Read: John 11:38-44
Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? (John 11:40)
I Will Believe God For Heart Cleansing
Dr. S. A. Keen tells of a man who testified, “For twenty years I asked God to give me faith for entire sanctification but I did not get the blessing. Then one day God said to me, ‘I want you to give me your faith.’ I did it, and in twenty minutes the blessing came!”
But can I deliberately will to believe God for a clean heart? The answer is, Yes. Because faith is so often spontaneous we seldom think of it as being subject to our own will, but it is. J. A. Wood writes: “God gives the truth… and the power to believe; but He believes for no one. While He helps the believer, the act of believing is purely the believer’s, and is voluntary.” We can believe if we will believe. Not easily of course, but then many possible choices are not easy choices.
Our failure at the point of faith is often considered less serious than failure in consecration. But in this attitude we are mistaken. Persistent failure to trust God is as serious as refusing to give Him first place in our lives. Either failure will keep us out of the experience of entire sanctification.
Dr. Kenneth Grider describes faith as a kind of exercise in which the human spirit stretches itself, believing God for what has not yet come to pass. It is this decision that God asks of us — the decision to stretch our spirits toward Him. Is the step of faith difficult for me? Then I must be as determined and as diligent in believing God’s promise as I have been in making a full consecration to Him. With the song writer I affirm:
I can, I will, I do believe, I can, I will, I do believe, I can, I will, I do believe, That Jesus sanctifies.
— Author Unknown