Larry Ollison
The world is full of negative reports. It seems that everywhere you go, there is someone telling you, "You won't make it." "You can't win." "God doesn't want to heal you." "Faith doesn't work," etc. The world does not want you to make it. But here's the good news. God does!
God's Word is positive. His Word tells us in Psalm 103:3 that He heals all our diseases and in Psalm 34:19, His Word says, "Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all."
When some people hear a negative report, they become discouraged. God does not want us to become discouraged. He wants us to believe Him. He wants us to believe that He will deliver us like He said He would. He wants us to trust in Him so He can perform His Word in our lives.
Discouragement is a combination of fear, depression, and a lack of hope. We could almost call it "anti-faith." Discouragement is not from God and He does not want you to have it. When we are discouraged, we do not function in the spirit realm the way God wants us to. When we are discouraged, it becomes difficult to hear God and easier to listen to the discouraging words of the world.
Listen to this. When the Hebrews left Egypt under the leadership of Moses, God told them that if they would go into the Promised Land, He would fight all their battles for them.
When they reached the Promised Land, they sent out twelve spies and when the spies returned, they all gave their reports. The spies did not all agree. Two of the spies gave a positive, encouraging report and ten spies gave a negative, discouraging report.
At that point, the people had a choice. Which report would they believe? Would they believe the report of the majority or would they believe God's promise? Would they go by what they saw or would they go by what God said? Well, sadly, the people chose to believe the negative report instead of the positive report. The Bible says the people had become discouraged because of the negative report and decided not to enter into the land God had for them.
Today many Christians are doing the same thing. Because they choose to believe the negative report of the world and to believe what they see and hear, instead of believing what God promised, they miss many blessings God has set aside for those who believe.
Jesus said in Mark 16:17, "These signs shall follow those who believe." He didn't say these signs shall follow those who doubt, fear, or worry. He said, "These sign shall follow those who believe." Who are those who believe? They are the ones who believe that God will do what He said He would do. They have total trust, belief, and faith in Him.
Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." In order to receive from God, we must believe Him and His Word.
So, today let me say this. If you have just been given a negative, discouraging report, you have a choice to make. Do you believe the evil report or do you believe God? Do you put your belief in what you see or do you put your faith in what God says?
Remember, what 2 Corinthians 5:7 says: "For we walk by faith and not by sight.
Larry Ollison Ministries PO Box 880, Osage Beach, MO 65065 USA
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