THE LAW OF BELIEVING

(Part One)

Throughout the Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation, we see in operation the most dynamic and powerful law of God -- the Law of Believing. If we are ever going to receive anything from God, we must master this principle. Throughout the New Testament, the Word 'faith' is almost always the Greek word 'pistis' and it means to believe. Believing is a verb and it requires ACTION on the part of the believer. It is not enough to simply believe God's Word -- WE MUST ACT ON IT. God says in James 2: 17 that faith [believing] without works [action] is worthless or useless because it is alone or by itself. First we BELIEVE, then we ACT.

James 2: 17 -- Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. [KJV]

Here is another clearer translation of this verse from the New English Bible:

James 2: 17 -- So with faith; if it does not lead to action, it is in itself a lifeless thing. [NEB]

******* [ Remember faith is the word pistis and it means BELIEVING. ]

Now let's define or state the Law of Believing as simply as possible:

WHAT WE BELIEVE FOR OR EXPECT IN THIS LIFE, WE RECEIVE. It sounds too simple to be true, doesn't it? But it is true. We never rise beyond where our believing takes us. This applies in every realm of life: physical, mental, material, and spiritual. It is this law which basically controls the abundant life. If we want the more than abundant life that the true God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has to offer, WE MUST BELIEVE HIS WORD, THEN ACT ON HIS WORD, and expect abundance or we will never manifest the more than abundant life. The key to receiving answers to prayer is to EXPECT that your prayers are answered even as you pray them. You must expect positive results and then act on your positive believing. Jesus Christ spelled it out:

Mark 11: 24 -- Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. [KJV]

Mark 11: 24 -- I tell you, then whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours. [New English Bible]

Now we must study Mark 11: 23 where Jesus Christ further defines the Law of Believing:

Mark 11: 23 -- 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.

Notice that Christ states that we are not to doubt. WHERE?? IN OUR HEART! Where is our heart? This is an important figure of speech meaning the innermost part of the MIND. Your 'heart' is what makes you, you. You either have God's thoughts in your heart or you have carnal, worldly thoughts in your heart. Let's see what God's Word says about the heart in the book of Proverbs:

Proverbs 4: 23 -- Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.

That's quite a tremendous statement. Now we should be able to clearly see that believing emanates from the HEART -- the innermost part of a person's mind. If you flood your heart with God's Word and ACT on His Word in a positive manner EXPECTING POSITIVE RESULTS, you will then receive answers to prayer and manifest the more than abundant life. The more you renew your mind to God's Word, the more you can BUILD YOUR BELIEVING. Again, let's go to God and let Him tell us how to build or strengthen our believing. This is another key scripture that I once hung on my wall and read every day.

Romans 10: 17 -- So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing [cometh] by the word of God.

The more of the Word of God that you know and apply, the greater will be your believing.

These are simple principles -- don't make them complicated. The world is full of complications and organized confusion. You must master principles in the Word of God one at a time -- one day at a time. God will help you as you give forth your best effort. If you ask God for bread, He will not give you a stone. God will give you the desired results when you need them. God expects us to persevere and not to quit when your personal adversary roars in your face. He can't bite you when he's roaring. One believer standing on the Word of God can defeat every devil spirit on earth. That's the power that's available to us when we believe.

We should be able to understand that our lives are molded by our believing. Now we will dig a little deeper than the surface for some treasures that will help us to know, understand and apply this great and most important law of believing.

There are two (2) sides to this law: POSITIVE and NEGATIVE. You can believe in a positive manner and receive positive results or you can believe in a negative manner and receive negative results. God's Word teaches us the positive [+] side and the world teaches us the negative [-] side. Before going any farther, you should know that the Law of Believing works for saint and sinner alike -- Christian and non-Christian. This is one of the reasons why so many worldly and ungodly people prosper. They have stumbled on to the law of believing and they operate it for their own benefit. This law is an immutable law of God and it can't be changed or altered in any way. It stands. It is like the Law of Giving and Receiving. What a person gives out always comes back to them. This is another unchangeable law of God that applies both to the believer and the unbeliever. Study and ingrain the following chart into your heart. It will explain the Law of Believing to you -- both the positive and negative side.

TO BELIEVE

Positive	Negative
Confidence	Doubt
Trust	Worry
Faith	Fear
Issues in	Issues in
BELIEVING	UNBELIEF

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BELIEVING EQUALS RECEIVING

It would not be a bad idea for a believer to copy this chart and display it in their home where they can read it once a day. It clearly and concisely explains the law of believing.

Doubt, worry, and fear, which are of the world, are forms of believing. They result in negative results. If you constantly fear something in your heart, you will eventually bring it to pass in your life. I once had a great fear about smashing a beautiful car I owned. That fear just ate away at me year after year. You can guess what happened. I heard of a story where a woman who had one child who she would cross the street with every day when the child was off to school. She had a great fear that her child would get hit by a car. One day the child was returning home early from school and crossed the street himself and was killed by a car. It was the FEAR in the heart of that mother that caused this terrible accident. Now I am using these examples to drive home the point so that we, as Christians, never forget that fear is a very destructive emotion -- IT IS BELIEVING IN REVERSE. And where does fear come from? IT DOES NOT COME FROM GOD. The only thing that uproots fear from the heart and life of a person is the WORD OF GOD believed and applied in the daily life of a person who is born again of God's Spirit. God is not the source of fear.

II Timothy 1: 7 -- For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

The world instills fear into a person while God instills faith. We choose whose thoughts we put into our heart which result in what we believe. Remember, God always gives us our free will. Both Gods want worship. There's no in between -- you either live for the true God or you worship the god of this world. The true God has written a blueprint for living in His Matchless Word and the other god hides behind the scenes hoping no one even knows he exists. How do you think the god of this world is so successful? Remember the secret to his success is the secrecy of his moves. By BELIEVING to operate the nine manifestations of Holy Spirit, you can detect his presence when you need to. That's why God included Discerning of Spirits as one of the nine manifestations [NOT GIFTS] along with Word of Knowledge and Word of Wisdom. These 3 manifestations are the eyes and ears of the Church. They enable us as believers to be aware of spiritual occurrences that we could NEVER know by our 5 senses. God has every possibility covered for us enabling us to live the more than abundant life. ALL HE ASKS IS THAT WE BELIEVE HIS WORD AND APPLY IT. The Word of God, when rightly divided, is not hard to understand. Uncommitted Christians ['unbelieving believers'] make the Word out to be difficult mainly because they simply do not BELIEVE it. They may believe parts of it but not the whole Word of God. It's either all God's Word or none of it. The Word of God fits like a hand in a glove from Genesis to Revelation. Very seldom do I see a form of advertising that appeals to me but there was a billboard I once saw that gets this point across. It had a picture of a Bible and below it said "Read It For Yourself". One doesn't see billboards like that very often, if at all. We, as Christians, need to make the Word of God our own. Study it, work it, live it. Never mind what the neighbors are doing or what your friends might say -- you stand for God and His Word and God will back you up in every area of your life. Study it and live it -- don't only talk the walk but walk the talk. And God's Word will BUILD YOUR BELIEVING more and more each and every day of your life.

We should look at one more example on the negative side of believing so that we never forget that we are not to have doubt, worry, and fear. Many people may wonder why so many problems came upon Job. Well, one verse of scripture explains it all.

Job 3: 25 -- For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

For some reason, Job allowed fear to creep into his life. Remember, fear is believing in reverse and brings negative results. In Chapter 1: 1, he was perfect and upright but something happened and he started to fear different things. The fear reached such a point in his life that what he greatly feared came upon him -- it came true. These people in the Bible were human just as we are -- they made mistakes. By believing God's Word, we block doubt, worry, and fear out of our thoughts. We all must renew our mind to the Word until we can operate the POSITIVE SIDE OF BELIEVING AND RECEIVE POSITIVE RESULTS. God does not want His children to be full of doubt but to be full of confidence, trust and faith (believing). Remember, the more Word you know and apply, the more positively you can believe. [Review Romans 10: 17]

In every record of healing in the Bible, believing was required. Look at the record in Mark 9: 4 - 27. Read the record first. Do you see what Jesus Christ said to the father of the child who had the dumb spirit?

Mark 9: 23 -- Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth. [emphasis added]

There you can see that Jesus Christ required the BELIEVING of the father for the son to be delivered. And what did the father say in the next verse?

Mark 9: 24 -- And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

What a great record and lesson in believing. The father believed and Jesus Christ cast out the deaf and dumb spirit and the child was healed.

Recently, someone contacted me and expressed an interest in learning to walk with God and learning His way. Then the statement was made "maybe you could help". My answer was there was no doubt that I could help -- I asked the person if they would 'help themselves'. What I meant was, how is your believing? Will you study and make an honest effort to learn is what I asked. IN ESSENCE I WAS SAYING "DO YOU BELIEVE?”

I said the same thing Jesus Christ said to the father in the above record only in a different way. The father in verse 22 said "if thou canst do anything" and Christ turned the "if" around and said "If thou canst believe"............ The person who wrote to me said "maybe you can help" and I turned the "maybe" into "if you will accept help" [believe]. Too often we are deceived into not taking any ACTION on what we learn. The world will simply lull you to sleep if you allow it. So often we can fall into a comfortable rut and just stay there. But when you understand and are applying the law of believing, there is nothing you can't accomplish. This makes life very exciting but most importantly, it is genuine. You are not wasting your life on second-rate causes and God will see that you are never disappointed in your expectations. Remember the last word in the previous sentence. EXPECT THE BEST. Have confidence, trust, and believing in God and His Word and you will absolutely manifest the more than abundant life promised in the gospel of John.

John 10: 10b -- .............. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."

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[This concludes Part One of The Law of Believing. In Part Two, we will discuss the cause of fear and how to overcome it along with more positive examples from God's Word.]

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