 um the recording is just okay the recording just started uh I'll come to the class today let's take a moment to pray and then we'll spend some time studying learning good uh somebody please lead us in prayer this morning who wants to lead us in prayer go ahead loving father once again lord we thank you so much for this beautiful day lord lord we thank you so much for speaking to us every day lord and lord this morning as we are here lord to learn from your word lord I especially pray for the past lord you bless him speak through my lord prepare us lord so that we will grasp all your words and store it in our life master so that lord will be a blessing to this world lord we thank you so much for hearing us jesus name me pray amen amen okay thank you uh so much thanks each one for joining the class today so just a quick review um last week um we covered uh what I think is the um you know like and the the I don't know what to say the core chapter the main chapter um that um captures the essence of what we really want you to um take from this course um on how to exercise faith so I'm just going to quickly review those uh steps or the outline that we gave last week on how to exercise faith because that's what we are going to do all the time in our lives as we're joining the god as we come into various situations where we are going to exercise faith in god that's the pattern we're going to follow or the steps or the outline that we're going to follow each time we exercise faith in god so I'm going to quickly review that and then today what we're going to cover is um I'm going to talk really uh briefly uh I'm going to talk about failures you know so when we when we experience failures which uh uh we will face how do we respond to it now I'm not saying you know we have to face failures but the the reason we address it is because we're all learning how to walk in faith and you know it's like a child uh when a baby uh learns to start learns to you know walk uh uh initially the baby might you know stumble and fall but that doesn't mean the baby can't walk um you know the baby gets back on the feet and the child gets back on the feet and starts walking maybe he stumbles a few more times but then eventually uh it's going to you know walk fine uh and and and like that even as many of us we we learn to walk in faith and uh sometimes we will stumble and fall so what do you do with then right so just a few words of encouragement on that and then uh we want to spend some time talking about collective faith uh this is important especially because all of us are part of a local church uh you know a community of believers wherever we are and uh just as it is important for us to learn how to exercise personal faith that means you believe God for something for yourself personally there's also this aspect of collective faith where two or more people agree together and and extend their faith together on the same thing uh so we want to address that and uh many times uh uh it is good to go collectively after certain things right that means two or more of us join together and go after seeing something accomplished uh as a church community you know there will be many people maybe 10 20 30 or more people who collectively join together and say we're going to go after something so we will be talking about collective faith so let me first quickly review uh what we went through last week this is just to uh emphasize that the lesson we did last week is uh you know on how to exercise faith this lesson is is you know very important meaning because it just summarizes outlines for us gives us the steps we need to exercise faith in God to see results to see things happen in our lives so I'm just going to quickly review these steps so first we said you know if we want to exercise faith in God we must have a desired goal based on God's word so you're going after something specific for your life and there's a goal that you're going after and it can be anything you know in your personal life in your in your spiritual life it's a goal that you're going after and it's based on the word of God it's based on the promises of God and then right so you have the goal then you be determined to have what God has promised so you're you're sending your mind to it you're saying or we are saying I'm going after that I've got to have it because it's in the word of God and if God promised then you know it's for me and there's no reason why I shouldn't have it so you're determined to have what God has promised for you for you and then third step is to take the time to fill your heart with the word you know find certain scriptures that find the scriptures that are speaking towards that goal that you have and you meditate in it you put that word in your heart go after it you know keep doing it over and over again day after day fill your heart with the word of God and then you pray and receive by faith so by by prayers of God this is what I'm going after because your word has promised it and I receive it I thank you it's mine I settle it in my heart it's mine now it might take us a little bit of time to arrive at that place but that's okay you keep praying keep doing these previous steps until you know you and I come to that place where we can receive by faith another important part is we need to speak of a faith so you begin to speak speak into your situation speak into your life situation over the circumstance and speak into your future if that goal is something that is still out there in the future you know you speak to speak your faith declare what God has said in your life number six is you act in accordance to your faith you do what you can do you know whatever steps you can take you begin to take towards that goal you know whatever you can you know and of course for different situations there may be different things we can do so whatever you can begin to take steps in accordance to your faith and number seven is thank and praise God you know begin to thank and praise him in advance even before you can see the result you give him thanks give him praise because you settled in your heart he has promised it in his word you and I we are doing what we can do from our side and we have received by faith and we begin to thank and praise him say Lord I thank you for it and lastly number eight we stay in faith with endurance you don't give up you stay in that place of faith right until you see the manifestation until you see it happen in the natural you stay in faith with endurance don't quit on that so this outline you know this you can call it eight steps of faith or you know eight principles or eight practices or you know we don't know what you know what name would be most suitable but this is how we exercise our faith in God and we try to put it in this simple outline for all of us so let's move into what you want to cover today you know like I said sometimes we will face failures and I just want to share some thoughts on that so that we have the right perspective and you know you pray for something you're exercising faith for something maybe it doesn't happen and you know you you know we we wonder like okay what went wrong because it didn't happen the way I was praying or believing God for now when failures happen our response I thought process should be the correct right process is it's not because of God so don't let's not blame God for it right sometimes we try to blame God oh you know God didn't want me to have it or see if it's in the Bible then it meant that God wanted you to have it so he you know he already made the promise so how could he now go back on the promise so let's not you know put the blame on God because in any way he he made the promise in the first place whether it's for healing for provision for for your success for your protection or whatever it was he made the promise first so he is the one who initiated it he's the one who gave the word to us so we can't then go back and blame him that his promise failed because his promise cannot fail his word is true so we say look we're not going to blame God for it but it's something from our side you know we are learning we may have missed it somewhere and there is no single answer on why somebody may have missed it so we don't want to speculate but we just accept that look you know we can do better we need to find out where did we go wrong right and what can we do you know pray and ask the Lord Lord where did I miss it you know and then the Lord will speak to us he said look maybe he you know you didn't really believe what I wanted you to believe or maybe there was you know you maybe I was doing it out of competition with people I was trying to compete with somebody else or you know my motivation was not right I was not operating in love or you know God will address that and then I can fix it and then continue continue walking in faith right I don't have to quit now in that moment of failure of course we're going to be disappointed of course you know it's not nice that you know what I was extending faith for didn't happen what do I do I yielded to God's greatness I recognize that you know God is great even when I don't understand it even when things may be harder you know at my end God is great God is good and he is he is God right so we're not here to challenge him or question him second I try to learn lessons it's okay God where did I miss it what what did I do wrong where did I fail you know I learned lessons that I will ask God to teach me how where how I can improve my faith how what was lacking in my faith then I go back and put my focus on God and his word you know I I don't because God and his word has not changed just because I experienced a failure doesn't mean God's word is not true or God is not faithful to his promise no no so I put my focus back on God and who he is on his word this is who God is he's God of kindness goodness compassion faithfulness truth and his word is true his word endures forever his word is forever settled in heaven his promises are sure not one word of his promises will fail so I put my focus back on that and I continue to walk by faith and never quit if you and I we never quit we continue walking by faith so if and when we face failures I just want us to keep these things in mind and I remember it's not because of God it's because I missed it somewhere so what do I do I I say God you're still great and you're still good I try to learn lessons from my mistake or from my failure I get my focus back on God and his word I don't change don't try to change who God is or try to don't try to change his word no God doesn't change his word doesn't change just put my focus back on God and his word and I don't quit walking by faith so let me pause here and maybe we can have a little discussion any questions on this any thoughts on this I know this is not you know it doesn't answer everything but it's a little framework for us something for us to think about keep in mind when we face failures when something we've been you know believing God for this and happen okay what do I do how do I move forward I've just shared a few thoughts on that and any questions or any thoughts that you would like to discuss on this yes please go ahead Divya thank you thank you Pastor my question is regarding the persistence in prayer and like in prayer and intercession course you're learning of persistence and uh when when we face that's you know failures uh like these how do we you know recognize where where is God's you know will in this what is God's will in this matter should I keep praying for it or should I you know maybe it's not the right prayer I'm praying so how how will I know that yeah persistence in prayer pursuing something in faith and then when I should let go um so I think one is if uh one is uh if we are pursuing something first of all that has been given to us by the word of God that's in the word of God you're pursuing something and uh they're going after it in prayer based on the promise of God and if there is still the possibility right of the space there's room and this time for that word to be fulfilled then I think we should continue persisting in prayer persisting in faith but if that option is not there and I'll give an example give examples if that option is not there then I let go and I go through what I just said that is I said okay God you know I missed it and I'm not sure what went wrong but I I'm going to continue walking in faith because your word is still true so let's take an example if I am you know we can think of some different kinds of examples but let's say if in my as a professional say I'm working and I am I want I've applied for a job particular job job opening that's in a particular company so let's say I really like to work in that company I really like that job that's been posted and I've applied for that job and I am extending my faith and saying God that's what I desire I want that job okay now now I know God has given us in his word and what would I do I would use scriptures like this like you know you draw me eight and verse 18 it says remember the Lord your God it is he he gives you the power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant with you now God didn't tell me he's going to give me that particular job but he did say he would give us the ability to earn to make wealth right so and as if I'm a professional that job is something I like it's suited to my background etc and I'm just praying saying God give me that job because you promised it's a general promise of course that he would do us the ability to make well Psalm 37 verse 4 you delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart you know or John 15 7 you know I abide in him his words abide in me I ask what I will and it's done for me right so my desire look I desire that job so I'm extending my faith for that job you know and then I go through the process I submit my resume go to the application etc and you know eventually what happens somebody else gets that job now at that moment I let go because you know that the job opening is closed so obviously there's no point in me trying to persist now about that job it's gone now I was believing God for that particular job as an example I'm saying but that job is closed now it's been given to somebody else so what do I do I'll let go right there's no need for me to persist in faith for that particular job and then I say okay God you know I didn't get that job that's what I wanted I didn't get it but God I just trust that you know you will the word still the word every promise that I've quoted is still true I will not go back and change that those promises but I say okay God help me give me understanding on what would be really good for me you know what was best and I want to grow professionally I want to grow in this area these are the skills I want to develop and so I don't get disappointed with God that I didn't get that job it's what I wanted that's when I say okay God you know where did I go wrong I mean maybe that that may not have been the best for me maybe it may have been the best job for me but maybe I didn't prepare myself well for the interview or maybe I really didn't have faith as I should have had faith for the job you know so I don't know where I could have gone I mean there are different reasons why I would not have got the job but that's what I pray and say God help me you know help me to understand what went wrong but I'm not going to give up on the promises of God I'm going to continue believing God and now it's okay God you know it's not the end of the world I'm this is the idea I want to work in Lord open up a better job for me maybe in a better a better opportunity maybe in a different company that I may not know but these are the skills I want to develop this is the area I want to grow in and I'll continue to extend my faith so that's an example where because it is a time-bound thing and because it's the job is closed there's no need for me to persist in faith for that particular job I let it go I do this assessment like I mentioned and I continue to believe God for something to open up right or in the case of say you know if I'm going to pray for somebody to be raised from the dead now this is a very you know a touchy situation because okay you know a young person may have died and we know that it is God's will for us to live out the full course of our lives God doesn't want us to you know doesn't want a life to be ended abruptly you know at a young age so it is it is his will because his word says with long life I will satisfy you he has also commanded us to go and raise the dead so that's that's a word he's given already he's already expressed his heart and so based on that you know I'm stepping out to pray for somebody to be raised from the dead now there's a time limit you know in the sense that the body is going to start decaying plus uh legally you're not allowed to keep a dead a dead body you know at home or somewhere beyond a certain time it's not right and so what you know I have the time thing I'm going to pray I'm going to believe God but if it doesn't happen I have to let go and I have to say okay you know maybe one day two days but then after that I think it's not legal at least here in our city we've been careful to to let okay after that look we have to go ahead and bury the body we can't just keep the body at home or do those kinds of things you can't do that so that's time bound so these are examples where it's time bound uh this I cannot persist beyond this time but if I'm praying for let's say example I'm praying for somebody to be saved all right I'm praying for that person I'm believing God for that person I know that that person's will is involved I'm believing God now even if that person person's uh faith or behavior go I mean person uh who he says you know he goes from bad to worse I will continue to believe God say God I really want to see that person say it I'm praying speaking and believing God for salvation I'm praying for his salvation I will persist so we don't give up just because that person you know me in their behavior or in their attitude or in their beliefs may become worse you know just continue believing God we don't give up as long as there is time to continue believing God continue believing God right our example even in the case of marriage you know when you know when there's a marriage marriage problem husband wife and this is a situation you face often oh you know how do you counsel them how do you help them you know in the beginning in the in the initial stage okay so let's say one is a believer one is not a believer or you know maybe even both are believers but you're going to encourage them to believe God for restoration for healing in their marriage but it is dependent on both willing to receive help but the moment one of them says I don't want help then we can't force we can't force so that's when I say okay let go right because up until that time we can persist in faith we can continue in faith but then if one person says I don't want to receive help they've made a choice then we can't force right because God respects individual choice then we have to okay fine you know we can try to talk to them but if they're not open they're not okay then say look it's that person's made a choice and you can't we cannot manipulate somebody else's choice through our faith we can continue we can pray but that person has to be willing to receive help or you know be willing to be reconciled then we can work you know and help so my answer to this question is simply as long as there is an opportunity to continue in faith then persist but if you know if um either time has ended or human will has put an impossible barrier as in the case of like I said a divorce kind of a situation then okay you respect human will so you respect the end of time you respect the choice of human will and and then that's when you let go so these are some things I would share is that okay does that answer the question yes yes master I just so I was just thinking of those situations where humanly we do not know in those cases we just persist in faith that's what you were mentioning yeah so in the case of um so sickness if it is a chronic illness so in that case how can what what should be our action yeah so in the case of chronic illness all right what must we do we must continue to have faith right continue to have faith at the same time encourage the person to do what they need to do like you know follow the doctor's advice so because you need to keep that personal lie while faith is being built up in their heart you see here's the problem you know the problem and I think we have shared this earlier on developing strong faith is you know we tend not to use our faith for small things right then suddenly we hit a big mount big thing and then we say okay I'm going to use my faith but it's like you know a person I'm just using this as an analogy you know somebody waking up and saying I'm going to run you know 100 meters at a competition hey but then we haven't been training you haven't been running just regular races but now you're going to suddenly jump into a competition no what do you need to do you need to do the regular things first build up your faith build up your faith I like we said faith is like a muscle right you can't just walk into the gym and say I'm going to lift up this huge weight you know these huge things of faith no faith is like a muscle so what do you do you start working with small things small things you build up you build up you build up your capacity to exercise faith so so you're keeping that analogy in mind when somebody is in a situation of chronic illness what do you do you have to build up their faith you know over time you're building the faith so it's not like you know just one time you you know hear the word now let's let's let's do this you build their faith now there may be those moments when there's a combination of things you know there is the word of being brought there's the anointing and this there's the release of the gifts of the spirit and so on so the miracle happens but we're talking about faith building that person up in faith which takes time so during that time you just let the people okay you know let them receive whatever medical attention they need keep feeding them with the word of God with faith continue believing until they are able to receive the promise of God now there are various factors that contribute towards a supernatural miracle and you know we've learned this in our second year course on keys to supernatural ministry faith is one but then there are other factors like the anointing or like the gifts of the spirit or the release of the presence and glory of God so these are all other factors so faith is only one of the contributor contributing factors towards a miracle and that's what we're dealing with in the subject but sometimes there may not be any faith but it's just a manifestation of the glory of God a person is healed sometimes it's just the anointing of God that destroys the yoke and sets the person free so there are various contribution contributing factors to seeing a supernatural work but when none of that is happening what should I do well I continue to tell the person to have faith in God and okay in the case of chronic illness continue to have the person have faith in God and let them receive the medical treatment they need because you're building their faith and then at the same time you're keeping them alive so that faith can be built and eventually you and you keep persisting in faith until you come to the place where faith comes to a place of maturity so that it can result in the miracle but while you're doing that keep open to the other contributors to the miracle which is the anointing of God which is the presence and the glory of God which is the gifts of the Holy Spirit so all these other things can also bring about a miracle during that time so stay open and minister to that person through various ways thank you pastor that really helps I just had I do not know how to put it but for for those things that are not time bound we are persisting in faith but doesn't that time faith just becomes you know it reduces to a visual thinking alone because we are not we do not know whether it will happen so we are just yeah my my response to that would be our faith is based on the word of God right and and faith is based on who God is and what he has promised and if what we are believing for say in the case of healing who is God he is Jehovah Rafa there's no question on it he's our healer what has he promised he heals us he forgives all our sins he heals us of all our diseases so to believe God for healing to have faith in God for healing is never a mistake it's never a wrong thing why God is healer and he promised to heal us of all our diseases so we can never go wrong in that so what we have to do is keep feeding on those promises that concern healing same thing with provision you know for our lives he's he's Jehovah Chahira he said I will supply for all your need according to his riches and glory so he can never be go wrong we've been when when what we are believing God for is aligned to who he is and what he has promised then we are on safe ground we are not doing anything wrong because that's his word that's what he put in his word and that's who he is what we have to do is to keep our eyes on the word then we are not in a place of you know we're not wishful thinking we're aligned to God we align to his word and we will not give up on his word thank you thank you pastor that really helps thank you so much okay good questions and I and I'm glad we're having this discussion because the fact is this is an area where you know we all have we all have challenges and when we face these failures or when we face these kinds of situations all of us have the same questions you know we okay what do I do how long should I believe God what do I do when you know something doesn't happen how do I respond these are questions for all of us we all face it so it's good that we you know we discuss it we talk and we you know we become clear in our minds on when I must continue persisting in faith and when I must let go and and just leave it now I have to admit sometimes there's a lot of emotions involved I'll give you one example and I'm not saying this you know to to to you know to what to say I'm not saying this to you know be bad to anybody but I'm just giving this as an example you know many many years ago there was a person who who at that time you know she was going through a lot of she was going through very difficult time in her life she came to church and then eventually we gave her a job in church office to work for the church she was going through very difficult time her husband had left her gone away and this you know this man was going out with many other women so it's not like just one other woman where you just you know you just think and she had children and so it's very difficult and she was so emotionally you know it's it's very painful painful thing to you know to live through that so gonna be it's okay let's you know let's be there for this person so we gave her a job and you know she would she would work and of course a lot of pain she was going through emotionally and you know so initially in I was a little careful okay and finally we got to talk about what is going on in her life and then she said you know this is what's going on this is what her husband's been doing and he's gone overseas and he's all those things then I told her I said but she wanted her husband back now it was difficult for me to say this but I told her I said you know you need to let go you need to let go but it was difficult for her you know she continued praying wanting to believe God but I said look you need to let go why because this husband he he's making wrong choices he's not willing to get any help he is doing all these wrong things and from the Bible you have every biblical right to end the marriage you need to let go but you know to arrive at the place to let go of the marriage and end it end it in divorce have been signed the divorce things it's not an easy thing it's not an easy thing so I just had to give her the space and the time the time and space okay let let emotionally she has to come to terms with letting go because this husband's gone he's doing all kinds of things he's not not interested so I just kept quiet I just told her I said you need to let go and close this thing it's no point praying and believing God for this because that man is making the wrong choices he's it's his act of his will he's doing these things right now it took a long time I think it may have taken I don't know I didn't keep count but I'm you know I'm just thinking maybe it took five years or more for her to come to that place but she said yeah I'm going to let go and then finally see I mean they got the divorce done so and I didn't want to influence her faith I didn't want to in any way do that because this is this is a very personal thing and it's very emotional very painful but I had to let her make the journey and come to terms that look I can pray and there's nothing wrong in praying but this is somebody else's choice and my prayer cannot dictate their choice I can pray I've got to intervene and so on but at some point I have to say I'm letting go right so so the reason I'm sharing that is because you know this is a real life situation where there is faith in God on one side and that there is a human person making his choice choosing to go some way and I somehow have to come to terms with the fact that while I have faith in God I cannot control somebody else's choice by faith right and so that's when I need to say I cannot persist in faith for this matter because somebody else is making a choice to go away from God and do really bad things but it's not easy it's not easy and so we have to be patient with people we have to understand people support them and so on so in this case you know because there's human will involved but in the case of sickness and a person believing God for sickness healing in the case of healing we know the word and a person can believe God in the case of divine provision we know the word you can believe God but in the case where somebody else's will is involved it's not easy you know and that's where we have to be careful walk with wisdom walk in faith but walk in wisdom and today you know she's she's gone abroad and you know life has moved she's moved on and she's happy and she's fine she's doing well but that whole journey was very difficult okay so we will have a chapter later on that that talks about the boundaries of faith meaning we must understand that there are certain things we cannot do with faith and one of them is we cannot manipulate somebody else's will right we can believe God we can pray we can speak the word but that person's will and their choice will ultimately be their choice we cannot control somebody else's choice through our faith we can help them we can make it easier for them spiritually but God has to work in their hearts to the extent that they are open and God will work and and and do it okay all right um any questions on this i know it's a little difficult subject but any any questions any thoughts okay um thank you you know for engaging in any questions on this let's take a quick break we'll come back and we will move into the next chapter which is collective faith right where and where we we discuss on how two or more can join together to have faith in God right so we'll talk about collective faith after the break so let's take a quick ten minute break it's a few minutes before 10 a.m here now we'll be back in 10 minutes and continue the class okay thank you everyone