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mountain moving faith:

Keeps a Good Report, -by KENNETH E. HAGIN V of the Series: The Seven Most Important Things

You Should Know About Faith)

MARK 11:22-26 22 And Jesus answering saith 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 I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 25 ^nd when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught 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.

Thus far in our study we have covered these four points in this series of lessons:

1) Every believer has a measure of the God kind of faith.

2) This measure of faith can be increased by feeding it on the Word of God and by e x e r cising it.

3) Faith is of the heart, and not the head. 4) Faith will not work when there is an

"unforgiveness" about you. And now as we come to the fifth point, look

again at the 23rd verse from our text. Notice that Jesus concluded that verse by saying, ". . . he shall have whatsoever he saith." The fifth point from the "Seven Most Important Things You Should Know About Faith" is: Faith must be released in words through your mouth.

More than 20 years ago I was holding a revival meeting in the town of Graham, Texas . It was my custom during my meetings in those days to have two fast days a week; Tuesdays and Thursdays were my fast days. On one of those fast days I spent the whole day in the church building reading the Bible on my knees around the altar, walking up and down the aisles of the sanctuary praying, just waiting on God, reading and meditating upon His Word. (47L-B)

On my knees around that altar I read the whole book of Mark. It doesn't take long, there are only 16 chapters. I can't tell you why but Mark has always been my favorite Gospel. I guess the reason is that it was the 11th chapter of Mark which brought me off the bed of affliction where I had lain with two serious organic heart troubles, a body practically totally paralyzed and an incurable blood disease. And so I read this book of Mark again; there is no telling how many times I had read it before.

I had read the entire book down through the 16th chapter where Jesus said, "Andthese signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues...they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover" (Mark 16:17-18) . I stopped reading there and I sat down on the floor before the altar bench and was meditating about His saying "These signs shall follow them that believe...." That's what I was thinking about. I wasn't even thinking about the 11th chapter of Mark. That was the furthest thing from my mind.

After a while I lay down on therug^tefere the altar, meditating on the 16th chapter of Mark. My hands were folded under my head as I lay staring up at the ceiling. Finally I just got to the place where I quit thinking. My mind got quiet. And about that time, on the inside of me, in my spirit, the Lord spoke to me.

(You know Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still, and know that I am God " God doesn't speak to your mind, and God doesn't speak to your body. God is a Spirit. He contacts you through your spirit and you contact Him through your spirit. It is easy enough to get your body quiet. But you know how sometimes when you lie down at night to go to sleep and your body gets quiet, your mind can give you a little trouble just wanting to go on and on. But here I had gotten both my body and my mind quiet. And the

moment I did, that's when the Lord spoke to meon the insidejust as plainly as any voice I've ever heard. Now I know it wasn't like when I speak out loud to you what you'd hear with your e a r s . I didn't hear it with my physical earsbut yet it was just as real . )

Way down on the inside I heard these words, "Did you notice in the 11th chapter of Mark and the 23rd verse that the word say in some form is in that verse three times and the word believe is only there once?"

And I remember that I rose up to a seated position and said out loud, "No. No, I didn't notice that."

(And there is no telling how many thousands, yes thousands of times I'd quoted those verses . Because on the bed of affliction at the point of death, nearly all night long I'd say and hang on to those verses . I'd say them over and over again. There is no telling how many thousands of times I had quoted this verse and I had never noticed that. But I am sure that's the way it is with you. You've read certain Scriptures for years and then you'll read them one day and something just pops out on the page and you see something you've never seen before. You'll even wonder why you never saw it before. Isn't that right? God's Word is that way. You have to get the revelation of it in your heart. And the reason you hadn't seen it before was that you hadn't gotten it in your spirit.)

And so I said, "No, I hadn't noticed that." And real quickly I turned the pages back to the 11th chapter of Mark and read that 23rd verse again, "For verily I say (You don't count this say because it refers to Jesus . ) 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." And there it wassay or saithsay in some form is in that verse three times concerning the "whosoever" and believe is there only once.

"That's right!" I said aloud. "I had never noticed that before."

And then on the inside of me I heard these words, "My people are not missing it primarily in their believingbut where they are missing it is in their saying. They have been taught to believe--but faith must be released in words through your mouth. You can have what you say."

After He said that to me, in my spirit, then I began to think. As I sat there in the floor before that altar I looked back. All the campmeetings I'd ever attended, every convention and every revival meeting I'd ever been to, every sermon I'd heard preached passed before my mind. It 2

seemed as if I could see them as these ministers flashed before my mind. And in every convention, every campmeeting, every revival, I had never heard onenot a single onepreach about the saying part of faith. Not one single one!

Yet Jesus had said to me in my spirit, "You will have to do three times as much preaching and teaching about the saying part as you do the believing part in order to get folks to see it."

Then I checked up on myself and I'd been doing a little bit but not much along that line. That was about 25 years ago. And at that time I began to do what He said to doto say more about that part of faith.

Now look at that verse again. Let's examine it. Notice that Jesus said, "...and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe (Now that is, 'believe in his heart. ') that those things which he saith (Those things which you say are your 'words.') "

Now, he believes in his heart that those things which he saith shall come to pass. He believes in his heart and he believes in his words. You believe in your heart, and then you believe in your words. And that gives you power over demons, disease, and circumstances!

Then Jesus concluded this verse by saying, "He shall have whatsoever he saith." Now what is it that Jesus says you are going to have? Is it what you believe for? No! A lot of people think, "Now if I believe strongly enough for something it will come to pass." Then at the same time they keep talking unbelief. And it won't come to pass. Jesus did not say, "He will have whatsoever he believeth." Jesus said, "He shall have whatsoever he saith."

Jesus said, "You will have what you say." And just as He saidyou do have what you say. If you are not satisfied with what you have, then check up on what you are saying. Because all you have and all you are today is a result of what you believed and said yesterday. Let that soak in on you.

Proverbs 6:2 goes well along this line, "Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth." The margin says, "Thou art taken captive with the words of thy mouth." Many Christians are blaming things off on the devil when actually they are taken captive themselves by the words of their own mouths. They are snared with the words of their mouths.

One writer put it this way, "You said you could not, and the moment you said it you were whipped. You said you did not have faith, and doubt rose up like a giant and bound you. You are imprisoned with your own words. You talked failure, and failure held you in bondage."

Too few realize that our words dominate us. And that is just what Jesus is saying, "He shall have whatsoever he saith." Never talk failure. Never talk defeat. Never acknowledge for one moment that God's ability or power cannot put you overbecause if you are talking failure or defeat with your lips, you are acknowledging that God cannot and has not put you over. Thank God He can!

Become "God-inside" minded. Remember that I John 4:4 says, " . . .greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." I believe the Greater One is in me. Do you believe He is in you? I believe He is greater than the devil. Do you? I believe He is greater than the tests and trials that I face. I believe He is greater than the storm I may be facing. I believe He is greater than the problems whidt may be confronting me. I believe He is greater than the circumstances which seem to have me bound. I believe He is greater than sickness and disease. I believe He is greater than anything and everything--greater than all things! And that Greater One, according to I John 4:4, dwells in me!

". . .Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." I often ask folks, "What is He doing in you? Is He just a spiritual hitchhiker? Did He just hitchhike a ride through life with you? Is He just excess baggage for you to c a r r y ? " The answer of course is no. He is in there to help you. He is in there to strengthen you. He is in there to comfort you. Pra ise God! He is in there to put you over.

In the Old Testament there is a proof text of what I am talking about. You will remember that when Israel came out of Egypt they came right up to the border of Canaan to a place called Kadesh-barnea. From there they sent 12 spies to spy out the land. The Bible tells us that 10 of those spies brought back an evil report; two of them brought back a good report. There is something here that we need to see.

What is an evil report? It is a report of doubt. And a Christian, a believer, has no more business peddling doubt than he does peddling dope. Both of them are of the enemy.

Some think I am extreme in my thinking here, but I don't and I'm going to stay with it. And that is, if I were a pastor I would rather have dope peddlers and bootleggers in the church than doubt peddlers. That sounds extreme but let me explain. You see, if there were dope peddlers and bootleggers in the church and you couldn't get them right with God you could turn them out and everybody would be in favor of it. But you try to deal with some of these old doubt peddlers and see what you get into. They'll go around from

house to house peddling doubt. "See," they'll say, "it's not going. I told you it wouldn't. Sunday School is down, the money's down and nothing's coming in. That preacher is just leading us wrong and now then he has turned around and got the wrong evangelist here." They'll just look around for anybody who has a slop bucket for an ear to put a little slop in. I might be getting right by where some of you folks are living. But if I am that's all right. Maybe you'll straighten up and get rightthen things will be better. The believer has no business peddling doubt.

Ten of those spies brought back an evil report. The Bible calls it that. What was it? It was a report of doubt. For you see, God had already told them the land where they were going was flowing with milk and honey. And they brought back some of the giant clusters of grapes and pomegranates and figs. And they even said that it was a land flowing with milk and honey...but! But!. . .But!. . .

People will come sometimes for help and I will tell them what the Word of God says and give them Scriptures concerning their case and then they'll say, "Yeah, I know that, Brother Hagin. I know all those verses are in there...but, you can't ever tell what might happen." Oh yes you can telleverything will happen that God said would happen if you will believe it.

And so, they brought back an evil report. They said, "But!...There are giants in the land. (And there were giants there.) And in our own eyes we are as grasshoppers in their sight. We're not able to take the land." That was their confession. They confessed what they believed. They believed they couldn't do itthey said, "We can't do it."and they got exactly what they said! For Jesus said, "He shall have whatsoever he saith." Jesus said that you can have what you say!

The ten spies said, "We can't take the land." And they got exactly what they said.

Israel accepted the report of the majority and said that they couldn't take the land. And Israel got exactly what they said. They wandered in the wilderness till every man over 20 years of age had died.

All except Caleb and Joshua, that is. Remembering that Jesus said that you can have what you say, look at Numbers 13:30 to see what Caleb said, "And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it." He didn't deny that the giants were there. No, we don't stick our heads in the sand like ostriches and think they will go away. No, the giants are there, but we are well able to overcome them. Blessed be to God, we are well able to overcome them.

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And now, what did Joshua say? Joshua said, "Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not" (Numbers 14:9).

Putting together what Caleb said with what Joshua said, their good report was, "We are well able to overcome itthe Lord is with us."

When you are facing the giants of life, don't have a negative confession. Don't talk doubt and have an evil report . Faith always has a good report .

"Yeah, but," some say, "I can't do this and I can't do that." Well quit talking about what you can't doand begin to talk about what He can do. We're well able to overcomefor the Lord is with us. Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world.

And the Lord has told us, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (See Hebrews 13:5.) Yet a lady came to me at the close of a service where we taught on faith and truth, crying almost hysterically, "Brother Hagin, I want you to pray for me."

"All right, Sister, what is the matter?" "It seems like the Lord has forsaken me."

"What awful sin have you committed to make Him forsake you?" I asked.

"As far as I know," she answered, "Ihaven't done one thing. But it just seems like the pre sence of the Lord is gone from me."

"The Bible doesn't say that we walk by 'seems-like'. The Bible says that we walk by faith. And God's Word says that the Lord will never leave you, nor forsake you."

"I know that," she cried, "but it just seems like He has."

"Why you have more faith in 'seems-like' than you have in the Bible."

"But I know what I feel," she said and she almost got angry.

"Yes, but I know my Jesus . Jesus said it, and I believe it. We cannot be concerned by what we feel."

Thank God for a motto I inherited from the Southern Baptists. I wrote it in red ink on the fly leaf of my Bible as a boy on the bed of affliction. "The Bible says it. I believe it. And that settles it."

Seems-like or no seems-like. Feeling or no feeling. But if you'll start believing right, and thinking right, and talking rightthen it won't be long until you'll be feeling right!

KENNETH HAGIN EVANGELISTIC ASSOCIATION P.O. BOX 50126 TULSA, OKLAHOMA 74150 9