There is where men lack. All lack of faith is due to not feeding on God’s Word. You need it every day. How can you enter into a life of faith? Feed on the living Christ of whom this Word is full. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
In Matthew 16, we see the Pharisees and Sadducees had been tempting Jesus to show them a sign from heaven. He showed them that they could discern the signs that appeared on the face of the sky, and yet could not discern the signs of the times.
He would give them no sign to satisfy their unbelieving curiosity, remarking that a wicked and adulterous generation sought after a sign, and that no sign would to be given to them, but the sign of the prophet Jonah.
A wicked and adulterous generation stumbles over the story of Jonah, but faith can see in that story a wonderful picture of the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
After Jesus had departed from the Pharisees, and had come to the other side of the lake, He said to His disciples, “Take heed, and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.”
The disciples began to reason among themselves; and all they could think of was that they had taken no bread. What were they to do? Then Jesus uttered these words, “O ye of little faith!” He had been so long with them, and yet they were still a great disappointment to Him, because of their lack of comprehension and of faith.
They could not grasp the profound spiritual truth He was bringing to them, and could only think about having brought no bread. “O ye of little faith! Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?”
At one time Jesus said to Peter, “What thinkest thou, Simon? Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute? Of their own children or of strangers?” Peter said, “Of strangers.”
Then Jesus said, “Then are the children free. Nevertheless lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast a hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money; take that, and give unto them, for me and thee.”
Peter had been at the fishing business all his life, but he never had caught a fish with any silver in its mouth. But the Master does not want us to reason things out – for carnal reasoning will always land us in a bog of unbelief – but just to obey.
“This is a hard job,” Peter may have said, as he put the bait on his hook, “but since You told me to do it, I’ll try;” and he cast his line into the sea. There were millions of fish in the sea, but every fish had to stand aside and leave that bait alone, and let that fish with the piece of money in his mouth come up and take it.
Healing Power
A woman came to me in Cardiff, Wales, who was filled with ulceration. She had fallen in the streets twice through this trouble. She came to the meeting and it seemed as if the evil power within her purposed to kill her right there, for she fell, and the power of the devil was rending her sore.
She was helpless, and it seemed as if she had expired. I cried, “O God, help this woman.” Then I rebuked the evil power in the name of Jesus, and instantly the Lord healed her. She rose up and made a great to-do. She felt the power of God in her body and wanted to testify all the time.
After three days she went to another place and began to testify about the Lord’s power to heal. She came to me and said, “I want to tell everyone about the Lord’s healing power. Have you no tracts on this subject?”
I handed her my Bible and said, “Matthew, Mark, Luke, John—they are the best tracts on healing. They are full of incidents about the power of Jesus. They will never fail to accomplish the work of God if people will believe them.”
There is where men lack. All lack of faith is due to not feeding on God’s Word. You need it every day. How can you enter into a life of faith? Feed on the living Christ of whom this Word is full.
As you get taken up with the glorious fact and the wondrous presence of the living Christ, the faith of God will spring up within you. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17).
Excerpt permission granted by Gospel Publishing House
Smith Wigglesworth was born to a very poor family. At the age of six he had to go to work. As a consequence, he never learned to read well until he was an adult. Later he claimed he never read anything but the Bible. He became a plumber by trade.
As a minister, Wigglesworth was hardly known outside of his hometown until 1907. In 1907, he received the baptism in the Holy Ghost, which changed his life forever. It was then, at the age of 48, that God moved Wigglesworth from a small relatively unknown ministry to conducting powerful meetings throughout the world, stirring the faith of thousands to receive healing and salvation. Wigglesworth would usually conclude a sermon by praying for the sick; regardless of what text he had ministered.
Smith Wigglesworth's ministry centered on salvation for the unconverted, healing for the sick, and a call to believers to be baptized in the Holy Ghost. He was filled with God...with love, compassion, and faith.
Wigglesworth said, "To hunger and thirst after righteousness is when nothing in the world can fascinate us so much as being near to God."
On March 12, 1947, Smith Wigglesworth, in perfect health, closed his eyes and slipped into eternity, at the age of 87.