mountain moving faith: YOU HAVE IT

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1 mountain moving faith: YOU HAVE IT -by KENNETH HAGIN MARK 11: And Jesus answering salth unto them, Have faith in God. 23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith*. 24 Therefore^ say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. Notice in the 22nd verse that Jesus said, "Have faith in God." The margin of the King James version reads, "Have the faith of God." Another translation reads, and Greek scholars tell us that a literal translation of what Jesus actually said is, "Have the God kind of faith." If you didn't know a thing in the world about Greek and could just read English, you could readily see that that would be a correct translation for Jesus had just demonstrated to the disciples that He had that kind of faith the God kind. And in the 23rd verse He goes on to describe, or define, the God kind of faith. "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Jesus defines the "God kind of faith" as the kind of faith where (a) one believes in his heart, (b) then says with his mouth what he believes in his heart, (c) and it comes to pass. God used that kind of faith to create the worlds in the beginning. He simply believed that what He said would come to pass. So He said, "Let there be an earth," and there was an earth. He said, "Let the animals come," and they came. He created everything that is here by believing that what He said would come to pass. Then He said it, and it came to pass. Everything that is here, except man, came that way the sun, the moon, the stars. That is the God kind of faith. In the passage just prior to the verses we began with, Jesus had spoken to the fig tree. He didn't pray; He just simply said to that tree, "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever" (verse 14). And the Bible says, "In the morning as they (the disciples along with Jesus) passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thoucursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have the God kind of faith" (Mark 11:20-22). Jesus had just demonstrated to the disciples that He had that kind of faith the God kind the kind that God used to create the worlds in the beginning. And then He said to them, "Have the God kind of faith." Most folks will say, "That's what I want and I'm praying that God will give it to me." If that is what you're doing, you're wasting your time. Actually it would do no more good to pray that God would give you faith than it would to twiddle your thumbs and recite "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Much of our prayer is lost motion and wasted time. And praying for faith is lost motion and wasted time because every believer already has a measure of this kind of faith. You don't have to get it you've got it! Praise God! You have a measure of the God kind of faith. Every believer already has a measure of the God kind of faith. You don't have to get it, you don't have to pray for it, you don't have to fast for it, you don't have to promise to do better and be good to get it, you already have it. Let's see if we can prove that with the Bible. ROMANS 12:3 3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. I call your attention to the fact that Paul is not writing to sinners, or to the world, but to believers, to Christians. He said, "I say to every man that is among you...(not to every man in the world) God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith."

2 Some have tried to point out contradictions in the Bible; and really there are no contradictions in it. However, if you take verses out of their setting sometimes there would seem to be. Just leave things in context and you will see there are no contradictions. Paul wrote here to the Romans and said, "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." In his second letter to the Thessalonians he made this statement, "for all men have not faith." If you just take those two parts of verses out of their settings, they seem to contradict. Some folks would say, "Must not be inspired of God. Here the same writer, the apostle Paul, said in one place, 'All men have not faith,'and in another place, 'Every man has a measure of faith.' " But when you read the entire verse in II Thessalonians you see that Paul was speaking of ungodly men, "And that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all men have not faith" (II Thess. 3:2). He is talking about folks in the world, ungodly people, people without God. All men in the world do not have faith that is the God kind of faith. They do have the natural human faith, or head faith, but they don't have the God kind of faith. All Believers, however, do have this kind of faith. Paul said, "I say...to every man that is among you...as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." All Believers do have faith. However, many Believers make a mistake by confessing, "That's my trouble, I don't have any faith." I always answer them by saying, "Then why don't you get saved?" Saved people have faith. You cannot be saved without faith. EPHESIANS 2:8 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: It is the gift of God. If you don't have faith, then you are not saved. What you need is to be saved that will solve the faith problem. All Believers have faith the Bible says they do but some don't realize it and they are not using the faith they have. Years ago, aladycamerushinguptome after the meeting one night saying, "Brother Hagin, I want you to pray for me. I want you to pray that I will have faith. I need healing for my body." In other words she inferred, "I don't have faith for healing." I said to her, "I'm not going to do it." That startled her. I don't think anyone had ever talked to her like that before. I said that to her to get her attention, and it got it. You have to get people's attention before you can help them. 2 "You're really not?" she asked. "No ma'am, I am not." She asked again, "You're really not?" And I replied, "I'm really not. I'm not going to pray one lick. I am not going to pray one time that you will have faith." "Well," she said, "I sure do need healing." "Aren't you a Believer, Sister?" "Oh yes," she said. "Well," I said, "whoever heard of a Believer who didn't believe? How could you be a Believer without believing? You see, there would be no purpose in my praying for you to have faith, because you do have faith. Use the faith that you have." The very next night, she was in the healing line. The night before she had wanted me to pray that she would have faith to be healed^ and now she had come for healing. "I see you've come," I said. "Yes," she said, "I've come and I will be healed, too. Just lay your hands on me." She had decided to use her faith. Praise God. She used the faith she had to receive her healing. And, when I layed hands on her for healing, I perceived that she did not have the fullness of the Spirit. She had been born of the Spirit, but not filled with the Spirit. So I said to her, and I knew she knew what I meant by the expression, "You haven't received the Holy Ghost." "No, I haven't." she said. And so I just laid my hand on her head again and said, "Receive the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus." Immediately, without stammering or stuttering or waiting a second, she lifted both hands and began speaking in tongues. Later she said, "If I had known this, I could have had this experience for 15 years. I wouldn't have had to wait until now." She had faith all the time. She just wasn't using it. That's what many Christians are doing. And, actually, they are taking sides against God, against the Bible, and against themselves without recognizing what they are doing. They wouldn't do it at all if they realized what they were doing. But they continually go around talking about how they don't have any faith. Every time you say you don't have faith you are unconsciously saying, "God, You lied on me. You told a lie on me." Because, you see, God's Word is God speaking. God's Word is God speaking. God and His Word are one, just as you and your word are one. If your word is no good, you are no good. And if God's Word is no good, then He is no good.

3 God and His Word are one. If God's Word says, God says, because God's Word is God speaking to us. And God's Word says that you do have faith. God's Word says, "according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." God's Word says that you have a measure of the God kind of faith! God's Word says that you have a measure of the kind of faith which created the worlds in the beginning! God's Word says that you have a measure of the mountain moving faith! One lady said to me, "Yeah, but I know I don't." "Well," I said to her, "you or God one is lying about it, because He says you do, and you say you don't." How o.an ynn get God to work with you and for you when you take sides against Him. Whether you are taking sides against Him consciously or unconsciously, you are still on the wrong side. Many people are sincere, but they're sincerely wrong. Just being sincere doesn't change the fact that they are wrong. Just come to God's Word and walk in the light of God's Word and it will solve your problems. God's Word says, "...by grace are ye saved through faith." If one didn't have faith, he wouldn't be saved. He wouldn't be a Christian. "...through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God" (Eph. 2:8). Notice in that verse that the faith you are saved by is not of yourselves. It's not a natural human faith. God gave you the faith to be saved. That agrees with Romans 12:3, "...according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." How does God give the sinner faith te be saved? "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). Let me read along with you from the 10th chapter of Romans which talks about salvation and about getting faith to be saved. My comments are in parentheses. ROMANS 10:8-10,13,14,17 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; (Notice that God's Word is called the «Word of Faith.» That Is because God's Word builds faith. It causes faith to come to the heart of those who are open to it.) 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and Shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. 14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? (Now get this.) and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. You cannot believe without hearing. Faith comes by hearing. Hearing what? The Word of God. Too many times, though, we hear only a little bit of the Word and a whole lot of something else. And for that reason there's not much of a faith producing element to it. If what you hear preached (whether in my meetings or someone else's, in your church or someone else's church) does not cause faith to come or build faith in your spirit, in your heart and in your life then either it isn't the Word of God, or you are not hearing it. Because God's Word says, "...faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." You can just-sit there- and- let the Word of God go in one ear and out the other. Folks just sitting there and not listening would not be hearing it, and faith would not be produced. And often times what we hear preached in many areas and in many quarters is not really the Word. Sometimes folks will quote a Scripture and put their own interpretation on it and that is not going to build faith. Let the Scriptures interpret themselves. Find other Scriptures besides just one. You cannot build a doctrine on just one verse of Scripture, nor can you stand on just one verse, because the Bible says that in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. I have seen people, even ministers, who would take a verse of Scripture out of its setting and try to build a doctrine on it, when actually there were other Scriptures on the same subject and if they would have put them all together, one Would have modified the other. You could have gotten a clear picture of God's overall plan. But they wouldn't listen to the other Scriptures because they wanted it a certain way. Some have sort of gone to seed on certain subjects some of which are very unimportant. Some folks have majored in the minors rather than majoring in the main things of God's Word. Faith, for instance, is the most important subject in the whole Bible. A preacher once said to me, "Brother Hagin, I have been preaching for years and I have never preached on the subject of faith. Why do you preach on it so much?" My reply was, "Because a man who doesn't preach faith has never preached the Bible. There is nothing in the Bible as important as this subject. You can't be saved without it because '...by grace are ye saved through faith' (Eph. 2:8). You can't live for God without it. You can't please God without it because the Bible says that 3

4 without faith it is impossible to please Him. (Heb. 11:6.) The Bible says that we walk by faith and not by sight. (II Cor. 5:7.) This Christian walk is a faith walk. You can't fight without it because the Bible says that the only fight we are supposed to fight is the 'good fight of faith.' (II Tim. 6:12.)" When I gave him all those Scriptures he just stood there and blinked his eyes. Then he said, "Man, I'd better get to preaching, hadn't I?" It is no wonder he and his congregation were not successful Christians, but rather were negative and defeated Christians, with the devil holding high carnival in their lives. Simply because the real truth was not preached. It is the most difficult thing in the world to receive from God in an atmosphere of doubt; in an atmosphere that is negative instead of positive. Several years ago I was holding a three week meeting and we had Saturday night off. The pastor and his wife asked me to drive with them out to a little suburban town where another revival was in progress. So we went. This was the third week of their meeting and they made mention of the fact that they hadn't had a dull service even though not one person had been saved or baptized in the Holy Spirit. It didn't take me long to figure out why. (Now don't misunderstand me; they were good people. We mean this to be constructive criticism. Destructive criticism is wrong. This happened many years ago and we will not mention the name of any person nor of the church, so it won't destroy anyone.) The evangelist got up to preach and he took his text from the Old Testament. That is perfectly all right, if you will be sure to interpret it in the light of the New Testament. Because, after all, we are not living under the Old Covenant; we are living under the New Covenant. There are some things back there that don't apply to us. And he happened to get hold of something that really didn't apply to the Christian at all. I wondered after he first read it, what he was going to do with it. He started by saying, "I've got three points to my sermon." He gave the first point and then he said, "Now, let me tell you how I've got this figured out..." At that, I thought of what Paul told Timothy, "Preach the word..." (II Tim. 4:2). He didn't say, "Timothy, tell them how you've got it figured out." People are not interested in my opinions. My opinion is no better than yours neither of them is any good. It is what God's Word says that is important. 4 This evangelist took 15 minutes to tell how he had it figured out. And, my, I didn't know a fellow could sit in church and hurt in so many different places. To tell you the real truth about it, the way he had it figured out was ridiculous. I was so glad when he got over that point. I hoped that he would get to something a little better, but when he gave his second point, he said, "Now let me give you my opinion on this." Again I thought of what Paul wrote Timothy, "Preach the Word." And again, I struggled through his opinions. And, oh my, his opinion was entirely out of line with the Word of God. When he finally announced he was down to his third point, I sighed a sigh of relief and thought, "Maybe he will give us something." You know, I tell people all the time, "When you go to church have as much sense as an old cow eat the hay and leave the sticks." But so far, we hadn't had any hay at all it was all sticks. He presented his third point and then said, "Now let me give you my theory on this." I wasn't surprised at all after 45 minutes of that discourse, that when he gave an invitation for folks to be saved, not a soul went. I didn't blame them, I wouldn't have gone either because he wound up by saying, "If you're here and you're lost, and I know you are because I've talked to some of you, come to this altar and pray here. You can't ever tell, God might save you." Yes, he actually said that. "You can't ever tell, God might save you." Immediately, I thought of what God's Word says. Jesus said, "...him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). It's not a matter of He might do it. Give them the Word and then they will have the faith to come. It is no wonder they didn't come. He told them, "God might save you." They sang another verse; nobody came. He talked a little more, "Come on and pray. It won't hurt. Anyhow you can't ever tell, this might be your night." I thought of what the Scripture says. I would have told the people, "This IS your night. TODAY is the day of salvation. NOW is the accepted time." (H Cor. 6:2.) Nobody came. He repeated it all again and then gave his own experience. Now it's all right to refer to experience if il is in line with God's Word. But, my friends, experience can be misleading. You cannot build on experience. You must build on God's Word and have experiences in line with God's Word. He related his experience, "You know, I had to pray three days and three nights before I could get God into the notion of saving me."

5 The Word of God says that Christ was "...the lamb slain before the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8). That means that God was in the notion of saving him before He ever made the world. He didn't have to talk God into the notion of saving him. Wasn't God in the notion of saving him when He sent Jesus? "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). I thought of all the Scripture says. He should have given them what the Bible says. But he gave his opinion; he gave his experience. "I had to pray three days and three nights...," he said. Well, that was because he was in darkness. He was seeking God in the dark; he was praying in the dark; he was in unbelief. I thought, "Dear Lord, no one is going to come. If I were a sinner, I wouldn't come because he just got through telling me I would probably have to pray three days and nights and then even after that, I might not get saved." Telling folks what you think about it, giving people your opinion, telling people your theories, only produces unbelief. Paul said, "Preach the Word." Faith comes by hearing the Word. Faith is based on facts the facts of God's Word. Unbelief is founded on theories. And the reason many of our churches are full of unbelief is that they have heard too much theory. The ministry has thrived on the psychology of unbelief. And the poor dear church members are just a product of what they have heard. Faith, let me say it again, is based on facts. Unbelief is based on theories. You won't find this in the dictionary, but I will give you my definition of a "theory." A theory is a supposition established upon ignorance of the subject under discussion. In helping others, friends, not only as ministers in the pulpit ministry, but as individuals helping and talking with others tell folks what the Bible says. That's the best way to help them. Just give them what God's Word says; not what some man says. Man can be wrong but God cannot be wrong. God can't fail. It doesn't matter where they are in life or what has happened to them, find out what God's Word says about the subject. It will change things! My wife and I were in a meeting for a certain Full Gospel denomination when we received word concerning the state leader of that particular denomination. He'd lived out his life and had gone home to be with the Lord. The meeting was to close that night and we had a day free before the next meeting was to begin so we went by to see his wife who was much younger than he. She was greatly over wrought. Since he was the state leader of his denomination, preachers from throughout the state were coming in. All of these people were Christians; born-again, Spirit-filled people. I get so mad sometimes (I don't know whether it's my righteous indignation or just plain getting mad) at people, playing into the hands of the devil instead of helping others. This dear woman was practically in hysterics and everyone of these preachers who came along would say, "Well what are we going to do without him?" Well of course, they would miss him, but, after all, he wasn't God. God wasn't dead. When I arrived I took her by the hand and led her into another room where we sat on the couch. We opened the Bible and I began to read to her. Then I said, "Now he lived his life out and went home. He didn't suffer, he just lay down in bed at night time and quit breathing. Praise God. He didn't suffer or go through a lot. It was time for him to go home. It's rather like the old folks of the Old Testament. God said to Israel, 'I will take sickness away from the midst of you and the number of your days you will fulfill.' As you read the account of some of them you can see that they knew when it was time to go. Such as Jacob, or Israel, he laid his hands on his sons and blessed them then gathered his feet up in the bed and died. He gave up the ghost. Your husband lived his life out, gathered his feet up in bed, gave up the ghost, and is gathered unto his Father. Now where did he go?" And so we read from the New Testament where Paul said, "For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21.) Gain! Gain! Gain! "Of course you feel your loss," I said to her, "but don't be selfish about this now." (Nearly all the tears people shed are selfish tears. "Poor old me. What am I going to do?") "Forget about yourself," I said to her, "and think about him. I know you feel your loss. But you really aren't crying about him, you know where he went. He's GAINED!" 1 continued. "You have a son living in another state. Suppose he wrote a letter home and said, 'The company has just offered me a $10,000 raise and they are going to furnish me with a $100,000 home with all bills paid.' "You wouldn't get up in church and cry and say, 'I want you all to pray for my son. I just don't know whether I can stand it or not.' "No, you see, he has gained and you are happy for him. You would be rejoicing about it. Think of your husband and what he has 5

6 gained." I'll tell you, she got to shouting! Glory to God, her face lit up, and the burden rolled away. She dried up her selfish tears. She knew where he had gone God's Word had told her. She was happy. She started humming a song, got up, and got busy straightening up some things. Her face was light and bright as if she were floating around on air; singing a song; happy. And here came some more unbelieving preachers. She went out to meet them. By the time they hit the porch they were all hollering, and screaming, and crying at the top of their voices. Hugging her they sobbed, "What in the world are we going to do now?" And they got her back to crying again, almost in hysterics, almost out of her head. The second time, I led her away from the unbelievers. (I know why Jesus put people out sometimes.) As we sat down on the couch I said, "Now wait just a minute. You've got your mind back on yourself. Did you notice what those three said? 'What are WE going to do.' You are all feeling sorry for yourselves. No, I'm not being hard about it, I'm just being Biblical about it. You are thinking about yourself. The preachers said, 'What are WE going to do without him? WE will never make it without him.' "Actually we ought to be depending upon the Lord, not upon him. He was a great man, a good man. I knew him well and appreciated him highly but even though I feel the loss, I am rejoicing that he has gone home. To die is GAIN." Again I took her to God's Word in Second Corinthians: n CORINTHIANS 5:6-8 6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home In the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. "You look at the house he lived in; that's not him. He is present with the Lord. That's where he is alive with all the conscious faculties he ever had. Hallelujah." Her face lit up, she dried her tears, and was happy again...for awhile until some more unbelieving preachers came along. We finally had to leave to get on to our next meeting and she understood. The very day of the funeral, however, she called us saying, "Brother Hagin, can I talk to you? You're the only one who has helped me. I know these other people are concerned and I realize they loved him, but they pull me down. They sap me of what little strength I do have." (Spiritual strength, that is, and faith.) "Just tell me again," she went on. "I know it's all in there, but tejl me again." She was paying the bill so I just talked to her for about 30 minutes. And Praise God, she was shouting on the other end. God's Word will do that. No matter what the circumstance of life is, God's Word has something to say about it. And the only way you can really help anyone, or truly benefit them, is to tell them what God's Word says about their particular situation. So many times in dealing with people who are going through trials, and tests, and temptations, etc., we just try to help them in the natural. Folks will say, "Don't worry about it. It will all come out in the wash." But that's not what the Bible says. Let people know that right in the test, right in the trial, the Lord said, "I will never leave you, nor forsake you." (See Hebrews 13:5.) He is there! * * * n CORINTHIANS 4:13 13 We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Paul wrote, "We having..." He did not say, "trying to get" or, "praying for" or, "hoping for" but--"having." "We having the same spirit of faith..." This Scripture says, "...I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak." Now isn't that the same kind of faith Jesus is talking about in Mark 11:22-24? Jesus said, "Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast unto the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." Isn't that the same spirit of faith? And notice that II Cor. 4:13 says we have it! Close your eyes for a moment and make the following statements aloud with your mouth: "I am a Believer I'm not a doubter." "I have a measure of the God kind of faith." "I have a measure of the kind of faith that created the worlds in the beginning." "I have a measure of the mountain moving faith." When you hear yourself say that it will register on your spirit a little better. And once God's Word gets down there into your spirit, it will control your life. KENNETH HAGIN EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION P.O. BOX TULSA, OKLAHOMA 74150