Four Words That Work
"Therefore I say unto you, What things so ever ye desire, when ye pray, believe
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them."
(Mark 11:24)
Believing. That's the key to everything in the kingdom of God. It's the way we
tap into the very power of Almighty God. Most of us know that. But do we know
how to put it into action?
Actually it's so simple, it's startling. It's as simple as saying, "I believe I
receive."
Something happens in your spirit when you say those words. I don't understand
how, but it does. I don't understand how my digestive system knows what to do
when I swallow something, but it does. All I have to do is take a bite of food
and it goes to work. I don't have to make it happen. I don't have to feel it
happen. It just happens. That's the way the body is made.
In much the same way, when you feed on God's precious promises and "swallow"
them into your spirit by saying, "I believe I receive," faith is released. You
don't have to make it happen. You don't have to feel it happen. It just happens.
The reborn spirit is made that way.
When you constantly say with your mouth, "I believe I receive my healing" or "I
believe I receive my financial needs met," and then quote the scriptures that
back those things, faith is released to bring power to bear on those needs.
As Dr. Kenneth Hagin says, you need to "keep the switch of faith turned on." And
Gloria and I have discovered that speaking out that phrase, "I believe I
receive," is one way to do it. We say it when we pray. We say it when we praise
God. We say it when we read the Word.
We especially say it in the face of darkness when it looks like we're not
receiving. When everything looks the worst, we say it the loudest. I believe I
receive!
Do you want to activate your faith today? Then make these four key words the
most important words in your vocabulary. Use them every day. You'll soon
discover, just as we did...they work!
Scripture Study: Mark 11:12-24
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January 4th - Angela of Foligno, Visionary (c.1248-1309)
Angela lived in Foligno, an Italian city about ten miles from Assisi. She
married and had several sons. In her 30s, about 1285, she underwent some kind of
moral crisis: she had committed some sin so shameful that she would not tell her
confessor, and therefore she feared hell. She prayed to Francis of Assisi, who
had died about 60 years before, and in a dream he promised to help her. Soon
after, she met a relative who was a Franciscan friar (whom tradition calls Fra
Arnaldo), and she was able to make a full confession to him.
This incident acted as a conversion point for Angela: she did penance for her
sins and came to embrace the Franciscan ideal of poverty. When her husband,
sons, and mother died within a year, although she mourned her loss, she also saw
it as a stripping away of attachments. She tried to give away all of her
property, but at first her family and even her Franciscan counselors stopped
her.
In 1291, she made a pilgrimage to Rome; on her return she did give most of what
she owned to the poor, and became a Franciscan tertiary (a lay person affiliated
with the order). She made a pilgrimage to Assisi; there she had the first of
many visionary experiences.
Then or in the following year, she told Fra Arnaldo of her visions; after
considerable initial skepticism, he believed her and began to write Memoriale in
Latin as she dictated it in her Umbrian dialect (sometimes with results that
Angela felt misstated her intentions) and with his own narration as a frame
(Arnaldo's asides on his difficulties with his superiors and with his own lack
of self-confidence are amusing). By 1296/97, Memoriale was complete, and began
to be circulated in the area.
After 1296, Angela appears to have lived quietly in Foligno, but her influence
grew, especially among those Franciscan friars who were working to reform the
order from what they saw as its decadence since the death of Francis. For them,
whom she called her "sons," she wrote or dictated letters--some brief
encouragements, some lengthy treatises--on the spiritual life. After her death,
these were collected into what is now called her Instructions.
The 9 chapters of Memoriale and the 36 sections of Instructions are usually
published together under the title, Il Libro della Beata Angela da Foligno. What
is fascinating is the difference in tone between the voices of the two works: in
Memoriale, Angela needs to constantly "feel" the presence of God and is unsure
of her ability to make everything clear to the questioning Arnaldo; in
Instructions, Angela is sure of herself and of her God and believes that she
can help her "sons."
Quote:
Let us strive to be amiable, sweet, and humble with all, but especially with
those whom God has placed near us, such as our servants. And let us not be of
those who seem angels abroad, but demons at home.
-St. Francis de Sales
Bible Quote
42 And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is he who
was appointed by God, to be judge of the living and of the dead. 43 To him all
the prophets give testimony, that by his name all receive remission of sins, who
believe in him. (Acts 10:42-43)
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TO A MIRACULOUS MOTHER
Blessed Mother, be my guide!
Be here always at my side!
Take me through this world of sorrow,
Show me there's a bright tomorrow!
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