Do What? Believe - Part 3

Copyright 2011 - Min. Deidre Campbell-Jones


Now, I mentioned in the last message that there were be 2 more messages coming, so today's topic is no surprise to me, but I didn't know how I was going to wrap an intriguing, informative message around "Belief".

But after yesterday and this morning, I can now say that today's message is inspired by 2 people: my son; and one comment by a girlfriend.  I hope my friend won't be mad, but you know what? I love her, and I BELIEVE enough in what I've learned to take the risk and say it, and hope she loves me enough to get over being mad at me!

I'm going to start with my son who is 6 3/4 years old.  On the way to school this morning, just rolling down the driveway, I heard him say from the backseat: "Turn with me to Matthew 21." Surprised, I chuckled and turned to look at him, and there he was with my big ole bible open on his lap.  Then he said, "No, I want to start with Genesis.  So he turned there and began to read...

"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth..."  And, he read all the way down to the 11th verse.  I know because I had him repeat that he read "Genesis, one through eleven."

So then I asked, "what did those scriptures say? What did you learn from what you just read?"  And here's his phenomenal answer:

"I learned that whatever God says comes true."

Wow!  Amazing!  I asked what else he learned but be he insisted (in a deliberate and slow sentence), "I don't know what else I learned from what I just read."

But if we as adults and Believers could only learn ONE thing from the WHOLE bible, it should be that whatever God says comes true!  And that's what we need to believe about EVERYTHING we read in the word of God! God does NOT waste words!

Now I am NOT talking about "faith" - we, each one of us have been given a measure of faith.  We already have a faith that is pleasing to God.  And, we already have enough faith to walk on water, to move mountains, to heal the sick, raise the dead and cleanse the lepers.  We are of little faith, and that's good enough.

When the disciples said, "Lord, increase our faith," Jesus didn't answer with "Ok." He answered by saying "If you have the faith of a mustard seed you can speak to this mountain and say be ye removed into the sea and it should obey you."  Meaning, you don't need your faith increased - a little bit of faith is as powerful as it needs to be.

Now let me interject here because a preacher named Bill Winston, just came on TV as I was typing the previous paragraph, and in introduction to his show he just stated that the reason many Christians are not receiving their inheritance is because they are not believing God's word.  And then he said, "Faith doesn't have anything to do with it."

Now that's God! 

And let me tell you what else is God... (I have got TOTAL goose bumps right now!)  I didn't ask my son why he said, "turn with me to Matthew 21" this morning.  But just now the Holy Ghost told me to turn to the book and see what it said.  I came into the chapter from the back of the book, so when I got to chapter 21, I started at the end.  I didn't look at the verse, I just started reading the first writing in red, here's what it said:

"Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive."

And when I looked at the chapter verse to write it here, guess what it is?? You can't guess, so don't try! It's Matthew 21:21!!

Wow, look at God working!  Do you believe God's word?

I'll ask again: Do you believe God's word?

No, do you really believe God's word?

No, you do not and I haven't either.  We think we do.  We assume we do. We say we do and even are ready to fight someone if they say we do not.  Ok, let's fight... because the things you have already received in life are proof of what you have believed - good AND bad.

Yesterday I heard Paula White say, "Your actions prove your belief."  I say, so do your words.

You have faith, I already told you that.  But you also have too much doubt to make your faith "substantial." Hebrews 11:1 says, "NOW faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." 

Your faith has been made unsubstantial, if there is no evidence of the things you have been hoping for.

Bill Winston just said, "Nothing can stop you but you."  I say, "Nothing can stop you but you're own mouth, your own doubt and your own unbelief."   Doubt makes your faith unsubstantial.  Release doubt and you will release the manifestation of your blessings.  It's not up to God to make the things you're praying for manifest.  It's not up to God to make your blessings manifest. 

What are you waiting on God for!? HE's WAITING ON YOU!!! 

Scripture says, those who "wait on the Lord will renew their strength and rise up like the wings of eagles." But it doesn't say "those who wait on the Lord will receive what they are praying for, hoping for and believing for." Waiting on the Lord only makes you stronger through the wait!

Many Christians (me included) always say they are believing God "for" something, like, "I'm believing God for my healing."  Bill Winston just said as I was writing that sentence that, "You need to open your mouth and tell the devil, 'I believe God's word, and His word says, "By His stripes I am healed and so in Jesus name, I AM HEALED!'"

I am not making this stuff up!  Me, God and Bill Winston are trying to tell you the same thing, right now!  In fact, Bill is closing his message and saying goodbye by reminding us of what Mark 11:23-24 says.  You can buy his message and verify what I'm saying for yourself - it's entitled "Receiving Our Inheritance," It is the 3rd installment in a series called, "Possessing your Inheritance."  But his program is over now, so it's just up to me and the Lord to finish out my message to you.

I am trying to expose the doubt and unbelief that is eating up your blessings like a worm in a garden; like locusts in a field.  You MUST perceive what your blessings are, believe that God's blessings are for you and learn how to receive those blessings.

You can call it a formula, a 3-step plan, power points or whatever you like.  But if calling "Perceive, Believe, and Receive," a "formula", turns you off so much that you can't hear it, understand it or follow it, then it doesn't matter what you call it, you will still be struggling to get your prayers answer and you will still be wondering why.

When you read Joshua 1:8 "This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate therein day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then you shall make your way prosperous and and you shall have good success."  You don't say, "Oh that's a formula - I can't do that, I don't believe those work."  But if you don't actually do all thost things in that scripture, then you are treating it like a formula that you don't believe will work.

You see, Joshua 1:8 IS a formula.  It's God's formula for success and prosperity.  And if you don't believe formulas work, then you will prove yourself right because your believe determines your prosperity and success.

Mark 11:23-24 is also a formula.  It's God's formula for having whatsoever you ask for.  And if you don't believe formulas work, then that very scripture will prove that you will have whatsoever you believe in your heart, and you won't receive what you're praying for.

Listen, I know that I only put this fully and wholly into practice between September 13th - September 16th. But just because I have only one testimony that this formula does work, doesn't mean that it doesn't really work or won't work every time!

On the 13th I prayed and asked God for a Ford Escape Hybrid (or what was most fuel efficient), and I made up my mind to believe that I would get it.  I didn't know when, where or how, but I refused to doubt.  On the 14th I confessed that belief to witnesses at church, and I refused to doubt.

On the 15th I decided to have a "crazy faith day."  But this time I not only had faith, but I specifically refused to doubt.  I squashed doubt and spoke my prosperity aloud all day - no matter how crazy I sounded.  I had exactly $0 in one account and $6 in another.  I transferred $4 over and yelled at the devil (laughing by the way) that I was walking in abundance and to leave me alone!  After the transfer I praised God (out loud) for His abundance and for the multiplication of my finances.

It was a battle, but I fought that doubt-infusing-devil with praise, worship and the word of God all day long.  Then on the 16th my mother called and said she'd told the Lord if she got a raise she'd use the extra money to by me a car. She then said she'd gotten the raise and for me to start looking for that "Ford, I'd talked about a year ago."  On the 19th I drove off the lot with a 2010 Ford Escape.

Now, you might say "Yeah but you had your mom buy your car - everybody don't have that."  No you're right.  But I didn't know I had that either when I decided to believe and not doubt.  My car came from my mother but my blessing came from God.  Her raise came from her job, but her blessing came from God.

She told the Lord what she wanted and whether she knew it or not, she had no reason to doubt it wouldn't be so.  I told the Lord what I wanted, and even with reason to doubt, I wouldn't let myself do it.

I don't care if your bank account says $0 - Get mad at the devil and yell at him, "Jesus, though being rich was made poor so that I could be rich and the blessings of the Lord makes me rich!"

I don't care if your credit score says 509 - Get mad at the devil and yell at him, "Jesus came that I can have life and have it more abundantly! I am walking in abundance!"

I don't care if you'd like to pay off your house but don't even know if you'll be able to make the next payment - Get made at the devil and yell at him, "God made me the head and not the tail, the lender, not the borrower! I will NOT lose my house and I WILL pay it off!"

I don't care if your body is wracked with pain and symptoms and the doctor's report is all printed out and official looking - Get mad at the devil and yell at your body, "Jesus is my healer and by His stripes I am healed! Pain, disease and sickness you must Go, right now in the name of Jesus!"

And I don't care what your emotions and feelings say! You CAN help your feelings, they do NOT have to control your reactions or your mouth! - Get mad at the devil and yell to your own soul (which is your mind, will and emotions), "I CAN do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me! And the joy of the Lord is my strength! I am walking in strength and joy in Jesus name!"

And then keep on yelling and reading God's truth until you believe it and do not doubt in your heart!

When Peter walked on water and then took his eyes off of Jesus and began to sink, he yelled out, Lord save me.  Initially he'd told Jesus, if it's you, Lord, bid me come.  And Jesus said "come."  Obviously Peter believed that he could walk on the water if Jesus said to come, because he did it.  But when he began to sink it was because he'd looked around at his circumstances - the howling wind and whipping rain - and he began to believe what his eyes were telling him.  Both times Peter's actions proved what he believed.  When he believed he could walk on water, he did.  But when he believed he would sink, he did.  And when he called to Jesus for help, they two walked back to the boat.

Jesus immediately saved him when Peter called out for help, but he said, "Oh, ye of little faith, why did you doubt?"  Peter already had a mustard seed of faith.  It was his faith AND his belief that held him atop of the water.  But it was his doubt and unbelief that caused him to sink.  Obviously Peter had faith because he did walk on the water.  And obviously Peter did have doubt because he started to sink. So you MUST know that you can have faith AND unbelief at the same time!

When I purposed in my heart to have faith and squash unbelief, my faith shot off like a rocket!  I promise you, September 16th was the day that I should have tried walking on water!

If you were drowning and I couldn't jump in the water to save you I would understand your panic.  But if you could hear me yelling, "Hold your breath, relax your body, and float to the edge!"  You would have to fight through your panic, fight through the feeling that you were going to die, believe me and try.

You wouldn't have time to yell back, "that's a formula, I don't believe in those!"  You wouldn't have a thought that that was too much to do and maybe you'd try just holding your breath.  And you wouldn't really yell back, "I'm already doing all of that, and it's not working!"

I'm not saying it would be easy.  I'm not saying you wouldn't feel scared, and still feel like you would die.  But if you had a tiny bit of faith that it might work, you might try.  But if you didn't believe it would work, your body would still succumb to those feelings and you still might panic and go right back to flailing and drowning.

I was drowning.  We were all drowning together.  I put the pieces of God's formula together and I tried. I held my breath, relaxed my body and I floated to the edge.  Maybe I'm still hanging on the edge and not out of the water yet, but the water is still rough out there! I'm not jumping back into the rapids of doubt to save you - I can't.  I won't co-sign and agree or commiserate with doubt because even though it was only one time, I have finally seen what faith and belief will do when there's no doubt holding faith back! 

And I'm yelling at you to try!

Get mad if you want to.  That's fine.  But if it still seems like I'm telling you way too much to do or I'm just spouting off a bunch of steps, acronyms and formulas, then ignore me and consider the words of a 6 year old boy: "WHATEVER GOD SAYS COMES TRUE."

If you believe that your health, your wealth, your house, or your spouse are true blessings from God then why would God be so cruel to take it away, or say you weren't ready for the blessing that he gave and let you lose it?  No, if you feel your blessing is dieing like a bad marriage, or stolen like poor health, or destroyed like bad credit then guess who is the culprit? Only the devil who only comes to steal, kill and destroy.

You are already BLESSED.  Now you need to know how.  Read His word and find out.
You are already BLESSED.  Now you need to believe it.  Read His word until you do.
You are already BLESSED.  Now you need to learn how to receive it.  Read the final message in this series.

Power, love and peace, ya'll -
~Min. Deidre