To mentally agree with something is one thing but then to have faith for it is another thing. Many approach prayer on the basis of hope; which is good because we seek God first of all on the basis of hope. But things only begin to turn around because of faith which is the substance of what you hope for. Hope is based on the goodness and ability of God; from what you have heard from others and what you have seen. Hope means that you know God is ABLE and also CAPABLE of doing that thing for you. It does not mean He has given you the right of ownership over that particular thing. With hope there is no certainty in your heart when you pray- it is just based on the goodness of God and the fact that you want something you have heard and you know God is capable of doing. For instance, if a child walks up to his father, who he knows is a good father and able to meet his request and he enters into the room to make the request; he is simply praying his father and hoping that he will do something but there is no certainty involved in that action. You need to understand that hope is good because it is based on the goodness of God but hope is not faith. Faith is when God Himself commits to an individual and tells him He has given him the title. This means there is a word of Scripture God has given to that person which is so personal to that individual. It is so personal that the name of God is also written there saying “I have given you such and such” and this can be tested because the minute God transfers it to you no other person on earth can lay claim to that particular thing because it has been given to you by God and you can now take possession of it. The transfer must first of all take place in your heart, if not when you go into the place of prayer you are simply hoping which is good and also spiritual but not yet faith. This just shows that you mentally and verbally affirm that something is based on God’s goodness or ability simply because you really desire it by trying to bring yourself to a place where you believe it is not scriptural faith but metaphysics. The faith of Christ is only possible when the Scriptures have been illuminated by showing you God’s will on that matter. This means faith only begins when the will of God has been made clear to you and you have a title; i.e. Scriptures which shows you clearly that this particular thing belongs to you.

Many have confused faith with the ability to believe something is done; but scripturally faith is not your ability to count it as being done but rather a deep consciousness divinely imparted onto the heart of that person that it is done.
It is the faith that ONLY GOD can give which means that a man does not look at a house and say “if I can convince myself that this house belongs to me, I will get it”.

Now someone else is given the title to that same house and he goes home without having to work on himself like the first person. He starts rejoicing that the house now belongs to him because the ownership has been transferred to him by the rightful owner of the house. So faith is not about you ‘working on yourself’ to convince yourself without any illumination from scripture; or even about being sure whether the death of Jesus covers that thing you really want. Some people believe that if they keep saying something long enough they will eventually convince themselves that the thing is theirs and once that happens it will be released to them. In that case, we might as well all get together and start convincing ourselves that Jesus will come tomorrow! But guess what? That is not going to happen just because we all do that! The fact that you personally work on yourself does not mean you are dealing with the reality of spiritual things. Faith begins when God comes to a person and illuminates to that individual the scriptures by showing: ‘this is my will concerning you in this particular matter; this is what I HAVE GIVEN to you’. The minute that illumination comes on the inside, there is a divinely imparted substance within that person that tells him it is now his and the person goes home with an ASSURANCE on the inside. From that point the person can make TRANSACTIONS with God on the earth concerning that particular thing.

Thus, faith is not a matter of willpower- it comes by impartation. Faith is the title-deed of the things you hope for. You hope for a house but the day you get the title documents you go home knowing you have in your hands the EQUIVALENT of the house that has been given to you. So the message of faith is very simple: in all things, God can be trusted to honour His Word by answering your prayer that is offered up on this basis. This means every prayer that is offered up on the basis of God’s Word; you can trust that what God has promised you He is able to give you and you carry that in prayer to Him- this is an exercise of faith.

Pastor ‘Poju Oyemade