THEME:         STANDING IN FAITH

LESSON:       Four

TOPIC:               FAITH PRINCIPLE FOR ANSWERED PRAYER TEXT:                 Mark 11:23-24, Romans 10:9-10

MEMORY TRACK:

In our last lesson, we learnt that our new birth experience was possible because of our faith in the Lord Jesus. This experience granted us the right to the name of Jesus. Our faith must therefore be established in the name. And by His name we are filled with the Holy Ghost, exercise our authority in the name of Jesus and have power of the attorney. All inherited curses are broken in the name of Jesus. We also receive blessings, success, healing and deliverance from the power of Satan through faith in His name. Halleluyah!

Steps to receiving answer to your prayer: Important Factors to Get Answers

  • Have Faith in God: We must know that faith is not positive thinking, quoting scriptures or recounting another man’s experience in faith operation. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing does not mean you have faith, but we cannot have faith without hearing the word. Faith is a spiritual reality from God that takes us away from the realm of impossibilities to the realm of possibilities where all doubt and fear are dissolved. The first bus stop we step into is hope. Hope is also a spiritual material from God which helps our heart to have an assurance in God’s word, rejoicing and giving thanks to Him despite our contradictions. This does not mean faith has come. It is a preparation for the coming of faith. So faith comes from God as we stand in hope. Faith is an understanding of the unchanging and unwavering nature of God in respect to His promises being personally revealed to us in the scripture.
  • Get your desire right: Our desire must be based on the word of God “Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). The desire here means the request, demand or expectation. We need to desire an answer before we pray. Many a times our desire for answers to our prayers is not directed towards God only (Psalms 62:5,10-11, Prov 24:14, Prov 23:18). We often do not have desire but wishes.
  • Pray: This is communicating the need to God, knowing that God is able to do it. Meaning building your trust in God for the performance.
  • Believe: The exercise of faith is not a one-off thing but continual believing and receiving substances for your desire and evidence for the things you have not seen. The substances we received here are what we hold as the answer to our prayers, and we need to hold this in thanksgiving until the fruition of our desire.
  • Confess: The final stage of faith operation is confession.

What is Confession?

Confession is the expression of the conviction of the heart. It is acknowledging or witnessing to a certain reality that is borne out of one’s heart. Confession of faith, therefore, is the verbal acknowledgement of the faith conviction that is borne out of God’s word, concerning His promises and our privileges in Christ. Confession is verbalizing what faith has given. Below are a few things to note about Confession:

  1. The power of our words (Luke 6:45, Proverbs 18:21): The words of our mouth are the designer of our destiny. Your faith will never register above the words of your lips. The complete expression of faith is by confession.
  • Confession is an attitude of faith (2 Cor 4:13): Confession is an attitude of faith, and it brings to reality what we believe. God, in bringing forth things that are unseen to reality, had to obey the law of confession before they were brought to reality (Rom 4:17). God spoke into existence things that are created and was particular about how each of His words work out His desire. So, your faith is reflected in your confession.
  • Faith Confessions Create Realities and Brings Possession (Mark 11:23): Realization follows your confession. Confession precedes possession (Rom. 10:10). There are two things to notice about the God-kind of faith: First, a man believes in his heart. Second, he believes in his words. It won’t be enough just to believe something in your heart. To get God to work for you, you have to believe in your words and your words have to speak the faith that is in your heart. This scripture contains the inevitable law of faith. You must believe in your heart and this belief must reflect in your words. The God-Kind of faith results in believing in your heart and speaking with your mouth. The Word of God must be on your lips.

4.    Your confession determines your possession (Numbers 13:17-33; 2 Kings 7:1-20):

Our confession has a lot of influence upon our lives. Our possession is greatly determined by our confession. Let us consider two case studies of how confessions make or mar destinies. Let us look at the ten spies and their confession in comparison to Caleb and Joshua’s.

  • The wrong confession (Ten spies) (Numbers 13:28; 13:31; 13:33; 14: 1-3)
    • Joshua and Caleb and their faith confession (Numbers 13:30; 14:6-9) The result of both confessions:
    • The ten spies: (Numbers 13:33; 14:21-23,28-37)
    • Joshua and Caleb (Numbers 14:38)

May the words of our mouth and the meditation of our heart be acceptable in the sight of the Lord. Amen. (Ps 19:14).

Standing in faith and holding on to your confession in the midst of contradiction (Romans 4:16-20): Studying the miracles of Jesus, there were instances when healing was instantaneous and there were times when healing was gradual (Mark 8:24, John 9:6-7). This means, it is not all the time we get instantaneous results even when we confess. Jesus cursed the fig tree but the effect was not seen until after 24 hours.