Faith
One last weapon I see in the powerful army of God that Joel
described was that it was filled with people who apparently felt weak, because Joel
3:10 says,
“Let the weakling say, “I am strong!”
(NIV)
What is faith? Faith is believing that we have what we
ask for, and then we receive. (see Mark 11:24 NIV)
Don’t claim what you see with your eyes. Instead, claim what
you see in God’s word. You might feel weak, you
might feel inadequate, you might feel discouraged,
but don’t say it.
God says, let the weakling say, I am strong.
Mighty warriors have weaknesses, they know their weaknesses, but they don’t
focus on their weakness, because God told them not to. And as the
weakling agrees with God that he is strong, he slowly but surely receives
supernatural strength.
There was a pastor in Canada, Don Gossett, who told the story of
how he was from a dysfunctional home. His father was an alcoholic with a
bad temper. Don got saved and had dreams of becoming a preacher, not only
locally but worldwide via radio. But he had a big problem. He
stuttered. He couldn’t speak straight.
How are you going to preach if you can’t talk? He tried to
start a ministry, but nothing was going right. He lost his furniture and
then his house because he couldn’t make his payments. He moved his family
into a hotel. It was at that point that someone told him, “Don, speak the
way you want to be, and it will happen just as you say.”
Is that Biblical? Yes, as long as what you say agrees with
God’s word. God says that you are blessed, your children are blessed,
everything you touch is blessed. There are no curses and no failures in
God’s kingdom. If you are sick, use your faith: say you
are healed by His stripes. If you are poor use your faith: say your
finances are blessed. Faith is not about how you feel. It’s not
about how things look.
Don Gossett tried it. He began to pronounce blessings over
every area in his life. He would say, “I shall succeed as a radio
broadcaster. I shall write books. We shall be used of God to win
tens of thousands to Christ. My five children will grow up strong in the
Lord.”
Twenty years later, he had radio programs all over the world, had
sold over 20 million books, and had won tens of thousands of people to the
Lord, including his own 5 children. He said, “I kept talking the way I
would like to be, and praise the Lord, I became the way I talked.” (Gossett
2001)
Proclaim this among the nations:
Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let
all the fighting men draw near and attack. Beat your plowshares into swords and
your pruning hooks into spears. Let the
weakling say, “I am strong!” (Joel 3:9,10 NIV)
Church, we are the Lord’s army. Whether we look like it or
feel like it or not, we are the mighty warriors of God. Maybe you don’t
feel like a mighty warrior today.
But that’s okay – let the weakling say, “I am strong,” remember?
You are a mighty warrior. And the next time you pray, for yourself or someone else,
just remember your weapons… Praise, the Blood
of Jesus, the Name of Jesus, the Fire of God, and Faith.
Gossett, Don, and Essek William Kenyon. The Power of
Your Words. New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 2001. Print.
Scripture quotations marked (NIV) are
taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan.
All rights reserved worldwide.www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International
Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark
Office by Biblica, Inc.
Scripture quotations marked (TLB) are
taken from The Living Bible copyright © 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale
House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
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