came back on her.

I can never overemphasize the importance of the words you speak. Jesus said that we will have whatsoever we say. (Mark 11:23,24.) We cannot talk sickness and disease and expect to walk in health. The same is true of prosperity. We cannot continue saying things like, “We never can afford the things we need,” and expect to walk in prosperity.

It may be true that you can’t afford very much at that time, but don’t talk about it. Instead, keep your words in line with God’s Word: “I have given, so I know it is given unto me. It’s mine now even though I don’t see it. It belongs to me. God said it is mine, so I am going to believe God!” 

God’s faith will never fail and God’s Word will never fail, but you can cause your own faith to fail by getting your eye on the problem. Learn the language of success and practice it.

 

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. James 1:5-8

A double-minded man allows circumstances to influence him and keeps changing his goal. He may set his goal on prosperity; but if somebody tells him, “It’s not God’s will for you to have riches, ” he dials back to poverty. 

After he goes to an uplifting meeting, he switches his goal to prosperity; but when he goes back to his church and hears, “You’re never going to get anything in this life,” he turns back to poverty again. He will never become prosperous.

A certain minister tells the story of a paralyzed man who came to one of his meetings in a wheelchair. God healed him, and he walked out of the meeting that night!

The next day his pastor came to see him “to straighten him out.” Though the man walked to the door and let him in, the pastor wasn’t impressed. He said, “Brother, all healing went out with the apostles. This is of the Devil, and you would be better off in a wheelchair than to be healed this way!”

When the pastor left, the man was unable to move from his chair: He had lost his healing! The goal-setter-the impulse to that man’s heart-had been reset for sickness by the words that pastor had spoken.

When he thought, The pastor may be right. It must be God’s will for me to be sick, he became double-minded and the paralysis came back on him. 

During the winter months, heat is the thing you hope for, and gas is the substance-the raw material-of the heat you hope for.

The raw material for heating your home is connected to the heating unit at all times, but whether or not that raw material is used is another matter. You have to turn the dial of the thermostat. When you do, an impulse will be sent to the heart of the unit, a little valve will flip, the pilot light will ignite the gas, and heat will be produced.

The gas, the substance, is there all the time; but until the goal-setter signals the release, it is tied up. This is how some people are with their faith-they have it, but haven’t released it.

You must learn to release your faith. Turn the dial of your renewed mind and set it on the goal you want by speaking God’s Word concerning that particular area. It will then release the impulse to your heart and produce the desired results.

As you go about your daily activities, speak words of healing and prosperity. Even while you sleep, your heart is working to produce everything you need. Once the thermostat is set, you can rest assured that it will work day and night until it produces what you programmed into it. 

If you turn the thermostat to 60 degrees, then up to 90 degrees, then back down to 60 degrees, you will probably blow a fuse somewhere. The unit is not designed to function that way. You should set the thermostat at a certain temperature and leave it there.

Hope works in the mind. Hope will not produce the thing desired, but it is very important. Many that are sick come to be prayed for because they hope to be healed.

Hope will not heal them, but it will cause them to come for prayer. Hope is really a goal-setter.

Many people have hope in their heart, where faith should be, and faith in their head where hope should be. Hope works through the intellect. Even though a person is born again, he must renew his mind to the Word of God in order to keep his goals in line with God’s goals. 

Faith, the substance of things, works out of the heart (the inner man, the spirit man). The heart, which Jesus called the soil, will produce the very thing that is planted in it. 

Paul wrote, Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Rom. 12:2). He wrote these words to the Roman church, who were born-again. If they needed to renew their minds, so do we.

Hope works out of the head; faith out of the heart. 

Hope has no substance; it is only a goal-setter! There is some power in the mental realm, but it is only a goal-setter! It is the spiritual man-the heart of the unit that will produce the thing you dial (plant) in it.

Sometimes in the spiritual realm, we try to get faith to work out of the head, when all the head can do is set the goal.

The Bible says faith works in the heart. With the goal-setter in your head, begin to renew your mind to what God said: “Blessed be God! I’m redeemed from the curse of the Law, delivered from the powers of darkness, translated into the Kingdom of the dear Son of God. Because I have given, it is given unto me, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over.”

Dial your goal-setter to prosperity and keep it there. It will send an impulse to your heart, the production center. 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Hebrews 11:1

Faith is the substance, or the raw material, of things you hope for. What do you hope for? Things you desire.

Faith is the evidence, or the proof, of things not seen. This means you can have proof of the things you can’t see. 

Let’s summarize what we have learned so far about operating the Kingdom.

In Matthew 12:34,35 Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees:

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

A good man out of the good treasure (or deposit) of the heart bringeth forth good things.

A good man who has stored good treasure-deposited the good Word of God-in his heart will bring forth good things. Many times people pray for God to bring forth good things when actually the Word says you must do it.

In Luke 12:32 Jesus said, Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. God designed His Kingdom inside you to produce the very thing you need, and Jesus tells how it works. The seed is planted in the heart by speaking it with the mouth. A man speaks the Word of God (the seed) into the heart, or plants it in the soil. Then, as he carries on life as usual, taking no anxious thought, the seed grows up into the thing he needs. It becomes, as Jesus said, the full corn in the ear.

You apply the principles of God’s Word by being obedient-believe, speak, doubt not, and give. When you do, the Kingdom will produce for you. By sowing God’s Word in God’s soil (your heart), you will eventually reap a harvest of success.

You must develop yourself in the Kingdom principles. As it takes time for seeds to grow, it also takes time for you to develop yourself to believe what you are saying will come to pass. You may start speaking to things, but that doesn’t mean the things will obey you immediately.

The woman with the issue of blood described in the fifth chapter of Mark took four steps: speaking, acting, receiving, and knowing. Apparently this happened in a relatively short period time; however, when you follow these steps, results usually will not happen overnight.

Before anything changes on the outside-before you feel better or look better-the image inside you must change, and this take time. Diligence to do what God’s Word says will eventually produce the results God said it would.

The reason these things manifested fast for Jesus was because He was highly developed in His faith. It takes longer for some people to receive the manifestation of what they speak because they are not as highly developed in their faith as in their fear.

When I first started applying the Kingdom principles in my life, it took weeks and months before I saw any results with the natural eye.

It took time to change my image about finances. They didn’t improve overnight because operating Kingdom principles is a way of life-a process, not a fad!

You must fully program yourself with the Word of God until you no longer take anxious thought and become fretful over your needs. God takes care of the lilies of the field and the fowl of the air. Jesus said He would clothe even those who have just a little faith!

Sow the Word of God in your heart and act on the faith that you have. It doesn’t take much faith, just faith as a seed.

Sowing seed for success is our responsibility. Seeing that the success comes to pass is God’s responsibility-once we have done our part. We don’t have to beg God for it to come to pass. The ground is designed to work.

In Mark 4:26,27 Jesus tells us that the Kingdom works as a man who casts seed in the ground, and then carries on life as usual without worrying. After planting their crops, farmers don’t start praying that the ground will work!

Jesus said, Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (Matt. 6:31). We don’t have to take thought for these things because God is responsible for supplying our needs. All we do is sow the seed.

To keep from worrying, develop an unchanging trust in God.

People in the world have natural faith. As Christians, we have a different kind of faith, a level of faith not learned from books or from experiences, but from God’s Word, This faith is based on a knowledge of God that He has created and developed within us. To build and strengthen this faith, to stay quiet from the fear of evil, you must learn to keep God’s Word in your mouth.