Why Faith in God? Part 7

"Resist him (the devil) standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven."(I Peter 5:9, Jude 1:20, James 5:15 NIV)

How do we resist the influence of the devil? We resist his influence by knowing The Word and every time he raises his ugly head, we beat him back down with The Word. This is why it is important to know what God has said about every situation that involves our lives. When we're attacked--if we're doing what God says we are under attack--we're not alone. Every Believer, who trusts God and has faith in God, is under attack because the enemy wants us to believe that he has power over us.

The only power the devil has over us is the power we give him. But the same is true for God. If we don't "submit to God" He has no power to reign in our lives because He won't force us to do or believe anything He says. Having faith in God, like anything else we do, is a choice.

Being filled with Holy Spirit and praying in the special language He gives us, helps to build our prayer life and our faith that God will do exactly what we have requested of Him, when our request aligns with The Word.

When we pray for the sick, if we believe that God can touch them and heal them just like He's healed before and the person who is sick is willing to receive healing, they will be healed, "according to their faith."

When we pray for peace in our homes in our communities, we must believe that He will speak to the hearts of those who cause the unrest and they will hear and obey. Once again, God does not force anyone to do anything. He allows people to live according to their choices, but when they choose to live in opposition to Him and His Word, they receive the consequences of their choices.

Rather than praying for things, I believe the ultimate prayer request that God responds to is a request for wisdom. For if we have wisdom to proceed in life, we shall the things we desire. And if we learn how to "delight ourselves in The Lord (pleasing Him with our faith), He will give us the desires of our hearts" (Psalm 37:4 paraphrased). Everything we receive from God is based upon our faith in Him, not His love for us. Parents love their children, but that doesn't always mean the children will do what is right and they put themselves in position to not receive anything from their parents based upon their disobedience.

Faith--in God and in His Word--is the key to making a difference in our own lives and in the lives of others. We must remember that God responds to our faith, not our emotions because our emotional reactions to situations keep us from thinking rationally (tool of the enemy) and the enemy wins when he can lead us to believe that there is no hope. Our hope and faith is in God, through Jesus Christ and nothing--by any means--shall cause us to be separated from His love.