1. Don't ask when you don't need to know
All information on a need to know basis.
In Exodus God assures
Moses of victory beforehand. Notice He does not say how this will be
accomplished. Those things will become evident when they need to be. All God
says, for the sake of Moses’ faith is the outcome.
Exodus
3:21-22
And I will give this people favour in the sight of the
Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty.
But every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in
her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment: and ye shall
put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
Moses will
need greater faith for the future tasks God has for him.
2. Don't second guess yourself when you know what God told you
After
assuring Moses that he would have victory in Egypt, Moses continually asked God
to get somebody else for the job.
Exodus 4:13-14
And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand
of him whom thou wilt send. And the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he
can speak well. And also, behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when
he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.
3. Don't follow plan "B" when God devised plan "A"
God was
patient. He willed it for Moses to go alone but He allowed Moses to use His
brother. Nevertheless, by not following God’s initial plan there were still
repercussions later. Aaron was the one who made the satanic golden calf for the
people later and he also rebelled against Moses later on. Moses’ request would
basically not make things easy but hard for him to carry out God’s plan.
God
basically said “ok, you wanna follow plan "B" that;s fine but it’s not the best
and you’ll see why later”. We may not always know the way God will carry things
out for us and we don’t need to know. We just have to trust Him.
4. Don't wait until you believe
Belief in the truth is a choice. I think that
in the end, most of us believe without seeing (
John 20:29). Belief in
the ultimate truth (“truth” as explained in note “Armor of God”) is a decision.
For even if the dead will rise many do not believe (
Luke 16:31).
5. Don't place logic before your relationship with God
Pontius
Pilate asked Jesus many questions to which he received an answer. When he asked
“what is the truth” (John 18:38) Jesus was silent. He chose or was unable to explain what the truth
was to Pilate precisely because Pilate did not have a relationship with the
Father. Pilate would not be able to understand it or accept it without himself
choosing to understand and to have a relationship with God.
In the
same way, when answering the Pharisees, Jesus said “Neither will I tell
you by what authority I do these things.” (Luke 20:8). There is
no point because the Pharisees did not have honest motives and were not seeking
the truth. They would not have recognized the authority because they did not
recognize the truth.
6. Don't trust the mid for the greater things
Faith is in the spirit not the mind. The mental arena
will never take you into abundance. What a renewed mind does is when something
comes up that needs faith, is that it steps aside and lets the faith from the
spirit flow. (Nancy Dufresne)
7. Don't pick and choose
Don't select what parts of the Bible to believe. Believe it all!
2 Timothy 3:2-5
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous,
boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without
natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce,
despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof: from such turn away.
The end of
the verse talks about people denying God’s power; denying out of choice instead
of ignorance. People with the attitude “I’ll take some of the teaching but not
all.” The verse seems to put these people in the same category as the ones
practicing horrible things. Denying God’s power when you can know better
through Scripture is not a neutral stance; it is a serious act.
Jesus said those who add or subtract anything from the
commands will be least in the Kingdom. (Matthew
5:19)
When we have
clear understanding we must believe God. So important it is to take God at His
word that in the case of Abraham (Genesis 17), even when
the things God asked him to believe for himself seemed insane and ridiculous
Abraham still believed and God saw him as righteous because of this act of
faith.
Romans 4:18-25 (ESV)
18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should
become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your
offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own
body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or
when he considered the barrenness[a] of Sarah's womb. 20 No unbelief made
him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he
gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that God was able to do what he had
promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But
the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but
for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the
dead Jesus our Lord, 25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised
for our justification.
8. Don't be afraid when God gives you something good
Receiving prosperity and good things from God does not make
us walk less by faith. We still need faith as we wait on the good things He has
for us. Some
people have the religious mentality that only through lack and suffering can a person’s
faith stay sharp. This is nonsense.
9. Don't ask when you should declare
When we are saved God does a lot in our lives. Many
Christians believe that they can only progress into another level in the
relationship with God by asking for a direct revelation from Him. God is
generous and can come through. To have a revelation is crucial because with a revelation the power
of God can come out of us.
However, when it comes to claiming your authority it is not
done by asking. You are the one who are supposed to step up and claim it. "The
container of faith is risk (Steve Brown,
Key Life).
You must risk by having the faith to standing on your power, your
authority. It takes faith because you have no power but through the Father (
John 19:11).
10. Don't shy away from your responsibility
John 14:14
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
God brings power
to the table but we always bring faith. If we (or somebody else) do not bring our
supply then we are left stranded and we think God hasn’t heard us. So to ask
God is a responsibility but many people don't want that responsibility and that
is why they attack the Word of Faith movement.
Notice in
the next verse after John 14:14 what
Jesus says:
John 14:15
If ye
love me, keep my commandments.
Another condition:
“IF you love me you will do as I say.”
People
accept the responsibility for caring for the poor, in feeding the hungry, in
comforting the poor in spirit but when it comes to the miraculous they shrink
from it.
I know why (I
was there too): because it requires more faith. Some are afraid they do not
have the faith and instead of developing it they attack those who are doing so.
Fear is from the Devil and causes dissent in the body of Christ, the Church.
2. Joy always comes first
Whenever we are believing God for something the Devil will bring tests and trials. Difficulties are designed to get our mind out of the place of belief and begin rationalizing or doubting.
