“One of the most insidious of these teachings is the notion that we should not seek blessings from God, but instead seek God himself…The Bible teaches the opposite. Jacob wrestled with God and said, ‘I will not let you go until you bless me.’ So God blessed him, and called him Israel, meaning ‘a prince with God.’ Jacob’s tenacity, his refusal to let go until he received God’s blessing, was counted as faith. This persistence brought him into a deeper relationship with God. Jacob did not separate God from his blessing, but he understood that to seek the blessing of God was to seek God himself.”
What is interesting about God renaming Jacob as Israel is obvious. Israel is about Jacob’s relationship with God. Jacob is a prince of God—or, that is, a royal son of God and of heaven’s kingdom. God defined Jacob in relationship to Him. This definition of Jacob’s relationship is a very close one. My first thought is, “Wow, I want that type of close relationship with God. How and why did God redefine Jacob with such a close relationship?” It was in seeking God’s blessings, favor, and goodies by faith that God redefined Jacob in a closer relationship with Him. From this we learn: If you want a closer relationship with God, ask and get more material stuff from God. If you want a more distant relationship with God, then don’t ask and don’t get material blessings from God. By seeking blessings and answered prayers from God, you seek Him more and have a closer relationship—or the opposite.
In short, if you’re wrestling with God for blessings like Jacob did, you will pin down a divine upgrade. Not only will you get a holy handout, but God will give you a heavenly high-five, because you have such a close relationship.
I was praying the other day. It is now common for me to be praying in tongues and making faith confessions and praising God.
Over the last few years, God has been healing me, restoring me, and growing my inner man. And now, as I look to the future, my focus is more power, more righteousness, more kingdom expansion, seeing my dreams become reality, and taking all choke points and limits off God and what faith can do.
I am in my 40s, and I was feeling a little bit of hopelessness because of my age. I was wishing I could go back to my teens to teach myself what I have learned and practiced over the last several years. And so, I decided to use life’s greatest life-cheat: praying in tongues. After some time, I received an interpretation, “All is not lost. I have heard your prayers.”
When God says “I have heard your prayers,” as He did to Hezekiah, it means He gave you what you asked. Because God is so loving and so faithful to do what He promised, the same act of God hearing you is the same act as God granting your request.
When I heard the Spirit say this, I was unsure if God meant “all” as in “some things might be lost but not all things,” or “all the dreams you have ever had are still yours for the taking.” I looked up and said, “I don’t know how you meant ‘all,’ but I mean it as all my dreams are still here. Even if you did not mean it that way, I mean it that way and receive it that way, because you said ‘all.’” (Hey, if you’re going to quibble with the Almighty, at least do it with faith and a dash of audacity—its how scriptures teach us to pray.)
God told King David that He gave wives to David (this is mostly about sex), a kingdom, prosperity, and fame, and if David wanted more, God would have given more sex, more kingdoms, more prosperity, and more fame to David.
This teaches us that we cannot ask too much. The risk in praying is asking too little and shooting too low. If you aim for the Andromeda Galaxy but end up hitting Orion’s belt, then great, you accomplished some good things. But if you aim for the ground, then that is all you will hit—frankly, why settle for dirt when the stars are up for grabs?
The Gentile woman hijacked Jesus’ words, which meant one thing, to mean something else. Jesus approved and called her faith great. In fact, Jesus was arguing for God’s will to be done, and by the end of the exchange, Jesus confesses out loud, “Woman, your will be done.”
Jesus had already promised to go and heal the centurion’s servant, but the centurion asked for an upgrade to a miracle already in motion (just say the word). Jesus approved of this man asking for more, and he got the upgrade.
Last note: Pray in tongues and ask for interpretation. Even if you don’t have a spiritual gift for interpretation, by asking in faith, you will find you will receive interpretations. Don’t sleep on this. It will help you.
I am here to remind you: All is not lost.
Do not limit God. Do not shoot too low. Do not ask for only small things. Pray for big things; pray for upgrades to miracles you are already getting. Pray for more. And when you think you have asked for too much, ask for more.
A few years before COVID hit, Vincent Cheung had begun to publish more materials on faith. I therefore began to rethink and refocus on such topics. However, it was not until COVID that I fundamentally changed my lifestyle to seek God in a more devotional manner and with greater faith. God had warned me a few years prior, in a divine trance, that I was not internalizing the scripture in faith and inner strength, as I ought. Even after this, I was still somewhat blind to what that meant.
When COVID forced most of us homebound, I found myself stuck in my house. I remember I took the second COVID booster treatment. (I won’t linger on this other than to say, if you have faith, it doesn’t matter what you do. As long as you are not willfully testing God, in good conscience, you are free to do what you want—hey, faith isn’t a straitjacket, it’s freedom with a divine safety net.) However, I began to feel like I was half dead for a few weeks or months. At one point, I was standing in my living room, and I felt so bad I halfway passed out; I went blind, my veins and heart felt cold and slow, and I could barely breathe. Time slowed down. I felt like I had one foot in the grave.
I couldn’t even speak, but in my mind, I cried out to God to help me. I remembered there were dreams I had and prophecies about me that needed to be fulfilled. I immediately felt just enough strength flow into me that I pulled myself onto the chair, and I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You will not die, I will help you, I will restore you and strengthen you.”
At the time, I did not have health insurance, so going to the doctor wasn’t an option; but that was for the best. I had a better physician, after all—who needs co-pays when you’ve got the Creator on speed dial? The word spoken to me by the Spirit took the edge off any fear or worry I had. I felt bad for months afterward, but I slowly got better.
It was after that I changed my life every day to seek God in a more devotional way. I remember downloading the Joseph Prince app for my phone and starting my first devotional. I then signed up for Kenneth Copeland’s email daily devotional. I remember talking to myself, saying, “I can’t believe I am reading these guys!” The doctrine of God’s sovereignty is so easy, and you shouldn’t boast about knowing it as if it were a difficult thing to do. It is a doctrine no one can take from me. I say this to say, reading the faith teachers has zero chance of harming my understanding of God’s sovereignty. And this is exactly the issue. I knew God’s sovereignty, but I was not living in the joy and peace of the Spirit, and was not in the place where my prayers were answered as a common thing. I needed to grow in these areas. The Pentecostals and charismatics were too weak. The faith teachers were the only ones who did not qualify Jesus’ statements about faith.
When I was in my teenage years, I remember praying in tongues, and during this time I read and believed in the sovereignty of God (Romans 9) without anyone teaching me these doctrines. I was reminded I was at my best when the Spirit filled me with power. The faith teachers also reminded me how important praying in tongues is. And so I began to pray in tongues often. I began to speak out loud the promises of God over my life as faith confessions and declarations. I began to sing and praise God more and more. I renewed my commitment to go over my lists of promise verses, over and over. I began to listen to faith preachers preach on the topics of faith and miracles.
Within months, I saw a qualitative difference in my life. Before this, I would often go to sleep with stress and fears keeping me up. But now, all that negative stuff lifted off my mind, and I was sleeping like a baby—snoring optional, peace mandatory. When I prayed, I began to see more of my prayers answered. I noticed fewer doubts intruding in.
Before, my inner man was so weak, and all I knew was my own experience. When I prayed, I was filled with doubts and stress, and now with hindsight I recognize I was often being demonically harassed with force attacks (like how Vincent described it in “On Spiritual Attacks”). Satan was making me feel condemned, with a sense of dread and no way of escape. Godly fear can make you feel dread, but it will also show you the way out with hope, and the Holy Spirit saying “yes” to the promises of God applied to you.
When you read the Bible, you realize you should feel nothing but joy and peace and confidence when you ask God for something. Anything less than this, and there is something wrong or weak in your inner man—frankly, it’s like trying to run a marathon on spiritual spaghetti legs.
Over the following years, some of these old weaknesses or demons have tried to come back, but since I am stronger in my inner man, and I know how to take my authority in Jesus, I command them to leave, and they run with their tails stuck between their legs. See my essay, “Power is what will Finally Deliver You.” I do not claim to be perfect, nor am I to the point I want to be in power and faith, but having a stronger inner man (which is mostly measured by faith) has made a decisive difference in my life.
And it will do the same for you.
I am here to remind you, All is not lost. Renew your mind in faith and confidence in God’s good promises. Make your inner man strong. Know how much God loves you and has given to you. And when you pray, you will have what you ask, you have see what you confess, and you will process what you command in Jesus name.
In my teaching “The Staff of God,” I highlighted the passage where God was displeased with Moses’ statement, despite it sounding like a bold “word of faith confession.” The issue wasn’t the confession itself but what it confessed. God responded with irritation, “Why are you crying (i.e., whining) to Me? Take the Staff and divide the waters.”
Moses’ confession was misleading. God was indeed fighting for the Israelites and would continue to do so, but it was incorrect to say, “they only need to be still.” God didn’t command Himself to divide the waters; He commanded Moses to do it. If Moses had sat there “waiting for the will of God,” the Red Sea would not have parted, because it wasn’t God’s job to divide the sea; it was Moses’ job.
Moses was hedging, trying to buy time with a good faith confession, but God had already acted. He had given Moses the Staff of God. Likewise, God has already acted for us. He sent His only Son, who was brutalized, raised from the dead, and seated at His right hand. Jesus took on God’s wrath for our sins, gave us His righteousness, bore the stripes that healed us, took our curses, and gave us the blessing of Abraham. God has made us a royal priesthood, an irrevocable calling, and engraved Jesus’ name and authority on our tongues. What we have is far greater than the Staff of God or Zeus’ lightning bolt. We have the Name of Jesus and the baptism of power in the Spirit.
Moses thought he could chill with a faith-filled soundbite, but God was like, “Bro, grab the Staff and make waves—literally.” Spoiler: Sitting still doesn’t part seas, but swinging God’s power does.
Unlike the faithless of our day, Moses was a friend of God, yet God still grew irritated when Moses lingered, waiting for God to move. Moses held God’s power in his hands. It was Moses’ move, not God’s. It wasn’t time to be still and watch God; it was time to act and command the waters to stand.
So it is with us. The waters are divided by us, not God. When Moses stopped hedging and acted with the Staff of God, the waters parted. Healing will happen when we stop hedging, stop waiting for the so-called will of God, and command it in the name of Jesus. If you wait for God to move, you’ll die waiting. God has already moved.
The faithless amplify Moses’ misleading confession, pumping it full of unbelief. They wait for the will of God, and they wait, and they wait. Nothing happens, for their worldview has no God and no power in it. However, God has already willed our sicknesses onto His Son, stripe after stripe. He has already addressed our sickness problem. There’s nothing more for Him to do for us to be healed. Do you suppose your begging for healing requires Jesus to be re-crucified? Your healing is already accomplished. In God’s thoughts He transferred your sickness to Jesus, who carried it away. In God’s mind, He thinks we are healed by Jesus’ stripes. Who am I to disagree with God’s own thoughts?
The lie is waiting for God to move when He has already moved. Through Jesus’ finished atonement, He placed the Staff of God on our tongues. His command is that we move next. Like a chess game, God has made His move. Now it’s our turn.
The faithless camp out, waiting for God’s will like it’s a cosmic Amazon delivery. Newsflash: God has already shipped the healing, signed, sealed, and delivered on Jesus’ back. It’s already sitting on your living room floor. Open the package. Doing nothing and looking at the box, will not open it.
God’s made His checkmate move with Jesus’ atonement. Now He is sipping divine coffee, waiting for you to slide the bishop and part the Red Sea. Don’t leave Him hanging.
The miracle happens, not when God moves, but when we move, and divide the waters in Jesus’ name. Because God has already moved, the healing happens, not because God will move, but because we will move in faith.
The disciples finally got this. And so, Peter said “what I have I, I give, in Jesus Name, walk.” It wasn’t what God had. It wasn’t what God gave. It was what Peter had, and what Peter gave. He had the Name and power of Jesus, to throw around as Peter wanted. Peter had this because Jesus was sitting at the right hand of the Power. And despite many Christians hating this, Jesus is still at the right hand of the Power. We have the same Name and the same power.
Your sins or imperfect righteous actions don’t stop you from being healed. This statement needs some qualifications. For example, I hesitate to mention exceptions because people tend to fixate on them, but Paul says in 1 Corinthians that their gross disrespect for the Lord’s Supper was causing some to get sick and even death. Paul urges them to stop this and be healed. Thus, certain extreme levels of sin can bring sickness, and you need to stop sinning. However, even in this context, faith can still bring healing, even if you don’t stop sinning—but if you persist in sin, the sickness is likely to return, and the cycle repeats.
Take for example the man Jesus healed at the pool of Bethesda. Jesus said for him to stop sinning or something worse may happen. Thus, sin was the cause of his sickness, or the reason it did not leave. However, Jesus did not ask the man to repent or ask him to stop sinning before getting healed. No. Jesus only asked, “do you want to be healed?” He healed him for only wanting to be healed. No other qualifier was needed. For true and permanent health, you need both to stop sinning and to have faith for healing. This is what true resisting the devil means. It is both to stop sinning (if applicable) and command him to leave, or command the sickness to leave. Ta
However, this is an exception. When you read the Gospels, Jesus heals every single person who approaches Him for healing. The only ones He couldn’t heal—or rather, the only ones who could stop God from healing—were those with unbelief. Think about the hundreds, if not thousands, of people lined up for healing. We read of large crowds, and all were healed. These were everyday people with sins like adultery, greed, lust, anger, envy, murder, laziness, and more. Yet, Jesus never stopped them and said, “You must repent first,” or “You must stop this sin first, then I’ll heal you.” Jesus never made them pay or earn their healing through effort, better self-righteousness, or money. Despite their sins and wickedness, Jesus healed them all—every single one.
Healing’s not a paycheck you earn—it’s a free gift from Jesus’ atonement, no sin-slaying resume required. Sure, Paul flagged gross sin like Lord’s Supper disrespect as a sickness trigger, but faith can still zap it, though sinning again might reboot the curse. In the Gospels, Jesus healed everyone—sinners, slackers, all—without a repentance pop quiz. Unbelief’s the only kryptonite
Jesus says, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” This unqualified access to healing, without earning it through self-improvement, repentance, or greater holiness, reflects the Father’s heart. Think about this the next time you ask the Father to do something in Jesus’ Name.
Through Jesus Christ, I’ve given up on myself. My old sinful record, which the Father held against me in His mind, was removed and nailed to the cross. That’s not me anymore. In the old testament sacrifice, the priest examined the unblemished lamb, not person who did the sin. That was the whole point of an exchange. When the Father considers me, He examines the righteous Jesus Christ, and consider me in Him. The Father sees me in Jesus, as part of Jesus. Does Jesus have sin? Neither do I. Does the Father consider Jesus to have a sinful record? Neither does He consider me to have one. In the Father’s mind, Jesus is perfect righteousness, and so am I. This is my new reality—there’s no other reality for me.
Thus, I don’t need to earn more righteousness to be healed or receive a blessing from God any more than Jesus does. If you try to earn healing by your performance, you haven’t given up on yourself; you haven’t received Jesus’ righteousness. Your old man is still alive, and your new man is dead. A Christian is the opposite: the old man is dead, and we have a new man identified with Jesus. My sins, in relation to me, are as far as the east is from the west, yet many Christians speak of their sins as if they can still see them. Quit acting like they’re still photobombing your spiritual selfie. This is delusional nonsense because it’s impossible to see the east from the west.
Just as with every blessing provided by Jesus’ atonement, healing isn’t earned but freely received by grace through faith. There’s no other way. But why would you want another way? This is the good way—God’s way.
“The Lord Himself will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in everything you do…. The Lord will strike you with wasting diseases, fever, and inflammation… The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, scurvy, and the itch, from which you cannot be cured… making you miserable and unbearably sick… with madness, blindness, and panic… The Lord will afflict you with every sickness and plague there is.” (Deut. 28 NLT)
The curses of the law come from God, not Satan. They’re God’s curses. Thus, sicknesses are God’s curses. Even if demons and Satan administer sicknesses in their demonic priesthood, they’re ultimately God’s curses. Acts 10:38 tells us most, if not all, the people Jesus healed were afflicted by demons, but the foundation for sickness is God’s curse.
Sicknesses of the body and mind are curses for rejecting God. God doesn’t give boils, tumors (cancer), itch, fever, fear, and inflammation (e.g., arthritis) to help people but to destroy, shame, and damn them. If God is giving you such things, you’re His enemy, not His friend. For those God loves and who please Him, He gives health and strength. Curses like inflammation, or what we call arthritis, are promised to worsen until they destroy the person, causing an elderly person to be so bent over in pain and barely able to move. The curse of arthritis makes a person weak and immobile. Weakness in old age is a curse from God. This is how God curses a person.
The good news is that Jesus became a curse for us in our place and, in exchange, gave us the blessing of Abraham, which includes wealth, fame, and health. Paul also says Abraham’s gospel includes the Spirit, referring to the baptism of the Spirit: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’—in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” (Galatians 3:13-14).
Additionally, for the specific issue of healing, in His substitutionary atonement, Jesus took lashes on His back in exchange for our healing. Thus, curses aren’t permitted in your body or mind. They have no legal right to touch you. Jesus was nailed to our curses; they have no claim on us. The curse is gone because of Jesus. You don’t have to tolerate curses in your body. Use the Name of Jesus to tell sicknesses in your body, which are curses, to leave, and command that body part to be healthy.
You’re the one responsible for allowing or preventing curses from festering in your body. If you let a demon convince you arthritis is a natural part of aging, you’ve given that demon permission to steal, kill, and destroy you with God’s curses, which Jesus died to save you from. If you agree with demons and their lies, you give them a foothold to curse you with the sickness Jesus died to redeem you from. You hold the responsibility for this.
This is similar to the command to make the devil flee. God won’t do this for you because He commanded you to do it. You have the power to let the devil keep harassing you or to make him flee. Likewise, you have the power to allow curses into your body by agreeing with men and demons or to confess with faith the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Whatever you choose, don’t blame God for your sickness, because Jesus already became a curse for you. He already took 39 lashes for you to be healed. He already did something. There’s no need to ask. You only need to believe He did it.
Arthritis, boils, cancer? Straight-up God’s curses for His foes, not party favors. Deuteronomy lays it bare: sickness is divine wrath, often demon-delivered but God-ordained. Good news? Jesus took the curse hit, swapping it for Abraham’s VIP blessings—health, wealth, and Spirit power. Stop letting demons gaslight you into keeping arthritis and weakness as an “aging badge.” Speak Jesus’ Name, kick curses out, and own your healing; He’s done the heavy lifting, so stop limping and start winning.
“What I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” (Acts 3:6)
“Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.” (Acts 9:34)
“Stand up on your feet!” (Acts 14:10)
Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matt. 21:21)
The fig tree was a real fig tree, and it dried up when Jesus spoke to it. Jesus didn’t ask God; He spoke to the tree, and it died. It wasn’t a spiritual fig tree. Thus, the category is material or physical. When facing mountains in the material world, Jesus didn’t ask God for help but spoke directly to the problem. He then instructs the disciples to do the same: to speak to the mountain or problem and command it in faith, knowing God’s power will back their words. Jesus didn’t tell the disciples to inform God of their problem or mountain or to present a sad sob story about how bad it is. Rather, He said to speak to the problem and tell it what you want it to do.
After the baptism of the Spirit in the opening salvo of the Book of Acts, the disciples did just that. In Acts 3, Peter didn’t tell God how awful it must be for the cripple to suffer so long and beg God to find it in His will to heal the man. No. Peter spoke to the mountain or problem—sickness. He said, “What I have, I give.” It’s not what God has or what God gives. Peter declared the power to heal is what he has and what he gives. He then said, “In Jesus’ Name, walk.” He spoke to the mountain and told it what he wanted: “Walk.” This is exactly what Jesus instructed.
In Acts 9, Peter says, “Jesus heals you, get up.” Peter doesn’t tell God about the mountain of sickness; rather, he tells the sickness what he wants: “Get up.” Peter obeys Jesus’ instructions for interacting with material mountains and problems. In faith, tell them what you want them to do, whether it’s killing a tree, casting it into the sea, healing the sick, or telling a fish to bring you money.
In Acts 14, Paul looks at the mountain of sickness and speaks to it like Peter, saying, “Stand up on your feet!”
These commands are both spoken to the mountain and serve as instructions for the person to act on faith. Because they believe they are healed, then they need to do something they couldn’t do before. This is integrated into speaking to the mountain of sickness. It’s a powerful way to administer healing.
God gave Moses the Staff of God. When they were backed against the sea, God told Moses to stop monologuing about His help and use the Staff of God to divide the sea. Thus, it was not God who divided the sea in the most direct sense, but Moses divided the sea, using God’s power. However, what we have is greater than the Staff of God. We have the name of Jesus Christ engraved on our tongues. We are part of Jesus and so we use His Name as our own.
Jesus didn’t whine to God about fig trees or mountains—He told them what to do, and they obeyed. In Acts, Peter and Paul channel that vibe, bossing sickness around like pros: “Walk!” “Get up!” “Stand!” No sob stories, just faith-fueled commands backed by Jesus’ name. Speak to your problem, not about it—whether it’s a tree, a mountain, or a coinless fish, tell it who’s boss and watch God’s power roll.
For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of law: “The man who does these things shall live by them.” But the righteousness of faith SPEAKS in this way: “Do NOT SAY in your heart, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will go down into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).” But what does it SAY? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” —that is, the WORD OF FAITH which we are preaching, that if you CONFESS with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth he CONFESSES, leading to salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes upon Him will not be put to shame.” Romans 10:5-11
The Word of Faith actually does something. It confesses. It declares. It opens its mouth and lets the truth fly out loud. It’s not called the “thought of faith,” because the whole point is about saying and speaking it, not merely thinking it in some quiet mental corner.
Paul’s immediate context here is all about righteousness and salvation. He points out that the Jews simply didn’t have the knowledge of God’s righteousness. Sure, the Old Testament had been talking about faith the whole time, but they disregarded it and tried to get righteous by their own sweat and effort instead.
Faith, in its most foundational definition, is just a mental assent to God’s word and promise. But in the Bible — take Abraham as the classic example — it was always a faith that spoke. It was spoken with bold confidence as if it were already true before it ever happened. Because of God, Abram called himself the father of many nations long before the son of promise ever arrived.
God created us with a body, after all, and that body comes with a mouth. He didn’t design us to agree with the truth only in our heads; He wants us to speak it, sing it, declare it, and let it ring out. This is exactly what James is getting at when he says faith without works is dead. Speaking faith is honestly the smallest work you could possibly do — it’s the bare-bones minimum. It’s like Jesus’ parable about the money bags: the master told the last servant who hid the cash, “At the very least, you could have put my money in a bank and gotten interest.” Your words are that minimum deposit on the promise.
Faith is a mental agreement with everything God has commanded and spoken, whether it’s a historical fact or a sparkling promise of healing. But in the context of a promise — especially the gospel — you’re agreeing about something God has already promised, and in the gospel you’re agreeing it has already happened and been given to you. So in the gospel, faith often gets spoken in shorthand: Faith isn’t my love for God — it’s God’s love for me. Faith is confidence in God’s promise, not our ability. Faith is receiving God’s free supply by grace, not our performance. And faith is God giving to us, not us giving to God.
Paul now expands on what faith really means when it comes to righteousness. The first thing faith speaks is to avoid saying the wrong thing altogether. He gives a crystal-clear example: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up into heaven?” or “Who will go down into the abyss?” The point is simple. Since righteousness is freely given in the gospel, you don’t have to do a single thing to earn it. Jesus, as our Savior, was the Father’s plan from the start. By His own choice He went down, did all the hard work, and by the power of God He went back up. In the context of righteousness accomplished by Jesus, the first thing for faith to speak is a firm “Nope!” to any claim that you did something to make yourself righteous, healed, famous or rich.
Next, Paul shows that faith has plenty of positive things to say. Because the gospel is already finished, faith isn’t just silent mental assent anymore — it’s a living Word of Faith that must be confessed out loud. Why the upgrade from heart to mouth? Because God did something massive for you, and you’re simply called to receive it. The smallest, bare-bones work to authenticate that faith is to open your mouth and declare it. That’s why Paul says you believe in your heart (leading to righteousness) but you also confess with your mouth (leading to salvation). This combo is what saves you.
The biblical principle of first mentions takes us right back to Abraham. He believed and confessed he was the father of many nations before it ever happened, and by that spoken faith God freely credited righteousness to his account. Abraham didn’t work or earn it; it was pure unmerited favor. Think about it. He had to introduce himself as the Father of many Nations to his neighbors before he ever saw the promise fulfilled. Abraham is praised for his faith, and he’s the father of it all. His very name was a Word of Faith declaration! As true children of Abraham who claim to have faith, we also must live this Word of Faith lifestyle.
The Bible shows the children of faith who followed Abraham also lived a “Word of Faith” that confessed and declared confidence in all the good things God promised. David’s Faith Spoke in front of the giant and crowds: “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel” (1 Samuel 17:46 NIV). The Hebrews had a Word of Faith to the King of Babylon: “Our God will deliver us.” Joshua’s Faith Spoke: “Sun, be still.” Peter’s Faith Spoke this way: “What I do have I give to you: Walk, in the Name of Jesus.” There are many ways to say a Word of Faith. Like a child, a simple “thank you” or praise is all that’s needed for Faith to speak.
Abraham’s own Word of Faith was rock-solid confidence that God would perform all the good things He promised: healing, miracles, fame, riches, and every blessing. Galatians tells us the gospel was preached to Abraham — and that gospel was all about making him famous, rich, overly healthy, and powerfully blessed. God didn’t promise those things for Himself; He promised to do them for Abraham. Abraham believed God would make it happen, and God declared him righteous for believing every bit of that health, wealth, and fame. According to Paul, Scripture calls this the “gospel,” and the same gospel is now given to us through Jesus Christ. Through Abraham, God showed Himself as the Savior of the whole man — body, soul, and spirit. God is pleased when we look to Him as total Savior, and the more we ask for (health, wealth, favor), the more He supplies and the more He is glorified. Less glory for God means… well, less glory.
The Word of Faith is this unshakable confidence in God’s word and promise. Faith sees what God promised as already given and deposited into our accounts, so it speaks, knowing the reality has already been set in stone. It’s like a parent who buys the exact gift their child has been wanting, wraps it, and places it right on the bed. The parent says, “I got you something special — it’s already on your bed.” The child’s eyes light up and they scream “Thank you!” because even though they haven’t unwrapped it yet, they know it’s already theirs.
Vincent Cheung nails this in “Adventures of Jesus Christ,” echoing an illustration similar to what F.F. Bosworth taught in “Christ the Healer,” but with a sharper focus on the “already done” aspect. He writes, “When God tells you that a miracle will happen, believe it. When God promises to do a thing for you, accept that he will do it… The Bible says many things that are more than promises, but it tells you that something is already done. Imagine if I say to you, ‘I have put a present in your room.’ And you answer, ‘Well, you will do it if you want to.’ Would that not be silly? I told you that I have already done it, and that the present is already in your room, but you answer as if it is not yet done, and that you are not sure if it would happen at all. Again, it is like you think I have not said anything. It is like you are calling me a liar.”
Yet some people still doubt that Jesus will forgive or heal them. That’s like the child saying, “I don’t believe you put a gift on my bed,” even though it’s sitting right there. It’s insulting — you’re calling God a liar after He’s already done it. Others try to sound humble: “Okay, I believe when you’re dead it’ll be in your will,” or “I’m not worthy to accept it.” None of the excuses work. All of them expose unbelief.
Faith in your heart is how you know it was for you. You’re not saved by asking God to save you; you’re saved by confessing with thanksgiving that Jesus has already forgiven, healed, and prospered you. Peter told the crowd at Pentecost to “repent” and be saved — he didn’t say “ask to be saved.” Because forgiveness and righteousness have already happened, you repent knowing it’s finished. To ask God to forgive you and credit Jesus’ righteousness is like asking Him to re-crucify His Son. Faith receives something God has already given.
There’s a reason the New Testament commands us to always give thanks, always sing songs and psalms to God. Thanksgivings, songs, and psalms are the constant voice of faith; they are word of faith confessions. Many Psalms are straight-up, Name It and Claim it, confessions. Let faith speak nonstop. Faith confessions are living activity of a born-again spirit; they make the inner man strong. They are your lifeblood, especially when eyes, feelings, and circumstances scream the opposite. Double down on the Word of Faith!
Faith has a megaphone — it’s the Word of Faith shouting God’s done-deal promises. Abraham said He was the Daddy of Nations before the kid showed up, and God gave him a righteousness high-five that still echoes. Confess Jesus’ finished work — from healing to riches and everything in between.
“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.”
We are not talking about denying the resurrection of Jesus, the Trinity, or the forgiveness of sins. Instead, we examine denying people their carnal desires for good sex in marriage and good food. Keeping Christian men from penetrating women in marriage is demon business. According to the Good Book, some morons will ditch faith faster than a priest at a strip club, chasing after demon whispers, from those whose consciences are as burnt as last night’s lasagna.
Marriage offers the pleasure of sex and the joy of family. Although God is a God of fertility and family joy, the biblical emphasis in marriage is on sex. Hence, this becomes our basic emphasis. The Bible has an entire book, the Song of Songs, dedicated to this, not family. Think about that. The Spirit of God, who wrote the Bible, gave the high title, “The Song of Songs,” to celebrate the romance and sex between a man and a woman, not to praise Jesus. Your worldview should include this. Christian sex should be world-envied.
These doctrines did not originate from men but from demons. The concept of restricting sex and food was so vile, a demon conceived it. They’re straight from Satan’s playbook. Only a demon would come up with banning burgers and apple pie. God’s all about the bangin’ and the breedin’, but these fools say no, you can’t enjoy your steak or your spouse.
Some have conspired with demons to spread these doctrines, making them human too. This is the opposite of Isaiah 55. These demon thoughts are too low for a human to think it. Only a demon could think it, and by demon manipulation humans think Satan’s thoughts after him.
The passage states these men have seared their souls with a hot iron. These trash have seared their own souls, not from too much sex or food, but from denying it to others. That’s some twisted stuff! This could mean they become perverted after searing their souls, or teaching such doctrines does this, or both. Either way, the horror is the same. I’ve never heard a pastor use the phrase “seared their conscience with a hot iron” in this context. What else do our pastors not tell us?
Not rejecting the resurrection, but rejecting carnal sex and food is so dark, vile, and rebellious it’s labelled a demon doctrine.
From this, we learn demon dogmatics withhold good things meant for Christians. These doctrines oppose the blessings given to God’s elect. God has given good things in creation, in Abraham and in Jesus, but demon dogmatics are designed to snatch and steal this knowledge. The goal is to ensure faith never has a chance to receive them.
Thus, “how much more,” would rejecting good things, such as miracle ministry, faith and the baptism of the Spirit, be demon doctrine. These good things have the blood of Jesus stained on them, and so they would be greater. If withholding sex is demonic, how much more so is withholding healing and miracles, which Jesus’s blood bought? If withholding a juicy steak is devil’s work, imagine what denying healing or miracles means – that’s like Satan on steroids!
Healing is good; it was part of the atonement, and Jesus spent much time healing, when He could have spent more time preaching. As Peter said, Jesus went about doing “good,” healing all oppressed by the devil. Supernatural healing is a very good thing in the Bible.
And so, to teach healing by putting it behind a paywall of, “if God wills it,” is a demon dogmatic. They block healing’s door, like bouncers at a club you can’t get into. Such a thing is so delusional that only a mind as perverted as a demon, could imagine it.
Jesus said, “if you are not with me, then you are against me.” He said this in context of blaspheming a ministry of healing, miracles and casting out demons. It is the ultimate devil dogmatic.
Those who evangelize these doctrines deserve all the harsh rebukes scripture gives them. Cut them out of your life as you would any demon. Demons cannot enjoy God’s good things and out of envy, they use pastors to propagate their dogmatics, keeping you from God’s gifts.
So, if you’re with Jesus, you’re all about the healing, the miracles, the good stuff his blood paid for. If not, you’re with the other team, the one with the horns and pitchforks.
Cast them out. Expose them for who they truly work for.
[1] Grok Ai 2025 personal editing. Grok aided with proof-reading and some witty summaries.
The scripture says, “you have not, because you ask not.”
The Spirit would not say this, if it were not a real problem in our everyday lives.
The Holy Spirit ain’t just dropping this wisdom for giggles; He is saying we are too lazy or stupid to ask for miracles.
We must agree with scripture that it is true, and so, you’re either too stupid to know your own Christian privileges, or you’re so bogged down by doubt and demon doctrines that you can’t even be bothered to open your mouth. Your lethargy makes turtles blush in envy. ‘Why ask for the good stuff? God’s just gonna knock it outta the park like it’s the damn World Series!’
Demon doctrines keep you from receiving the good things that God has given you, even carnal things like sex in marriage and good food. How much more for things like healing and miracles.
Wake up. First, you must renew your mind to see your true definition as a Christian. You need to see how freakin awesome you are in Jesus. You are holding all the cards; the deck is stacked in your favor. Jesus’ authority is stamped on your tongue and the Spirit is a mighty sword in your hand.
Second, open your eyes and look. Satan is the boss monster, trying to keep you from the treasure. Sadly men, such as cessationists, have conspired with Satan to keep you from your inheritance. Satan is trying to cockblock you from all the good stuff Jesus died for. That’s his job; he slaps your hand away from the gospel of Abraham. If you get that, you’d be motivated to slam Satan’s ugly face into the pavement (over and over) and claim your rightful inheritance. Jesus didn’t bleed out on a cross, just for you to sit there like a limp noodle!
James says if you pray with faith, the sick dude gets up like the bed’s on fire; or is the Spirit who wrote the scripture, one of those crazy faith preachers? If you “said” the latter, then you just committed the unforgivable sin. Listen, it’s not a suggestion, it’s a command! But no, you’re all too busy not asking, living in disgrace, rebelling against your own healing.
Take a page from Andrew Womack’s book, who treats sickness like it’s cheating on his wife. He says, ‘I ain’t getting sick no more than I’d commit adultery!’ He kicks sickness out the door, thanking Jesus all day, until it f@#k$ off. He’s only been sick twice in fifty years, ’cause he worked by resting and receiving Jesus’ finished atonement. He knows he was already forgiven, made righteous, healed and given Abraham’s blessings. He already has these things, and so Andrew doesn’t need to beg God for them. Do you think he got healed when various sickness tried to kill him like heart attacks? What about when his son was dead for 4 hours, and was blue and ice cold in a morgue? Was he healed; did his son live again? Oh yeah, ’cause he had the balls to ask!”
You ain’t got crap, because you ain’t asking.
[1] Grok Ai 2025. Personal communication. Helped with some basic editing and witty summaries.
Oshea Davis 