DEVELOPING FAITH IN YOUR 1 CONFESSION The Word of Faith message is based on true principles of the Bible, but over the last 30 years I have found some people trying to believe God for millions of dollars to do great things when they hadn’t learned to believe Him for the money to pay their light bill. Some people have overloaded their faith. Some are operating on ten-dollar faith and trying to believe for millions. To be successful in life we must all learn to operate on our own level of faith. I think this is why some have caused trouble in churches. They have gone to a seminar, where they heard someone teach, “You can have what you say.” But they only got a part of what was taught, and went home thinking they were a three-day wonder. They did all kinds of foolish things and called it faith. Then their pastors had to sweep up the pieces and try to 3 Developing Faith in Your Confession put them back together. They overloaded their faith and made a big splash, but they couldn’t swim. The pastors, then, thought that was what they were taught in the seminar. OPERATE AT YOUR OWN LEVEL I am referring to the problem of people trying to act beyond where their faith is developed. We all must learn to operate within our level of development, and we can grow from there. But you always have to start where you are. That may sound elementary, but many will be helped by understanding that fact. You just can’t build a second story on a vacant lot. Start where you are and know where you are going. Jesus said that no man would start to build a tower without first counting the cost. This is good advice, but sometimes when people get turned on to faith, they fail to count the cost of what they are confessing. I remember more than 20 years ago a certain individual who heard some teaching on faith and confession and went whole hog (so to speak) when he 4 Developing Faith in Your Confession was only half ready. He was a professional man who was just beginning in his profession. He found a house that he wanted. It was around $130,000. He started confessing that he was going to buy this house. He started believing for it and confessing the Word of God over it. He eventually bought the house. The way it happened was almost supernatural, because he did not have the assets to warrant the loan for the house. But by faith he pushed the deal through to completion. That worked so well that he started confessing and believing for an airplane. He bought an airplane the same way. Then he discovered he didn’t have the income to support the things he had bought. I am not saying this to belittle that individual, but as a matter of instruction to keep others from making the same mistake. Sometimes people throw away all common sense when they get turned on to faith. Don’t develop your faith only in the area of obtaining things. You may get so many things that you can’t 5 Developing Faith in Your Confession pay the upkeep. Some of these things concerning faith have been left unsaid. But they need to be said, for they will keep you from falling into the same trap. Always develop your faith to support the things you are believing for before you obtain them. Yes, you can use your faith to get things that you cannot afford. So, first count the cost of maintaining the things you want. This is where some have missed it, then they turn thumbs down on the faith message and say, “Ah, this stuff doesn’t work.” But it worked so well that it got them in trouble. They didn’t understand how to work it properly. They found a way to get things, but didn’t have the common sense to sit down and count the cost. Always count the cost. Look before you leap, as the old saying goes. FAITH OR PRESUMPTION You must draw the line somewhere between faith and presumption. You must use common sense with faith. Don’t throw away all common sense 6 Developing Faith in Your Confession and all good business practices just because you get turned on to faith. A man came to me in a seminar where I was speaking. He said, “Several of us came over here because we heard you’re a farmer, and you’re a faith man. We want to know if you use fertilizer on your farm?” I replied, “Yes. Do you use gas in your car?” Well, no question is stupid, if you don’t know the answer. Will Rogers once said, “Everybody is ignorant—just about different things.” I’m not making fun of the man; I’m just pointing out the way people think. They want to please God, but sometimes they have more zeal than knowledge. You don’t throw away all good business sense or common sense just because you get turned on to faith. Use your faith in good business practices. Your faith is giving substance of things you hope for, and it is the evidence of things you don’t yet see. NO SUBSTITUTES When you substitute faith for good business practices, you are headed for 7 Developing Faith in Your Confession trouble. Right on the other hand, don’t substitute good business practice for faith. You mix faith with good business practices. Every day, people go bankrupt operating good business sense with no faith. But they talk negative. They quote the 6 & 10 o’clock news. They are filled with negative things. You must mix faith with what you do. Exercise your faith in what you are doing (Psalm 1:3). Many years ago a certain man called who had been calling me regularly for some time. He said, “Now I’m doing what the Word said. I’m confessing God’s Word over my finances. Why isn’t it working?” Well, the very fact that he had to ask, “Why isn’t it working?” proved that he didn’t believe that it was working. He was not in faith. He was looking at circumstances. Faith would have meant holding fast to his confession knowing that it was working. The man said, “I have done everything the Word says to do. What do I do now?” I said, “Just keep doing it! The ball game isn’t over. Just keep doing it. It doesn’t happen overnight. It 8 Developing Faith in Your Confession takes time to change some things. You didn’t get that way overnight, and you can’t change it overnight.” He called back in about a month and again said, “It isn’t working.” Finally, I told him, “The problem is about one inch below your nose—your mouth. God says it is working. You say it isn’t.” YOUR FAITH AND GOD’S WORD PLUS TIME—CHANGES THINGS I saw the same man about a year later, and he said, “Glory to God! It’s working! The Word works.” It was working all the time, but it just took a while for the results to be manifested. You must hold fast to your confession of faith. Many people fail to realize that it takes time for things to develop and turn things around. If you have been negative for 15 years, you are not going to change it in four days. First, you must set things in motion, even in the spiritual realm. Seven hundred fifty years before God sent Jesus into this earth, He spoke it 9 Developing Faith in Your Confession through the prophet Isaiah saying, “a virgin will conceive and bear a child.” God started saying it 750 years before it came to pass. But so often we want things to happen overnight. LACK OF KNOWLEDGE When I first heard the message of faith and confession, I said, “I didn’t know that was in the Bible.” I had never heard anyone preach on it. I didn’t know that Jesus said you could have what you say. I thought, “If that were true, they would have taught that in my church.” But they didn’t know anything about it in my church. When I heard the message, “you can have what you say,” I began to study the Word and checked it out. It was there. Jesus actually said it. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. 10