Hebrews 6:12 “that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.”
On numerous occasions in the New Testament patience is linked to faith. In the passage of scripture quoted above the Holy Spirit tells us to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. The scripture teaches us that all the promises of God are yes and amen to those who are in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:20). In other words every promise of God is available to all of His children. And so each promise of God, when acted on in faith, will result in the manifestation of that particular promise in the life of the believer. Some promises, when acted on in faith are manifested immediately. For example the promise of salvation, for the moment anyone acts on this particular promise they are instantly born-again.
Acts 19:4-6 “Then Paul said, "John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus." (5) When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. (6) And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.”
Another promise that is instantly manifested when acted on in faith is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. In the above quoted passage of scripture we read an account of the apostle Paul laying hands on new born believers to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Before Paul laid hands on these believers he first taught them about the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And so the moment that they believed the promise of God and acted on it by allowing Paul to lay hands on them to be filled, they were instantly baptized with the Holy Spirit. Another promise of God that is normally manifested the moment we believe and act upon it is our healing. With regards to healing however, not always is the individual completely healed the moment that they are prayed for. In some instances the healing is progressive and the full manifestation of complete healing happens over a period of time. But the point remains that the healing process begins immediately when hands are laid on the individual to receive their healing. Think about the earlier example that we looked at when our Lord cursed the fig tree, the tree began to whither from its roots the moment the Lord spoke to it but the full manifestation only became evident the following day. There are many other promises of God that are manifested almost immediately when they are prayed for in faith, for example God’s promises of wisdom, strength, comfort, peace and many others. And so we can see that in all instances when the promise of God requires the individual alone to act, then the promise is almost always manifested immediately. The reason for this is because nothing else and no one else is involved in bringing the promise to fruition in the believer’s life.
Michael E.B. Maher
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