Do you ever wonder what God desires for you and what His intentions are toward you? Through the knowledge found in the Bible, I can tell you that God desires good for each one of you. Jesus said, I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10). Doesn’t that sound like God desires good for you and me?

Children sing a little song that says, “Jesus loves me…this I know…for the Bible tells me so.” You can make melody in your heart, too, by singing that same little song with these words: “God desires…good for me…for the Bible tells me so.” You may never have thought of it that way, but you need to start.

When you read in Genesis about God creating the world, notice that after each creation, He would look at it and see that it was good. And God saw that it was good (Genesis 1:10,12,18,21,25). He divided the waters from the dry land, and God saw that it was good. He created the grass and the trees and saw that it was good. He created the moon, the sun, the stars, the fish, the fowls of the air, the cattle, the creeping things and the beasts; and God saw that it was all good. But God gave a different verdict after He had made man and woman: And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good (Genesis 1:31). You must want God to look at you now and say, “Very good.” The Psalmist said, I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14).

Out of all God’s creations, it was man and woman He desired the greatest good for and invested so much in. They received the most attention from God, the most blessings and the most dominion. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth (Genesis 1:26-28).

God intended for Adam and Eve to have Heaven on Earth in Eden. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so(Genesis 1:29,30). Adam and Eve would not have needed to go up to Heaven because they were to have had Heaven right here on Earth. God’s blessings and desires for Adam and Eve were all good; He held nothing back from them.

Never Listen to the Devil

Satan hated the blessed union between God and man, so he decided he would try to convince Eve that God was holding back on them. Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat (Genesis 3:1-6).

Eve allowed the devil to beguile her, and she sinned. Then she convinced Adam to sin. Never listen to the devil, and never allow him to take you outside of God’s revealed truth or you will look at God in the wrong light like Adam and Eve did. There is nothing good in the devil, so you must never let him convince you that God is holding out on you and that there is something better for you around the next corner because that will be the devil’s corner.

Because Adam and Eve sinned, Jesus had to come to Earth to bring us a new and living way and to make it possible for all of us to be made brand-new creations. Therefore if any man [or woman] be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new(II Corinthians 5:17).

A New and Living Way

God still desires only good for man today, and He holds nothing back. He even gave His only Son so we could have eternal life. 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). Salvation and eternal life are free. When you are saved, the Lord will always take care of you. When you leave this Earth, you will have a body that will never again feel one pain; but most people today are ignoring that wonderful opportunity. They don’t want to live free from sin, but you have to if you want to go to Heaven because God will never allow one sin to get into that holy city.

Many people say that no one can live free from sin, but you can if you have Jesus. That is why He gave His life for us. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you (John 15:13,14). You are a friend of God today if you do whatsoever He commands you to; but if you don’t obey Him, He is not your friend.

Don’t think you will get anywhere with God by telling Him He hasn’t been good to you. We are the ones who must first confess our sins and admit that we haven’t been good to God. Jesus said, And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life (John 6:40).

And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God (Ephesians 3:19). Do you know the love of Christ like that? The fullness of God is all of Heaven. It means we are lacking nothing; so when the devil tries to tell you that God is holding out on you, don’t pay attention to him. Don’t waver between your feelings and God’s revealed truth for you, or your mind will be unstable and always wondering whether or not God truly desires good for you.

When something bad happens, some of you think, “God did that to me.” Many preachers have taught down through the years that sickness comes from God, but that is not true. The Bible says, Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James 1:17).

There is nothing good about sickness, and God gets no glory out of it. He gets glory when you are healed. When you are sick, the devil is glorified; and you must realize that he is the one who afflicts you. The Lord is the one who makes you well.

Righteousness Brings Eternal Life

God desired good for Abraham. And I [God] will make of thee [Abraham] a great nation [Did He do it?—Yes.], and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed (Genesis 12:2,3).

True peace and joy did not come through the Law; they came through Abraham, and Abraham’s greatness came through grace. Jesus brought grace to Earth, and He came through Abraham’s seed. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ (Galatians 3:16).

Jesus did not come through the Law, but He fulfilled the Law. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil (Matthew 5:17). The Law could not wash away sin. If it could have, then Jesus would not have had to come and give His life.

The righteousness that Abraham took on in his life made him the friend of God. And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God (James 2:23). That same righteousness will make you a friend of God, too; but if you are committing any sin, you are in the pathway of God’s judgment. If you continue on and die in that condition, hell will be your destiny.

God wanted the children of Israel to acknowledge their iniquities and turn from their backsliding so He could take them to the Promised Land. Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God [Admit that you have committed sin and disobeyed God.], and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion (Jeremiah 3:13,14). If you have ever doubted God’s goodness, He wants you to admit it. Turn to Him in faith and let Him take you to His expected end.

Notice in verse 14 that the Lord said He is married to the backslider. That is how much He loves people and how much He grieves over a backslider. But when a person takes the unforgivable step and blasphemes, He doesn’t grieve over them anymore. He wipes them out of His mind until the White Throne Judgment when they will be sentenced to hell for eternity.

Your soul means everything to God, and it should mean everything to you. Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls (I Peter 1:9). Your soul came from the breath of God, and that is why it is eternal like God and can never die; but that has caused God so much suffering. When God created man, He did not look into his future and see that he would sin. The Lord told me that He didn’t because He wanted man to trust Him, so He knew He also had to trust man.

We Will Suffer

People struggle trying to figure out God’s desires for them, and that is why they need to know what the Word says about it. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). God is love; and love begets love, not evil. That expected end is the end God desires for you, the end that is filled with all of the promises in the Word of God.

Suffering in the flesh should not make you doubt that God desires good for you. When you are being fought, God still desires to give you His expected end; and faith in His Word will bring it to pass. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).

Job suffered, but he still trusted in God; and God’s desires for Job proved to be good—his end was better than his beginning. So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses (Job 42:12).

Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful [thoughtful], and of tender mercy (James 5:11). God doesn’t pity us; He is thoughtful like a mother who dearly loves her baby. That child is her life at that time.

Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution (II Timothy 3:12). But that does not mean God desires bad things for us. He has an expected end for us, and it is good. He has a perfect Heaven planned for all of His children, and the devil will never be able to get within a million miles of you once you are there. Paul knew that; and he said, For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (II Corinthians 4:17).

Just because you face distressing situations doesn’t change God’s desires for you. He will work something good from them when you trust Him. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28). But if you don’t answer His call, everything will not work out for your good.

The Psalmist knew that God could work good for him. Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer (Psalm 4:1). God enlarges the hearts of His children to hold the fullness of God. You can hold all of Heaven and the whole Godhead in your heart.

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place (Psalm 118:5). God will set you in a large place of love, peace, joy, goodness, mercy, knowledge, wisdom and all that is good. Paul said, [God] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6).

I like those heavenly places, but they are not where we do our work for the Lord. We have to come down from those high places because they are just temporary places where we get more power and more of Heaven to serve to people.

Resist the Devil

The Bible tells us that God walks inside His children. As God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (II Corinthians 6:16). Therefore, you should be able to look to the Lord and trust in Him with all your heart. Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths (Proverbs 3:5,6).

God will direct you, but the devil will always be after you when you are on frontline duty for the Lord. The devil will shoot at you, but his arrows can’t get to you when you have on the whole armor of God. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:13-17). The shield of faith will stop any dart of the devil.

You can’t let the devil get to you. The Lord came to me one day and said, “You will have to beat the devil off of my people,” and He did use the word “beat.” Since that time, I have had to do just that; but I enjoy beating the devil because he needs it. God gives me the power to do that, and He will give it to you, too. You will have to beat the devil off of yourself and your loved ones, but some of you are too nice to fight the devil. Not me—I want to make it worse for him the next time.

When the devil comes after you at night, start thanking God for the divine blood over and over again; and when you stop, the devil will no longer be around. The Lord told me that the blood burns the devil just like fire burns us. That is why He tells you in His Word, Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil [fight him off], and he will flee from you (James 4:7).

Never listen to the devil. He seeks to make God look evil, and he is always seeking to withhold good from anyone he can. He also seeks to punish people even when they don’t deserve it. Satan wants people to walk in the wrong kind of fear toward God—stifling, tormenting fear—so they will be hindered and tormented and feel trapped in pits of despair. If you are a person who is down much of the time, you must learn to submit to God and resist the devil.

You can put the devil to flight because he is afraid of the God in you and of His spirit of divine grace. That divine grace will put old Lucifer in the bottomless pit one day, and it will take just one angel and one chain of blood to do it. And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season (Revelation 20:1-3).

At one time, the devil was the most beautiful angel in Heaven, but he let pride take him over; and God threw him out of Heaven and made him the ugliest creature ever. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee (Ezekiel 28:15).

Always Seek More of God

God wants to do you good, but you have to seek Him with your whole heart. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity (Jeremiah 29:13,14).

Seek God’s Word with all your heart and let it prevail to bring about God’s decided end for you. You don’t have to worry about that part because that is the Lord’s job. I don’t worry about going to Heaven one day because I know without a doubt that when my work is done and Jesus comes, I will be ready to fly away with Him.

You have to seek God’s thoughts. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8,9).

God’s Word tells us the things we should think on. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8). You need to keep these thoughts before you and think on them. Write them down and put them where your family can see them. Those thoughts will make beautiful mealtimes and beautiful conversations.

God thinks many wonderful thoughts toward us. Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered (Psalm 40:5). Count your blessings one by one and see what Christ has done for you.

You also have to seek the Holy Ghost with your whole heart, but some of you don’t tarry long enough to receive. I don’t remember ever stopping seeking Him until the night I received Him. I let the Lord know that whenever an altar call was given, I would be there to seek for the Holy Ghost. I put myself to sleep saying, “Lord, give me the Holy Ghost.” If I woke up during the night, I said, “Lord, give me the Holy Ghost.” When I woke up in the morning, I said, “Lord, give me the Holy Ghost.” If somebody had asked me what I wanted more than anything else in the world, I would have said, “The baptism of the Holy Ghost.” I was hungry for Him; and the Lord said if we are hungry, we will be fed. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

The Holy Ghost is a mighty gift from God, and it doesn’t cost you anything; but through the Spirit, you will receive divine wisdom, love, knowledge and strength. Nevertheless, some of you who have the Holy Ghost will go for long periods of time without letting the Holy Ghost speak through you. He would have more liberty in your life if you would take time to praise Him; and when He speaks through you, it will help your prayer life.

Please God

You must stop using your feelings to evaluate God. Do you ever say, “I don’t feel like God loves me,” or “I don’t feel like praying”? If so, you are living by your feelings; and you are not justified before God. You need to live by Bible truth—that is the only way to have the will of God. You have to act on truth no matter how you feel; that is what faith is all about. Without faith, you can’t find God or have true joy and happiness. But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him (Hebrews 11:6).

You may think God changes, but I can assure you that God and His Word never change; it is your feelings that change. God desired nothing but good for you and me at Calvary, and that means He will think good of you forevermore as long as you accept the fullness of Calvary and always keep it in your heart.

When you think God has changed, it is because you doubt Him. Those are your own thoughts, and you limit God when you think that way. The Bride must lean on God and take His thoughts. She must learn contentment by taking God at His Word and living in divine faith.

Consider this great illustration: Picture two empty houses—the one house is named “faith,” and the other one is “feelings.” If you move into the house of faith, it will be furnished with all the good things from above that God desires for you. Oh how great is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee (Psalm 31:19). If you move into the house of feelings as the Israelites did, it will never be furnished with the fullness of God. Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel(Psalm 78:41).

When things are not going well, remember that it is not because God does not desire good for you; it is because you have chosen to move into your house of feelings. You don’t feel like praying, praising Him or going to church. Only by faith can you delight yourself in the Lord and in His Word. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart (Psalm 37:4). To delight yourself in the Lord is to please Him; and when you please Him, you will remember His Word and use it. You will live in truth, and that is the only way to get to Heaven.

The Psalmist said, I will delight myself in thy statutes: I will not forget thy word (Psalm 119:16). You have to please God above any human being. He must be first on your “pleasing list.”

I seek to please God every day and night. He lives with me, and I live with Him. He speaks to me as one man speaks to another; but if I had ever failed to follow through on what He said, He would not talk to me like that. If I had decided that other things were more important than listening to Him, He would not take time with me.

Yield to the Comforter

Every time you don’t believe that God desires good for you, you will be in trouble. The Lord wants to take care of all the things that concern us. The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth forever: forsake not the works of thine own hands (Psalm 138:8). Now, if the Psalmist could say that before the grace dispensation began, how much more should we be able to say it under grace? The Psalmist was dedicated and consecrated to the Lord, and the Lord was able to pour out the Psalms through him. The Book of Psalms covers more subjects than any other book in the Bible.

God is my strength and power: and he maketh my way perfect (II Samuel 22:33). Can you say that and really mean it? You may wonder at times why certain things don’t happen; but many times, it is because you have tied the hands of God. You are not willing to face God with truth and turn over everything to Him to receive His outcome. You may say you want the will of God, but do you want it your way?

You must be able to say, “God is good all the time.” We must shout it to the world just like John the Baptist did. He was full of power, faith and the Holy Ghost; and he told the known world at that time, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight (Mark 1:3). I [John the Baptist] indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire (Matthew 3:11).

That baptism of fire came on the Day of Pentecost, and it is being poured out on people today, too, as we tell them the Lord will baptize them with the Holy Ghost and with fire if they want Him to. Everyone must have the Holy Ghost if they want to go when Jesus comes no matter what some people say.

When Jesus was here, He said, I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter[the Holy Ghost], that he may abide with you forever (John 14:16). So many people do not have the Holy Ghost today because they won’t receive Him. They may say they are saved, but that can’t be if they reject the Holy Ghost.

When you reject the Holy Ghost, you are rejecting part of the Godhead; and that is blasphemous. Some preachers go so far as to mock the Holy Ghost, and others teach that speaking in tongues came from hell and is going back there. The Bible says that on the Day of Pentecost, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit [the Holy Ghost] gave them utterance (Acts 2:4).

People who have the Spirit of the Lord know that everybody must get the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the first evidence is the speaking with other tongues. If you have never spoken in tongues, you don’t have the Holy Ghost; and if you think you do, you are deceived.

If you do have the Holy Ghost, you must never quench the Spirit. Quench not the Spirit (I Thessalonians 5:19). He cannot be your comforter, teacher or guide when you quench Him.

Be Steadfast in Faith

You will have to fight the enemy while you are in this world, but that doesn’t mean God does not want good for you. It means you will have to use faith. Jesus said, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33). If you will live in Jesus and let Jesus live in you, you will be wonderfully blessed and able to overcome the world. He showed you how to do it when He was here.

The Lord has given us divine faith to use to fight back. Paul said, Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on [take possession of] eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses (I Timothy 6:12). When you get saved, you receive eternal life. You can’t add to something that is eternal, so you have as much eternal life now as you will have when you get to Heaven.

We are called to eternal life and to all the riches in Glory by Christ Jesus. But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). That is a promise of God, and there is a divine promise to cover everything you need; so you are blessed far beyond the riches of this world. You can possess all you need through faith.

Remember this: Human feelings have absolutely nothing to do with your walk with God. Feelings will deceive you, but faith keeps you steady in the will of God. Faith enables you to use the promises and the divine blood. Faith enables you to receive all the miracles you need.

Don’t waver between feelings and faith or between human faith and divine faith because that causes you to be double-minded and very unstable in the Lord. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways (James 1:6-8). When you are unstable in the Lord, you are shaky, wobbly and likely to fall.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord (I Corinthians 15:58). Be steadfast in your faith, and you will be unmovable in all the promises of God.

Never Live in Feelings

You may not always feel like walking with God or doing His work, and the devil will use that to make you feel guilty or become discouraged. He tries to obligate you to your feelings and hinder you from using faith. The devil whispers, “You wouldn’t be having those feelings if they were not true, so you had better not dismiss them.” Again I say, don’t let the devil talk to you and never listen to him. The devil may use a person to try to talk to you, but I don’t care who they are; don’t pay any attention to them. You can keep the wrong things away from you if you want to.

Many Christians have unnecessary battles of the mind because they trust in their feelings. Battles of the mind can be ferocious; and if you let them stay, they can make you confused, afraid and even panicky. People have fallen by the wayside because of being overtaken by battles of the mind. They gave up because they thought there was no use for them to go on.

The Bible says we are not to be weak. Let the weak say, I am strong (Joel 3:10). How can you say that?—through faith. God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith (Romans 12:3). When you use that measure, God will give you another measure; and when you use that one, He will give you another.

God’s measures will add up, so don’t ever say you don’t have faith; you just have to use it. Hold on to what God says about your case, not what the devil has to say about it. Shame on you if you are letting the devil talk to you instead of God!

Feelings will cause you to pity yourself when you face tribulation, and that means you are weak; but faith glories in tribulation, knowing it works divine patience and divine hope. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope (Romans 5:3,4).

The Lord will give you wonderful feelings at times, but not all the time. Those are the times when you must walk by faith. For we walk by faith, not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7). But some of you are living by feelings and calling it faith, and it isn’t working. You should have more confidence in the faith the Lord has given to you than you do in anybody else’s faith; and if you would use the faith God has given to you, you would be happy.

Hebrews 11 is the faith chapter, and it tells of men and women just like you and me who overcame great obstacles by faith. Through faith, they quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens. Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented (Hebrews 11:34-37).

Those saints of God were subjected to all kinds of awful things, but they won through faith. They were heroes of the faith; and the Bible says, Of whom the world was not worthy (Hebrews 11:38). That kind of faith only comes from divinity.

Live by Faith

For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). You can have as much faith as you will accept; it is a free gift. The faith you need to hold on to the promises of God no matter how you feel comes from the Word of God. So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). I go to the Word of God any hour of the day or night. I think the Word, and I believe the Word.

How does that faith work?—by divine love. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love (Galatians 5:6). Under the Mosaic Law, circumcision was valuable; but under grace, circumcision is used only for the health of the body. It doesn’t have anything to do with your soul.

Divine faith only works through love, and that is why love is the first thing God gives us when we get saved. Then the Holy Ghost sheds that love abroad in our hearts. And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us(Romans 5:5). The Holy Ghost flows divine love through us just like our breath flows through us.

The great gulf you feel between flesh and Spirit and between impossible and possible is bridged by faith in God. When battles come, you must hand them over to the Lord the way one person would hand a package to another person; and you have to do it in faith. Then the impossible becomes possible. You must have the faith to obey what God wants, and divine obedience overcomes feelings.

Feelings should never dictate your obedience to God. The devil wants it to be that way, but you must never allow it. Obeying God has nothing to do with your feelings. The devil greatly worries some of you because you don’t feel God all the time, but you are not supposed to feel Him all the time. The Bible says, The just shall live by faith (Hebrews 10:38). To be justified before God and walk the straight and narrow road that leads to Heaven, you have to live by faith, not by feelings.

We are no longer living in the perfect Eden that Adam and Eve did; so to live with God, you have to live by faith. If you live by feelings, you are of the world. You grumble and complain and say, “I don’t feel like it.” You do the wrong things because you don’t have the will to please God, but the faith of God has all the will to please God in it. You will want to please God, and He will become such a great reality to you.

Rise Above Feelings

When Jesus met the woman at the well, He didn’t feel like talking to her because He was weary from His journey; but Jesus was obedient to the Father in all His ways, and He talked to her anyway. Jesus told her about living water from On High saying, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13,14). Then Jesus taught her about true worship and revealed to her that He was the Messiah, and it started a great revival throughout the whole city of Samaria. The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ? Then they went out of the city, and came unto him (John 4:28-30).

Jesus didn’t feel like going to Calvary, but He went anyway through obedience to His Father. And being found in fashion as a man, he [Jesus] humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:8).

Jesus was living the perfect, eternal life in Heaven, and He never thought it would change; but everything changed when Adam and Eve sinned. God tried everything to save people and change them without giving His Son, but nothing else worked; so Jesus had to die for us.

Do you think the widow in Luke 18 felt like going before the king again and again to be avenged of her enemy? No, but she had faith, and her faith brought victory. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth [Will He find faith being used?] (Luke 18:7,8)?

Paul was tried in many ways. In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness (II Corinthians 11:27). But Paul didn’t go by his feelings and pity himself. He used faith and was obedient to the heavenly vision. He told King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision (Acts 26:19). We must not be disobedient to the heavenly vision because the Bible says, Where there is no vision, the people perish (Proverbs 29:18).

You don’t have to feel one thing to be obedient to God when you have faith; but when you doubt Him in any way, you are in deep trouble. Maybe someone has hurt you or shocked you, and it has thrown you so off track that you don’t feel like praying or worshiping the Lord at all; but you cannot give in to those feelings. The Spirit of God can bring you out of that, and how you feel about praying can change. Jesus said, Men ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luke 18:1). “Faint” means to draw back from following close to Jesus.

When people are being fought and they feel like they are in a close corner, some will beg God crying, “Oh, God, please help me!” That kind of desperate prayer isn’t faith, and it will not bring you what you need. Pray in faith and use it believing that all things are possible. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive (Matthew 21:22). For with God all things are possible (Mark 10:27).

Work through Faith

You don’t do the Lord’s work because you feel like it. Some people get excited and believe it is the will of God for them to work for Him in a particular way. They say, “I am going to be a blessing. I am going to let my light shine for the Lord.” Those are feelings; so if they don’t have enough faith to cover them, the wrong feelings will flood in when the workload gets heavy. Suddenly, they don’t feel like doing the work anymore; and the devil says, “It’s all right; you can just quit.” That is the talk of the devil.

Will you let feelings cause you to leave the will of God? When you first got saved, you probably volunteered to do something for the Lord every chance you got. Do you still volunteer? If not, where is your faith in God? Faith can do what you can never do on your own.

Through faith, you must worship God even when you don’t feel like it. You worship Him because He is worthy. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies (Psalm 18:3).

The Lord is not seeking people to worship Him in their feelings but to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23,24).

Faith tells you that the Lord is due all praise, honor and glory. Worthy is the Lamb [Jesus] that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing (Revelation 5:12). You must always remember that the Christ who brought God’s faith to us is worthy.

Faith Is Found in the Word

Learn to use faith, or you will always be trying to find a feeling to rely on; and feelings are a weak, unstable foundation. We have a grave responsibility to use faith, and you should feel that responsibility just as much as you feel the responsibility to feed your body.

The Lord taught me that all you have to do is push the faith button, and your faith will start working. You push buttons in this life to start electrical appliances, use an elevator, open a garage door and do so many other things; so why not put your faith into action the same way? When you push the faith button, you will know you are walking in the divine will of God; and His answer will show up in due season. You will know that God never fails His children.

God’s faith acts on truth only; so faith will take you to the Word, the truth. Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (II Timothy 2:15). I always want to learn more and more about God. I desire the Word more than sleep, food or anything else; and you must, too.

The Lord told me that nothing is covered up or held back from us now. The Bible is an open book at last. Our time is coming to an end now, and God is giving us clear understanding of all the scriptures; but you have to desire that understanding and study the Word.

Never throw up your hands and say, “I can’t understand the Word.” You have to give time to God and to His Word. The Bible is a deep well of truth that took about 1500 years to write. You will never draw all of the water out of that well, meaning the Word will never dry up. The Word will live forever, and it will live in you forever if you will let it.

At times, you may not feel like studying the Word of God or think you are getting anything from it; but the Word of God is the bread of life. If you are sincerely reading it and studying it, you are bound to be getting something from it whether you feel like it or not. Don’t go by your feelings when you are reading the Word of God. Did the Lord ever tell you that you were not getting anything out of reading His Word? If so, give me the book, the chapter and the verse.

Depend on Faith

In Eden, Adam and Eve lived with God; so they didn’t have to depend on faith. The Lord didn’t even teach them about faith because there was nothing they had to use it for—they had everything they needed. As you journey on in this life, Heaven can be a billion miles away; or it can be one step away—faith makes the difference.

Faith is like a motor vehicle. It is the means that transports us to a new place, and it is the means by which we get around once we are there. If you are trying to get to Heaven on feelings, you will never get there. But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:4-6).

Jesus makes us to sit in heavenly places at times but not all the time. Even Jesus did not sit in heavenly places all the time when He was on Earth. He had to face troubles, trials, persecutions, hatred and all the works of the devil. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil (I John 3:8).

You are going to be fought; but through faith, you can fight a good fight just like Paul did. He said, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing (II Timothy 4:7,8).

When troubles come, you must use faith. God doesn’t give you faith one day and then take it away from you the next, so you must keep it and use it to quench your wrong feelings.

When you don’t know what to do, the Bible says, If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him (James 1:5). If there is anything you need the mind of the Lord on, just ask. Don’t be timid about asking God for what you need. He knows before you ask, but He can’t move for you until you ask in faith. He works only by faith.

Look Only to God

We are justified before God only by faith, not by feelings. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God (Romans 5:1,2). Everything we need is in the glory of God, and never forget that statement.

Go God’s way, and you will be surprised at how well you will do in life. From the least to the greatest, each one of you is rich today if you have Jesus and you are using what He brought and taught. When you compare the riches of this world with Heaven, they are nothing.

Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16). We can go boldly before God’s throne of grace through Christ’s love law of liberty—the Gospel of truth. That is one of the greatest promises in the whole Bible! I go before God’s throne and say, “Lord, I need you to talk to me”; and He is always there.

The Bible says, Study to be quiet (I Thessalonians 4:11). The Lord can only work with a quiet spirit. He has a gentle touch and a gentle voice that can change you. No matter how bad the problem might be, your faith should tell you that God is big enough; and He will take care of it. You may ask, “How big is God?” I say that He is big enough, and that is all that matters.

The Lord wants you to be close to Him, and He wants to talk to you. He wants you to believe that He is God and that He will do everything He has promised. I am thrilled with God, but I feel sorry for the way so many people mistreat Him. Paul got a sample of that kind of treatment; and he said, I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved (II Corinthians 12:15). That is so sad.

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). Again, the Bible says that the just shall live by faith. You are not to go from faith to doubt; you must make no room for doubt. From faith to faith is the only way to go.

The Bible also tells us to go from grace to grace. And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace (John 1:16). When you fail to do that, it allows the devil to talk to you. You won’t get an answer to your prayer that way because you have let the devil break your contact with God. You have to shut the devil out and become deaf to him. Spray him with the divine blood just like you spray insects with bug spray, and he will run.

God Desires to Save You

Sinners and Backsliders, you can have all the good God desires for you, and you can live by faith; but it all begins with Jesus Christ. He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (John 14:6).

Let Jesus come into your life right now. Say the sinner’s prayer and mean it with your whole heart. Oh, God, save my soul. I am so sorry I sinned against you, Lord, but I have come home; and I will serve you for the rest of my life. I believe in the blood of Jesus, and I know He died for me. I know there is power in the blood of the Lamb to wash away all of my sins. Come into my heart, Jesus! Come on in!

If you meant that prayer, Jesus has come in; and now, you are a brand-new person. You have a new life of faith, and don’t live it in fear; live it in grace, faith and love. Glory be to God forevermore!

God Desires to Heal You

Now that you have given your heart to the Lord, you can be healed. You may have AIDS or leprosy, but God heals those diseases through this Jesus world outreach ministry. TB leaves people’s lungs, and the Lord re-creates them. God can do anything. Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me (Jeremiah 32:27)?

When Jesus was here, He healed all manner of sicknesses and diseases. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people (Matthew 4:23). But Jesus did not heal all manner of people.

People cause their own problems when it comes to being blessed by the Lord because of their wrong thoughts and actions. Now, that doesn’t mean you are sinful if you are sick; it means that there is healing for you, and God wants good for you. If you have children, you don’t want them to be sick; so why do people think it is their Heavenly Father’s will for them to be sick? You want good for your children, and God wants good for you.

Faith in God heals the sick. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up (James 5:15). The Bible also says, Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth (III John 1:2). That clearly lets you know that God gets no glory out of you being sick. If you are afflicted in your body today, you must realize that it is the will of God for you to be well; but when He heals you, you must give Him all the praise.

Lord, I bring those with deadly diseases to you. There are whole families with AIDS, and some people are near death now. Give them life, Lord. You are doing it all the time. Heal the people of cancer, heart trouble, diabetes and all other afflictions they may have. Heal! in the blood name of Jesus. I use the precious blood of Jesus to destroy those deadly diseases and give people life. Heal! in the all-powerful, blood name of Jesus, and be thou made well.

Write or email and tell me about your miracle. If you had AIDS, go back to your doctor and get your good report. Then send it to me, and I will rejoice with you. We will never use your name on television or in any of our literature. We just list the country you are from and let your testimony glorify the Lord. He must have all the praise, the honor and the glory.

This is your chance to testify to the whole world. The Lord wants you to be a witness for Him.