 started the recording and recording of this lectures on. Alright, so let's look at the questions in the chat. There's a question from John Paul. So in first John chapter 5 was 14. Does this mean everything we ask God every time should be aligned with God's will? Or we can pray for everything as we are in Christ. Now this is a conference that we have in Him that He has asked us to be asking anything according to Spillier that He hears us. Okay, so the answer to the question, sorry, the answer to the question is this. Of course whatever we ask has to be in line with the will of God, in line with the will of God. That's first John 5.14. But when we are in Christ, and this is in John 15, verse 1 through 7, if you look at verse 7, Jesus said, if you abide in me and the words abide in you, you ask what you will and it will be done for you. So He said, if you abide in me, my words abide in you. Ask whatever you will. So the first part of the verse is very important. You know He says, you abide in me and my words abide in you. So when we are abiding in Him, His words abiding in us, we are not going to ask anything that's contrary to the will of God. I mean we are not even going to be thinking about those kinds of things because we're abiding in Christ's words abiding in us. So that's why He can tell us, ask whatever you will and it will be done for you. So the answer to the question is yes. We have to ask according to the will of God because in James chapter 4, James is rebuking the believers there. He says, you know, you ask and you do not receive because you ask amiss that you may consume it upon your own lusts. That is in James chapter 4 and verse 3. So here the these people were asking wrong. Why? They were asking to just satisfy their own pleasures, asking wrong. So Jesus says, you ask and you do not receive. Why? Because you're asking wrong. But the precondition or the prerequisite to answer prayer is you abide in me, my words abide in you. You ask what you will. It will be done. So one of the things I want us to think about this. I want us to think about this. Jesus never had an unanswered prayer. Jesus never had an unanswered prayer. And then He said, you pray in my name. When we pray in the name of Jesus, it's as good as Jesus doing the praying. That's what it means. To use the name of Jesus means we are standing in His place, acting in His behalf to do what He would do. So whenever we pray in Jesus' name, that's what we're doing. It's as good as Jesus praying. So technically, as a believer, we should never have an unanswered prayer. Technically, I'm just saying. Every prayer of ours can be answered. But the precondition is you abide like Jesus. Jesus was perfectly aligned to the Father. So every time we prayed it was answered. So we also, if we abide in Him, this word abide in us, when we pray in the name of Jesus, every prayer we pray will be answered. And that's the confidence with which we must pray. That's why it says, this is the confidence we have in Him. That if we ask anything, according to what He hears us, and because He hears us, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. That means this is like a wonderful place to be that I pray and I know I answer, get it? Because I'm asking always according to His will. It's done. So to answer your question, John, yes, we have to ask according to His will. But if we put ourselves in a place where we are completely aligned to His will, then every prayer we pray will be answered. And that's the place we are supposed to be. That's where Jesus wants us to be. Okay, is that okay? Yes, it's possible. Thank you. Thank you. We pick up this question from Nicholson. It was a question we came in the last class. We didn't have time to answer. So we'll just pick it up now before we move forward. So last week Nicholson asked, can I walk up to any person randomly and pray for healing if they allow me to? Or do I wait for a leading by the Holy Spirit every time? So the answer to it is both, you know, it's both. One, of course, when the Lord leads you, you know what to do. You just stay with it. You just act on it. The Lord may prompt you, you know, go to this person, call this person, etc. So you do that. The other thing is, we have been commissioned to go, right? Jesus said, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person. So we've been commissioned to go. Obviously, we don't just randomly stop every person on the street because, you know, everybody is busy and doing things. But there are, you know, opportunities and just maybe you're out on the street or you run into somebody somewhere or it could be in a restaurant. It could be in the mall. It could be in the parking lot. It could be wherever you're moving around. You may run into somebody and there's absolutely no problem. Just like sharing the gospel, right? If you get an opportunity, you're going to share. You're not necessarily going to wait for a leading from the Lord to share the gospel. You're just going to share. And as part of sharing the gospel, you would also say, hey, can I pray for you if you have a need? So that's perfectly fine. That you can talk to anybody. Ask the opportunity arises and share Jesus with them. And then you say, you know, if they have a need, say, hey, can I pray for any need you have? Maybe it could be healing. It could be a provision. It could be anything. And then you go ahead and minister to them. So the answer to your question is both. We are, of course, open to the leading of the Lord anytime he leads us, we go. But we're also open to opportunities, right? Sometimes we can create these opportunities when we find somebody, you know, just maybe they just sitting there in a restaurant table all by themselves. And then you happen to start a conversation with them. You know, so we can create those opportunities and then share the gospel and pray for them if they have needs. But of course, there is a practical side, meaning if you're on a street and there are, you know, 30 40 people, it's not going to be possible to talk to all 30 40. But maybe there may be one person that you could say hello and start up a conversation and then just talk to them. And it could mean it could mean it could mean the world to them that moment. So, you know, we just move in both ways and trust that God will orchestrate things for us. I hope that answers. All right. Everyone is with us together. Any questions? Any other questions before we continue? Okay. Davia has a question. Yes, go ahead. Yeah, I was just looking at this reference. So Jesus is saying that he does what he sees the father do. So when we talk about that abiding in John 15, like, do I get to that level of, you know, understanding like, oh, the father wants me to do this or how does it work? But for Jesus, it was very clear, right, about what God's will is. Yeah, I just tried to understand this. Yeah, I think, you know, think about the word relationship, relationship, and out of relationship or in relationship, let me say this, in relationship, you just move spontaneously. So that's all it is. That's, that's all it is about abiding in him and he and us. It's really important to understand that. So it is about abiding in him and he and us. It's relationship. And in the context of relationship, you just move spontaneously. So let's give, let's put it in like this example. Okay, think about a husband wife relationship. Okay, let's say a husband wife. They're married. They have a relationship. Let's say they have a, you know, they have a very loving, good relationship. The husband gets up and he just, you know, he starts doing certain things, maybe in the house, he's not going to go to the wife every moment and say, Hey, should I do this? Should I do that? Should I do? No, he just does what he knows. He knows his wife. He knows what she likes. And so he just spontaneously goes about doing the things that please her. Similarly, the wife knows the husband. She doesn't have to ask all the time. Oh, do you want this? Do you want that? Do you want like, you know, just spontaneously. See, they just, she just does what she knows the husband likes. Now there may be something. They may have a conversation. I mean, there may be something that I find now this morning for breakfast. Do you want, you know, toast and egg or do you want cereal and milk or whatever, you know, just or maybe the wife just knows, you know, my husband likes cereal, milk and cereal every morning, whatever. So just spontaneous. Sometimes she may need to clarify something, but same thing, the husband wife. So what I'm trying to say is there is relationship. And in that relationship, you just move spontaneously based on what you know, pleases the heart of the person. So that's, that's all there is, you know, that you know God, you know God is your father. And, you know, as you read his word, as you pray, we are growing in this relationship and then we move spontaneously in that relationship because we know his heart. Now as part of that relationship, there may be specific instructions that he will speak to you by his spirit saying, okay, I want you to do this. I want you to do that. And that's, that comes through the relationship. So it's not that everything comes as a direction. You know, I just get up this morning, drink a cup of tea or, you know, do this and do that. No, something just to spontaneously because you know what pleases the heart of God. But as your spontaneous moving about in that relationship, knowing his heart, he also speaks. He speaks specific instructions. He's, you know, he speaks specific things to your heart. So abiding in him and his word, abiding in us is descriptive of that relationship we have. And there is the spontaneity that's happening all the time. And then there is also specific words that he speaks to us on what he wants us to do. Does that help? Okay, thank you. Yes, yes, Master. Thank you so much. Okay. All right. Now we have another question here from Sid Kino. Come say if you want to do ministry of God, be strong and hope. Some people say be strong and faith, which is more, which one is more important? Now remember when we, okay, so Sid Kino's question is, which is more important, faith or hope? The answer to the question is we need both, right? As long as we are on this earth, three things, first Corinthians 13, 13, now remains these three, faith, hope and love. After we die, you don't need faith and hope. Only love remains. But until we are on this earth, we need these three, faith, hope and love. Okay. Now, faith and hope are equally important. Why? Because you cannot have faith without hope. We learned from Hebrews 11. One, faith is the substance of things hoped for. So hope is like the full runner. It's like a pace center. It's like, I would like to have it. I want to have it. So hope is saying I want it. I want a desire for this. So hope is like desire. Hope is what pulls faith out of our hearts. So we must have hope. We must envision some desired outcome. So in the ministry, you need to have that desire to serve God or serve people or whatever, you know, whatever God's called you to do. You're envisioning it. That's your hope. It's something out in the future. But then faith's saying, okay, I'm going to walk this walk to get there. Right? So to answer your question, all three are needed. Faith, hope and love. As long as we are on this earth. So hope, faith and hope work together. Hope is the full runner. It's a pace center and we need to have our hearts. So we need both hope and faith. Okay. Okay, good. If there are no more questions, we're going to continue. Are we going to go back to our lecture notes? And we're going to continue with that. So let me just share that on my screen. Okay. So, and this is where we've, I don't know if somebody asked the question. Shani, okay, go ahead. Shani, your question, please. Hi, yes. I just have a question. I know that in the Bible says things that I do, you can do great things in me because I go to your father and I also know that you just spoke to the fig tree. So I know you said that you can use your faith for now. So my thing is that Jesus spoke to the fig tree the next day. It was, you know, withered. So if you're believing for a house and you want to pay for your house and cash, you don't have the money for it. Can you use your faith to go to a house that you want to step for sale and speak to it and then expect it, just like you just spoke to the fig tree and spoke for the money to come right away? Yeah. Yes. Yes. I understand the question. So the way I would look at it is you know, let's give you one, you know, you want to buy a house. Just, you know, so there is the practical side. There's a spiritual side. So on the practical side, you know, it's important to just to know how God wants to work in your situation. There's no one set way in how God wants to work. So in your situation, how does God want to work? You know, for some people, you know, maybe they save up something and then they you know, make the down payment and they take a loan and they buy a house. Some people do that. Some people may have all the money and they buy the house. So there's a practical side. So you just, you know, first thing I would do is okay, God, how do you want to do it in my life? I want a house. I want to have my own house. How do you want to do this for me? Try to understand God's heart. Okay, once you understand that this is how God wants to work in your life, then use your faith to go about that, to go about making that taking that path to possessing your own house, to owning your own house. If the way God wants to work in your life is you know, hey, just believe me and I will provide. You decide on, you know, you start planning on which part of the place where you want the house, what kind of house it is. So you start thinking about it. You start planning for example, let's say, let's say I had no money, but I'm believing God as a God. I want to have my own house and I take some scriptures and I start, you know, meditating on it. So that's the spiritual side. I start building up my faith. But on the practical side, I start thinking, you know, okay, God, just guide me, which is the place where I should be. So, okay, yeah. This is the kind of house I want. Maybe, you know, two bedrooms or whatever. And this is what I want. So I start praying over it. And then it's okay, God, where do you want me to go? So step by step, I'm building my faith and then I'm also doing the practical side and then this converges meaning whatever I'm doing practically, whatever I'm doing in faith comes together and I can focus my faith on, okay, this is where I want God. This is what I want God to do for me, right? And God will bring it to pass. So the answer to your question is, you know, there's no set way in which God is going to work in each individual's life. You know, we have to find out how God wants to bring about that provision and just work with him. But believe the promises. I take God's scripture and say, God, here's the word, here's what you promised. You know, for example, in Isaiah 32, 18, he said, my people will live in peaceful habitations in secure dwellings in quiet resting places. So say, God, you said in your word that your people will live in a place like this. So this is what I want. God, I want you to provide for me a home that is a peaceful, secure and a quiet place. I believe that. So you kind of just build your faith up and then you also start working practically towards that direction. And then God will converge it. He'll bring it together so that you, you know, he will guide you to the right place where you can have the right home. Okay, thank you. Yeah. And then during that process, you know, once you know the kind of house you want, then you begin to declare your faith. That I believe God will provide such and such a kind of a home and God has this place for me. He will provide for me. And God will orchestrate that for you. Okay. Yeah. So let's go now to continue here. So we emphasize, we spent a lot of time here on this one thing that faith is released through word spoken out of a believing heart. Right. So we, we believe God. We believe his word. I let that word build faith in our hearts. But then what do you do with it? You know, you have faith in God. Okay. How are you going to get your faith out to see something happen? Well, Jesus said, you've got to speak and you speak to the circumstance. So for instance, if you're believing God for a house, right? Once you build your faith up and you're also doing the practical things, but you begin to speak and say, I declare that God will provide for me a good house. You know, and maybe whatever you, whatever you want about the house, I'm just making this up. You would say, you know, two bedrooms and you know, but however you want to describe it. This is what I believe God will provide for me because you know, you're building your faith. You're extending your faith for that provision and have faith in God. And then you speak to the speak, release those words and don't doubt in your heart. Believe that what you're saying will be done. You will have whatever you say. You know, I remember and I'm just sharing this just as an example. Okay. Just to encourage your heart. I remember when I was a college in my early days, I was still a college student. And I used to I just said, God, I want you to bless me in such a way that I will have thousands and thousands and thousands of you know, repeats to give away to people. You know, I want you to bless me in such a way that I want to just bless others that money will not be a problem for me. And it's not the initial for me. And so I used to declare now. I was just a college student, but and this was something I wanted in the future. You know, it wasn't great then right there, but I just said, you know, God is and I should keep saying it, declaring it. God is going to bless me so much that I will give away thousands and thousands to bless others. So I would just declare that because that's what I wanted. I wanted my I wanted that to happen in my life financially. God bless me. Now, you know, being a college student that said those days, it seemed crazy to even think like that. But I said, that's what I want in my future. And I began to declare and you know, when I look back over all these years, that's literally what God has been doing. You know, from the time we moved back to India in so many different ways. One, of course, you know, when I was running the business we had we would put money into the ministry and bless the work and then later on the ministries of just the church and it just became such a blessing. We started giving up free books right from 2001 or 2002. We started printing books. So now it's almost about 18-19 years. We've been printing books and just sending books out all across India across the country. We've literally given out, I don't know how many hundreds of thousands, I don't know, we haven't kept count. The books have been going out all across the country. And we give it out for free in the books that we do. Then, you know, recently, and I think what happened this year earlier this year, I think I shared the testimony of when we gave away, you know, over 3.7 so about 37 million Indian rupees just all to support lots of people, help lots of people across India. So through the church we just kept giving more than 1,500 pastors and so many other people. So I'm just standing and I'm just watching all this happen. It's not, and there is no sweat. I'm not sweating or I'm not having sleepless nights to raise all this money. It's just flowing. It's just flowing and I'm just like a spectator through the ministry that we could just give all this freely away to bless people. So what I remember those days in college then in my times of prayer before God and I would just declare by faith saying God, God is bringing me to this place where money will overflow from my pocket and I will just give to bless thousands of people. Money will not be a big problem for me. I remember those days of speaking that by faith and declaring that by faith and over all these years I'm like a spectator watching it happen the books that are going on all across the country the money that's going out to bless other lives it's just happening right before my eyes and I'm not taking any credit for it. I'm just a spectator for it through you know all that's happening I'm saying that because you know what Jesus taught us is so important and it's so real that you're speaking words of faith you're releasing words of faith and those words will come to pass. You just believe what he has said right so that was one aspect you know what Jesus taught faith is released through the words you speak out of a believing heart now he also taught us how to release faith in prayer so this is so this is the second way or another way to release your faith in prayer right but there's a particular way he told us to release faith in prayer so we're going to look at it very carefully Jesus taught us that faith is exercised in prayer by believing you have received when you pray so let's read these two scriptures could somebody read Matthew 21 verse 22 for us please and whatever things you act in prayer believing you will receive man could somebody also read for us Mark 11 24 please therefore I say to you whatever things you ask when you pray believe that you will receive them and you will have them thank you so notice Jesus talking about prayer and he's talking about believing in prayer so this is a second way or another way to release our faith how can I make my faith do something for me in my life or my situation how can I make it do something so he says in prayer in prayer so this is the second way through prayer I'm going to release faith so the first one that we saw earlier was through words words you speak now he's talking about prayer and he says whatever things so in both places whatever things so there is no restriction here it doesn't have to be only spiritual sometimes we think I can only go to God for spiritual things true we can go to God for spiritual things but also for material things, for natural things for everyday life things we all need food whatever things to live this life so whatever things there is no limitation, there is no restriction but he's given us instructions you ask in prayer so obviously I'm talking to God now I'm praying to the Father I'm talking to God I'm asking in prayer about what about whatever things whatever things I I desire, whatever things I want I need in my life I'm asking in prayer but then he says when you pray when you pray at the time you are making this request at the time you are bringing this before the Father and you pray what must you do believe believe what believe that you receive them believe or have faith that you receive them and you will have them so notice this I have to believe that I receive them before I actually have them I have to believe that I receive them before I actually have them I'm repeating this because this is how we are supposed to pray what am I supposed to believe I'm supposed to believe that I have received them before I have them that means in my heart my faith is the substance of things hoped for I have received them through my believing I have received them so as far as my faith is concerned as far as my believing is concerned it is mine it's in my hands and then he says you will have them notice he didn't say believe that you may have them he didn't say that he didn't say believe that you might get them he didn't say that he didn't say believe that sometime in the future you will receive them he said believe that you receive them in fact the king James puts it believe that you have received them that means in the spiritual in my heart it's already granted to me and it's in my possession that's what we must believe believe that it is in your possession then you will receive so let me put it like this you receive in the natural what we first have already received in the spiritual say it again you receive in the natural what we first have already received in the spiritual that means in your heart in your believing so I believe that I have received it what does it mean in your heart you're settled say God I thank you this is done it's done now like I mentioned in the earlier case about our saying sometimes it takes us a little bit of time to journey to this place where we believe that we have received it may not happen the first time you pray so what do you do you continue until you come to this place within your heart you believe that you have received it is done and then he said you will have them you believe that you have received believe that you receive that you receive them spiritually God I thank you it's mine now it's done I'm settling it in my heart it's there because faith is the substance of what I hope for so this is what Jesus told us and remember Mark 11 24 is actually it's all connected to here Mark 11 22 23 and 24 it's like one sequence of instructions about having faith in God now I've just in the notes I've just separated about because this is having to deal with prayer but it's all connected to having faith in God I have faith in God and here's another way how you can release your faith in God and you pray whatever you are you know want to ask God about you believe that you have received it and it will be yours so how can I do that and we are going to a little later on one of the upcoming chapters we are going to try to put together a series of this is how you can go about exercising your faith we are just right now touching on various things Jesus taught us about faith but I want to emphasize this part about praying and this is how we are supposed to pray when you pray believe that you receive them and I think also this is where many of us miss it in prayer because we pray we ask for things but we don't do this part of saying God I believe that right now I'm receiving it from you we do pray we do ask for things but then it's like okay I've set my request up and that's it but he didn't say just send your request up he also said believe that you receive it so this is the part we have to engage in believe this is how we exercise faith in prayer we have faith that we received and you will get it it will come to you so like I said there's nothing wrong in praying about the same thing multiple times you go back to God as your father let's take an example I'm believing God for healing in my body I take a few scriptures on healing and I say father this is what you have promised in your word so how can I have faith in God well by having faith in his word so father I thank you that this is what you have promised in your word this is your promise Jesus himself took my sicknesses and bore all my diseases and by his wounds I have been healed thank you father you know then God thank you that you forgive all my sins and you healed me of all my diseases thank you father so when I pray I believe I've received it so father I thank you it's mine it's done so I'm going back to him but when I go back to him I'm thanking him why? because I believe that I've received it's done it's done I believe that I have received so if I have received what would you do if you have received something from somebody you would say thank you so you thank him father I thank you that this is mine the healing is mine my body is well I believe I have received now at that moment when I'm thanking God having prayed my body may not yet feel good or that symptom may still be in my body the problem may still be in my body but I'm believing that I have received based on his word what will happen you will have that means it's going to come out in the natural but first I have received by faith so I say father I thank you I received it but my faith says hey it's my body still having pain whatever thought I believe I received it because your word says by the stripes of Jesus I'm healed or father I thank you my need is met because your word says my God all my supplies all my need according to his riches and glory for Jesus Christ father I thank you that you make all grace bound toward me that I always having all sufficiency and all things are bound to a very good work so you're believing that you're receiving and giving thanks to God you're expressing your believing that you received by thanking him that's what you do when you one last point let's just see if we can touch this touch on this before we wrap up so number eight Jesus also taught us that a third way is to exercise faith is you must act upon it so there are three ways Jesus taught us to release our faith one we must say it two we pray it and third we act on it we act on it so quickly some examples you know when they brought this catalytic to Jesus the Bible says Jesus saw their faith but then he told this man rise take up your bed go to your house rise take up your bed go to your house so he's telling him start doing something rise take up your bed and he arose so you can imagine you know the man is lying in his bed Jesus arise take up your bed so obviously he must have attempted to start doing something you know maybe try to move his hands or feet or whatever he could and as he did so the healing then through his body so for Jesus to tell a paralyzed man rise is really out of place I mean you don't go tell a paralyzed man get up that's what he did this man is paralyzed he's lying in his bed and Jesus saying get up make your bed so what would this man do he didn't turn around and say hey Lord Jesus I'm paralyzed I can't make my bed no all we know is he arose that means he must have started doing something to get up off the bed and as he started getting up healing came through his body so many examples like that where we see Jesus telling people to act their faith you know Peter steps out of the boat to walk on the water Jesus has come and Peter got on the boat and he walked on the water to go to Jesus so Jesus Peter was acting on the word he stepped out of the boat he started walking and as he stepped out you can imagine the miracle began to happen he walked on the water so the miracle is happening as Peter came out of the boat so that's an important thing Jesus teaches us to act on our faith so before we close let me just pause here that we act our faith we step out we start walking acting our faith and at that time the miracle starts happening so I just want to sum up we have just a few more minutes so today we were talking about what Jesus taught us about faith three important things how to release our faith so you have faith in your heart which is a good thing but that faith has to be expressed it has to come out in order to do something he gave us three things you can pray it so you speak it out second you can pray it you exercise faith in prayer third you act it you you just start doing it start acting on it and then it will happen you know so just acting in line with what you believed things will start happening so act in line start doing some small things in line with what you believe it may be some small steps start doing it as you start acting in line with what you believe things will begin to take place okay so three simple things remember it because for the rest of our lives how are we going to exercise our faith in God three ways you say it you pray it you act it that's how you exercise faith it's how Jesus taught us let me take quickly answer some questions so can we say that faith is that assurance of receiving faith is what is that assurance in your heart that you have received from God it's done the situations around may not have changed yet but in your heart you say it's done I know it's done and soon things around you will change and it will happen but the assurance begins here in your heart that it's done okay any other questions I know we didn't do a whole lot but I think we did three very important things and I just want you to keep it in your heart any other questions that's right say pray act that's right Jude 20 right so in Jude 20 Jude says but you beloved building up yourselves on your most holy faith praying in the Holy Ghost right so notice what he says build yourself up on your faith praying in the Holy Ghost so praying will help definitely but remember faith comes through the word of God right praying will strengthen our inner man praying helps us build that intimacy with God that relationship with God but prayer without the word is not necessarily going to generate faith because faith is based on the word so you're building up on your faith being built established to the word and you're building up yourself on your faith building up yourselves on your most holy faith as you pray in the Holy Ghost so prayer builds you up your inner person up on your faith your faith is being built by the word through that relationship so you can't see a question from Jude 20 definitely praying in tongues is very important and we must continue praying in tongues we can in tongues but it's telling us to do it on top of our faith build yourself up on your faith so faith is built as you hear the word of God praying in the spirit makes your spirit ready to receive the word to be strengthened in the word so on it's there important and we need both okay anything else any other questions alright we're going to close in prayer and we'll wrap up for the day and we'll continue this next week I'm taking it a little slow at this point because these are very simple things but are very important things for us good I just want one person to please close in prayer and then we will dismiss who would like to pray I haven't heard Joash Joash, Chaira DeSousa would you like to pray a prayer and dismiss us Joash maybe Joash doesn't hear me Linden, would you want to pray okay, Jeffina, go ahead and pray, thank you Dear Heavenly Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus thank you for this beautiful day and for the beautiful study about faith that we had that is act our faith that is praying faith and that is speaking faith and everything that we learn that is applied in our life and live for you each and every second we bless our pastor and we bless everyone in this class be faithful to you, chill the in and run this race with you and enjoy this life in Jesus name of pray thank you everyone thank you, have a enjoy your next next round, see you soon God bless, bye now thank you pastor thank you, thank you everyone God bless God bless each one see you again