Our grandson Jon who turned 19 this past March 16th is familiar with
John 3:16 as his Bible verse. I think we all know that verse. “For God so
loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I want to go to the 17th verse which reads, “For God sent not his Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved.” That word saved is from the Greek word sozo, which
means deliverance, preservation, healing and soundness. Sozo really
encompasses the idea of total salvation, prosperity and victory for our
spirit, soul, and body.
In these verses we see what God’s will is for us. God wants us to be
saved and have everlasting life with Him. How did God accomplish His
will for us? He gave us Jesus!
Now for these verses to have any meaning in our lives, we must believe
God’s Word. We must have faith in God’s Word. God’s will is His Word
and His Word is His will. The New Testament is the last will and
testament of Jesus. Jesus has already said “yes” to it. It is not a matter
of what He is going to do someday. It is a matter of us receiving what
He has already done.
I mentioned above that we must have faith in order for us to receive
God’s will for us. He is the author of everything that is good and perfect.
(James 1:17.) In Hebrews 11:1 we read, ”Now faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith will always
speak the end results, instead of what exists at the present.
We use faith on things we cannot see; things which are not seen. We
have to believe before we see it in the natural realm. Faith is seeing in
the Spirit what the Word promised, when it is not yet manifested in
the natural.
“Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever you desire, when you
pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.” (Mark
11:24) When we pray the Word of God, this will increase our faith. The
things that we pray are the things we believe that we receive.
Paul wrote in Romans 10:17, “…faith comes by hearing, and hearing the
word of God. Hearing our own voice repeating what God has said will
have faith come more quickly. We must have our faith stand in the
place of the thing promised until it appears.
We are not to obtain something that God does not want us to have. We
are out to receive what God promised us in His Word, and to obtain it
by God’s method. His method is by FAITH.
Carol Williams
The Healing Corner