Becoming a Man of Unwavering Faith by John Osteen Read Free Book Online Page A

is the God who “calls those things which do not exist as though they did” (Romans 4:17).
    Maybe you have nothing. You’ve just about given up. You’ve prayed, you’ve looked to God, and there’s still nothing to show for it. People are telling you, “It’s not working!”
Stand your ground. Keep holding the Word of God up to Him.
    In Jeremiah 1:12, the Lord says, “I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled” ( NIV ).
If God promised it, He will do it.
L ORD , O PEN O UR E YES !
    Elijah knew, and a man of faith knows, that life is a battleground. But he also comes to understand that the battle is won when he listens to his spirit-man rejoicing over what he
knows
to be true by faith through revelation knowledge gained through the Word of God.
    In 2 Kings 6, an amazing story is told of the prophet Elisha, who was the disciple of Elijah. The Syrians were fighting the Israelites, and every time the Syrians moved, the Israelites knew where their enemies were ahead of time. So the Syrian leader got all the people together and said, “I want to know something in this counsel of war. Who is for Israel, and who is for us? There must be a spy in the camp.”
    One of the servants responded, “None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom” (v. 12). They said, “You mean there is a prophet down there who can understand these things?” Yes was the response, so they sent the whole army out to get that one man! That is how afraid the enemy was of the man of God. They sent an army down to get Elisha.
    That is the way it is going to be with us. God is going to move in the supernatural. You may not know it, but the enemy is afraid of you. The Bible states, “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4:7). Satan trembles at the very thought of you as a man of faith.
    The servant of Elisha awoke in the morning and looked out at the great host of the Syrian army, with its chariots and horses. All this young man could see was the enemy, and his natural response was to panic and cry out, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” (v. 15).
    But when Elisha got up and walked out to assess the situation, he also saw those hundreds and possibly thousands of Syrian horses and chariots out there and said, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (v. 16).
    I can imagine that young man saying, “Elisha, I don’tknow how you’re counting, but one plus one equals two, and we are clearly outnumbered!”
    Elisha responded, “ ‘L ORD , I pray, open his eyes that he may see.’ Then the L ORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha” (v. 17). The host of heaven surrounded the Syrians!
    Elisha didn’t say, “Look, God just created some angels.” No, those angels were there in the invisible world all the time. Just because God manifested their presence by making them visible in the physical dimension at that moment did not change the fact that they were already present. The answer was there all the time.
W ALK I NTO THE F OREST OF G OD’S E TERNAL T RUTHS
    What was true for the servant of Elisha is true for us as we begin to experience God’s touch upon our lives. You see, salvation has existed for you ever since Jesus died and purchased it with His blood. Healing has been yours, eternal life has been yours, and financial blessing has been yours.
    Sometimes you do not immediately see your new job or your healing or prosperity or your victory over an addiction, but that does not mean it is not yours. Just as your angel is by your side and you are convinced bythe Word of God that he lives in that invisible world watching after you, so too your healing or your prosperity is there. As far as God is concerned, His promises are all yours. You can rejoice by faith that they are yours, even