This is for Anita - "Faith is NOW"

This is for Anita, a dear friend of mine in Christ. Anita’s Shen Leng and my dear little Nicholas used to play together when they were toddlers. Anita would say Shen Leng will serve in the concern ministry and I will say Nicholas would serve in the worship ministry! Seeing how much Shen Leng has grown up recently at the town hall meeting amazes me. Of course, that meant Nicholas is also that much taller! How fast they have grown. I hear Shen Leng is down with dengue fever and admitted yesterday (19 October 2009) into Damansara Specialist Hospital. I also suffered dengue in January 2008 but recovered quickly after 3 days in the hospital. So I remember the weakness in the body, the lethargy, the achy bones (like flu coming on), fever and the taste buds all screwed up. The good thing is that 100 plus is recommended! I heard with joy that Shen Leng accepted Christ last year at an early age of 6! This little girl is really matured as she accepted Christ on her own accord. But this year she has been in and out flu, glandular fever and now dengue fever. I heard that she is very angry with God for not healing her and despite her prayers, she still has to get hospitalised. Sounds like us when we are discouraged but she is only a little girl. What troubled me and amazes me that the devil does not look at how young and old you are. The condemnation has already begun for her at this tender age! How vicious and how evil the devil is!

Father in heaven, I bind all spirit of sickness, bad virus, bad bacteria, all disease, deceit, lies, condemnation and ALL work of darkness working against Shen Leng and break it in the name of Jesus! I speak restoration to her body for all her cells and organs to return to normal. I command all her cells and organs to receive the nutrients and be nourished to build her immune system so strong to fight , kill and destroy all the bad bacteria and bad viruses in her in the name of Jesus! And I ask for the blood of Jesus to flow through her right now right now and restore her completely and make her whole again. I pray all this with faith, believing that you have heard my prayer and receive it with thanksgiving in Jesus’ name!

I want to share with Anita what I have learned last night from Deeper Life Seminar. It is what I have been believing throughout this journey but now, it has been broken down to steps we can follow! Wow! It is the first principle of faith – To agree with God. How do we do it?

1. To receive the word of God, to accept it not as word of men but as it actually is, the word of God (1 Thessalonians 2:13). Just receive it as truth.

1 Thessalonians 2:13
“And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.”

2. Mix gospel with faith i.e. simply believing what God says.
(Hebrew 4:2)

“For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.”

3. Be “..fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised (Romans 4:21). eg If I asked you your name and you answer “Anita”, could anyone convince you that your name is “Jackie”? No, right? Likewise, be FULLY persuaded what God says in His word. If you were travelling a familiar route and yet, when someone tells you of another route you could take, you might panic and take a wrong turn and get lost in it awhile before coming back out again. When we are not fully persuaded, we leave room for doubts. When we are fully persuaded, we leave no room for doubts, no room for unbelief.

Romans 4:19
19And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb.

Abraham did not consider his circumstances (similarly, our diseases, our finances etc). By considering our circumstances, we will think it, talk about it and see it. The end result is what we say we have become. But Abraham did not consider his circumstances. It did not weaken His faith. Instead:

- He said what God said;
- He thought what God thought;
- He saw what God saw

Start considering Shen Leng, Aunty Beverly, baby Megan, Alison, Dr Mano, Sandra Chong, even myself healed. Start declaring it, start thinking it, start seeing them healed and they will be healed despite the circumstances!

In Genesis 13:14-17, God gave Abram a vision of what He promised. God spoke to Abram, gave him a vision and gave him a promise for Abraham (who he was to become). It’s like God telling Abram “This is what I want you to see, think and speak”.

Genesis 13:14-17
"The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, "Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west. All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted. Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.""

Genesis 15:5
“He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars—if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." “

If we look at the stars and try to reenact what God told Abraham, you will start counting and chances are, you will start counting it aloud until you give coz there’s just too many. Say it. Declare the vision God gives you. Declare the Word God gives you. Be fully persuaded – consider it by saying, thinking and seeing what God says to you.

4. Don’t look at yourself. Don’t look at your resources, your abilities but look at Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. Look at what God says. Hebrew 12:2

5. Faith is NOW. This is a revelation to me. Faith is now. Hope is future.

It makes sense to me now why praying with faith causes us to see miracles. Having faith and hoping are two different things. Hope is “joyful expectation”. If we prayed just hoping, you can be sure our prayers won’t get answered especially if our minds are not in agreement with our prayers. We hope for a miracle but we aren’t sure God will deliver. But faith is what makes hope that is in the future happen. Faith is believing NOW it will happen not after it happened. Faith in Jesus who paid the price, who destroyed death. The power of the holy spirit who raised Jesus from the dead is in us because we are heirs and co-heirs with him, seated at God’s right hand. We have been given all authority. We are overcomers. We need to release this power, that power that is in us as a child of God.

That’s why when we pray, we pray believing that we have received it by faith, despite the circumstances. He hears our prayers. We know it because the bible says so (1 John 5:14,15). And then thank God (Phil 4:6), keep thanking Him every day. He will give us what we ask. Just watch for the miracles!

Here’s blessing you with 4 praise songs.
“I exalt Thee” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-lY8VQpSTY by Chris Quilala / Jesus Culture and “Yes Lord” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yM-RAe8HHE&feature=related.
“Here Am I to Worship” at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eiy3_KRKNaQ (see also video bar)
"Worthy is the Lamb" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AR4CCLnmf1Q&NR=1