Ten words that will change your life

By John Stallings


Philippians 4:13—I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

Up until 1954 people thought man could never run the mile faster than four minutes. Then at the British Olympics Roger Bannister broke the mile in 3.59 seconds. After that many people ran the mile in under four minutes. Why was this? Had mans body changed in some way? Had new techniques made it possible for the mile to be run faster? No!

What had happened was; once the barrier was broken people believed it could be done so they started doing it. Faith is a powerful force. If we believe in humanity, we can have what man is capable of. Man has accomplished many awesome things but he’s limited. If we place our trust in God, we get what God is capable of & certainly nothing is impossible with Him.

EPH. 3:20 says---NOW UNTO HIM THAT IS ABLE TO DO EXCEEDING ABUNDANTLY ABOVE ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK, ACCORDING TO THE POWER THAT WORKETH IN US….

· Beethoven was told by his doctors that he would eventually go stone deaf; he replied “I will grab life by the throat.” Consequently he went on to write his 9th sympathy completely deaf.

· During the 2nd World War there was a group called the Seabees. They did many heroic deeds at sea and the motto written on their caps was “Can do.”

These were things done depending totally on the ingenuity and heroic courage of a few men. They never boasted –“We Can do all things,” just “Can-do.”

Paul tells us that we “can do all things,” not in our own power but through Jesus Christ.


Before we look at what faith is, let’s look at what faith isn’t.

1. FAITH ISN’T A FEELING.
Faith isn’t a warm feeling that springs out of our emotions. Some people think when they get blessed & have goose bumps; that’s faith, but it isn’t.

2. FAITH ISN’T A FACT.
Faith isn’t a list of truths like the Apostles creed or some other list of theological beliefs. As far as facts are concerned, James tells us that the Devil has all the facts about God & knows who He is & what He can do but Satan can’t be said to have faith.

3. FAITH ISN’T FANTASY.
Faith isn’t moving in the misty-moonlight & denying reality. I’ve seen people all stopped-up, coughing & sneezing, their nose running, burning up with fever but if you asked them about it, they’d deny they were sick. They just can’t admit they have the flu. This isn’t faith, its denial & “denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.”

4. FAITH ISN’T A FORCE.
Faith isn’t an energy source, an electrical field or chemical compound. Faith isn’t a routine we memorize or even prayers we can learn by rote.

In Romans 4:18 Paul said—While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things that are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

5. FAITH ISN’T A FORMULA.

What is faith?

Faith is a relationship of trust!

Faith is saying with the Psalmist—The Lord is my Shepard.
Faith is saying with Timothy—I know whom I have believed…

· In Romans 12:3 -We read that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.

· In Matthew 6:30 Jesus speaks of “Little faith.”

· In Matthew 8:10 Jesus speaks of “great faith.”

· In Matthew 4:40 Jesus told His disciples they had “No faith.”

· In Romans 4:20 we’re told that Abraham was “Strong in faith.”

· In Acts 6:5 we’re told that Stephen was “Full of faith.”

· In Romans 14:1 we’re told of people with “weak faith.”

· In 2 Thess.1:3 Paul tells us of “growing faith.”

· James 2:5 speaks of people who are “Rich in faith.”

· James 2:22 speaks of “Perfect faith.”

· In 2 Peter 1:1 we’re introduced to “Precious faith.”

· In Matt. 21:22 we’re told we’ll receive all that we believe for when we pray.

· Mark 9:23 tells us—If we abide in Him & His words abide in us, we’ll ask what we will & it shall be done.

· In John 16:24 we’re told -- if we ask anything in Jesus’ name we’ll receive it.

· In Mark 11:22 we’re told to – “Have faith in God.”

Let’s look at four principles that will help us as we move toward making His promises real in our lives.


1. EXPECT GREAT THINGS FROM GOD.

Raise the level of your expectation. Psalm 62:5 says—My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him.

It’s so easy to become negative and start expecting the worst of every situation.

· I heard a story about a paratrooper who was making his first jump from a plane. His instructor told him to count to ten and pull the first rip-cord. Then if the shoot didn’t open, pull the second safety cord and the shoot would open. Then he told him there’d be a truck waiting to take him back to camp when he landed.

The young fellow did as he was instructed and jumped out of the plane, counted to ten and pulled the first cord. Nothing happened. So he pulled the second cord and again the shoot didn’t open. He was heard to say as he zoomed by the other paratroopers, “And I’ll bet that truck won’t even be waiting for me either.”

It’s so easy to expect the worst but God wants us to raise the level of our expectation.

· A man was at a minister’s convention conversing with a group of well-to-do preachers when his six year old son came up & pulled on his pant legs & asked, “Daddy, give me a penny.” No matter how much the dad tried to push his son away he kept coming back asking his dad for a penny. Finally after taking all he could stand, the father took his son aside & said “Son, you’ve humiliated me in front of my friends. Don’t ever ask me for a penny again under any circumstance. From now on you ask me for a dollar boy. My friends will get the idea I’m broke or stingy.”


I believe the one who sits upon heavens throne is embarrassed when His children slink around asking for spiritual pennies when He owns the cattle on a thousand hills.

· A six year old girl asked her dad one day to build her a doll house. The father was busy reading his newspaper so he waved the little girl away.

Not willing to be denied, the girl kept asking her dad to please build her a doll house in the back yard. Finally the dad, tired of being interrupted told his daughter that he’d build her a doll house if she’d leave him alone.

About an hour later the father glanced toward the backyard & saw a surprising sight. His daughter was dragging all her dolls into one corner of the backyard. She had so much stuff in the corner of the yard it looked like she was going to have a yard sale.

The dad called his wife in and showed her what their girl was doing and asked about it. His wife said, “Honey, you told her you’d build her a doll house so she’s getting all her doll paraphernalia into the corner of the yard so they can move in.” That dad hardly let his coat touch his back until he’d gone & bought the materials & built that doll house. He wasn’t going to let his daughter believe in him that much & disappoint her.

Just as that dad treasured his daughter’s faith in his word, God is pleased when He sees that we trust Him & take Him at His word. As a matter of fact, you’ll never find a better definition of faith than—Taking God at His word.

· Does His Word say He can save? Then He can save.

· Does His word say He can heal? Then He can heal.

· That’s what faith is all about.

There’s a distinct possibility that God sometimes gets bored!

He’s sitting up in heaven on His throne, sort of twiddling His thumbs & yawning. He asks, “Angels, have any requests come up today?” They look at Him & say,” No Lord, not much, mostly little things. Oh yes, here’s a request that just came up. “God bless my cool aide & my hot dog.” God says is that all?”

“Yes God, that’s about it the angel says.” Oh wait, here comes another one, “Lord bless Johnny. He’s going to the store.” God says, “Go on Johnny, go to the store you’ll be alright son, stay on the sidewalk & cross with the light.” “Anything else angels?” About that time one of the angels says “Lord you better come over here & look at this.”

I see Jesus rise from sitting at the right hand of God. I see Him walk over to the banister of Glory & gaze down at the earth. He looks & looks again, & rubs His eyes. He says, “Angels are my eyes deceiving me? Or is that really what I’m seeing?” The angels say, “No God you’re seeing right. That’s three boys getting ready to trust you in a fiery furnace.” If I’m reading right, Jesus jumped over the portico of Glory & stepped onto the starry stairway from heaven to earth. He doesn’t stop until He gets to earth, He doesn’t stop until He gets to the furnace, He doesn’t stop then either, He jumps into the fire with the three boys for the wicked king said, “Did we not cast three men in that fire?” They said “yes we did.” “Well” says the king “I see four men now & one of them looks exactly like the Son of God.” God responded when He found someone who would trust Him & expect great things from Him.


2. SET GREAT STRATEGIES AND MAKE GREAT PLANS.

We tend to flounder when we don’t have a plan. God has a plan but often we tend to panic- panic isn’t a plan.

· A Preacher started church years ago in Alabama. Attendance went to about seventy-five the first few months but on the churches one year anniversary, it had dwindled down to about the same amount of people they started with. It looked like the church was destined to die. One Sunday the pastor arrived at the church & found about a dozen letters lying on the alter, all telling him the same thing; “that the church was slowly dying & they just couldn’t stay & watch it die.” The pastor put his family in his car & left the church. He drove to I-65 in Birmingham & parked under the bridge. As he sat there weeping, he started praying & asking God to let the bridge fall on him & take him home to glory. His wife heard the prayer he was mumbling & said, “hey wait a minute, what did you say? Did you ask God to let the bridge fall on you? Your wife & kids are in this car & we don’t want to be included in that prayer.” Instead of going to work on a plan, he did what a lot of people do when faced with failure, he panicked. The story goes that this suicidal pastor got over his depression, stuck it out & in time saw that church grow into a great work for God.

God told Jeremiah in 29:11—FOR I KNOW THE THOUGHTS I THINK TOWARD YOU, SAITH THE LORD, THOUGHTS OF PEACE AND NOT OF EVIL TO GIVE YOU AN EXPECTED END.

Isn’t it great to know that God always has plans for us & they’re great & exciting plans?

A. Ask Adam if God had a plan. When the guilty pair sinned in the Garden, God immediately made clothing for them of animal skins, which was symbolic of the blood sacrifice that would someday be made on Calvary.

b. Ask Abraham if God had a plan. Actually when Adam sinned, God didn’t react hastily but waited for this seventy-five year old man who was “as good as dead” reproductively but he “staggered not at the promise of God” to give him ancestry.

c. Jesus presented His disciples with a great plan to reach the world in Acts 1:8. Think about telling a little group of people to go & teach all nations. They had no cars, planes, newspapers, radio, television or computers but they followed the plan. It was a simple plan to start at home & move out from there but history tells us it’s exactly what they did with great success. Working hard at something with no God-given strategy might very well be just doing more of the wrong thing.


d. Ask Noah if God had a plan. God told him with great detail how to build an ark when neither he nor anyone else had even heard of one. He worked 120 years on a big boat hundreds of miles from water because it was going to rain & it had never rained before. But when the rain finally came, Noah & his family went on board the Ark & the door was shut. What a plan!

e. Ask Isaac if God had a plan. Here was Abraham’s promised son who God was asking to be offered as a sacrifice to Him. Isaac was bound & lain on that alter, & before he knew what was happening a gleaming knife was in the air above his head. But God stayed the hand of Abraham & pointed out a ram in a thicket close by that was to be used in place of his beloved son. Isaac can talk to you about God’s plans.

F. Ask Jacob if God had a plan. Jacob could be compared to a modern day Las Vegas gambler. For much of his life he was styling & profiling. Twenty years after all his swindling, deceiving, & beating his brother out of his birthright, Jacob was heading to a rendezvous with his angry revenge- bent brother Esau. But that night Jacob had a dream & saw a latter descending from earth to heaven. He met the pre-incarnate Christ & wrestled with Him until almost daybreak. That night Jacob not only received a blessing but God changed his name from supplanter to “Prince with God.” We find him in Hebrews eleven still leaning on his staff but he was worshipping God as he died.

g. Ask Elijah if God had a plan. Because of the famine & drought brought about by his prayers, he was sent to the brook Cherith to drink of the water & be fed by Ravens. When the brook dried up God sent him to a widow in Zarapath to be sustained for three years by a miracle supply of meal & oil.


h. Ask the disciples in the storm if Jesus had a plan. They were sacred to death & woke Jesus who stood & turned the angry sea into a placid sheet of glass.

I. We recently celebrated the resurrection of Christ. Just when Jewish hate & Roman power had done its worst, a stone turned in the garden & Jesus stepped out with the battering-ram of omnipotence to be alive for evermore.

j. Ask Joseph if God had a plan when he’d been thrown in jail on a fake rape charge. It took a while but when the plan came into fruition it was a plan that catapulted him to second in command in all of Egypt & saved the world from starvation.


3. God gave Moses a plan in wilderness in Exodus. 14:13. It consisted of five commands;

1. Fear not
2. Stand still
3. See salvation of Lord
4. Hold your peace
5. Go forward.

God always has a plan.

Not only should we expect great things, execute great strategies, we should;

3. PRAY GREAT PRAYERS.

1 John 5: 14-15—And this is the confidence that we have in Him that if we ask anything according to His will He heareth us: and if we know the He hear us, whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

Listen to 2 Chronicles 7:14---if my people which are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and heal their land.

Did you notice this is a national prayer? God is saying that if His people will get themselves right and pray, things can change in our nation.

In Luke 18:1 Jesus said --men ought always to pray and not faint or stop. Jesus makes a strong statement here. Ought is a strong word. He didn’t saw men should pray, or could pray or might pray. He said MEN OUGHT ALWAYS TO PRAY!

· Jesus prayed a great prayer in John chapter seventeen when He asked God not to take His people out of the world but to make them one & let them win the world.
· Paul prayed many great prayers not the least of which was his prayer --to know Christ, the power of His resurrection & the fellowship of His suffering.

· Jabez prayed a great prayer when he asked God to bless him indeed & enlarge his coast.

· I love the story of a man named Mr. Graham in Charlotte, N.C. He was a farmer & had a great burden for his area. The kids of that area were running wild & even his son was driving his old car through the community terrorizing the peace loving townsfolk. No doubt about it, a revival was needed.

Mr. Graham called some of the men in town asking them to come to an all night prayer meeting at his farm. After having prayed all night, the men assembled on the front porch of the house & started sharing what God had said during their prayers.

Each man shared essentially the same thing & that was they needed a city- wide revival. They agreed that they should call the old Jewish evangelist Mordicia Ham. Mr. Graham went to the phone & placed a call to the evangelist. They needed a revival & they needed it quick. In the conversation, Ham told them he was supposed to go to Chicago but he’d pray about coming to Charlotte.

Ham asked Graham to hold the phone for a moment or two while he asked God about it. The evangelist cupped his hand over the phone & said “God they’re calling me in Charlotte but I’m supposed to go to Chicago, what should I do, & hurry up God its long distance.” Ham got a word from God, came back on the phone to let the Charlotte men know he’d be there.

On the first night of the meeting, Mr. Graham’s son & his best friend Grady knelt at the alter for salvation. By the way, in case you haven’t already guessed it, Mr. Graham’s son was Billy Graham, a man about whom its been said “He put one foot on America, the other foot on Great Brittan & drew them both to God.”

That miracle happened because Christians prayed great prayers that moved God & man.

· Daniel prayed & lion’s mouths were locked.
· Joshua prayed & the Sun stood still.
· Elijah prayed & the heavens closed & there was no rain.
· Elisha prayed & a boy was brought back from the dead.
· King Hezekiah prayed & his life was extended 15 years.
· Hannah prayed & was given a son who was spiritual advisor for two kings.
· Jesus prayed & received strength to endure the cross & redeem mankind.
· Paul prayed & an earthquake hit the prison he was in setting him free.
· 120 prayed & Pentecostal fire fell in a dusty upper room.


· I’ll close by relating the true story of a little church that had been destroyed twice by storms. The pastor went to the bank & was told that the only way they could borrow more money was to get the church folk to sign papers mortgaging their homes. The people were willing to do this so money was acquired to start rebuilding the church. As the people worked, one of the most loved men of the church fell from the roof onto the concrete floor & was killed instantly.

The pastor began to wonder where God was in all this. The next day he told his wife he’d be gone most of the day. He got in his car & just drove, praying & communing with God & ending up about one hundred miles from home in a small country town. He stopped at a little mom & pop grocery store & went in for a coke & crackers. Just inside the door sat a black woman. She looked at him & said “I know who you are, I saw you last night in a dream. I don’t know what this means but God told me to tell you that He still had a hand-full of meal & a cruise of oil.”

The pastor walked out, got in his car & drove home. As he walked in the phone was ringing. It was a local businessman & he asked the preacher to please come to his home. The pastor rushed across town to visit this man he’d never met. The man met him at the door with tears in his eyes. After a short conversation, the businessman handed the preacher a check for $50,000 dollars & told him God wouldn’t let him sleep until he’d given the money. He added that God had instructed him to rebuild the church & when more money was needed to let him know. He said, “I’ll never be able to rest again until this project is complete.”

Be encouraged today my friend. Heaven isn’t on welfare & the angels aren’t in wheelchairs.

Listen to what God says in Isaiah 43:1 ………do not fear for I have redeemed you: I have called you by name, you are mine.

John