Show and tell is always a favorite of school children. We get satisfaction sharing our treasures and the things that give us pleasure with others. However, God’s kingdom is set up exactly opposite: Tell and show. We speak faith prayers and then the answer is shown.
Jesus taught this amazing principle in Mark 11:23-25: “Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” Notice the order. First you believe you receive them before you get them. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen. By faith we are sure it has been granted before the answer appears. This confidence is strongly reiterated in 1 John 5:14-15, “if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
Let’s see how this principle applies to making prayers of faith. Someone may pray for healing according to the Word “by His stripes I am healed,” but then say the pain is still there. Our words have the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21). The “but” statement comes from the physical and overrides the spiritual truth of the prayer for healing. Things of God are spirit and truth, they come to our spirit, and then the spiritual truth in the heart and declared by the lips impacts the physical. It is the same foundation upon which we were saved. We receive the truth that Jesus’ death and resurrection justifies us (it is finished meaning every sin is paid for in full), and establish this reality of salvation by declaring with our lips, “Jesus is Lord.” We willingly acknowledge He owns us and we become a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), even if we don’t “feel” any change. However, this spiritual truth produces new life in us as we receive it and begin to walk it out in faith. Life flows from the spiritual to the physical.
Consider the application of this principle in the sheep and goats in the Matthew 25 explanation of judgment. Jesus separated the sheep from the goats. Clearly the main difference was what each one did and did not do to others. The goats saw the need but had an excuse. Their “but” was more persuasive than the Word that ordered them to love others as themselves. On His right hand, the sheep didn’t “but,” and responded with love and compassion to those in need.
Imitate the sheep attitude by refusing to let the physical excuses and reasonings stop us from holding fast our confession of faith or obedience to God. I am still saved and born again even if I fail to do everything right. I am healed and my needs are met because of God’s faithful promise not because my physical sensations. They will follow. Don’t let physical input nullify your faith confession. James points out that a double minded man should not think that he will receive. Faith and patience inherit the promises.
God’s Word is yes and amen. We receive it by giving thanks (Philippians 4:6 make supplication with thanksgiving) and establish this truth by our speaking His words rather than saying the thoughts and feelings of our fallen nature. Sheep don’t but.