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Authors: John Osteen
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unwavering confidence in God.
R ESISTANCE TO Y OUR F AITH W ILL S URELY C OME
Know that the enemy will try to shake your confidence in God. Let me share an incident from my own life that illustrates this truth.
We used to have a convention every year during Thanksgiving at Lakewood Church, during which we would serve food to the people. One year I determined that I was going to pray that God would give us money to buy two head of cattle or that someone would give us two head of cattle to feed all the visiting missionaries. I stood before our congregation and asked them to pray with me.
But Saturday didn’t come soon enough. I waited and waited as the convention neared, but there were no cattle, not even a cow. One day I began to think,
You’re not going to get those cows. You have the money in the bank to buy those cows, so there’s no use of worrying over this
.
I shook myself and said, “I believe God has suppliedus some cattle.” But the truth was that I was getting weaker and weaker.
A few days later I heard a voice saying to me, “Why go through all of this? You have the money, and you’re busy preaching and teaching. You don’t have time to mess with trying to have faith for two cows. Just buy them.”
That made sense to me. So I became quiet about it, and I decided to just go buy the meat, and no one would ever care. I can remember the very minute I let go of believing God for the cows. Something left me out of my spirit. I released it. I gave up and lost my confidence. I didn’t lose confidence in a doctrine or a scripture, but in a Person.
I bought the meat, we had a great convention, and I thought I got away with it. However, a few days later the Lord gave me a visitation in a dream in the night. In this visitation, He took me down a lonely country road where I saw the biggest snakes I have ever seen in my life. They looked forty to fifty feet long. The Lord had me walk up close to the snakes and gaze at them. As I got closer, I noticed that two of them were bulging with a distinct outline of a cow—the head, shoulders, backbone, and hipbone. There was a cow in both snakes. Then the Lord said to me, “I just want you to know that you let the devil swallow your cows!”
I learned a valuable lesson from this experience. Thisprinciple of faith in God will give you the same joy on Monday or Friday as you will have on Saturday! Why? Because God’s answer is yours the very moment you pray and believe you receive it. It is yours, and you can rest in that fact!
Every day you should praise God for what He has promised you. If you have a physical need, even if the symptoms rage in your body, do not put your attention on the symptoms. When Peter was walking on the water, his eyes were fixed on Jesus (Matthew 14:29–30). Did you know that the waves were just as high and the wind was just as strong when he was walking as it was when he sank? He walked because he did not look at the waves; he looked at Jesus. But when he turned his attention to the waves and wind, he sank.
Jesus is the Word of God. He is the Living Word. No matter how high the waves billow or how strong the wind may blow, do not get your attention on them. Just keep on walking toward Jesus!
Every contrary thing that comes against you financially, mentally, emotionally, morally, maritally, physically, or any contrary thing that tries to get you to doubt God’s Word, should be the very indication to you that you need to keep on looking at Jesus. Keep your eyes on the Word of God.
R EMEMBER : S ATURDAY I S C OMING !
How would you act today if you had what you are believing for? What if you actually saw and touched the manifestation? How happy would you get?
This is how you should feel and act right now! As you praise God, fear and anxiety will fall away from your life. It may be on a Monday that your heavenly Father says that He will supply all your needs and give you the desires of your heart. It may not yet be Saturday, but Saturday’s
R ESISTANCE TO Y OUR F AITH W ILL S URELY C OME
Know that the enemy will try to shake your confidence in God. Let me share an incident from my own life that illustrates this truth.
We used to have a convention every year during Thanksgiving at Lakewood Church, during which we would serve food to the people. One year I determined that I was going to pray that God would give us money to buy two head of cattle or that someone would give us two head of cattle to feed all the visiting missionaries. I stood before our congregation and asked them to pray with me.
But Saturday didn’t come soon enough. I waited and waited as the convention neared, but there were no cattle, not even a cow. One day I began to think,
You’re not going to get those cows. You have the money in the bank to buy those cows, so there’s no use of worrying over this
.
I shook myself and said, “I believe God has suppliedus some cattle.” But the truth was that I was getting weaker and weaker.
A few days later I heard a voice saying to me, “Why go through all of this? You have the money, and you’re busy preaching and teaching. You don’t have time to mess with trying to have faith for two cows. Just buy them.”
That made sense to me. So I became quiet about it, and I decided to just go buy the meat, and no one would ever care. I can remember the very minute I let go of believing God for the cows. Something left me out of my spirit. I released it. I gave up and lost my confidence. I didn’t lose confidence in a doctrine or a scripture, but in a Person.
I bought the meat, we had a great convention, and I thought I got away with it. However, a few days later the Lord gave me a visitation in a dream in the night. In this visitation, He took me down a lonely country road where I saw the biggest snakes I have ever seen in my life. They looked forty to fifty feet long. The Lord had me walk up close to the snakes and gaze at them. As I got closer, I noticed that two of them were bulging with a distinct outline of a cow—the head, shoulders, backbone, and hipbone. There was a cow in both snakes. Then the Lord said to me, “I just want you to know that you let the devil swallow your cows!”
I learned a valuable lesson from this experience. Thisprinciple of faith in God will give you the same joy on Monday or Friday as you will have on Saturday! Why? Because God’s answer is yours the very moment you pray and believe you receive it. It is yours, and you can rest in that fact!
Every day you should praise God for what He has promised you. If you have a physical need, even if the symptoms rage in your body, do not put your attention on the symptoms. When Peter was walking on the water, his eyes were fixed on Jesus (Matthew 14:29–30). Did you know that the waves were just as high and the wind was just as strong when he was walking as it was when he sank? He walked because he did not look at the waves; he looked at Jesus. But when he turned his attention to the waves and wind, he sank.
Jesus is the Word of God. He is the Living Word. No matter how high the waves billow or how strong the wind may blow, do not get your attention on them. Just keep on walking toward Jesus!
Every contrary thing that comes against you financially, mentally, emotionally, morally, maritally, physically, or any contrary thing that tries to get you to doubt God’s Word, should be the very indication to you that you need to keep on looking at Jesus. Keep your eyes on the Word of God.
R EMEMBER : S ATURDAY I S C OMING !
How would you act today if you had what you are believing for? What if you actually saw and touched the manifestation? How happy would you get?
This is how you should feel and act right now! As you praise God, fear and anxiety will fall away from your life. It may be on a Monday that your heavenly Father says that He will supply all your needs and give you the desires of your heart. It may not yet be Saturday, but Saturday’s
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