YOU MUST CONFESS YOUR FAITH

In this study I want to build a foundation in your Christian life by showing you some things about faith and confession.

Do you have faith in God?

If you've been born again by the Spirit of God—no matter what church you're from—I know you love God; but loving God and having faith to receive the things He has for you are two completely different situations.

Your faith that Jesus is the Son of God will get you into heaven, but God loves you so much that He wants to abundantly bless you now while you are here on earth. For you to receive those blessings, you must study the Word and do what it tells you to do. That's where faith comes in.

Learn The Truth

God works through men; and they have to tell the truth or He can't work through them. When Peter and John walked up to the gate of the temple called Beautiful, a lame man asked them for money.

Peter said to him, "I don't have any money to give you; but what I have, I'll give you." (author's paraphrase)

Then he reached down and gave that man what he had: the power of God.

Peter reached down, grabbed that man by the hand, and pulled him up on his feet. God's power works through men's hands. When Peter did that, the man's crippled legs were made whole and strong. (Acts 3:2-8.)

Jesus has not changed, and the beautiful part about Him is that He will never change. You have to tell people the truth. You can't lie to them. You have to tell them that God is still the same. When you do, then they will receive.

Because you are a free moral agent, you can think what you want to think; but please stop and read the Bible. What you believe and think may be wrong. It is possible that the teaching you received in your church was not the complete truth.

That's what happened to my mother. She was as good a Christian as anyone, but she died of cancer at 37. When I asked God why she died, He said it was because she couldn't get healed—not wouldn't, but couldn't. She couldn't believe the Bible for healing. The church where she went didn't teach her about healing.

One of the offices God put in the Church is the teacher. (Eph. 4:11,12.) This is where I come in. I'm not an apostle, and I'm not a prophet, even though I do prophesy sometimes as the Spirit wills. Sometimes I might go for several weeks without prophesying in public, then I may prophesy three times the next week.

I'm a teacher. When God called me to teach the Bible, He said to me, "You just speak My Word, son. Keep it straight on the Word, and I'll confirm it with signs following." And He does! He unfolds nuggets of truth for me to teach the Church.

He tells me what to say; I say it; and the Holy Ghost takes it from there!

Be Fully Persuaded

Often we miss God completely by passing over the little words in the Bible. For example, in the 4th chapter of Romans, verse 21, the word fully is a very important word. This verse says,

Being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

You are only partly persuaded when you say, "I thought I got healed, but I guess I didn't because I feel bad today."

If you are blind and didn't receive your sight after being prayed for, you are only partly persuaded if you go home saying, "I was hoping I got healed, but I guess I didn't."

You must be fully persuaded so that you calleth those things which be not as though they were (Rom. 4:17).

If you have been on crutches for a long time and are wondering if and when your legs will straighten out, you are only partly persuaded that God is able to perform your healing. You have to believe that God can perform what you say and what you believe.

Be Open To The Supernatural

You also have to realize that healing may manifest at any time. Some people want to make God do things supernaturally just during their church services. They say, "If it doesn't happen right now, it isn't God."

But that's not true. Supernatural manifestations of God's power don't work for everybody. That is a work God does on His own.

In one service that I held, a crippled man, who was standing on crutches in front of me, just dropped his crutches and walked off. As he was walking up the middle of the church, he passed a blind boy whose eyes suddenly popped open so that he could see! Then some deaf ears opened!

I certainly don't have this kind of manifestation in every service. It happens every once in a while; then I may go along for a few days or weeks before it happens again.

While I was speaking in one church, teaching on divine healing, the man who was operating the tape machines in the back of the church came running out of the tape room. He said, "Jesus healed me as I was sitting back here!"

That was a supernatural manifestation of God's healing power that fell on him because he was listening to the Word.

You have to be fully persuaded that what God has promised, He is able also to perform in your life.

This is the kind of thing God unfolds to the teacher for him to teach the Church.

Be As A Little Child

Probably four fifths of the religious world don't know who they are in Christ.

They only know that they are saved. People can't know anything beyond what they have been taught, and everyone teaches salvation.

A psychiatrist, who heard me on a university campus where I was teaching the Bible, came to see me for an hour's counseling session.

I will never forget what he said when he first walked in. He said, "I guess you know what my mind is telling me. It's saying that none of this that I've heard is the truth. But I've never heard anyone talk like you before and I know there must be something in it for me."

I said, "Doctor, you came to the right place. I know you have two psychiatric offices, but I'm going to make it easy for you. Today I'll be the doctor and you be the patient. You're the listener; I'm giving the instructions. Are you willing to listen?"

He said, "Yes, sir."

"Okay. First of all, take out all the intellectualism you've put in your mind from college degrees. Lift it out, Doctor, and lay it on the table. Act like you don't have it and don't lean on it anymore. Put your hands out to Jesus and go to Him just like a little boy. Say, 'Jesus, here I am. Take me and use me. Do whatever You want to with me, Jesus.'"

It was wonderful to see him drop on his knees before the Lord. Jesus said,

Except ye ... become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:3).

The next year I went to a prayer meeting in his home. Together we prayed for people and cast out devils.

Later, he came up to me and said, "Brother Norvel, I cast out devils just like you do. I pray for sick people just like you do. I find lost souls who don't know God and lead them to the Lord just like you do. So many people are coming to my house for prayer meetings that I can hardly get them all in the room. My wife and I used to be social drinkers. Now she is saved, has stopped drinking, and is baptized in the Holy Spirit! So is my daughter! She is so turned on to God. My whole family is changed!"

You're Not In Heaven Yet!

When you get to heaven, you can freely receive all that God has for you; but you have to remember one thing: You aren't in heaven yet!

You are still living here on earth. You have to get up every morning, get dressed, go to work, and deal with other human beings. You have to deal with the devil and demons and foul spirits to keep them from destroying your family or your business or your own body.

Jesus said the devil comes against you for three reasons: to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10). Satan will do everything he can to try to destroy you.

The one thing he really wants to do is possess people. Recently when I was speaking in an Assembly of God church, a girl came up and slapped me twice. I had to grab her by the hair, throw her on the floor, and jump on her! (You can't let a girl beat you up in church!)

That girl was a 13-year-old prostitute that was on dope. She was a tough one! The house that dealt with wayward girls couldn't handle her, so they brought her to the church service.

When I threw her on the floor, one of her earrings got caught and tore her ear. Blood started coming out, but I wouldn't let her go until the devils left.

After I cast them out, the glory of God came on her. She hugged everybody in the church (including me!). The girls at the wayward house laid hands on her, prayed for her, and Jesus healed her ear right in front of everybody—just like He did after Peter cut off the servant's ear. (Luke 22:50,51.) Today that girl is filled with the Holy Ghost and still free!

Refuse Doubt

The devil can't wait to try to kill you. When he puts the flu on you, the only thing he has in mind is to get you in doubt. The first step he uses in trying to destroy you is to get you away from the pure truth—even if only a little bit.

By getting you to doubt, he can steal the manifestation of God's power away from you.

The devil tried to get Jesus to doubt. When he came to Jesus on the Mount of Temptation, he said to Him, "If you are the Son of God, turn this stone into bread." (Luke 4:3.) Because Jesus was living in the same kind of body that we are—meat, blood, and bones, wrapped around His Spirit —the devil could try to tempt Him with physical hunger.

The devil has nothing in mind for you except the grave. He wants to bury you. He knows that in the end he and all his foul spirits and demons will be tied up and thrown into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. (Rev. 20:10.) When the last spirit —the spirit of death (v. 14)—is thrown in, everything will be free again.

Run The Devil Off!

The sad part is that many people don't know how to stop the devil.

We can see from Jesus' example that He didn't put up with him. When the devil came to tempt Him, Jesus said to him,

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God

(Luke 4:4).

You have to learn how to deal with the devil. If you know how to deal with him, then God's power will be able to work for you. God's power is stronger than the devil's power; but the devil's power will be stronger than you—unless you use Jesus' name to resist him. As long as you resist Satan in Jesus' name, he cannot be stronger than you.

You can run the devil off. You can keep him off your property and out of your house.

The devil has to have permission from you to come on your property and into your house to do damage to you and your family. Most people give him permission, and don't even know that they do.

You give the devil permission by your wrong confession and your wrong believing.

Understand this: You have to run him off. Jesus won't run him off for you. It's your job; but is your faith strong enough?

Take A Stand

If you have been born again, the Holy Spirit lives inside you; but you have to let that Greater One rise up within you. You have to obey God's Word in order to run off the devil. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you (James 4:7). You have to do it yourself; nobody else is going to do it for you.

Remember: The devil can't operate unless you give him permission. Any damage caused to your family or your home or your business is your fault. It happens because you don't know the rights you have in Christ Jesus.

You have to know your rights in Christ Jesus. Then once you know them, you have to take a stand. You can't think about it, wonder about it, or be ashamed of it. You have to take a stand and fight the devil, in Jesus' name.

Know How To Please God

You don't please God by the way you look. You please God by the way you believe. You can wear the best clothes and have the most successful business in town, but the 11th chapter of Hebrews, verse 6, says: Without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. God is a faith God. You please God when you act in faith.

What Is Faith?

Verse 1 of the 11th chapter of Hebrews says, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for ... That means faith is the answer to everything. God is a faith God, and faith works the same way for everything.

Now faith is ... the evidence of things not seen . . . If you ever try to judge anything by seeing it, you are not in faith. You are out of God's will. You are not believing at all; you are still hoping. Hoping doesn't work; faith works.

The God-kind of faith is the faith in things that are not seen. You may have your physical eyes open, but that's not the way you see things in faith. You don't see faith with the eyes in your head. You see faith with the eyes in your spirit. The eyes in your head don't see faith at all. If you are judging things by what you can see with your physical eyes, you are missing God. You are not operating in faith.

Boldly Confess Your Faith

You need to know what faith is because if you don't know, you open the door for the devil to come in and operate in your body. If any part of your body begins to get weak, start calling it strong, and it will become strong.

For three hours one night, God showed me how He was going to put brand new hearts in some people's bodies. God is a God of creation, so He knows how to replace bad hearts with good ones.

That has happened in some of my meetings. There has been a supernatural manifestation of God's power, and people have received brand new hearts.

You might wonder, "Is it possible for these people to lose that?"

Absolutely.

If they don't take an interest in God's Word or if they get sloppy about the way they talk, their hearts will turn back like they were before. But if they continue to boldly say, "Jesus gave me a new heart," they'll keep it.

The Bible says you overcome by the word of your testimony. (Rev. 12:11.) But you can also be overcome by the word of your testimony.

Some people try to overcome by the word of my testimony. My testimony might build you up so that you can believe God for help, but you have to learn to confess for yourself.

Call Things Into Existence

In the 4th chapter of Romans, verse 17, God calleth those things which be not as though they were. This is the way He created the earth. There was no light, so God said, Let there be light (Gen. 1:3).

If you are born again, the same Spirit that formed all creation lives inside you. You can call things that you want into existence as God did when He created the earth!

Like God, Abraham called those things which be not as though they were. Romans 4:17-21 describes Abraham's great faith:

(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

Who against hope believed in hope, that he (Abraham) might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken,

So shall thy seed be.

And 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;

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

And being fully persuaded that, what he (God) had promised, he was able also to perform.

When God told Abraham he would be the father of many nations, Abraham could have thought, "How can that happen? I'm dead and Sarah's womb is dead."

But, instead, Abraham looked with the eyes of his spirit at all the things not seen, and he considered not his own body now dead. He realized that God could make a new womb in Sarah. He knew that God would put His power in their bodies and make all dead parts come alive.

Abraham believed God!

The 17th verse begins by saying, As it is written . . . . God is able to perform what He speaks!

When God told Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac, Abraham again demonstrated his great faith and trust in God. (Gen. 22:2.)

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief (Rom.

4:20).

To understand why Abraham didn't mind giving his son as a sacrifice, you need to understand Abraham's faith.

Abraham knew that if he cut off his son's head, God would have to put it back on. That's how strong his faith was.

If Isaac had been burned as a sacrifice, Abraham's faith would have caused God to return Isaac to life by forming the ashes back into his body.

God has been trying to get the Gentiles to believe with the Abraham kind of faith for hundreds of years. Then He would be able to give them Abraham's blessings. They won't receive the blessings until they walk in that same kind of faith: staggering not in unbelief; calling those things which be not as though they were; practicing what God practices, not what somebody else practices.

You have to get into the Word of God and believe it for yourself.

I don't believe in speaking in tongues just because somebody else does. I believe in it because the 2nd chapter of Acts tells the truth—and you had better believe it for the same reason, not because a manifestation came to someone you know.

You need to have chapter and verse for what you believe, or your belief won't last long.

God is able to perform what He has promised! You need to have a faith that is steadfast and strong, trusting in God like Abraham did.

The amount of strength you have is decided by the amount of peace and Word you have inside you. Nervous faith is not faith at all. Wondering faith is not faith at all. It can't be because God never changes. He is steadfast every day, every moment. Day and night, night and day—Jesus never changes!

See The Answer

From the moment you pray for something, real faith sees nothing but the answer and it talks nothing but the answer.

You may look at it with your physical eyes for months and months and not see it come to pass. If you ever start wavering, you'll never see it come to pass. You have to see the answer with your spiritual eyes. That means that all of the first verse of Hebrews, chapter 11, has to be down in your innermost being. That is where God lives. He doesn't live in your head; He lives in your spirit, your innermost being. That is where the Holy Ghost makes His home.

If you don't keep the truth of Hebrews 11:1, you will go back into the natural realm. Faith, the God-kind of faith, is the evidence of things not seen. That is God's definition of the word faith.

Talk The Answer

The Lord told me that many people have been making the mistake of being in the natural realm when they are making their confession.

Some people say, "I'm honest. I'm going to call it just like it is."

It's not honest for you to call things as you see them with your physical eyes. That's not faith. If you say, "I believe in calling it just like it is: My back hurts!" then you haven't understood faith yet.

Start believing the Bible like it is written —the way Abraham did, not like Thomas did!

After the Resurrection when the other disciples told Thomas that they had seen the Lord, he said,

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 (John 20:25).

God loves you so much and He wants you well. The way to be well is to start calling things the way you want them to be.

You may say, "But it wouldn't be honest for me not to call things like they are."

That's not true! The sickness on your body is a lie. The devil put it there and he is a liar! You are living in Christ Jesus, so you are delivered from all bondage and all sickness.

Do you think that God lies? God can't lie. (John 17:17.)

When you are living in Christ Jesus, sickness on your body is a lie.

You may say, "But I can see and feel the sickness on my body!"

I know it's there, but it was put there by a liar. Are you going to believe a liar? Don't look at it from your natural eye. Look at it through faith. Faith won't see it.

Call those things that be not as though they were. Your faith in God's power will heal you completely.

He'll Live And Not Die!

Calling those things which be not as though they were will work for everything— even for a person who is dying.

When I was teaching at one church in Kentucky, the pastor there asked me to go with him to the hospital to pray for a 21-year-old man that was expected to die.

We walked into the waiting room outside the Intensive Care Unit. Some of the relatives were sitting there, looking so sad. (I know the sadness something like that brings to the family. I watched my 19-year-old brother die.)

The pastor and I went into Intensive Care and found the man's precious little wife sitting there by his bed, looking so sad. Her husband was stretched out, barely breathing. I thought every breath was going to be his last.

The pastor and I prayed for him. We bound the power of the devil, in Jesus' name; then we claimed life and God's healing power for him.

The Lord showed me a scripture to give to his wife. I said to her, "Young lady, I want to tell you what Jesus said in Mark 11:23. He said that you can have what you say. That means calling those things that be not as though they were. You want your husband to live, don't you?"

She said, "Yes, I want him to live."

"You can keep him alive; but you have to know that. If you are in the wondering stage, you can't keep him alive. If you believe the Bible, you can. Jesus said you can have what you say." (It's amazing to me how nearly everybody believes John 3:16, but they wonder whether or not Mark 11:23 is the truth.)

I said, "I want you to sit right here by the bed and start saying, 'My husband will live and not die. I love Jesus and my husband loves Jesus. I say with my mouth according to Mark 11:23: My husband will live and not die. He'll live and not die!'

"Just keep saying that, hour after hour: 'My husband will live and not die. I'm not going to let him die, in Jesus' name. Jesus said I could have whatever I say, and I say that he'll live and not die.' "

You may think, "But what if she got tired and quit? Her husband would die."

Yes, he would. But as long as she sat there with the Holy Ghost in her, confessing God's Word—confessing that it never fails, that it never lies—God would move in her behalf. He would pass over the whole United States just to get to that one girl in Kentucky, so that His power could start working in her husband's body.

God's power won't work in your relatives' bodies if you're not calling the things that be not as though they were.

If you sit with a sad face, wringing your hands and feeling sorry for yourself, you are disobeying the Bible.

God's power doesn't work for people who are weak in faith. The Bible says in the 4th chapter of Romans, verse 19: And being not weak in faith .... Weak people don't receive anything to speak of from God, except maybe a blessing for faithfully attending church and staying out of sin.

If you stay out of sin, God will never turn against you: He will love you and you'll go to heaven. The Holy Ghost will never leave your body as long as you stay out of sin and believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary.

If you want to be weak in faith, you can. You will have to put up with a lot from the devil, and you may die with cancer at the age of 37 like my mother did; but it's your choice. You can choose this way ... or ... You can trust God and get results like this girl did.

She sat there by her husband's bed and confessed those words in faith.

By degrees, life began to come back into her husband's body. The next day he was stronger. The day after that, he was breathing better. Then he kept getting stronger and stronger. Finally, God's power raised him up out of that bed because his wife had called those things which be not as though they were.

Be Strong In Faith

God can revive your dead body if you will stand on His Word. God is a God of power! Through prophecy, He put meat on a valley full of dry bones and He breathed life into them. They stood up a great army! (Ezek. 37:4-10.) God never changes. He'll use that power for you, too!

Some Christians live on the Christmas story they heard thirty years ago. It's a beautiful story about Jesus' birth, but you have to live in God's Word. You have to feed your faith continuously to keep it strong.

God plainly teaches in the New Testament that you are to act like an adult when you grow up. You have to get off the milk of the Word and start eating meat. (1 Cor. 3:1,2.) He wants you to be strong in faith and consider nothing but God's Word.

Give God The Glory

Get the Word of God inside you. If you confess and believe the right thing, God's power will come visit you and defeat will be all over.

God calls those things that be not as though they were, so give glory to God before you receive the manifestation of what you are believing Him for.

Call things like you want them to be, then watch out for "the little foxes" in your life.

The Bible talks about the little foxes, that spoil the vines (Song of Sol. 2:15). These "little foxes" come in to rob you of God's glory and keep the blessings of God from you.

They can't cut off the love of God because God's love is eternal and the Holy Ghost will never leave you; but they will cut off the supernatural power of God—that miracle-working power that straightens out crippled legs and gives them strength.

These "little foxes" will try to keep you in defeat and confusion. I'm never confused about anything—never! I never have a confusing day. I used to have them, but not anymore—and I'm not going to have them! I have the peace of God in me 24 hours a day, 365 days a year—and I'm going to keep it! I'm not going to let the devil or anybody else rob me of it. I wouldn't give up the peace of God for everything in the world!

God wants you to be successful. He wants you to live above the beggarly elements of this world. He wants you to have His peace in you, and you can have it! You can overcome all the "little foxes" that come to spoil the vines.

Confess whatever you need into existence with the Abraham kind of faith. Then there will be no defeated and confusing days!

Norvel Hayes shares God's Word boldly and simply with an enthusiasm that captures the heart of the hearer. He has learned through personal experience that God's Word can be effective in every area of life— that it will work for anyone who will believe it and apply it.

Norvel owns a number of businesses which function successfully despite the fact that he spends over half his time away from the office, ministering the Gospel throughout the country. His willingness to share his faith has taken him to a variety of places. He ministers in churches, seminars, conventions, colleges, prisons—anywhere the Spirit of God leads.

GOD IS A GOD OF POWER!

God can revive your dead body if you will stand on His Word.

Calling those things which he not as though they were will work for everything — even for a person who is dying.

TALK THE ANSWER

Get the Word of God inside you. If you confess and believe the right thing, God's power will come visit you and defeat will he all over.

From the moment you pray for something, real faith sees nothing but the answer and it talks nothing but the answer.

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