Dear partners… The core of this teaching is the meaning of the word faith. We have been focused on the three components of faith. We know that according to Hebrews 11:1 faith is defined as “Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. We have taught on the three components of faith being, 1. Now 2. Joyful expectation 3. The evidence of things not seen.
We have taught about the power of living in the now. We have taught about how joyful expectation is the result of a concious decision to believe. Now it is prudent that we discuss the importance of seeing and believing the unseen.
Have you every wondered what was up with God? Did you ever wonder why you have not yet seen the manifestation of the thing or situation that you have been crying to God for?
Have you stood believing and claiming your victory and still you have not received your blessing? I don’t believe that there is a human alive that can honestly answer no to these questions.
Often, ministers who can not explain or answer these questions, try to conjur up answers. This leads to more and more confusion. Many times false teachings are birthed from the challenges of trying to answer the questions that arise from these circumstances. Trust me the evil one loves some of the crazy explanations and blaming God that goes on.
Some of the false answers are: “You are going through a test”. “You are going through a process”. “God can not bless you if you have sin in your life”. “It is in God’s time”. There are hundreds of these. You are not being tested. From the first chapter of the book of James…”Let no man say when he is tempted that he is tempted (or tested…the two words are the same in the Hebrew), that he is tempted of God for God is not tempted by evil, neither tempteth he any man.” ” Be not deceived my brother, all good gifts come down from above from the Father of lights in whom their is neither variableness, nor shadow of turning.” You are not in a process. Colossians1:22 teaches us that through his reconciliation, he has made us…”holy, blameless and unreprovable in his sight.” It would be one heck of a process that could improve on that status.
All of the other hooey can be dismissed also. The all time favorite is…”if it be his will”. It is his will. He has already given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness. By the way if anyone wants to minister to you and they don’t know God’s will, run away. They obviously have never read the Gospel of Jesus which is God’s will. Here is one that must make God nuts to hear. “Sometimes God says no.” Oh brother. If anyone ever says this to you, ask them if they have ever read the teachings of Jesus. I can think of at least 20 direct quotations from Jesus that absolutely refute this non-sense. Here is one. John 14:13, “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that shall I do, that the Father may be glorified in the son”.
Ok, you ask, so why aren’t my prayers being answered? Why don’t I see my blessing? The answer is in the question itself. ÃWhy don’tÓ implies future or past tense. Why don’t I see? This question is the answer to the problem. We are looking for the unseen in the seen. Remember the last teaching on the power of now? In reality there is no other time realm. Yet, since we do not see an immediate manifestation of a prayer, we move into the future and we move our expectation with it. We think that our answer, or blessing or healing is coming because we can not see it. We have been taught that if we don’t see it then it is coming. So, we expect it to come in the future. By expecting our blessing, healing, answer in the future we permanently postpone it. The joyful expectation that is the second component of faith, is that, it has happened now.
The fact is that, we received our whatsoever at the moment we prayed for it, whether we see it or not. If we see it, it is in the seen. If we do not, it is in the unseen. In either case we have received it in this present moment and it will manifest if we will believe that we have received it. Believing is not work. Believing is not a feeling. Believing is a choice. It is a conscious decision. Consider the commandment of Jesus from the 24th verse of the 11th chapter of Mark. “Therefore, I say unto you, whatsoever things you desire, WHEN YOU PRAY, believe that YOU HAVE RECEIVED THEM.”
God is not going to do anything. He has done everything. God is not in the past or the future. God is the great “I AM”, not the great I was.
Dr. Michael Howard, the worldÃŒs greatest pathologist, recently showed me through his microscope the unseen. As I looked at what he sees every day, I was amazed at the works of God’s hand. There before my eyes was a world that few people ever see. I literally saw thousands of cells magnified 400 times. As magnificent as the sight was, we barely scratched the surface of what the unseen really is. We saw a brief glimpse of the unseen and it was an amazing experience. In fact the human body is composed of more than 300 billion cells. Each of these cells has a DNA strip within it that could by itself, reproduce the human body. We never see this amazing world. Yet the Bible accurately proclaimed it more than 2000 years ago.
Jesus had a disciple named Thomas. Thomas had traveled with God in the flesh for three years. He had seen the dead restored to life at Jesus’ command. He had seen the lame walk, the blind see and every manner of diseases among the people healed. Thomas had been an eye witness to the fulfillment of more than 300 specific prophecies regarding the messiah in Jesus’ life. Thomas had with his own natural carnal eye, seen Jesus walk on the sea of Galilee and by the words of his mouth command the wind and the sea to obey him, and they did. Thomas had seen Jesus make many specific prophecies all of which were fulfilled exactly as Jesus had said they would. Thomas saw Jesus cast a legion of demons out of a possessed man and send them into a herd of pigs. The disciple John said that if all of the things that Jesus did in the presence of Thomas were printed in books, all of the libraries in all the world could not contain them.
Yet when Peter, James and John came to report to the other 8 disciples that they had seen the risen savior, Thomas refused to believe. Thomas said to them, “I will not believe he is alive until I can place my fingers in the wounds”. Eight days later, Jesus walks through closed doors and appears to the disciples. He says to Thomas, “Thomas come and place your fingers in my wounds”. I would have dropped dead right then. Or I would have run through the hole that Jesus entered through. Thomas touched the wounds. Then he said, “My Lord and My God”. Jesus said to him…”Thomas, because you have touched me you believe; but I tell you, blessed are those who believe and do not see.”
Here in the 20th chapter of John is to me one of the greatest events in the history of man. Jesus was speaking to Thomas and teaching us. Clearly he is telling us that we are blessed when we believe and do not see.
Will we make a decision to see what we believe, or will we believe what we see? The decision is ours. God has given us free will. Many of you are believing God for great and necessary things. As you meditate on this teaching consider these scriptures. From the 4th chapter of the letter to the church at Phillipi…”be anxious for nothing, but in all things through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving in your heart; let your requests be known to God, and the peace that passes understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus.” Matthew 7:7-11..”Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened unto you. For whosoever asks receives. He who seeks finds, and whoever knocks the door will be opened to. Or, what man among you if his son asks for bread would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish would give him a serpent.(Note the symbolism…the fish represents Jesus. The serpent represents satan. Jesus is using the opposite ends of a vast spectrum, literally an infinite variance to emphasize the point that God gives us the requests that we make of him without qualification). If you therefore being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things, if you ask?”
I pray that you will print out this teaching and save it. Please study it and pass it to those who are near to you. Pass it to your email list. Share the “Good News”. Help us teach the Word of God which makes men free.
The Love of Our Lord and Savior Jesus to you all…He loves you and so does Pastor Allen
