Developing Faith

In The Essential Guide to Healing, authors Bill Johnson and Randy Clark discuss creating a culture of faith. They give the following outline:

1. Cry Out to God
   “Be specific and passionate in pursuing miracle breakthroughs. Paul said to pursue spiritual gifts. We are not to assume they will simply function in our lives without the element of passionate prayer.”
   They also say to “take note of the seasons when many people come … with the same disease” and learn to contend for a breakthrough with that affliction; “take the coincidence as a summons from the Lord to obtain a breakthrough anointing for that disease.”
   They also say to cry out to God in the secret place and take risks in the public place. If there is healing, praise and glorify God. If there is not, return to the secret place and pray for a breakthrough.
2. Study the Bible
   They particularly read the Gospels and Acts and say to look for “models to follow from Scripture” paying special attention to references to the Kingdom. They further suggest reading the lives of David, Hezekiah, Ezra, and Nehemiah, describing their lives as “prophetic messages for us.”
3. Research History
   Read about the lives of those who have lived or are living “the supernatural lifestyle.” Include the stories of those who were powerfully used by God but later fell to sin and deception. “Sometimes the lesson we need most is in the life of one whose ending is an embarrassment.”
4. Impartation
   Pursue people with an anointing in the miraculous, and ask them to lay hands on you. Paul references this in 1 Tim. 4:14: “Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.” The authors also urge us to remember that “gifts are free, but maturity is expensive.”
5. Associate
   If you hang around people who operate in the miraculous, their way of thinking will rub off on you.
6. Obey
   “Radical obedience—a life of risk—is needed for continual breakthrough in miracles, signs and wonders.”
7. Stewardship
   “Correctly stewarding what God gives us is the way we obtain more.”