Sometimes we become so swamped with our problems that we just don’t believe God will work that miracle. The enemy comes in and drains us of all our enthusiasm and confidence with the doubt he plants in our mind, and after a while we almost believe it. Let me give you my creed concerning our position as believers.
I believe in the absolute defeat of Satan by Christ on my behalf.
I believe, that by the blood of Christ shed for me, I am absolved of sin and of the human nature to sin.
I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Ancient of Days, the Creator of the heavens and earth, Who fainteth not, neither is weary; Who has blessed me with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places.
I believe I am guided into all the truth by the Holy Spirit Who dwells within.
I believe the Holy Spirit will reveal progressively the vast scope of all the things that are freely given to me of God.
I believe that as a member of the Body of Christ I am the expression and the execution of the will of God in the earth.
I believe in Christ destroying all the works of the devil.
I believe that the devil is a lie and the father of it.
All of this is Scriptural,—believe it; we’re not believing for enough. Stand on this creed; walk in it. Stop worrying about how good you are or how much you’re displeasing the Lord, washing out and failing God.
Forget that and worry about one thing: God has spoken so many things to you—worry about believing them. Every day of your life give your attention to this “Lord, help me to believe more.”
So many of you are contending earnestly for stewardship, to be disciples of the Lord—how you want to please the Lord—how you want your spirits refined.
But no matter how aggressively you’ve sought God you will still sit as passive individuals until you are very sure of one thing: nothing is impossible to him that believeth—and you start believing!
We will be just so many individuals brought together in a Body until the day you say, “Nothing is impossible”—then we will zero in on every nation on the face of the earth bringing God’s will. You will not do it until you believe that nothing is impossible to you.
I do not worry about any stumbling or falling, mistakes in judgment or anything like that, because everybody makes them. There’s only one responsibility we really have and that is to believe God. What shall we do to work the works of God, but believe on Him whom He has sent (John 6:28, 29).
You get hit, I get hit—that’s the end-time conflict. Satan is raging against the elect that are coming forth. We’re in it. But if you don’t believe God, you’re dead.
You’ll survive only through faith, by just coming to believe recklessly, walking right out into it, saying, “I don’t care what happens; I believe in God. I believe in my place in the Body of Christ and in the word He’s spoken to me. I believe in Christ’s absolute defeat of Satan on my behalf; and I want to appropriate it.”
The victory Christ won is going to be enforced in this last day in His remnant. They will overcome Satan by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and not loving their lives unto the death (Revelation 12:11). Let your word of testimony be, “Christ defeated Satan for me,” and believe in that precious blood.
The word of your testimony is the spirit of prophecy; it is Christ speaking through you.
Nothing can drive you into defeat—not a thing in the world. Don’t say, “The battle’s rough.” We believe for immunity, to be standing looking at it like an invisible shield, and everything that’s thrown at us will bounce right off.
We have preached the discipleship that the Lord has laid before us, we’ve moved into it and it’s been worked deep within our hearts; but the signs, the wonders, the power of God, the mountain-moving exploits must come, even in a greater measure, and it takes faith to do this—a great deal of faith.
I keep repeating to myself, “I believe in Christ’s absolute defeat of Satan on my behalf.” I have to believe that He encountered Satan for me, that He defeated him as well as all principalities and powers, and therefore I’m out of the dominion of darkness, translated into the Kingdom of God’s dear Son. As I believe that, and believe it with all my heart, I rise into the place of immunity I need, where faith builds the walls of Zion again.
The restoration of the church—the spiritual Zion of God, this Remnant that God is bringing forth in the end time—is not accomplished by a return to perfect doctrine or by a return to perfect church order. “Oh, that sounds like you’re preaching against everything you’ve been building.”
No. You can have sound doctrine, you can have perfect church order, you can be appointed, approved, and set by God to be one of the inner circle of disciples, and you can still have the Lord turn to you and say that He marvels at your unbelief.
“How long shall I suffer you, how long shall I be with you?” The Lord was astonished at the unbelief of the disciples, and that should astonish us. The twelve disciples were confronted in the gospels again and again for their unbelief.
They were walking with the Son of God and still they doubted and wavered. It’s not enough to be in this walk, in this move of God. You have to be a believer.
You must believe for things to happen: for changes; for mountains to be moved; for sycamine trees to be planted in the midst of the sea. The purpose of this sermon is to jar you and declare: “You have to be a believer!”
Sometimes faith is a peculiar thing. When you have to believe for a miracle, you can. Notice how difficult it is to be healed of a cold. Yet how many people have prayed and have been healed of cancer.
Matthew 17:17 relates the account of the epileptic boy, possessed of a demon who would cast him into the fire and into the water. The disciples couldn’t cast the demon out of him. Jesus said to them, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I bear with you? bring him hither to me.
We believe what the prophecies have said, that God has stirred up everything that comes against us so that we can judge it and send it into the abyss.
Hebrews 6:1, 2 speaks about not laying again the foundation, and one of the doctrines mentioned is eternal judgment. We are going to walk in that eternal judgment; the demons are going and not coming back; the Holy Spirit, the ministration of holy judgment, is going to come.
In Matthew 17:20 is a promise: And he saith unto them, Because of your little faith (that’s why they could not cast out the devil): for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you. Do you believe it? Do you believe if you had faith as a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, “Be removed to yonder place—this is where you’re going,” and it would do it? Do you think it could really happen? “Well, we want to spiritualize that.” All right, spiritualize it. How many spiritual mountains have you been moving? It isn’t any easier. You’re surrounded by mountains—every one of you. Move them! You’re never going to see over the other side of the fence unless you keep stretching and stretching, until finally you can peek over and see. That’s the way it is with this walk. It’s not going to happen to you. You have to grow into it, come up strong in faith until you can walk with God. What about all those prophecies over you? Don’t wait for them to happen—make them happen!
Now in the morning as he returned to the city, he hungered. And seeing a fig tree by the way side, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only; and he saith unto it, Let there be no fruit from thee henceforward forever. And immediately the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How did the fig tree immediately wither away? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do what is done to the fig tree, but even if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea, it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. Matthew 21:18–22.
We either believe that promise—repeated so often in the Word of God—or we don’t. When we come to something like this and we claim to believe the Word of God, we’re indicted for our personal unbelief; for we have been challenged by God’s Word, and we’ve drawn back from it. Isn’t that what has happened again and again? When you’re right up to it, you waver.
Mark gives an account of this same story in chapter 11:22–25. We’re repeating it because the promise is repeated and in the Word of God repetition is always with the purpose of divine emphasis. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it. Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. The marginal reading is “that ye received them”—past tense—“and ye shall have them.” Believe that God has already given them to you, that they are already yours, and you’ll have them. And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.
This is the one fly in the ointment. An unforgiving spirit seems to be almost basic to everything that’s wrong in a spirit. If you’re unforgiving or blaming someone for something or other, your spirit is wrong. Almost everything that people do wrong is because of the bitterness in their spirit, in unforgiveness and anger. Jesus said, “When you’re going to believe, be sure that forgiveness is also in your spirit.”
Luke 17:6 is a very simple little passage. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye would say unto the sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up, and be thou planted in the sea; and it would obey you. I have noticed how many times the Lord turned to some individual and said, “Your faith has made you whole”; or “Your faith has saved you.” He didn’t say that He had done it. I think a great deal of what God wants to do has been done from the divine side. It’s from the human side that faith must appropriate it and put it into action. Until then, it remains a great potential reservoir of divine provision. You can find many Scriptures bearing out that truth. We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Ephesians 1:3. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God. I Corinthians 2:12. All things are possible. We have them because they are freely given to us by God. There isn’t anything that He hasn’t provided.… and with his stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:5–6. Every healing, every provision is available.… and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. I John 2:2. The blood of Jesus is adequate to free every man of Adam’s lost race. The potential of it is there. How great is our redemption. How great is the provision for us. Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. II Peter 1:4. What marvelous promises!
What’s wrong then? I believe that God’s provision is absolute and perfect. I believe He defeated Satan. The Scriptures tell us that very plainly. Then why do we see every other manifestation but that? What are we going to do about it? Sit back and say, “I hope it comes to us in the millennium”? We’re walking far below what God wants us to walk in; and my heart has been challenged that we need to come to grips with our unbelief. The first step toward faith is not trying to pump it up to some mental plane, saying “I believe it, I believe it, I believe it, I believe it,” because your own heart knows what a liar you are.
The only person who tries the impossible today is a kook, someone a little bit off. Nobody does this—but I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m going to believe in the impossible. I don’t know how, but I have it within my will to believe it, and every doubt or fear or reluctance, every conditioning of my mind or spirit that comes up from the subconscious and says, “You can’t do it, too much unbelief,” I will drive into the abyss—I will judge that unbelief, nail it to the cross, and condemn it forever as an affront to God. We must believe His Word!
This walk is to be loosed to the ends of the earth, but not only to send a few tape recordings, and a few publications. We will send recordings and literature—a word that will shatter the defense of the devil, and bring down every kind of curtain—iron curtain, purple curtain, bamboo curtain—and open the door. Whatever is keeping out the gospel of real liberation, makes no difference; wherever it is, God will bring it down and this word will bring the witness as the gospel of the Kingdom is preached. We have to believe this. We can’t believe for just enough deliverance to survive. We must believe in the deliverance that prevails. “There will be deliverance in the Remnant, and whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Joel 2:32).
How are we going to see it done? First of all, we will repent of our unbelief. “Well, I always was a little skeptical.” Yes, you’re one of Adam and Eve’s true sons and daughters. The problem first appeared when Satan came around whispering, “Hath God said? Hath God said?” This whole mess started when they began to question God. We must come to the place where our hearts are absolutely unquestioning, no matter what happens. We ought to face the fact that our moments of discouragement and depression are an expression of unbelief, and get down on our knees and ask God to forgive us and repent of it. Oh, that we would give thanks and continually praise the Lord, in every circumstance, because that’s an expression of faith. In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6, 7. The reason that doesn’t work is because the people don’t believe God, although they may have great areas of faith.
Faith is a strange thing. Many a Christian will argue with you, insisting adamantly that if you just believe in Jesus Christ and His name and are baptized, you will be eternally saved. He believes in that salvation absolutely. But if you would suggest, “Fine, that’s a wonderful thing. Now, how about praying for the sick?” he’d turn right around and argue the other way. He has just as much faith in the other direction, “I don’t believe in divine healing. The day of miracles is past.
You ask him, “What about the baptism of the Holy Spirit?”
“Oh, forget that tongues business—they ceased.”
“What about prophecies.”
“Prophecies? They failed. Maybe it will all come in the sweet by-and-by, but not right now. But—God will still save you.” They are very adamant on one point—that of the word by word inspiration of the Bible. Yet they don’t believe the promises.
We can criticize denominations for their unbelief—but what about ourselves? How much do you believe the promises? “Oh, Pastor, that’s our strong suit. We not only believe every thing that has been preached to us, but we’re ready to believe everything else the Lord ever says. Regardless of how fantastic it is, we’re ready to believe it, just so it’s Scriptural and the Lord reveals it.” Very, very good. Now, let’s make it work, make it happen, and if we don’t, our position is far more full of holes than any denomination I know of. We’re more to be blamed and put down, if God can reveal such a living word and living truth to us today, and we don’t believe it.
Make it work, make it happen. We’re going to do it. If we come up to something we can’t handle, we’ll come and pray about our unbelief. We will believe God for the signs, the wonders, the exploits, the moving of God in the earth; we will believe for all these events and things to come to pass. Declare war on the things in your lives that are not right, circumstances that stand harassing and oppressing you, conditions that you know are satanic. Storm heaven with faith until they are changed.
Does this message reach you? Walk in it—don’t forget it—pray about it. You’re not playing games. You don’t dare let this church be a place where you have some sort of humble thing, but yet a spiritual pride in it. There is so much to believe—let’s believe it and make it work. I am a believer and you are a believer. We don’t believe in sickness, we don’t believe in harm. We’re believers in the health and strength of the Lord. We have to say, “We’re believers. We’re going to believe.” If you don’t doubt in your heart, you can move a mountain. But if you think, “I don’t know…” then there’s a reservation in your mind. Don’t have any reservation! Believe it! Believe it!