Jude 1:3 reads, “...it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith….” In telling us to “earnestly contend for the faith,” that lets us know that there are enemies to faith that will try to rob us of our faith – fear, doubt, unbelief, false doctrine, etc.
How active are these words that surround faith – earnestly – contend. These are not passive words. “Earnestly” speaks of our interest level. How interested are we? It takes real interest to press past opposition and to see a thing through to the end. Without being interested, people won’t continue – they’ll give up. “Contend” shows us that there will be opposition. Faith has to be CONTENDED for. The deeper things of God don’t come to the casual observer; they have to be contended for, believed for, and pressed into.
Contenders can’t be slothful or casual toward their victory. A soldier that’s slothful gets killed. A soldier must contend to stay alive. We must contend for the plan God has for our life – contend for our home, our marriage, our health, our prosperity, our peace, our joy, etc.
Contend for the faith. Don’t let anything pervert or steal your faith from you!
How Abraham believed God is an example of faith to us. Romans 4:17-21 reads, “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”
Abraham “CALLED those things which be not as though they were.” This is a definition of faith. Faith “calls those things which be not as though they were.” The Amplified Classic translation reads, “…speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed.”
We have to CALL what God says is ours into our life. If we speak wrong things, we’re calling wrong things into our life. But if we call right things, then right things come into our life. Find out what the Word says about you and your situation, then call yourself that and call your situation that. We’re to say what God says about our situation and not what the circumstances say about our situation.
The Bible shows us a great truth – what you call is what will come to your life. If you call yourself sick, you get sicker. You talk about the lack of money, and it will keep it from coming in. But if you call yourself healed, healing begins to work in your body. If you call yourself prosperous, then prosperity begins to flow. The more you call it, the more you will have it. It’s not about calling it once, it’s a lifestyle of calling.
“We must call it the way God calls it – that’s faith! Faith calls what it needs to come.”
If Abraham hadn’t called himself the father of many nations, he wouldn’t have become that, even though God called him that. God needs us to agree with what He says so He can bring it to pass. Faith is simply agreeing with God. We must call it the way God calls it – that’s faith! Faith calls what it needs to come.
Oral Roberts stated, “Every day miracles are coming to you or going past you.” How do you keep them from going past you? Faith calls! God goes where faith puts Him. Smith Wigglesworth, an English preacher, stated, “There’s something about faith that will cause God to pass over a million people just to get to you!”
Faith comes by hearing, but it isn’t released by hearing. Faith is released through what we say and what we do. We can have faith and not be releasing it. Make your mouth do its divine work – call!
What’s in a call? Your healing, provision, answers, your future. The more we call it, the more we have it. The less we call it, the less we have it. Our life is a picture of what we are calling. We can look at our life and know what we have been calling or not calling. We can look at our life and know what we need to call. Receiving your miracle is as easy as calling it!
Do you know how we are going to move from where we are today into the fullness of what God has for us? We must put what we believe in our mouth – we are to have a lifestyle of saying what God says about us!
We will never just float or drift into God’s best – we will only arrive there on purpose. If we’re not calling, we’re not contending! So, call what you need to come! Make your mouth do its work!