"Faith Is Specific, Part 2" by Nancy Dufresne

In last month’s letter, I told of a particular test I faced. There was a threat the enemy kept making. I didn’t know the specific answer to it, so I would answer it generally with the truths of the Word, and it would just stand off. But after a few weeks, that same opposition would return. I would again give a general answer and it would again back off, but it didn’t leave.

     The last time it came, God said to me, “Ask Me about that opposition.” I hadn’t talked to God about it because I didn’t want to touch that threat in my thought life – I didn’t want to turn it over in my mind. But when God told me to ask Him about it, I did. He told me why it was coming. God gave me the specific answer to give to that threat, and when I answered that threat specifically, that devil left and didn’t come back. The enemy’s strategy failed because the wisdom of God came.

     When you resist an attack, but it keeps recurring, it’s because you aren’t yet giving the right specific answer.

     Specifics given by the Spirit of God are the wisdom of God for your need, and wisdom is the principal thing that gets results every time when we add our faith and obedience to it.

     The wisdom God gives can come through His Word or by His Spirit. But His wisdom is our specific answer and help.

     For me to overcome that opposition I faced, my faith needed to be more specific. When I received God’s wisdom, my faith became more specific and I got results!

God Is Specific

     The God-kind of faith is in every believer (Rom. 12:3), and the God-kind of faith is specific! The more specific we are with our faith, the more results we will get.

     In Creation, God was specific – He wasn’t general. God didn’t say, “Everything be created.” Every day of Creation, there were specific things God spoke and specific things God’s Spirit performed.

     In daily life, we are specific. We can’t get dressed without being specific. We choose specific clothes to wear each day, and we are specific in how we put them on. We can’t get to work without taking a specific route. We can’t buy anything at the store without selecting specific items. We can’t purchase anything in a store without specific amounts and specific payment. We can’t buy or sell a home without being specific.

     However, when it comes to dealing with spiritual things and with God, we sometimes become general in our faith, then wonder why we don’t receive specific results.

     We need to be specific in what we are believing God for.

     What kind of job do you want? What pay do you want? We must be specific in our faith because God is specific in meeting our needs and supplying our wants.

Specific Answers

     When one pastor pioneered his church, he lived in a nation where travel was difficult. The traffic in his city was so congested that it would be easier for him to navigate through traffic on a bicycle than on a car. He was just learning about faith, so he decided to believe God for a bicycle. He prayed and released his faith for a bicycle. Three months later, he still had no bicycle. When he asked God why it was taking so long, God said, “You never told Me what kind or color you wanted.”

     The minister then got specific. “I want a red Schwinn bicycle.” Within days, he was given a red Schwinn bicycle. His specific faith got specific results.

     Being more specific doesn’t make it harder for God; it causes the answer to come quicker.

The Spirit Will Lead Us

      Look to the Word and to the Spirit for specifics you may need – don’t look to human reasoning. Specifics can also come from your own desires, for the Word tells us that God will give us the desires of our heart.

     If we are too general with our faith, sometimes it’s a sign we aren’t believing for anything specific. We are to have a faith that is specific, and we are to look to the Spirit of God to lead us in those specifics.

     Colossians 1:9 reads, “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives” (NIV).

     In the late 1980s, God directed me to do tent crusades in some inner cities. There were great results in those tents with many salvations and healings.

     In one of my first crusades, there were 200 people present the first night and 50 answered the altar call to be born again. When I got back to my hotel room, I told God I didn’t like that percentage; I thought it was too low.

     He answered me, “You didn’t say how many you were believing for.”

     I said, “How do I know how many to believe for? I don’t know how many will be there.”

     He replied, “The Holy Spirit knows. Why don’t you ask Him?”

     So I said, “Alright, Holy Spirit, how many should I believe for to be born again tomorrow night?”

     The Spirit of God answered, “Believe for 200.”

     I said, “Alright, I believe for 200 salvations tomorrow night.”

     I arrived at the meeting the next night, and 250 people were present. Since there were 50 saved out of the 200 present the night before, based on that percentage, it seemed to be a stretch to think that 200 out of 250 people present on the second night would answer the altar call, but they did! There were 200 people that answered the altar call.

     The more specific we are with our faith, the more results we will get.

     Look to the Spirit of God to give you the specifics you may need, for He will make known to you the wisdom of God for the situations of your daily life – and God’s wisdom is the principal thing!