Kenneth Hagin - Another Look at Faith (Faith Library.)

Another Look At Faith

Kenneth W. Hagin

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Electronic Edition Published 2014

ISBN-13: 978-1-60616-845-5

ISBN-10: 1-60616-845-2

Copyright 1996 Rhema Bible Church aka Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc. All rights reserved.

The Faith Shield is a trademark of Rhema Bible Church, AKA Kenneth Hagin Ministries, Inc., registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and therefore may not be duplicated.

Chapter 1

What Faith Is Not

And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall SAY unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he SAITH shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he SAITH. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, BELIEVE that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. Mark 11:2224

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

Jesus told us to have faith in God. The margin note in my King James Bible says, Have the faith of God. God wants us to have His kind of faith. The God-kind of faith believes and speaks . Thats how God created the universe in the first place ( see Genesis chapter 1).

We need to take another look at faithBible faithso we can understand the God-kind of faith. Some people say things about faith that dont line up with the Word of God. Many people have assumed things about faith that are not biblically correct. When people dont understand Bible faith, they often make false assumptions about it.

Their false ideas about faith influence their remarks, attitudes, and actions. What they assume to be faith is not biblical faith at all, so they end up disappointed, thinking that faith in God doesnt work. They are misled just because they dont know what Bible faith is and what it is not . So we need to take another look at faith and see what Bible faith really is.

One Misconception

For example, one misconception about faith is that it is wrong to believe God for specific things or for specific needs to be met. Some people say that we only need a general faith in God because believing God for a specific prayer request is manipulating Him, and that detracts from His sovereignty.

They teach that it is only appropriate to pray, Lord, Thy will be done, because we can never know the will of God. Therefore, to pray for anything specific may be praying against the will of God.

For example, these people teach that you may be praying for God to meet a financial need in your life, while God may want you to be poor. So they believe God may want to teach you something by allowing you to suffer with lack and poverty. Therefore, they say that if you pray for God to meet your financial needs, you could be praying against the will of God.

According to this teaching, you can never pray about anything specific with any confidence. You can only pray, Lord, Your will be done. And you can never know what Gods will is because God moves in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform.

But one problem with this teaching is that people assume that whatever the outcome, it must be Gods will!

We can pray about our specific needs. The Bible teaches us that God wants to supply our specific needs.

PHILIPPIANS 4:19 19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

God wants to meet our specific needs! In fact, you should be specific with God based on the promises in His Word. Faith begins where the will of God is known, and if you know what His Word promises, then you know you can receive your specific petition. This is what the Bible teaches!

1 JOHN 5:1415 14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: 15 And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

How can believing God for specific requests be unscriptural? After all, if you dont believe God specifically for salvation, you cant get saved. Without faith to receive the baptism in the Holy Spirit, you cant receive this gift from God. Without faith, you cant receive any of the promises of God in your life.

Does the Bible give us any instances of people believing God for specific needs, such as healing? If people in the Bible believed God for specific needs to be met, then we can know it is scriptural to use our faith to receive specific petitions from God.

The Woman With the Issue of Blood

In Mark 5, there was a woman who had suffered for twelve years with an issue of blood. She needed to be healed. She had suffered many things of many physicians and was not better, but rather grew worse.

MARK 5:2534 25 And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 26 And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, 27 When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched his garment. 28 For she said, If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. 29 And straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of that plague. 30 And Jesus, immediately knowing in himself that virtue had gone out of him, turned him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes? 31 And his disciples said unto him, Thou seest the multitude thronging thee, and sayest thou, Who touched me? 32 And he looked round about to see her that had done this thing. 33 But the woman fearing and trembling, knowing what was done in her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth. 34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.

The woman with the issue of blood said, If I may touch but his clothes, I will be whole (v. 28). In other words, she was believing God specifically for her healing. She had faith for a specific need to be met in her lifethe healing of her body.

This woman believed that touching Jesus would heal her of a long-standing infirmity. She specifically believed she would be healed of the issue of blood shed suffered with for twelve long years.

Notice that when Jesus asked, Who touched Me? He did not try to correct her theology or try to change the way shed used her faith (v. 30). He did not go off on a doctrinal dissertation, telling her, Dont ask Me to meet your specific needs or desires; I only answer general prayers.

Jesus simply looked at her and said, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole (v. 34). Her faith for a specific need was rewarded because she was healed and made completely whole!

The Lame Man at Lystra

Are there other instances in the Bible of people receiving specific needs met? Yes, remember the lame man who needed a specific healing in his feet and ankle bones?

Paul had preached in Lystra, and there was a crippled man in that city who needed to be healed. The man needed to be able to walk!

ACTS 14:810 8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mothers 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.

Not only did this man need to be healed, but Paul perceived that he had faith to be healed. However, if this man had never believed God to meet his specific need for healing, he never would have walked! He had faith for a specific need to be metthe healing of his feet and ankle bones.

My dad, Rev. Kenneth E. Hagin, had specific faith to be healed of a deformed heart and an incurable blood disease. I would not have been born if it hadnt been for my dads faith in Gods Word. I thank God today that my dad had faith to believe God for a specific needthe healing of an incurable disease!

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