First Believe, then Receive

Chinese version

edited by Celine Yeap

I just had a conversation with a friend of mine over the phone; I asked her to trust me more, versus asking me questions, questions pertaining to why I had taken certain measures in dealing with certain things. The reply that I received was – “You need to tell me everything for me to trust you”.

I literally laughed (and smiled), not at her reply but discovering what a naive, sweet girl she was, who couldn’t stand the suspense of not knowing. At the same time, the reply that she gave me made me reflect upon my walk of faith with God.

You see, people always (almost, 99.99%) only believe what their eyes can see – and such describes the Israelites.

And God spoke to Moses and said to him: "I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant." Exodus 6:2-5

Now, had God given them the land?  Yes. It is given to them, free of charge. But there is one thing the Israelites need to do – to believe. Believe in what? To believe the land is theirs, despite the giants who were by then, residing there. So what was the outcome? Let us recap – Moses sent the twelve spies into the land of Canaan, and the spies stayed in the land of Canaan for forty days. What did they see? Big grapes – juicy and yummy. Who wouldn’t want to stay there? The land was beautiful – flowing with milk and honey. A perfect land. The spies all agreed that Canaan was a wonderful country, and that it would be a great place for the Israelites to live, but all except two of them were afraid of the Canaanites. What do you suppose happened then? Well, ten of the spies advised Moses not to enter the land, describing that the chances of winning over the giants were just too little. WORSE still, the Israelites chose to believe the ten spies – forgetting in the first place that God has already given them the land.

Only two of the spies believed in the land. Well, not really. They believed in the Lord who saved them. They are Joshua and Caleb. What are the amazing stories about them? Read up Exodus and you will find out; but the point proven here is the act of believing. People believe only in what they see. It is hard for us, humans, to generate a special trust in something which is out of the norm; or, something that we have never experienced before – things that we do not see with our own eyes. But God has a different approach - He FIRST GIVES (i.e. it is already there, be it spiritual or tangible), and it then takes your “trust” to believe that He has already given to you. As such, it will be yours. Evidence? Sure - let’s see how Jesus has done it.

And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. – Mark 5:25-29

Ah. Jesus heals. And He heals a lot of people, by simply touching them. But what’s so special about the healing of this bleeding woman? Read on, and you will see Jesus’ commentary – a very important thing to note.

“You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ ” But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your FAITH has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”Mark 5:31-34

See that? The answer is faith! If the woman hadn’t believed that Jesus could heal, there would not have been any miracle, even she were to wrap herself with the entire piece of cloth. But look what flashed through her mind –“ If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” She knew she WAS GOING to be healed; that is why she went and touched Jesus’ garment. The thing is Jesus had already provided the healing – and all you needed was faith to substantiate it.

Jesus said “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark11:24

(I suggest you read that verse at least 5 times before you continue reading)

Look at the sequence – BELIEVE (first) that you have received it (dude, you have it, and this is the part of believing) and then(after) it will be yours. First to believe, then you will have it. Many a times, we do it the other way round. We try to believe in God only AFTER we have received the miracles. We pray for what we want- and we don’t get it (yet) – then we give up, and then we say –nah God doesn’t listen to my prayers. No, that’s not the way. Believe that you ALREADY have it, and then it will be yours. It’s not really about timing. It’s just the matter of how our faith is put to God. Well, it seems like God’s faith operates differently from man’s.

Believing in what you have seen, that’s just mere believing. Believe in what you have not seen – now that’s called FAITH.