Central Truth: A formula for faith is: (1) Find a promise in God’s Word for whatever you are seeking, (2) Believe God’s Word, (3) Do not consider contradictory circumstances, and (4) Praise God for the answer.

The beloved man of faith, Smith Wigglesworth, once said, “I can’t understand God by feelings. I can’t understand the Lord Jesus Christ by feelings. I can only understand God the Father and Jesus Christ by what the Word says about them. God is everything the Word says He is. We need to get acquainted with Him through the Word.” Too many people try to get acquainted with God through their personal feelings. When they feel good, they think God has heard their prayers. If they don’t feel particularly good they think He has not heard them. Their faith is based on their feelings whereas it should be based on God’s word.

A ‘Thomas’ Faith

John 20:24-29
24 But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. 26 And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them; then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. 27 Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing. 28 And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. 29 Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.

Thomas was one who based his faith upon his feelings, upon what his physical senses told him. He said that he would not believe unless he could see with his own eyes the prints of the nails in Jesus’ hands, and touch these nail prints with his own hands. He relied on what he could see and touch, not on what God had to say. We have so many “Thomas Christian” today – those who believe only what they feel, believe only what they can see, hear, or touch. But real faith in God is based upon the Word of God. Real faith in the Word says, “If God says it is true, it is.” Believing God is believing His Word.

If God’s Word says He hears me, then I know he hears me because He says so and His Word cannot lie.

If our faith is based upon feelings, then we are just using a natural human faith. We cannot get spiritual results with natural human faith. We have to use scriptural faith, Bible faith, believing in God’s Word. If our faith is based upon the Word of God, then we believe the Word regardless of evidences that would satisfy our physical senses.

I prayed for a lady once who had been through many healing lines, and yet had never received her healing. After I prayed for her she immediately said, “I haven’t got it yet, pray again.” I prayed again and when I finished, she said the same thing.

After praying a third time with seemingly no results I asked her, “When are you going to start believing that you are healed?”

“Well,” she said, “when I get healed.”

“What in the world would you want to believe it for then? It seems to me that you would know it then.”

Anyone can believe what he can feel, hear, or see. We live and operate in the physical realm most of the time and obviously, we have to walk by sight then. But when it comes to Bible things, to spiritual things, then we don’t walk by sight – we walk by faith.

Healing Is Spiritual

God’s healing is spiritual healing. If medical science heals, it heals through the physical. Christian Science heals through the mind. But when God heals, He heals through the spirit.

II Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Spiritual healing, or divine healing, is received from God in the same way that the new birth, which is a rebirth of the spirit, is received. When you are born again, it is not your body that is born again, for you still have the same body you always had. When Paul said, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature …,” he was not talking about man’s body being made new. It doesn’t change the physical in any way. After you are saved, the man on the inside is to dominate the physical, of course, but it is the man on the inside, the inner man, that is born again.

The new birth is the rebirth of the human spirit. Jesus said, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6). A person cannot tell just by looking at someone what has happened to him on the inside, but in the process of time it will become obvious.

We have been mistaken many times when we have seen folks come to the altar, pray and cry, jump up and hug everyone around, acting so happy. Then they are never seen again. We really thought they had received something marvelous from God. But it was just an emotional something, and not the new birth. At other times we see people come to the altar for salvation. They are not emotional at all, and we wonder if they have received anything from the Lord. We might think they were not at the altar long enough for anything. Yet many of these become very outstanding Christians during their lifetimes. This is another example of faith being based upon physical senses.

I certainly believe in feeling, but I put it last. God’s Word comes first, faith in God’s Word second, and feeling last. Too many people turn it around and put feeling up front, faith in their feelings second, and the Word of God last. These people will never make a success of anything. We cannot tell immediately just what has happened on the inside of a person because it takes place in the human spirit. But if he walks in the light of what he has, it will show up on the outside.

Walking in the natural, we do have to go by our physical senses. For example, if we are crossing a street and our eyes tell us there are cars coming, we must wait until the cars pass. In many instances we have to walk by natural faith: faith in our sight, faith in our sense of smell, and faith in our feelings. But what too many people try to do is believe in God with that physical or natural faith, and if their physical senses tell them it’s not so, then they believe it’s not so. But our physical senses have nothing to do with the Bible. God’s Word is true whether we feel that it is or whether circumstances appear that it is or not. God’s Word is true. “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).

Formula for Faith

Here is a formula for faith that you can make work for you. First, have God’s Word for whatever you may be seeking; second, believe God’s Word; third, refuse to consider the contradictory circumstances, or what your physical senses may tell you about it; and fourth, give praise to God for the answer. Follow these four steps, and you will always get results. These are four certain steps to deliverance, healing, answered prayer, or whatever you may be seeking from the Lord.

Memory Text: “For ever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89).
Faith in Action: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only…” (James 1:22).

Previous Lesson – Kenneth Hagin – Faith in Action (Part II)
Next Lesson – Kenneth Hagin – What It Means to Believe With the Heart (Part 1)

Comments

  1. Bless be the Lord, the Lord it self been teaching me how to walk with Him. I am almost 6 year converted follower of Jesus Christ of my saviour. I love Him each moment…. Nothing is impossible true Him. Amen

  2. I am in love with this..
    Thank you Jesus for this revelation.
    Amen!

  3. Billy, you do not need to condemn yourself. At the end of the day God is sovereign and He will do things His way and in His time. Your faith is pleasing to Him and He will always be in control but be at peace. You do not need to make it happen by all your prayer and confession of the word. Many times the Lord wants to bring us to our end because that is when He can show us that it is not by might or by our power but by His Holy Spirit.

  4. Where I’m struggling is no matter how much I’m resisting the satan and speaking the Word,telling others the Word also, everytime it gets a little better another attack comes. I have been dealing with this for over a year and a half. I know people go through trials but I don’t know many that have dealt with it THIS LONG. It seems so many of my prayers are manifesting. It’s a constant circle of attacks and relief…..God doesn’t mean for us to be under attack constantly. It wears my faith,emotions, and body down.

  5. I do appreciate your help. Thank you! I practice Word and believe to my utmost in the promises given to us. My prayers are based on scripture but as of yet even though I’ve been thanking Him and believing all I know how very little is manifesting. I’m relying on God for all things in my life, maybe too much. After months of not seeing the fruit of my confession I get very drained physically and spiritually.

    1. Powerful word indeed! Yea walking by faith is a fight. Paul said fight the good fight of faith, which means continue unshakably holding onto what God has said nomatter what appears on the outside. And dont forget that the bible says satan comes immediately whenever the word of God is sown so as to try and take it away. As soon as Jesus was announced by the Father as His beloved Son ,satan came immediately to question it saying ….if you are the son of God…… but Jesus showed us what to do, talking the devil off by speaking forth God’s Word. The Word ALWAYS works……Praise God!

  6. This definitely blessed me. I am always living based on how I feel, and now I have realized that if you really want the best of God as a result in your life, you are going to have to keep faithful in Him and His word.

  7. Awesome and very Powerful!For we do not walk by sight but by faith. Our physical eyes are limited,we can only see things happening around us but we can not see things out of our range,so they are not reliable.We can only see activities happening in the physical but there is alot of activity happening in the spiritual world.We therefor cannot rely on our eyes that are limited.GOD is everywhere at once (ominipresent) he is not limited,where can we go from his spirit.All our five senses are limited so we cannot base our outcomes based on them.GOD iis all knowing,your body may be telling you otherwise BUT whose report shall you believe.By his stripes we were healed,the word ‘were’ is in the past tense.It happened more than two thousand years ago.He healed u back then,all you have to do is believe it,receive it ,praise GOD for it and walk in it.Who do you believe your body created by GOD or GOD WHO CREATED THE BODY.Would you rather listen to creature or the CREATOR.Don’t rely on goose bumps they come and go.This is the good fight of faith,fight against that body,that mind that still tells you that you are sick by the WORD of GOD.Keep on saying it I’M HEALED.

  8. Sometimes it gets hard to keep standing when dealing with sickness. God told me 7-17-15 I was healed and confirmed it through my wife but symptoms persist although for most part is better. I stand on the promise I’m healed and struggling at times not to get weak.

    1. Author

      Billy – Yes, I agree. It is tough. It is the fight of faith and the fight of your life. You have to aggressively put the word of God into yourself. You need to meditate on it and speak it out of your mouth. You won’t feel anything but it is working ‘under the hood.’ It will keep your motivation up because the word of God going into you and coming out of you is your hope. Hearing God is your faith. Do a search on this site for the word ‘cancer.’ It is about my experience with prostate cancer. I am through it. It is a battle but it is a battle you can win in God and in His word.

      God told you, then you have faith. You must protect that faith by rehearsing it in your heart and mind. Keep it real by looking at it all the time. Otherwise, you will become the ‘forgetful hearer’ of James. God bless you. Rex

    1. Author

      Ben – Thank you for the comment. It blesses us to hear it. Yes, faith is not a feeling but a knowing from God deep on the inside. That knowing is the foundation that we can stand upon to receive. It also lets us know that God is fully involved in our situation. Feelings come and go but the knowing will last, as long as you keep walking in the word and in the spirit. God bless

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