The Deaf & Dumb Spirit

There are four important ingredients to overcome the Spirit of Unbelief. We discussed the first two in the last lesson. They were:

1. Fasting - prayer and fasting helps us to overcome resistant demons

2. Understand The Difference Between Miracles And Healings - miracles occur instantly, but healings may occur gradually over a period of time. It is ok not to be instantly healed (a miracle) because you may have received your healing as a process that takes some period of time.

Now, we will move on to the third way to overcome the Spirit of Unbelief...

3 - REAL FAITH

We need to understand what real faith is.

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him" (Hebrew 11:6).

Faith is diligent. God is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Faith keeps on asking. Faith keeps on seeking. Faith keeps on knocking until the door is opened unto you. Faith is the persistent widow. That is what Jesus meant when He talked about the prayer of the persistent widow. It is the "keep on asking, keep on seeking, do not give up" prayer. I am going to persevere in what the Bible calls faith in Hebrews 11. Real faith is "many died not receiving the promise." We must purpose within our hearts to be persistent knowing that many died not receiving their promise. (Hebrews 11:39)

It is ok to ask God for the same thing more than once. Some who have preached the "faith" message have taught that if you ask God for the same thing more than once, you are a wavering, doubting man and that you will not receive what you are asking for. So, then you ask God once very specifically for what you want, believe God, and wait for Him to do it. That has worked and it can still work. But we need to understand that it is ok to ask God for the same thing more than once.

I have been in places where people have said, "Todd, you prayed for me last night and I was not healed. I did not want to ask you to pray for me again tonight because I wanted to believe God regardless of what I feel or see. I wanted to be a faith man, and I did not want to ask for the same thing more than once." But we need to understand what real faith is. Real faith is to keep on asking, keep on seeking, and keep on knocking. There is a place where you can stand on the word and believe God after asking once if you want to. But you do not need to be under condemnation if you talk to God about the same thing more than once. Even if we come to God with the same promise every day and tell Him that we are still waiting. He is not going to say, "Well, if you would have believed the first time, you would have had it. But, because you are in unbelief because you are asking Me for the same thing more than once, you have cancelled your prayer the first time and you are not standing. You are not a faith man!"

That is what men have said faith is. I used to be under that bondage. I understand today that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Hebrews 11:6).

The interesting thing about the passage of Scripture in Mark 11:24 is that it says "whatever things you ask for, believe when you pray!" It does not say whatever you ask for praying once. It could be, whatever you ask for praying and keeping on praying, God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Whatever you ask for, keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, and have persistency like the widow, believing you shall receive it. And pray until something happens according to what God has said.

The Prayer Of Faith:

James 5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.

Elijah is the perfect example of the prayer of faith. This is the way that we pray -- war and contend for people to get healed. What is the prayer of faith? Men will say, "I need to believe God. If you did not get healed, it is not because I did not believe God. I am not the problem, God is not the problem, and it must be you. Go and get more faith."

You need to listen to a few more hours of my teaching tapes because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word. You did not "not get healed" because you "do not have enough faith." It is not always that we do not have enough faith. At times there is a place where it could be a spirit attached as a hindrance. There may be corporate unbelief in a city or region. There are all kinds of reasons why you may not be having an immediate miracle. It may be a healing, and not a miracle.

We need to understand that the prayer of faith is not "I believe God, you believe God. I prayed, therefore it is done." The prayer of faith is the prayer that keeps on praying until the job is done and the answer is there.

Lets look at the example of the way Elijah prays. "And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, 'As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word" (1 Kings 18:1).

There would be no rain on the earth except at the word of Elijah. He said, "Except at my word, Ahab, there is going to be no dew nor rain." But yet, that was the word of the Lord. "And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, 'Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth' (1 Kings 18:1)

Elijah did not say, "hallelujah, I believe what God said. I am going to believe what He said whether I see a cloud or rain in the sky or not. I am going to stand on the promise and it is going to come to pass. Let's just sit down and wait for God to do what He said He was going to do. Let's just wait for God." No. Elijah said there is a place that God will not do what He said He was going to do except at my word. That means my word, and what I do or do not do with what the Lord says, makes or breaks what the Lord wants to do. I am a part of bringing this thing out of the heavens into the earth. I get my authority from the word of the Lord that came unto me, but now I speak what God has spoken to me and that is what brings it to pass. As it is loosed in heaven, I loose it on earth.

In this Scripture (1 Kings 17:1) it says there will be no due or rain on the earth except by my word! But it really was not his word, because now in 1 Kings 18:1 the word of the Lord comes unto him. He could have stood and believed and just prayed once according to what God said. But he saw that there was a place where he was involved in this promise coming to pass. Here is another perfect example of the prayer of faith.

"So Ahab went up to eat and drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; then he bowed down on the ground, and put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, 'Go up now, look toward the sea.' So he went up and looked, and said, 'There is nothing.' And seven times he said, 'Go again.' (1 Kings 18:42-43).

There was a sound in Elijah's spirit. That sound was the abundance of rain. He heard it in his spirit. He could not hear or see it in the natural, but in his spirit he carried the sound of rain, which represents the promise of God in the bible. Some of you have already got the sound in your spirit of healing. You have had the promise of the word of God; a prophetic word, a revelation of the promise of the Bible. You know that God is going to touch and heal your body. But you cannot see it yet. That is what happened on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18:42-43.

Elijah puts his face to the ground, `gets into a birthing position. He begins to call for that rain. He begins to call forth those things that are not, as though they were. It is not that they were not. He began to call forth those things that were not in the natural world, that already were in the eternal purpose of God. He called the things that he knew were supposed to be in the earth. He had the promise and the word. He said I do not see it in the natural, so now is the place where I birth that word.

How do you birth the word? What is the prayer of faith? "God do what you said you were going to do according to every promise that you said you were going to give me in the Bible concerning healing. I have the word of the Lord. I do not see or feel it. I am going to believe God, but there is something that I must do." Like Elijah, who got face down to the ground, and began to birth he prayed one time. He told his servant to run to the edge of the cliff and see if he saw anything. The servant said, "I do not see anything." Elijah did not stand up and say "Well, we prayed about it once. We do not want to pray about it more than once because we either believe God or we do not. If we pray about it more than once then God is not going to be able to do what He said He was going to do. So, let's just stop and stand back and wait for God to do what He said He was going to do." No. He put his face to the ground again.

It is ok to keep on asking, seeking and knocking. I have the word from heaven. I carry a sound in my spirit. I have got to get this thing into the earth! And he prayed again! Nothing. Prayed again! Nothing. Prayed again! Nothing. Prayed again! Nothing. Prayed again! Nothing. And on the seventh time it was a cloud the size of a man's hand. A partial healing; it was not even complete. Seven times. That is the example of the prayer of faith.

Purpose within your heart that real faith is warring and contending and asking, seeking and knocking. Searching, fasting, praying persevering and asking. Lay hands on me a thousand or five thousand times, until it is done! "Many died not yet receiving the promise" (Hebrews 11:39).

Unbelief will have no room in your life when you look at faith this way. You will know to press in until you get your healing.