WHERE OTHERS CAN'T, YOU CAN - Believe:

“So Jesus answered and said to them, 'Have faith in God.

“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,

'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in

his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done,

he will have whatever he says.

“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you

pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have

them.” NKJV Mark 11: 22-24.

Faith in God is a very important part of the asking, seeking and

knocking process. You must believe that you have already

received what you are asking for. Believing is very difficult for

many people, but once you know that God Has all the powers,

it must not be difficult at all.

If you ask your friend to lend you five pounds and he gives you,

how much more will the Almighty give you for free if you only

ask and strongly trust that he will give you? Mind you, God

does not lend or ask for payment, He gives for free.

So many people fail to receive because they do not believe.

Take for example my friend Timothy in the following story:

Timothy, Susan and Sara were catholics. They all attended

church services at St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church every

Sunday.

Timothy strongly desired a new Toshiba laptop computer, so did

Susan and Sara. They all prayed to God daily, each of them

asking for a new Toshiba laptop. Sometimes they held prayer

sessions together.

Susan and Sara strongly believed God was going to give them.

So, after three months of prayer, Susan bought herself the

laptop she strongly desired. A week later, Sara's brother bought

her the laptop she strongly desired as a birthday present.

Timothy always doubted in his mind. Sometimes his thoughts

would say: “ Can I manage to get enough money for a new

laptop? No I can't. I can't buy this new computer. May be, I can

buy a used one. But, that's expensive, too. Anyway, I can do

without.” Up to this day, he has neither a laptop computer, nor

a desktop.

Susan managed to get enough money and buy the computer she

strongly desired because she strongly desired it, asked for it,

strongly believed that God had already given her the laptop,

and she received it. Sara also strongly desired a new Toshiba

laptop computer, asked for it, strongly trusted God, and she

received it.

Why didn't Timothy receive? Yes he strongly desired a new

Toshiba laptop computer and asked for it, but did he believe

that God had already provided? No. Timothy doubted. By

thinking that he would not be able to get enough money for a

new laptop, he doubted in his heart. By thinking that he could

not buy a new computer, he did not trust in God's power, hence

he barred himself from being able to buy any other new

computer. By thinking of buying a used one, he did not believe

that God was capable of giving him a new one. By thinking that

he could do without, he completely lost all faith in God thereby

blocking himself from buying even a used one at auction. That's

why he does not have a computer up to this day.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the

works that I do he will do also; and greater works than

these he will do, because I go to My Father.

“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the

Father may be glorified in the Son.

“If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” NKJV John

14: 12-14.

Lack of faith prevents us from receiving from God. Faith opens

all doors, helps us cross all flooded rivers, and makes us say: “I

can.” where others say: “I can't.”

A virus which is so many billions of times smaller than a

human being and weighs trillions of times less than a human

being, infects him, causes him to lose weight, and eventually

takes his life. Why? It strongly desires to do this. It strongly

believes it can do this. Thus it has unwavering faith. If we have

unwavering faith, nothing can thwart our endeavors to obtain

what we want and we will get what we desire. All our prayers

will be answered.

God does not give false promises as humans do. Why then do

you have to trust a human being who can give you a false

promise instead of putting all your faith in God?

Sometimes we say to ourselves: “God can't come down from

heaven and give me money and neither can He make it fall

from heaven?”. I say yes, he can but in a way you can't easily

comprehend. He may, like what happened to Sara in the above

story, send someone who has money to buy what you want for

you and give it to you as a present, or he may make you get a

better paying job so that you can have enough money to buy

what you want.

However, you do not have to just say to yourself: “Yes, I

believe that God will give me whatever I ask for from Him,”

and then sit back and relax taking no action.

Take for example what happened to Rose in the following

story:

Rose and Ruth were twin sisters and both were in Form Three

at Silveira Secondary School. One day, on their way to school,

they realized that they were going to be five minutes late.

“What should we do?” Rose asked Ruth.

“Lets pray.” replied Ruth.

Ruth knelt down and started praying to God asking Him to

prevent her and her sister from being late for school. Unlike

Ruth, Rose started running at top speed towards the school and

was a minute early. Whilst running, she was praying to God to

make her arrive early.

Did Ruth arrive at school a minute or more early or she was

late? Why?

“If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,

and one of you says to them, 'Depart in peace, be warmed

and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are

needed for the body, what does it profit?” NKJV James 2:

15,16.

Ruth arrived more than five minutes late because she did not

run. Although she had faith in God, she did not take positive

action. In addition to this, her thoughts were concentrating on

being late. That's why in her prayer she prayed to God asking

Him to prevent them from being late instead of asking Him to

make them arrive early. Those thoughts contributed a lot in

preventing her from taking positive action towards being early

and in rubbing off her belief in being early, thereby making her

more than five minutes late.

Rose arrived early because she strongly desired to arrive early,

she believed she would be early and she took positive action by

running.

Thus, faith without action is dead. If you have faith but take no

action, instead of being five minutes late, you will be ten or

more minutes late. If you just say to yourself: “God will heal

my illness,” but don't go to Hospital, you may not be healed

because you did not take positive action towards your healing.

What makes people take negative action or no action at all

towards the attainment of their goals? Negative thoughts do.

Negative thoughts prevent you from working hard to get money

to buy that new house you desire. Moreover, they weaken or

even completely take away all the faith you had in God. If you

desire a new house, believe that you will be able to buy it and

work hard to get enough money to buy the house.

Had I only strongly desired and believed in writing and

publishing this book but not sit down to write it, would you be

reading it? No.

With all this having been said about asking, seeking, knocking

and faith, how can we make ourselves believe and how can we

strengthen our faith?

The creation and distraction of faith begins in the mind. Your

conscious and subconscious thoughts can either create and

invigorate your belief in God's unlimited powers or weaken and

eventually completely destroy it.

Take for instance, a farmer who strongly desires to have a

bumper harvest this year. Thoughts of having a bumper harvest

and all the benefits of such a harvest should dominate his mind.

Some of the positive thoughts he should always have are: I will

have enough food for my family. I will sell a lot of the produce

and make money. I will make a great contribution in feeding the

nation. I will become a farmer of the year. I will become a

celebrity. I will teach other people how to farm.

However, he must not dwell on thinking about things that may

prevent him from having a good harvest as doing so will

weaken his desire, destroy his faith and eventually result in a

poor harvest. Having thoughts like: There is going to be a

drought this year. I am not going to have enough money to buy

seeds, fertilizer and insecticides. I can't do this. By worrying

about barriers that may bar him from the attainment of his goal,

he attracts those barriers.

Instead of worrying, he should look back and start learning

from his past mistakes. He should also find out how he solved

some problems in the past. Furthermore, he should learn from

other farmers how to solve problems. Thus, instead of

concentrating on thinking about problems, he should more

often think about solutions so that he can attract more solutions.

Jesus Christ said: “And which of you by worrying can add

one cubit to his stature?

“If you then are not able to do the least, why are you

anxious for the rest?” NKJV Luke 12: 25,26

Jesus Christ knew that by worrying, we attract more of the

negative things and destroy our faith in God. He also knew that

through worrying, we prevent ourselves from taking the

necessary positive action thereby making ourselves fail to attain

our goals.

Thus, the starting point of creating and strengthening our faith

is the mind. You must control your mind to think positively

about your goal and all the benefits of attaining it. In your

conversations with other people, avoid saying negative things

about anything you want to achieve and try by all means

necessary to avoid those people who are there to discourage

you.

You now have a very strong desire for something, you always

think about it and all positive things that come with it, and you

now believe you can receive it, what's next? You need to keep

on feeding your faith so that it can be strong. You also need to

continually tell yourself that the thing you desire is now yours

and you have received it.

To strengthen your faith, you may practice creative

visualization. Creative visualization is a process whereby you

see yourself, with eyes of your imagination, in possession of the

thing you desire. For example, you strongly desire a new laptop

computer, see yourself typing an email, an assignment or a

book on your new computer. Feel your fingers hitting the keys

on the keyboard. Hear the noise made by the keys. See the

letters on the screen. See yourself playing games on the new

laptop. Listen to the music or watch the videos you are playing

on your new computer. See yourself smiling and happy that you

now have the new laptop computer you strongly desire.

You can do this twice a day, at night just before sleeping and in

the morning just before going out of bed. Make sure when you

do it you are relaxed and there are no disturbances. Through

practicing creative visualization, you think about the thing you

desire and positive things of having it, you believe that you

already have it, and you attract it. Moreover, you create and

feed your belief in attaining that goal, thereby greatly

strengthening your faith.

There are so many psychology and philosophy books that

explain in detail how to practice creative visualization and

meditation. You can also read those.

Some christians strengthen their faith through novena prayers.

A novena prayer is a prayer said at least once a day for nine

consecutive days. During the prayer, you also say your petitions

to God. Some do it before they sleep, some soon after waking

up, and others do it in the morning and at night.

By saying this prayer daily for nine consecutive days, you think

about your desires that you are praying for and their positive

benefits at least once a day for nine consecutive days. Thus,

you attract those desires and strengthen your faith in God, too.

There are also other people who create and feed their faith

through fasting. When you fast, you weaken your flesh before

God so that the Holy Spirit may be strong in you. If you

manage to conquer all the temptations that come to you during

your fast, by the end of the fast, your faith in God will be much

stronger than before. Fasting is not only depriving yourself of

food and/or water, but the fast that pleases God is whereby you

deprive yourself of your fleshly lusts. For example, helping the

poor, quitting smoking, stopping drinking alcohol for some

days or weeks and donate the money to charity, doing voluntary

work, to mention but four.

Whatever happens to you, keep on believing and feeding your

faith. Even when temptations, problems and troubles come,

never look back. Keep on fighting.

“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various

trials, knowing that testing of your faith produces

patience.” NKJV James 1: 2,3.

Even when you are tested keep on saying to yourself: “Yes, I

can.” Even when great temptations come, say: “Yes, I can.” For

God knows how to put his people out of trouble, trials and

temptations. Believe and keep on saying: “Yes, I can.” Even

where and/or when others can't, say to yourself: “Yes, I can.”

So many people do not achieve their goals in life because of

friends. When you choose friends, do so wisely. There are those

friends who are always pessimistic. If you can't convert them to

optimists (anyway you may not have the time to do so) avoid

telling them your goals. They will always tell you: “Mary tried

to do that same business and failed. Can you do better than her?

You can't. Patrick tried to become a singer and failed. I don't

think you can sing better than him.”

These people always have a directory full of people who have

tried something and failed. If you asked them what they have

tried and failed or succeeded, they don't give a satisfactory

answer. Why? Because they always think of people who try

something and fail. They can only successfully think of failure

and attract failure. Thus they are too afraid of failure. They

attract failure and they fail to try anything or ask for anything.

There are also those types of friends who have asked, did not

receive during the time they thought they would and gave up.

They say to you: “I have tried it before, it doesn't work. You

can't do it. You will definitely fail.” Don't avoid such people.

Ask them why they failed and learn from their mistakes. Just

because someone failed to become a singer does not mean that

you, too, will fail.

There are also those types of friends who are always there to

flatter you. They always blind you with praises, and never give

you positive criticism. They prevent you from learning from

your own and others' mistakes.

There are also those types of friends who are just there to

discourage you. They are too jealousy of your talents. In their

minds, they think you can do better than them. They also

always tell you: “You can't.” Tell them: “I can.” Show them you

can. Never be discouraged.

Last but not least, there are those friends who always want to

compete. Remember, life is not a competition. I am not saying

you should not enter competitions. What I am saying here is

different. These friends, are just there to watch you and

compete with you. Not only are they afraid that you can do

better than them, but they are full of jealousy, too. What they

tell you you can't do, you see them trying it themselves

tomorrow. What they don't know is that you have spent so

many days creating that idea, you have already built your faith

and now you are ready to receive.

All those types of friends are there in your life. They are all

there to weaken your desire, dilute your positive thoughts,

destroy your faith and eventually fail to attain your goals and

become like them. Do not avoid them. Learn from their

mistakes. Take their criticism and discouragements as

encouragement to proceed and succeed. Be positive all the

time. Be their leader, so that they will follow after seeing you

enjoying what you have received.

Some people desire something, ask for it from God, fail to

receive it at the time they themselves thought was most

convenient for them to receive and give up. God is not a fool.

He paves the way, arranges all events, pools together all people

who will play a part in the attainment of your goal, and when

all is done, it's time for you to receive. You just need to be

patient. God gives you in the most convenient of all times you

may think of. He knows best. You may ask today and receive

today or ask today and receive next year.

Therefore, whatever your goal or desire is in life, ask, believe

and receive. Never give up. Perseverance is of great

importance.