What are you standing on?

Yesterday at church Ben Davies spoke on the prayer of Abraham in Genesis 17. God reminds Abraham of His promise to him - that Abraham will become the Father of Nations and his wife will have a child. Instead of believing God at his word though, instead Abraham simply prays 'Oh Lord, If only Ishmael would live under your blessing'. Abraham settled and didn't take God at His word but rather asked God if his current situation was enough.

For the last couple of months I've been praying to God for one main thing: 

Faith. When it comes to faith, talking the talk is very easy but when it comes to believing God can completely heal someone right in front of your eyes or save your friend in that exact moment or bring revival to this town today then it's quite different. We need to be honest about our faith and where we are with it. God has brought me on a huge journey with faith but He's also made me more honest about it. I know there are times I doubt His power now and yet I don't doubt He's God. It's weird but it's true for all of us on occasion.

So back to Ben's talk - yesterday when I heard Ben speak I'd actually heard the message before. I'd been lucky enough to go with Ben and Liam to another church and hear him speak on Abraham there. At this church Ben had spoken with real passion. The talk was powerful and engaging. The only problem though was it didn't really challenge me. I listened to what Ben said but I didn't feel real impact in my life.

The funny thing about God though is that He won't settle for that. He wouldn't settle for with Abraham and He wouldn't settle for that with me. Ben brought the exact same message yesterday and yet God, in His infinite wisdom, chose now to answer my prayers. Ben asked one thing which I knew was straight from God:

'What is your mindset?' 

I felt God saying to me: 'Is your mindset based on your circumstances, the past, other people....or is it based on my Word?' 

Faith for Healing. Faith for Salvation. Faith for Revival. All these things came to mind as God asked me simply - 'What does my Word say?' 

It is so easy to base our faith and our prayers on the past and what's gone before. When we pray for healing knowing God hasn't done it in the past we base our prayers upon that rather than Luke 11 and Isaiah 53:5. When we pray for salvation we think of our past instead of standing upon John 10. When we pray for Revival we see the darkness of our town rather than the power of the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts, available to us now. What do we believe and what do we stand upon? God's Word or the past? This is a huge challenge not just to me but to all of us. God is asking us all:

What are you standing upon?

I pray that I will stand upon His word more and more each day.