FAITH!
GP 73
5/71
1. WHEN YOU ASK THE LORD FOR AN ANSWER, EXPECT AN ANSWER & TAKE THE FIRST THING THAT COMES. If you really believe & ask the Lord & want to hear or see, you won't be disappointed! And THAT THING YOU SEE OR HEAR WITH THE EYES OR EARS OF YOUR SPIRIT, THAT'S THE LORD--& it will be such a comfort to you! EXPECT God to answer! Just open up your heart & let the Sunshine in!
2. IF YOU'RE REALLY DESPERATE & CRYING WITH YOUR WHOLE HEART & ARE ASKING HIM, HE'LL ANSWER! A baby is such an illustration! When he's crying for his Mother, you wouldn't think of refusing him. HEARING FROM THE LORD IS OUR SPIRITUAL NOURISHMENT--& YOU'VE GOT TO BE ABLE TO HEAR FROM THE LORD! That little baby has more faith than you do sometimes, 'cause when the baby cries, he expects someone to hear him. Because he knows--God put it in him to know--that if he calls, you'll answer. He expects the answer & he gets it! So YOU must expect that what you get is from the Lord.
3. SHUTTING YOUR EYES HELPS YOU TO SEE IN THE SPIRIT & to become unconscious of the things & people around you. Get your mind on the Lord & in a relaxed position where nothing distracts you, & expect then that whatever you hear or see is something from the Lord.
4. WHEN YOU CRY, YOU MUST EXPECT THE LORD TO ANSWER. THE LONGER YOU PRACTICE RECEIVING NOURISHMENT FROM GOD, THE MORE YOU KNOW WHERE TO GRAB IT & YOU JUST OPEN YOUR EYES & SEE IT & REACH FOR IT. When you cry out to God for something, He pushes it in your mouth, but if you don't start sucking, you'll never get it. You have to have the faith to begin to pull. YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO DRAW GOD'S NOURISHMENT. GOD CAN SHOW IT TO YOU, STICK IT IN YOUR MOUTH EVEN, BUT IF YOU DON'T SUCK, YOU WON'T GET ANYTHING. The SUCKING IS THE ACTION OF THE FAITH! You have to put your faith into action!
5. FAITH IS A KIND OF DRAWING POWER! IT IS YOU DRAWING POWER FROM GOD. It's kind of like a bank account: The money is there & the Father has put it there in your name--in the Bank of Heaven, but you'll never get it--not one red cent-unless you're willing to go to the Bank & sign the check by faith & draw on it! But you see, the FAITH draws it!
6. WHAT IS IT THAT BRINGS THAT MILK OUT OF THE BREAST? The baby deliberately, when he sucks, creates a vacuum inside his mouth which pulls the milk out. YOU HAVE TO CREATE A VACUUM INSIDE YOUR HEART: "Lord, here is this empty space--you fill it!" You reduce the pressure in a certain area--& in physics they call that a vacuum! And do you know what really fills that vacuum? It's not actually the child--all the child does is CREATE the vacuum, thus reducing the pressure inside his mouth, which then becomes lower than the pressure inside the breast--& so the milk flows out from the mother's breast into the child's mouth.
7. IN PRAYER, YOU CREATE A VACUUM--there's a space that needs filling--you seek the Lord's help. You create the vacuum & it's the Lord's pressure that fills it. The power really comes from outside, not from inside. All you did was create the vacuum--but that vacuum drew the power. It draws & therefore the pressure from the Lord seeks the place where there is less pressure. There's an old saying, Nature abhors a vacuum.--But God really likes a vacuum: He likes to fill every place that's made for Him--every place where you open up your heart, your spirit, HIS Spirit will flow in, in all His Power!
8. THE LORD WANTS YOU TO DRAW ON THE WORD--NOT ONLY THE RECORDED WORD, BUT THE LIVING WORD. But it is YOU drawing & you must BELIEVE it & start right from there. WHEN YOU START SUCKING FOR DEAR LIFE & REALLY DESIRE IT WITH ALL YOUR HEART, YOU'LL FINALLY GET IT. You have to BELIEVE when you create that vacuum in your heart--you draw on the Lord--that sucking action of your faith--& that the first thing that comes in your mouth is the Lord--the first thing you see, you must believe that that is from the Lord & you must go straight on from there! YOU MUST BEGIN TO SPEAK THOSE WORDS HE PUTS IN YOUR MOUTH & SPEAK THAT SCRIPTURE OR PHRASE HE GIVES YOU. HE GIVES YOU A LITTLE, BUT THEN YOU'VE GOT TO EXPECT MORE! And incidently, the word "BELIEVE" in the New Testament is that Greek word, "DRINKING IN". "I BELIEVE" means "I DRINK IN"--"I SWALLOW." It's the word "pisteuo"--the New Testament for "I believe," "I drink in."
9. AND THAT'S HOW YOU GET REVELATIONS FROM THE LORD. If it's a message in tongues & prophecy, you drink it into your mouth & then you show your belief by giving it. But you only get one mouthful at a time. But if you don't give that mouthful, you won't get another! WHEN YOU ASK THE LORD FOR A PICTURE & YOU GET IT, START DESCRIBING IT. DESCRIBE WHAT YOU SEE & THEN THE LORD WILL KEEP GIVING YOU MORE & MORE. What do you do when you see a movie? You go in there & have to keep drinking in scene by scene by scene by scene. You couldn't possibly get it all in one shot! You have to keep swallowing. So YOU HAVE TO EXERCISE YOUR FAITH. You have to create a vacuum in your spirit & then the Lord will fill it!
10. THE RADIO IS LIKE A VACUUM. In the air right now all around us, just like the Spirit of the Lord, there are radio waves. But until you turn on this little switch on the radio & in a sense create a vacuum in this receiver, you're not going to get anything. You have to open a channel, an electric circuit. You have to make contact by making a vacuum. :
11. THE FAITHFUL PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE FULL OF FAITH--full of a vacuum--& the Lord's high pressure fills the vacuum! But you've got to keep swallowing! In this case, the giving out is a swallowing! That's why the Lord is able to use me so when I'm with certain people, because the Lord knows it's going to be swallowed & digested & used to strengthen the Body. The Lord knows that He can trust them, that when I give what He shows me, they will faithfully record it & it won't be wasted. THE LORD'S NOT GOING TO SQUIRT MILK OUT INTO THIN AIR WHERE IT WILL BE LOST or into some baby who won't swallow it. He's got to swallow it & digest it & assimilate it or he won't get it.
12. THE POWER'S ALWAYS ON, THE MESSAGE IS ALWAYS THERE. God's Spirit is like a broadcasting station broadcasting all the time. All you have to do is throw the switch & tune in. You have to have the vacuum & sincerely open your mouth & He'll fill it. And that drawing draws the power of God. But you have to TELL the vision, tell the dream, give the message, interpret the tongues. You've got to keep MOVING. But as long as you keep sucking, you'll get more.
13. GOD HAS UNLIMITED CAPACITY TO GIVE & WHAT YOU GET IS ONLY LIMITED BY YOUR OWN CAPACITY TO RECEIVE. Pretty soon you get so full, you can't stand it. And your vacuum is full, your tummy is satisfied & your spirit is content. The Lord will keep on feeding you until you're satisfied, until your spiritual vacuum is filled, & when you're satisfied, He might not even mind if you go to sleep for a while. It takes a little effort to nurse--to suck! It's a real spiritual effort of faith. Faith is like the Hand of the soul.
14. FAITH IS THE HAND OF THE SPIRIT WHICH REACHES OUT & RECEIVES. It is the part that YOU do--your spiritual effort. That sucking on the part of the baby is HIS effort & the mother does all the rest. You know, sometimes the prophets were actually sick afterwards--it was so hard on their flesh. It left them absolutely exhausted. It actually took some physical strength. There is that link between the spiritual & the physical that we don't quite understand.
15. IT'S SO SIMPLE: YOU JUST HAVE TO HAVE THE FAITH OF THAT LITTLE BABY. You just have to show him where it is & after you've shown him, he knows where it is. And pretty soon you'll recognise it when the Lord begins to speak. SOME PEOPLE GET THINGS FROM THE LORD & DON'T EVEN KNOW IT IS FROM THE LORD. I did that for years. I've been getting things like this all my life & for a long time I thought it was just me-& all the time the Lord was speaking to me. "I learned alone. I learned to love. I listened to the still small voice of God." It just came like it was natural--I didn't realise what a supernatural thing it was--what a miracle. Just like the baby nursing--it seems so natural. Yet it's such a miracle. EVERYTHING IS A MIRACLE! Everything is supernatural because God made it all.
16. IF YOU'VE GOT AN OPEN CHANNEL & TUNE IN, THE LORD WILL FILL YOU--YOUR MIND, YOUR HEART, YOUR EARS, YOUR EYES! What the Lord is trying to show you is that you can get it yourself! The answer's always there if you're willing to receive it, but if you resist the answer He gives, He shuts up because you won't listen. You can stick the tit in the baby's mouth & if he takes one swig & doesn't like it & quits swallowing, he's not going to get any more. And mother will just give up & put him back to bed. SO YOU HAVE TO BE WILLING TO TAKE WHAT HE GIVES & GIVE IT!