Faith in Receiving Heaven"s Gifts
Heaven's gifts in this context include salvation (in other words, forgiveness and remission of sins and regeneration of heart), circumcision of heart (i.
e.
Sanctification), baptism of the Holy Spirit, divine healing and health.
Others are, divine protection, guidance, provision and intervention, gifts of the Holy Spirit, etc.
For anyone to receive any of these heaven's gifts, the one must believe what the Bible has revealed about such gifts.
The one must also ask in prayer and believe unwaveringly that one has got what one asked for.
For instance, if a sinner wants to be saved, he must believe that he was, not only born in sin, but has continued willfully in sin and so, come short of the glory of God, and under the condemnation of God.
He must further believe that continuity in sin and dying in sin will lead him to hell fire.
He must believe that, since Jesus Christ died for the sins of all men, his sins can and will be forgiven if he comes to God in repentance.
Realizing these truths, he now goes to God in prayer, repenting and confessing his sins and believing unwaveringly thereafter that all his sins have been forgiven and blotted out.
At this point, the act of God takes place, his sins are forgiven, he is justified and his heart is regenerated.
The above act of God becomes his lot through his faith, notwithstanding his feelings.
In other words, the prayers of God's children these days are rather thunderous and exciting.
But it is also obvious that the results are not commensurate to the nature of their prayers.
This shows that there is something wrong somewhere and that thing is the lack of faith in such prayers.
This type of situation was there even in the early Church.
Peter had been imprisoned and was about to be killed by Herod, but prayers were made without ceasing (and of course vibrantly) by the Church for him (Acts 12:1-5).
But the reaction of the people after the miraculous escape of Peter from the prison shows that they hardly believed that God was going to set Peter free (Acts 12:6-16).
It can be concluded that God gave the miracle because He had ordained a ministry for Peter, which he (Peter) needed to fulfill, and so, must be delivered.
This is the same reason that underlines the conception of John the Baptist.
Because Zacharias would not believe the announcement of the Angel, God would have refrained from giving John the Baptist, if not for the ministry He had ordained for him (Luke 1:5-20).
Knowing the role of faith, that without it, we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6), nor can we receive anything from the Lord (James 1:5-7); our prayer lives must change forthwith to contain this all-important ingredient.
e.
Sanctification), baptism of the Holy Spirit, divine healing and health.
Others are, divine protection, guidance, provision and intervention, gifts of the Holy Spirit, etc.
For anyone to receive any of these heaven's gifts, the one must believe what the Bible has revealed about such gifts.
The one must also ask in prayer and believe unwaveringly that one has got what one asked for.
For instance, if a sinner wants to be saved, he must believe that he was, not only born in sin, but has continued willfully in sin and so, come short of the glory of God, and under the condemnation of God.
He must further believe that continuity in sin and dying in sin will lead him to hell fire.
He must believe that, since Jesus Christ died for the sins of all men, his sins can and will be forgiven if he comes to God in repentance.
Realizing these truths, he now goes to God in prayer, repenting and confessing his sins and believing unwaveringly thereafter that all his sins have been forgiven and blotted out.
At this point, the act of God takes place, his sins are forgiven, he is justified and his heart is regenerated.
The above act of God becomes his lot through his faith, notwithstanding his feelings.
In other words, the prayers of God's children these days are rather thunderous and exciting.
But it is also obvious that the results are not commensurate to the nature of their prayers.
This shows that there is something wrong somewhere and that thing is the lack of faith in such prayers.
This type of situation was there even in the early Church.
Peter had been imprisoned and was about to be killed by Herod, but prayers were made without ceasing (and of course vibrantly) by the Church for him (Acts 12:1-5).
But the reaction of the people after the miraculous escape of Peter from the prison shows that they hardly believed that God was going to set Peter free (Acts 12:6-16).
It can be concluded that God gave the miracle because He had ordained a ministry for Peter, which he (Peter) needed to fulfill, and so, must be delivered.
This is the same reason that underlines the conception of John the Baptist.
Because Zacharias would not believe the announcement of the Angel, God would have refrained from giving John the Baptist, if not for the ministry He had ordained for him (Luke 1:5-20).
Knowing the role of faith, that without it, we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6), nor can we receive anything from the Lord (James 1:5-7); our prayer lives must change forthwith to contain this all-important ingredient.
