Find God’s Promises and Take Them by Faith By Dan Spitz
I want to share some of the wisdom and insight I have gained from reading a book written by Dave Williams, the minister at Mt Hope Church in Lansing, Michigan. The book is How To Be A High Performance Believer… In Low Octane Days. I have read several of his books and they are very enlightening. But I want to focus on sharing what he says about faith since he presents faith so clearly and simply. Much of it will sound familiar, but perhaps with a different twist and understanding the same way it spoke to me.
He uses Romans 4:12-25 for the basis of most of his text, and he begins by stating that once we have salvation through faith in Jesus, the whole spectrum of God’s promises is open to us. Every day we face struggles and problems; but for every struggle and problem we encounter, there is a promise and a solution in God’s Word. So armed with our faith and diligently seeking to exercise and grow in our personal faith, we can search the Word for His promises.
Philippians 4:19 (NLT)
And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Proverbs 10:24 (NLT)
The fears of the wicked will be fulfilled; the hopes of the godly will be granted.
Mark 11:24 (NLT)
I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it,
it will be yours.
He continues to say that faith is the main substance that activates all the promises of God. In other words, a promise will never become reality until it is appropriated by faith. Faith hears a promise, believes the promise, and acts upon the promise to claim it for its own. There is only one thing that moves the hand of God on our behalf, and that’s faith.
Furthermore, he states that faith is the substance and essential ingredient- for receiving anything from God. Faith is the evidence that the promise is on the way, even though unseen by the human eye and unheard by the human ear.
Pastor Williams explains that faith must be developed; it appears and is developed by hearing the Word. The way we develop faith is to increase our intake of God’s Word. Faith is developed by hearing God’s Word, hiding it in our hearts, and verbally articulating the precious promises as our own. In other words, speak out the promises that He has given us and expect them to be answered. He also goes on to say that faith will provide us with more stamina, more resiliency, and more radiance. He tells us to find the promise in God’s Word and take it by faith. Faith is dead if we never act upon it.
Romans 10:17 (NLT)
So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.
Dave presents the following six steps of developing faith:
1) Get God’s Word on the Matter First
Find a promise that covers your need.
Don’t be swayed by the voice of man.
2) Speak Faith Words According to God’s Word
Speak the promise, not the problem.
Faith words activate creative forces.
3) Make a Faith Movie
Faith is the substance of things you hope for.
Hope is a picture of the end result of receiving a promise of God.
Produce an internal movie starring YOU after the promise is realized.
4) Exercise Your Praise Muscles.
Praise God in advance for what He is doing, according to His Word, in your life.
Praise Him for the answer to your problem.
5) Take Action.
It takes action to receive a miracle.
Laziness will never get you anything from God.
6) Patience
Patient endurance is the bridge between believing a promise from God and
receiving the promise from God.
Romans 4:12-25 (NLT)
12 And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.
13 Clearly, God’s promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was based not on his obedience to God’s law, but on a right relationship with God that comes by faith.
14 If God’s promise is only for those who obey the law, then faith is not necessary and the promise is pointless.
15 For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)
16 So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.
17 That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.”[a] This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing.
18 Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”[b]
19 And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb.
20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.
21 He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises.
22 And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.
23 And when God counted him as righteous, it wasn’t just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded
24 for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
25 He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised to life to make us right with God.