What do you want from God?

CAN YOU BELIEVE?

What is it that you want from God? Do you want salvation? Do you want healing? Do you want your family saved? Do you want your church filled? Do you want a need met? What do you want from God?

Do you and I want something that is unselfish, God-serving, and a blessing to others…or, is it all about us? It is not wrong to ask God for something that would make you happy, such as a healing, but God knows your heart and whatever it is that we ask for, if we are given it, we must use it to bring glory to HIM!

So, I ask you, do you NEED something from God? Honestly, I can tell you that “I do!” I need some things that would be beneficial to myself and my family, but more importantly, they would be a blessing to the people of God. However, no matter what it is that I need from God, if I don’t believe that He will do it, I will not get what I am asking for! Mark 9:23: “Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

Today, I want to know, “Can you believe?” It’s a simple question, but it is a tremendously difficult one. Can you believe in God? Can you believe in Christ? Can you believe in the Holy Spirit? Can you believe in God’s ability to give good gifts to His children?

Yes, you have the ability to believe…but I also think that the real question is, WILL YOU BELIEVE?

Today, there are three things you need to know:

#1: Christ Always Demands Faith

Mark 9:17-18, 21-23: “And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; ¹⁸ And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.”…“And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child. ²² And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.  ²³ Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

In order to get anything FROM God, you have to believe IN God!  We believe!  There was no other requirement. There was no two-year agreement to sign. There was no website or app to sign up for. There was no waiting period for dental. There was no email address request. There was no waiting in the emergency room, filling out paperwork before they could have an appointment with the Great Physician!  Jesus didn’t even ask them for a farther commitment!  Only believe.

#2: All of the Redeemed of the Lord Have Faith

Not all people have faith.  “Oh preacher, yes they do.”  No they don’t.

2^nd Thessalonians 3:2 says, “And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith.”  So, not everyone has faith.  BUT…everyone can get faith!

SO…I am saying that cultivating faith is the first step toward God! “Well, preacher, how do we cultivate faith?”  Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We cultivate faith by hearing the Word of God!

When we hear the Word that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, and we BELIEVE it, faith has just begun its work in us and it is by that faith that we accept the grace of God!

#3: We Establish Our Own Boundaries of Faith

SO…IF God has given us the ability to not only have faith, but also the ability to acquire more faith if we choose to do so, then we establish the boundaries of our faith, not God.

God has given us the ability to establish and increase the boundaries of our faith! So, the more faith that we have, the more we KNOW GOD! The more we know God, the more faith we generate! In other words, you can know God as well as you want to, if you are willing to pay the price to know Him!

How do we pay the price? By surrendering to Him more every day and saturating ourselves in His Word! Remember that ultimately, faith comes by the WORD! The more you know Him and the more you have surrender to Him, the more that you realize the permanence and preeminence of His Word!

The disciples and apostles of Christ did what they did not because they were so smart or so holy or so grand, but because they had FAITH! Paul put faith to the test MANY times, but there is a really powerful example of faith in action in Acts 14.

Acts 14:8-10: “And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had walked: ⁹ The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed, ¹⁰ Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.”

If God did that for the impotent man and Paul, He will do it for us!

So…Let’s Live By Faith NOW!

Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Not tomorrow faith will be or yesterday faith was. NO. NOW faith is. Let’s live by faith NOW.  Every day.  Every moment.

Can you believe?  Yes, you can.  It is within your created ability to believe after you have heard the Word, and today, you have heard the Word.

SO…the real question that Christ is asking is, “Will you believe?” Today I say, “Lord, I believe.”

Will you?