When Faith Is Shattered

Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Introduction

What Faith is Not

What Faith Is

What Faith Can Do

Moving Into the

Realm of Power

Authoritative Prayer

ANDRE

Shattered Faith

Dealing With Anger

Five Steps to Certainty

MOTHER

Faith in Action

When Faith is Shattered

DONALD

The Baby Boy

Called to Ministry

Called to Prayer

Called to Eternal Life

WHAT IS THE ANSWER?

UNDERSTANDING

GOD’S WILL

Ascertaining the Will

of God

Putting it All Together

The Healing Touch

Understanding and Accepting Death

Quotations about Death

Dealing With Grief

TURNING PAIN INTO MINISTRY

Suppress Depression

A PRAYER FOR THE SPIRIT OF HEAVINESS (DEPRESSION)

Winning the Battle

The Blood

The Holy Spirit

The Word

SPEAK THE WORD

The Name Jesus

Prayer

Praise

Let the Healing Begin

This book is lovingly dedicated to the ones who were left behind to deal with the devastation, hurt, anger, sense of loss, and the difficulty of putting their lives back together again after the heartrending circumstances surrounding the deaths of our family members:

My children, Robert, Jr., Brian, and Kimberly; my siblings, Harold, Shirley, Curtis, and Orlando; my grandson, Lamar; and my sister-in-law, Janice.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

To my husband, Robert, my rock, my love, my staunchest supporter. Thank you for all that you do to make my load lighter and for braving the storms with me. I love you to life.

To my grandchildren in the home with me, Aleah, Andrea, Amber, Robbie, and Anerryah, Mom Mom loves you very much and appreciate you for listening to me read some passages aloud and for giving me feedback.

Thanks to my dear friend, Loretta Henry, for being there to provide strength and encouragement through the good and bad times.

I would like to give special thanks to my church family at True Holiness Temple, Inc. for their support, prayers, and encouragement from the preparation stage of this book to its completion. I love you for being there when I most needed you.

Introduction

The longest night of my life was spent in the waiting room outside the operating room in a Philadelphia hospital. My son was undergoing surgery for gunshot wounds. Prayer was being offered without ceasing. I remembered the words of Jesus in Matthew 21:22, And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive. As I waited and prayed, those words comforted me.

Just a few weeks previous I had begun teaching a Faith Seminar at the Jameson School of Ministry where I was Professor of Bible and Communication. The Lord graciously blessed in each session. His anointing power filled the classroom each night and ministered to us through the Word of God. He taught us what faith is not; what faith is; what faith can do; the promises according to Scripture to those who exercise faith; the obstacles to faith; and how to move past the point of blessing into the realm of power where we can receive an abundance of blessings through faith. These lessons proved to be invaluable to me during the time of crisis in my life.

I learned that prayers are worthless unless they are accompanied by faith. Faith ignores all of our senses when it comes to believing what God says. It is necessary to believe before we see, hear, taste or smell. When we believe first, it brings the miraculous into our reach.

What happens when all of the things we have embraced through the Word of God to increase our faith seems to come crumbling down around us? How do we deal with the pain caused by the death of a loved one? Has God forsaken us during the time we need him most? How do I deal with my anger towards God? How do I believe again when I feel that God has failed me? In the following pages we will find how to deal with even the most difficult times of our lives; when we feel that the Lord has forsaken us and we have no place else to turn.

What Faith is Not

Faith is not dependence upon the senses. Those things that can be seen, heard, or touched, present no real need for the exercising of faith in order to receive them. However, when one cannot see a way out or hear a comforting word, nor touch the thing desired, faith then becomes necessary. The natural man is bound by his physical senses. They keep him looking at the problems and circumstances that surround him instead of focusing on the Word of God. The continual hearing of the Word of God increases faith. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Jesus said, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation. John 5:24) Those things that seem impossible are made possible through faith. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God has translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. (Hebrews 11:3-6)

Our faith must reach further than our senses can take us. We must also realize that whatever God has spoken will be manifested in our lives. Sometimes things may appear immediately and other times you must go through a period of waiting. In our wait, our expectation must be great. The Psalmist said, My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him. (Psalm 62:5) We become spiritual heirs and receive earthly heritage through the righteousness of faith. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God. And being fully persuaded, that what he had promised, he was also able to perform. (Romans 4:13, 17-21)

Faith is not doubt or fear. Doubt indicates a lack of confidence and shows uncertainty of belief. It will cause one to waver. James 1:6-7 states… For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. It is just as certain that a man who doubts will not get an answer as it is that the man who exercises faith will get an answer. Momentary doubts cloud the skies of believers. Even though God had spoken, Gideon doubted his victory over Midian. Judges 6:17, And he said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, then shew me a sign that thou talkest with me. Even after the Lord had shown him multiple signs, he still found it hard to believe that he would be the victor. Martha, looking at the circumstances surrounding Lazarus, doubted the power of Jesus to resurrect him. Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. (John 11:39) Thomas doubted the resurrection of Jesus Christ. John 20:25, The other disciples therefore said unto him, we have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. The early Christians, after praying for Peter, doubted that God had delivered him. Acts 12:14-15, And when she knew Peter’s voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate. And they said unto her, thou art mad. But she constantly affirmed that it was even so. Then said they, it is his ghost.

In each case, God proved himself to be mighty. He allowed Gideon to be assured of his victory by hearing it from the enemy. Judges 7:13-15, And when Gideon was come, behold there was a man that told a dream unto his fellow, and said, Behold, I dreamed a dream, and lo, a cake of barley bread tumbled into the host of Midian, and came into a tent, and smote it that it fell, and overturned it, that the tent lay along. And his fellow answered and said, this is nothing else save the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel; for into his hand hath God delivered Midian, and all the host. And it was so, when Gideon heard the telling of the dream, and the interpretation thereof, that he worshipped and returned into the host of Israel, and said, Arise, for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of Midian.

Jesus proved to Martha that he had power over death and the grave. John 11:40-44, "Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the