IF WE WANT to accomplish God’s plan for our lives, we must take possession of all that He has provided for us. And we take hold of His provision with the “hand of faith.”
Only strong faith will triumph over every circumstance. It is strong faith that takes back what the devil has stolen. And it is strong faith that turns your destiny into reality.
Many earnest Christians ask, “How can I build strong faith?” They realize that the things they need from God—healing, prosperity, and other blessings—do not come simply because they have been born again. These blessings come through faith. They realize that faith is not just an act of the will of man; faith is acting on God’s Word.
But many do not know how to secure faith for the things they need from God. In this article, I will give you a formula to build strong faith for whatever you need from Him.
- 1. Surround Yourself With Faith Producers
The Bible says, “It is impossible to please God without faith” (Heb. 11:6 NLT). We must realize that if we are going to nurture our faith—if we’re going to build it into something that will produce results—we must surround ourselves with successful people of God, not negative people. And we must feed our minds and spirits on material that will build faith, not destroy it.
We don’t feed our faith with a steady diet of secular magazines and television. Turn off your television. Read your Bible and listen to good teaching and good Christian music. Surround yourself with things of God—things that will nurture your faith. Listen to people who are strong in faith—any of the great teachers today. (Just be sure they are teaching you in line with God’s Word.)
- 2. Build on God’s Word—Not on Experience
As I was praying for someone in a service once, a woman came running up, exclaiming, “Oh, I had that same thing! Let me tell you about my experience. It will probably help him!”
I said, “No, I don’t want you to tell him your experience.”Why? Because God doesn’t move the same way every time. Don’t try to make people receive salvation, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, or healing the way you feel they should be received. Don’t try to make people experience them the way you did.
Do you want to be spiritual? Do you want to get in on the move of God? Do you want to develop in and walk in faith? Then build on God’s Word. Notice that Jesus didn’t build on experience. He taught the Word. When he withstood Satan’s temptations, He kept saying, “It is written, it is written, it is written.”
Faith is not just an act of the will of man; faith is acting on God’s WordKenneth W. Hagin
3. Look to God’s Word—Not Someone’s Personality
To have strong faith to receive from God, build your faith on the Word, not on someone’s personality. When my dad, Kenneth E. Hagin, preached, he didn’t put too much of his personality into it. He suppressed his personality so people would look at what the Word says.
The Bible says, “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions” (Ps. 107:20). God didn’t send a personality—He sent His Word. Forget about personalities.
4. Obedience Is Necessary
Just knowing what the Word of God says is not enough to defeat the enemy. We must walk in the light of that Word. We must obey—knowing what God says to do, and then doing it! First John 3:22 (NLT) says, “We will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him.” And John 15:7 (NKJV) says, “If you abide in Me [Jesus], and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
Notice the connection between these scriptures. In First John, the apostle wrote, “We will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him.” We cannot obey God, however, unless we know what His Word says—unless that Word abides in us.
John also said, “Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God” (1 John 3:21 NKJV). How are we confident? We are confident if our hearts don’t condemn us. We have confidence toward God that He will do exactly what He said.
For God to do that, though, we must continually do what is right in His sight and live the way we should. If we don’t, there is no way we can have confidence that He will give us what He said we could have. It’s not that He won’t; He can’t, because we’re not walking in line with His Word.
5. You Must Have Humility
A lot of people are proud of their humility! I’ve met many people who brag that they are “faith people.” Their attitude is, “If you’re not where we’re at, you haven’t got it, Brother.” As far as I’m concerned, this is a sectarian point of view. It is not biblical.
The disciples had this same attitude in Mark chapter 9. They got prideful and puffed up. But when a child was brought to them, they couldn’t cast the tough, stubborn, unclean spirit out of him (v. 18). Jesus explained to the disciples that this kind comes out only by prayer and fasting. They lacked humility and discipline. This hindered their faith.
6. You Must Have Holy Boldness
This is something many people really need. Most people are afraid of the devil. They would rather hide from him than stand against him.
You’re going to have to be willing to stand, look the devil square in the eye, and say, “You fooled me for the last time! Either get out of the way, or get run over!”
I’m not afraid to face the devil. In fact, if I see him about 50 yards down the street, I call, “Hey! Devil! I’m talking to you!” He ducks around a corner. He doesn’t want any part of me.
He doesn’t want any part of an individual who knows who he is in Jesus Christ, because Jesus defeated Satan. He knows that an informed Christian is going to start speaking God’s Word. And every time those words come out of that Christian’s mouth, it’s like someone hitting the devil with a whip.
If you will follow these six steps, your faith will grow stronger. And you will be able to start receiving from God whatever you need.
[Editor’s Note: This article was adapted from Kenneth W. Hagin’s book How to Fulfill Your Divine Destiny.]Author
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Kenneth W. Hagin
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