Bulldog Faith: 10 Keys to Follow When Your Faith Seems Weak

Sermon outline

Opposition and delay after you have prayed are the devil resisting you, not God saying no, so hold your confession with bulldog persistence until the answer shows up.

1. Strong in faith, not wavering

   God is not moved by crying, tears or begging; only faith moves Him. Abraham shows that you can be weak in faith or strong in faith, and that strength comes by hearing the Word. To waver is to be double-minded, and a person can love God, be full of the Holy Ghost and still walk in unbelief.

   “God is not moved when you beg Him. There's only one thing that moves God, and that is what? Faith.”

   • Romans 4:16-21
   • Romans 10:17

2. An evil day will visit you

   Paul wrote to saints, so the evil day and the wiles, or strategies, of the devil are aimed at Christians. The devil does not trouble unbelievers because they are already blinded and in his camp; he opposes believers because they are a threat to the kingdom of darkness. The fight is called good because the result is already known.

   Illustration: Some people think the devil is fast asleep under a heated blanket. He is wide awake and seeking whom he may devour.

   “There'll be a little bit of pressure, but you'll win.”

   • Ephesians 6:10-13
   • 1 Peter 5:8
   • 2 Corinthians 4:4
   • Mark 16:18
   • Matthew 5:14
   • 1 John 4:4
   • 1 Timothy 6:12

3. Opposition and delay are not God saying no

   One of the greatest errors is to take a delay in the answer as a sign that it was not God's will. The first sign of opposition after you have prayed is a sure sign that the devil is opposing you, and he is waiting to hear what you will say. If he can get you to waver and say God did not answer, you have closed the door on yourself.

   Illustration: A Christian is shortlisted for a job, then finds his name left off the next round. He can say 'I just knew it', or he can put the phone down, refuse the report in Jesus' name and expect a call back.

   “One of the greatest errors in the Christian world is to accept any opposition to answered prayer or any delay to answers to prayer as the will of God.”

   • Romans 8:31
   • Matthew 12:34
   • Matthew 11:12

4. Put faith pressure on life's circumstances

   Outside the church doors you have a real life to live, and even in a struggling economy you can change things by prayer, confession, sowing and declaration. He warns against the lazy Christianity of buying anointing oil for a job or a healing, and against looking for a quick fix through the laying on of hands with no Word in you. God operates by His Word and by the anointing.

   Illustration: That afternoon it began to pelt with rain while he was in his office. Thinking of the people coming to church by bus, he told the devil it would not rain, and within ten minutes the rain stopped and the sun came out. He also tells of a mother whose son was prayed for by an evangelist; when she saw no change the next day she said nothing had happened, and short-circuited the power of God with her confession.

   “If you don't apply faith pressure in life circumstances, you will be whipped.”

   • James 5:14
   • Romans 4:17
   • 2 Corinthians 5:7

5. Active faith makes a demand on the ability of God

   Reasoning is mental assent; God wants you to operate from faith, like the centurion who only needed a word. Words, the laying on of hands, worship and an offering are all points of contact, so come to church with a purpose and expect to leave with your answer. With so much worldly news flooding our minds, you must make a quality decision to get the Word into your spirit.

   Illustration: He calls a man named Edward to come up behind him and touch his coat, to show how the woman with the issue of blood pushed through the crowd and refused to be denied. He also tells how he sat at his desk saying amen to a preacher on a recording who did not know him, receiving the word for himself.

   “One activated their faith and the other had dormant faith.”

   • Matthew 8:8-10
   • Mark 5:27-28
   • Luke 18:8

6. Walk offence free so that the Word works for you

   Satan will offend you so that you come to church with a closed mind and heart and cannot receive. Forgive, walk in love, treat everybody the same and guard your heart, because a defeated place is one you walked into yourself. There are times you could take offence; let that opportunity pass you by.

   Illustration: He used to take offence very quickly, and had to learn the hard way when the Lord told him that if he kept on getting offended like that, He could not use him.

   “If you get offended, sooner or later the word won't work for you.”

   • Luke 8:18
   • Proverbs 4:23

7. Satan hindered us: expect opposition and become aggressive

   If Satan went out of his way to hinder and impede the apostle Paul, he will oppose you too, but now that you know it you do not have to be weak. Treat sickness as a trespasser in the temple of the Holy Ghost, and cut the root in the realm of the spirit so that the fruit dies. The Holy Ghost is God's GPS and radar detector, who lets you know when the enemy is coming.

   Illustration: Driving to church one day, the whole left side of his face went numb with what was called Bell's palsy. He slapped his own face and commanded it out, started preaching unable to speak properly, and by the end of the message was preaching normally. Every time he made a big decision for the church the doors were tightly shut, and the Lord told him to kick them down with his words and his faith.

   “You've got to be aggressive. Don't let him steal from you.”

   • 1 Thessalonians 2:18
   • 1 Corinthians 6:19
   • Ephesians 4:27
   • James 4:7
   • 1 Peter 5:8
   • Matthew 11:12

8. 1. Recognise the source of your opposition as being Satan

   The opposition is not flesh and blood. Identify the devil as the one standing against your answer.

   • Ephesians 6:12

9. 2. Be sure that the promises of God cover the thing asked for

   Make sure you have enough scriptural basis for your request. If you are asking for physical healing, find the scriptures that cover healing.

   “Make sure that you have enough scriptural basis for your request.”

10. 3. Be sure that you are not living in open or secret sin

    He states this step plainly and has the church write it down without further comment.

11. 4. Be sure that no doubt or unbelief is permitted in your life concerning the promises of God

    Doubt and unbelief about what God has promised must not be allowed any room in your life.

12. 5. Sincerely desire the benefit that you ask of God

    Be specific. People who come for prayer wanting 'just anything' or 'just a blessing' are beating about the bush, and receive nothing.

    “You've got to know what you want.”

13. 6. Ask in faith, nothing wavering

    Ask God in faith, believing that what you have asked for is yours.

    • James 1:6

14. 7. Do not tolerate for one single moment any contrary thoughts

    To ask for something and then entertain the thought 'I don't think so' is to be double-minded, and a double-minded man receives nothing from the Lord. Once you have made up your mind, do not shift, whatever a professor or a doctor may say, because God is above science and cancer, leukaemia and HIV must bow to the name of Jesus.

    Illustration: A dog that locks its jaw and will not let go: be like that when you grab hold of the devil. And the iron axe head that sank in the water, then rose and floated when the prophet threw in a stick.

    “Once you make up your mind about a certain thing, you stick with it like a bulldog.”

    • James 1:7-8
    • 2 Kings 6:5-7
    • Philippians 2:9-11

15. 8. Count the thing done, while rejoicing

    He asks people to name what they are waiting for (debt cancellation, a father's healing, bond cancellation) and tells them not to change their confession. He then testifies that in 28 years of serving the Lord with Pastor Zubeda, not one of their prayers has gone unanswered, and that the same will be true for the church, even if some answers take a while.

    Illustration: Wesley as a newborn had a rising blood count that doctors warned could leave him mentally impaired; their pastor laid hands on him in hospital and he was discharged the next day. Adrian had epileptic seizures at three or four and has had none for twenty years. In his first or second year as a believer, in a tent meeting in Phoenix, a deaf woman's ears opened, a woman who could not conceive fell pregnant, and a man's short leg grew out.

    “Count the thing done. That's violent faith.”

    • Isaiah 59:1

16. 9. Give glory to God even before you have received what you have asked for

    Thank God for the debt cancelled and the bond paid while the statement still says otherwise. Praise ahead of the manifestation is part of speaking to the mountain.

    Illustration: Stick your bond and car statements on the wall where you pray, lay your hand on them every day and prophesy that you see them cancelled and fully paid.

    “You are talking to it. You are talking to the fig tree.”

    • Mark 11:23

17. 10. Act as if you have received what you asked for

    When your faith seems weak, do not conclude that God has not answered. Some prayers are answered in double quick time and some take years, so remember the miracles God has already done and keep a clean confession. Rest in His Word and refuse to toil; the only fight you are called to is the good fight of faith.

    Illustration: Money owed to him from 1998 was finally paid into his account at the beginning of 2008, and in those ten years he never said a negative word. At the other extreme, he would simply wish for a Magnum ice cream and Pastor Zubeda would come home from the shops with one.

    “It took me ten years, but praise God, the answer came.”

    • Romans 4:20
    • 1 Timothy 6:12