Our faith is not faith until it is put to the test! Without testing, without proving it, it’s just something in the mind. Peter wrote, ‘...so that the TESTING OF YOUR FAITH, being more precious than gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ!’ (1 Peter 1.6-7).
God puts this test of faith in all our lives. He tested my faith. When I had cancer in my throat many years ago, I said to the Lord, ‘If You want me to go to Russia, I want a miracle.’ God worked that miracle and I had to leave my home, my security, and go to Russia!
When I was in prison for smuggling Bibles into Russia I was sentenced to what could have been ten years. I was not allowed a Bible, but I reminded the Lord that in Acts 16 when Paul and Silas were imprisoned, they began to praise the Lord, He sent an earthquake and freed them. By faith I asked the Lord to do the same for me – He answered – and 12 months later, God opened the prison doors by a miracle!
Suppose God answered my first prayers and released me from the prison within one or two days, what would have happened? Imagine if God had organised things ‘extremely well’ and got me out of prison really quickly – I would not be evangelising in Russia the way I do now, I would not have the ministry I have today. The longer I stayed in the prison, the bigger the miracle became – in the end it was the British Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, who came to Czechoslovakia, just to get me out! I was not thrown out of the ‘back door’! I was released in a blaze of publicity! That’s God! But the whole miracle took one year to prepare. I didn’t let go of God even in the darkest days of despair – I knew, I believed – but it hurt and it was hard. If only you could know how bad those days I spent in prison were!
When I had cancer in my throat and asked God for healing, the devil said it was impossible. I fought unbelief and doubt so that when the answer came, it was an even greater miracle than I had asked for! When I was in prison for Bible smuggling, I fought against the demons of despair, fear, unbelief – and when the final answer came, it was many times greater than I had imagined in my wildest dream!
It’s the same with you. Hold on. Don’t let go of God! God WILL do it! If it takes three months, three years, God WILL do it.
YOU have power over every evil spirit, every sickness, every difficulty – every one of you. When the devil comes, call upon the Name of Jesus! When you are weak in your body, in the Name of Jesus be strong! When you are sick, in the Name of Jesus be healed! Receive your promises NOW!
In the days preceeding my release from prison, I was telling my fellow prisoners that God would work a miracle and release me on my birthday, as He had promise me from the Scripture. Four of them separately took me on one side to caution me against over-optimism. There could be no hope of my release, they said. They were afraid that constant anticipation of impossibility would undermine my health. But they could not understand, nor could I explain fully, though I tried, what God’s promise meant to me.
When one of the guards heard that I was convinced God would release me, he dragged me to a prison window, and showed me the impossibility of getting out.
In my sudden despair, it seemed as if I heard God speaking to me: “David, how do you know that you are a Christian?”
I knew the answer to that. My salvation did not depend on my own feelings, nor upon my hopes – and if it was dependent on church attendance I had no chance for it was nearly ten months since I had last been to church. The answer was faith in His Word.
“The Bible says, ‘Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved’.”
Quick as a flash the reply came into my mind. “And do you not have my promise that I will release you?”
Fresh hope rose inside me. I would go home on my birthday. God had promised. The circumstances were immaterial. God does not lie, otherwise my faith in salvation was also in vain. As you know, God did release me on my birthday as He promised.