Misguided Faith

Who Is "Really" Your Source?

Once when I was on a plane, God spoke to me and said, "Son, I want
you to teach more on only believe."
I said, "Only believe? Oh, I get it, Jesus. I see it. Only believe." (Mark
5:36.)
Only believe and you shall see the glory of God. Only believe and
your children shall be saved. Only believe and your body can be healed.
Only believe and your miracle is on its way—only believe. Don't believe all
those other things in your mind.
You may say, "But, Brother Norvel, but... but...." There are no "buts."
When God says something, He means it. When He says "only," He means
only. That means there is nothing else. You do it the way God says and only
believe!
Matthew chapter three, verses one and two say:
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

This scripture is saying to us: confess your sins, repent and let God be
God. God wants you to look to Him as your Source. He is jealous over you!
He does not want you to depend on man to meet your need, but to look past
man to the real Source of your supply— Jehovah Jireh, your Provider.
Sometimes you hear Christians say something like, "Oh, I've been sick
for twelve years, sick for so long. But evangelist So-and-so is coming to
town. I'll go have him lay his hands on me so that I can get my healing."
And they never even mention the name of Jesus.
God doesn't like it when you bypass the Lord Jesus Christ either. And
He'll only put up with it so long, because it's hard for Him to bless you if
you put something else before Him. He wants to bless you! He wants to
heal you! He lives and breathes to provide for you and your every need.
You don't have to wait for evangelist So-and-so to come to town so
you can get your healing. Jesus is already there. The laying on of hands is
scriptural; it's a doctrine of the Church. But so many people miss the point.
Laying on of hands is not there for you to use and depend on instead of your
faith; it's merely a form of ministry whereby God transfers His power into a
vessel. It's important and has a scriptural place in the Church, but when you
look right past God and your measure of faith to the hands and faith of a
man—you are in sin!
When your precious pastor reaches out in Jesus' name on Sunday
morning and Sunday night and lays his hand gently on you and says,
"Receive your healing," you're healed! By faith in Jesus, you can receive
your healing. You're not waiting on man; you're waiting on God!
But don't look at a man's hands as your little god or source. It's
important to know and understand this for the rest of your life. Your Source
is God.
People began to look to a dear minister friend of mine and his hands
for healing. They forgot about God. Thousands of people would jam the
tent just to see him in hopes that he would lay his hands on them. It wasn't
his fault that this happened—he was just obeying the Bible. Naturally, signs
and wonders followed his ministry—especially in the area of healing. But
people began seeking after these signs and wonders instead of God. And
God told him not to lay his hands on any more people for a while until He
told him to start again.
When people begin looking to man instead of God to meet their needs,
that is what I call "prostitute faith." Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
defines the following:
prostitute—
1. (noun) "A person... who deliberately debases himself or his talents
(as for money)"
2. (verb) ". . . to devote to corrupt or unworthy purposes '
prostitution— (noun) "... the state of being prostituted: debasement"
debasement— (noun) "The state of being lowered in status, esteem,
quality, or character."
Prostitution is practiced by those who can't or won't supply their own
needs by moral and legal means. They debase themselves in order to have
others supply their needs. They are looking to "get."
In your own life, when you look to just "get,' you surely lower
yourself and your character. You are riding on the coattails of someone
else's faith, and that, my dear friend, is lazy, sloppy Christianity. What's
more—God doesn't like it.
Is being a Christian who is looking to "get" really any better than
being involved in prostitution? "Oh," you may say, "but Brother Norvel, I
would never lower myself to prostitution. How anyone could do that is
beyond me!"
When God sent his only Son to die for you, to provide for you and
also gave you the Bible filled with His promises for you, and then you
choose to ignore it and look to man to get it for you, what would you say
you are doing? Are you not lowering yourself, debasing your character?
What's the difference between selling yourself and selling out God?
Now, don't get me wrong. God placed the five-fold ministry in the
Church, as Ephesians 4:12 says, for the equipping and perfecting of the
saints. The five-fold ministry is here to help you—not to get it or do it for
you. Your brothers and sisters are also here to help, but not to get or do for
you. God will use people as vessels to help you, but only when you look to
Him first as your Source.
My minister friend wept and wept because people looked to him
instead of Jesus for healing. Through his tears, he said, "Jesus told me not to
lay hands on sick people anymore until He told me to do so. I don't imagine
my friends will believe that, but Jesus told me!"
Why would Jesus do that? Well, you see, people were just about to
make a little god of this man's hands. They looked right past God to this
man's hands to find help and God didn't like it. He wants you to look to
Jesus for help.
If God had let this man continue as he was, in ten more years people
would have been bowing down in front of the tent saying, "Oh, his hands,
his hands, oh, his hands." Sure his hands were where the power was
because without question, it is scriptural. But where and from whom did
that power originate?
In Matthew, chapter 3, verses 5 through 7, we read that John the
Baptist, the man who paved the way for the Lord Jesus Christ and preached
the Gospel straight from the mouth of God like no other man had done
before, changes the picture of a few things.
 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him

in Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of

vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

John the Baptist read their mail! He essentially was saying, "You are
coming to me to be baptized in water? Who do you think you are? You
haven't repented of your sins, you vipers."
"Oh, but we run the church, we do this and that, we're children of
Abraham," was their reply.
His response was, "Listen, I'm not following Abraham, I'm following
God and God can raise sons of Abraham from these stones. Besides, if you
are of God, where are your gifts? . . . Repent, you vipers." (vv. 8, 9.)
Bear Good Fruit
Every human being is like a tree. Like a healthy tree, you must bear
good fruit. John the Baptist said if you don't bear good fruit, God will cut
you down one day and let you fall in the fire. (v. 10.)
And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is

hewn down and cast into the fire.

You have to bear good fruit, not just any kind of fruit. To bear good
fruit, you have to have your faith and your doctrines mixed-up together with
the love of God. You have to love God. You may say, "Brother Norvel, don't
we all love God?" No, we don't love God if we don't bring Him gifts, and if
we try to get the blessings of God in some other way than the way the Bible
says.
"Well, Brother Norvel, how do I bear good fruit?" you ask. Pass out
tracts, feed the poor, bless someone who needs something, bring lost people
to church, tell your pastor you want to do something for God. Get started
now. Always say, "I'll do anything for Jesus." Never say something like:
"Well, going from house to house is not my ministry.'' Listen, the ministry
of Jesus is your ministry.
Misplaced Faith
Not long ago, I was in Dallas holding a seminar. My daughter, Zona,
was with me, helping with the book and tape sales. Zona owns two exercise
studios and had a financial need for $3,000. She told me about it, but I
didn't respond. I've taught her for years to trust God. Sometimes the
pressure of a situation will nag at you so strongly that you will bypass God
and look to a person— especially one who has what you need.
That night, Zona had a night vision—a vision that occurs when you
are asleep. God speaks to your spirit and shows you what you need to see.
It's from God—not from the pizza you ate earlier!
The next morning, she told me about the dream she received, saying,
"Daddy, Daddy, I don't like it!" She said, "I dreamed I was an instructor in
an exercise place."
"Well," I said, "that's what you are."
"But, Daddy, I was just an instructor in the exercise place and not the
owner."
She continued to describe the dream. In it, there was a man who
owned the place. Because Zona needed financial help, she asked her boss
for more money. He refused and heaped abuse on her. The dream had
greatly upset her. She didn't understand the truth that God was trying to
reveal to her in this dream, but I immediately did.
 I said, "Zona, Zona. That dream was for you. God was showing you
what happens when you prostitute your faith. I've told you for years what to
do, but you flounder around and look to man for help, and God doesn't like
it. Why don't you change?"
You might say, "That seems very harsh, Brother Norvel.' But, in these
last days, God is revealing the truth so we won't have to stumble around in
darkness for the rest of our lives. Yes, when I said that, it was harsh.
Sometimes the truth can be offensive. But if we listen and apply it, it will
always set us free.
Meanwhile, Zona sat in a chair mumbling tearfully, "Oh, Daddy, oh,
Daddy." I said to her, "Zona, honey, little darling, Jesus loves you! Why
don't you start thanking Jesus for what you want and Jesus will give it to
you. You can be free from your prostitute faith.
Don't go to man. God says, 'Forget not to give God thanks in
everything.' Why don't you do it?"
Crying, she said, "Okay, Daddy, I will, I will.'
After this conversation on Saturday morning, we both began thanking
Jesus for helping her. Later, she went to work behind the tape and book
table during the seminar. Soon, a person walked up and said, "Zona, God
has been dealing with me for two days. Here's a check the Lord told me to
give you." She looked at the check—four thousand dollars!
If you get delivered from your prostitute faith, God will bless you as
well. You tie the hands of God when you look to man or refuse to come
before the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, bow down before him and begin to
thank Him for what you need.
 What is the altar of God? Isn't it a place to come and leave all of your
cares and begin to thank Jesus for what you need or want? This is what faith
is all about—when you ask, believe and thank Him for what you received
when you prayed. When Zona thanked God in prayer for the finances she
needed, she couldn't see or touch them, but she believed in her Source of
supply. Her faith and constant thanksgiving delivered them from the realm
of the Spirit into natural manifestation.
All you have to do is to begin to recognize the great Jehovah Jireh.
God never stands in awe of your need or your circumstances, just your
inability to believe when He has made things so simple for you. Nothing is
too great or too small for God, the Father. He is waiting to pour out a
blessing that you can't contain. (Mal. 3:10.) But He is only moved by your
unwavering faith.
Isaiah, chapter 42, verse 8 tells us: I am the Lord: that is my name:
and my glory will I not give to another....
Remember the word "only"? Apply it with this principle:
God is your only Source and the only one Who can meet your needs if
you only believe!
Correct Faith
Faith brings God's power for whatever you need into your body, into
your business, into your mind, into your spirit, into your children —into
your life. Your faith will bring His blessing for whatever you are believing
God to do for you.
But without faith it is impossible to please him... (Heb. 11:6).
Impossible—that means it can't be done! God will never leave you nor
forsake you (Heb. 13:5), but you can't please God with your life and begin
to have His abundant life flowing through you if you don't have faith. The
Bible says in Hebrews 11:1 that... faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen. Romans 10:17 says, So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. You can't get faith
any other way. You must hear God's Word! Then faith will come.
God releases the power only when He finds faith. Otherwise the power
just stays in heaven. That is the way He has set it up. Isaiah 55:8 says, For
my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. Since He is God, we should let Him do things His way. A
lot of people don't have very much respect for God. They want to do things
their way, so they don't get very much from Him. They just stumble around,
professing that they have faith, then keep wondering why nothing they
believe for comes to pass.
"Why doesn't it come to pass, Brother Norvel? Why doesn't it come to
pass? Why didn't I get healed? Why don't my children get saved? Why
doesn't my business prosper?"
Don't look to me! Look to God. I don't fill needs, God does! Let God
be God! Start doing things His way! He can prosper everything you put
your hands on. You have to read the Bible and let faith begin to operate in
your life. Your attitude about God can change your whole life.
Your faith in Him releases His power.
Jesus used to go up into the mountains, out from the city. The people
would follow Him. They would climb the mountains to see Him. If you
were sick, and knew that Jesus was up on a mountain someplace outside the
city, and you knew that if you could get to Him you would be healed,
wouldn't you climb up the mountain to see Him? That's faith—you would
be healed.
Jesus is still the Word of God today.
He was the Word and He is the Word and He will always be the Word.
John, chapter 1, says:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... and the Word was made

flesh, and dwelt among us. (vv. 1,14)

Those who heard the Word that Jesus preached and then believed what
He said, received whatever they needed.
If you make up your mind that God means what He says, that He
wants you to be in health and prosper even as your soul prospers (3 John 2),
that God is the head and you are a part of His Church (Col. 1:18), then you
can, and will, as a part of God, be successful in everything you do and be
healthy in every part of your body.
Every person who is a doer of the Word, not just a hearer only, and
believes God according to Hebrews, will receive His blessings— financially
and every other way.
To get faith, you must hear and believe God's Word. Stop listening to
the words of men and start hearing the Word of God.
Only believe—that's where to start. Get out your Bible and start
reading it with the idea of believing every single word, exactly the way it
says, and start doing what it says.
You Can Pass Gods Test
You probably already are a person of faith. You have renewed your
mind in the Word of God and have your inner man strong in faith. You
quote scriptures, and you are living by faith. Now, God is going to put your
faith to a test.
That's right! He will put it to a test. That's
how He—and you—find out how strong your faith is. If you want
God's bountiful blessings to fall on you and to flow in you all the time, your
faith will have to pass God's test. Not my test or your test, God's test. God
will promote you, if He can trust you. If He can't, He won't promote you.
People ask all the time: "Why doesn't God bless His people more?" Because
they have not passed His test.
His test is His Word—believing it and acting on it.
Not long ago, the Lord gave me $200,000. I said, "Lord, what am I
going to do with it? I don't need it. What did You give it to me for?"
He said, "You passed My test!"
I said, "Passed Your test? Passed Your test? What in the world did I do
to pass Your test?"
He said, "You fulfilled a scripture. Tell the churches everywhere you
go... tell them... that the Bible is My test; every time they fulfill a scripture,
tell them to never worry about the answers to their prayers."
James 2:23 says:
And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for

righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

Abraham fulfilled the Scriptures by believing that what God had said
would come to pass. Abraham waited twenty-five years for God to do what
He said He would do.
How long have you waited and not doubted God? James 1:8 says, A
double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. He doesn't get anything
from God. But if we stand steadfast in faith, until we pass God's test, not
doubting, then the blessings of God begin to flow to us. And they flow and
they flow....
People across the country ask me why God blesses me so often and in
so many ways, and how I can successfully operate a number of businesses
and still teach twenty nights a month.
"Well," I say, "I don't use the blessings against God. If He gives me
$20,000 this week through a business deal, I don't stop passing out tracts at
the airport. I go right on to my next speaking engagement and cast devils
out of people. I still take time with the one who has the lonely heart. If I
come across someone who is hungry, I feed him. The one that no one else
will help, I take time with."
God will give you money if He can trust you with it. He will make you
rich. He will give you spiritual gifts. He will open up the treasures of the
spirit world to you.
You can pass God's test—believe and act on His Word.
You can know the blessings of God in your life in a measure you never
thought possible.
The Bible says, But my God shall supply all your need according
to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ (Phil. 4:19). Jesus said, I am come
that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly
(John 10:10).
The Saying Part
Did you know that Mark 11:23 says you can have whatsoever you say
if you say in faith and not doubt? In fact, other scriptures say you'll
absolutely get what you say. Every day you're confessing what you're going
to get tomorrow. If you don't like what you had for life today, change what
you're saying, and you'll find that your tomorrows will be different.
Proverbs 10:11 says, The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life.
Proverbs 18:21 says, Death and life are in the power of the tongue. If
we're confessing the Word of God, we're speaking life to ourselves and to
others. If we constantly confess the circumstances, we're speaking death to
ourselves and those around us.
I was reading Mark 11:23 early one morning. I've read it hundreds of
times:
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into

the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have

whatsoever he saith.

I just kept reading it over and over. I guess I've read and preached this
verse more than any other verse in the Bible. As I began to read it again,
God stopped me at the part where it says, whosoever shall say unto this
mountain... and said practically right out loud to me in my ear: "Son, people
are not talking to the mountains. They are talking to Me."
When was the last time you had a conversation with the flu? Did you
ever hold a conversation with your checkbook or with cancer? You aren't
supposed to talk to Jesus about it. You're supposed to talk directly to the
mountain in Jesus' name—whatever the mountain is in your life.
James tells us to be a doer of the Word, not just a hearer. Jesus says to
"say." When you say or talk, words come out of your mouth. Say the words
out loud! Don't just think them in your mind. Stop talking to Jesus about it.
Stop talking to anybody else about it. Speak to the mountain itself in Jesus'
name!
 Don't say, "Oh, God, help me. Remove this sickness from me." Say,
"Flu, I am not going to let you come into my body. Go from me in the name
of Jesus! Nose, I tell you to stop running. Cough, I tell you to leave in Jesus'
name." Say, "Cancer, you can't kill me. I will never die of cancer in Jesus'
name."
Do you have a financial mountain in your life? Start talking to your
money. Tell your checkbook to line up with God's Word. Talk to your
business. Command customers to come into your business and spend their
money there. Talk to the mountain!
If there is a mountain troubling you, your husband or wife or any other
member of your family, talk to it. Tell it to go in the name of Jesus. Tell it it
can't operate m your home. Tell the mountain it can't be there because you
say it can't. Talk to the mountains in your children's lives. If the child lives
in your house and is under your authority and a fever takes hold of him, tell
the fever to go! When you talk to the mountain in the name of Jesus and tell
it to go, it has to go. You can have what you say in faith, nothing doubting.
Romans 4:17 says that God calls... things which be not as though
they were. Jesus did this while talking to fig trees, storms, devils, fevers,
leprosy, even dead men. Everything He talked to did what He told it to do.
The fig tree withered and died—the storm was calmed— the devils were
cast out—the fevers left—the lepers were cleansed—the dead men were
raised to life. Jesus tells us we have the power to do the same. John 14:14
says, If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. Speak to the
mountain in Jesus' name and tell it what to do. Jesus will make it do what
you say. How could Jesus have made it any simpler?
 You must speak with authority to the devil. You must know and
believe without doubt that you have the authority in the name of Jesus to
tell any kind of mountain in your life to go and it must obey you, because
Jesus says it will. You're not as strong as the devil yourself, but in the name
of Jesus, you're the number one power. You're in Christ, seated at the right
hand of God the Father, far above all other powers including the devil and
all his cohorts who are under your feet. (Eph. 1:20-22.)
Make up your mind that you are going to have what the Bible says you
can have and that you have the authority to get it through the name of Jesus.
Open your mouth and begin to say, "It's mine because God says so." Speak
with your mouth to the devil and tell him to take his hands off whatever you
want: off your marriage, your business, your children, to get out of your
body. Then he has to do what you say. God confirms His Word with signs
following.
There's been a lot of teaching concerning our confession as God's
children and making sure what we say is in line with what the Bible says.
That is very good. But many times, I hear people going around with a cold
or a sickness just confessing for healing. First Peter 2:24: "By whose stripes
we were healed—By his stripes I am healed." Yet, they've never spoken to
the cold or sickness and told it to go. It's good to confess that you're healed.
But you can get healed a lot quicker if you will talk to that particular
mountain first, then confess your healing. The more that you have the whole
counsel of God working on your behalf, the better your life is going to be.
If you've prayed for something and didn't get it, and if Jesus walked
into the room, and you asked Him about it, do you know what He would
do? He would quote you the chapter and verse that applies to your situation.
The answers to everything are in the Bible.
Not long ago, a woman told a friend of mine about her twenty-year-
old granddaughter who had been in the last stages of leukemia, a disease
that destroys the blood.
This Holy Spirit-filled grandmother prayed to Jesus and asked Him for
a verse of scripture for her granddaughter. Jesus gave her Ezekiel 16:6:
And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy

blood, Live; yea, I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood, Live.

She began to read this scripture to her granddaughter who was in a

coma, in the intensive-care section of the hospital. She read and confessed
this scripture to her for eight hours that day. The next day, the doctor came
in and told the family that he hadn't expected the young woman to last
through the night, and yet, the tests were now showing that her blood count
was much improved. They now expected her to live. He couldn't understand
it. Well, wasn't that what the Lord had spoken and what the grandmother
had commanded? "Live."
Always remember, don't look to man or a man's anointing or a man's
hands to meet your need. Look to God. Do things God's way. He's the
Healer, He's the Provider. Only believe and you shall see the glory of God.
Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak

[human] flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord.

For he shall be like a shrub or a person naked and destitute in the desert, and shall not see any good come, but

shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. [Most] blessed is the man who believes in,

trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is.
 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear

when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease

yielding fruit.

Jeremiah 17:5-8 AMP

... they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who

is blessed forever.

Romans 1:25 AMP

My Prayer
Lord Jesus, I wish to have my life be a life of faith, for Your Word
says that the just shall live by faith, and when You come again, You will be
looking for the one element in the life of the born-again person that is
pleasing to You — faith.
Help me to look only to You, Jesus. Help me to not look to any man,
and not to my own ability. I lay down my life at Your feet, Jesus. Take me
and use me. Make me a doer of the Word. Help me to love all of Your
Church with the same love You love them with, forgiving them, rejoicing
not in their falls, praying for them, all the same, Jesus, like You do.
And most of all, Lord Jesus, help me to worship You as I should.
Father, in the precious name of Jesus, I am Yours to do whatever You want
me to do. Make me a fit vessel for Your holy presence and manifest me
forth to a lost and dying world as a son in the full measure of the stature of
the firstbegotten
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose life I am hidden and with whose
life I live. Amen.
Your Name
Date
 Norvel Hayes shares God's Word I boldly and simply, with an
enthusiasm that captures the heart of the hearer. He has learned through
personal experience that God's Word can be effective in every area of life,
and that it will work for anyone who will believe it and apply it.
Norvel owns several businesses which function successfully despite
the fact that he spends over half his time away from the office, ministering
the Gospel throughout he country. His obedience to God and his willingness
to share his faith have taken him to a variety of places. He ministers in
churches, seminars, conventions, colleges, prisons—anywhere the Spirit of
God leads.
 Who is really your source?
GOD IS YOUR ONLY SOURCE AND THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN
MEET YOUR NEEDS IT YOU ONLY BELIEVE!
This simple dynamic message directs the believer to trust in God —
not man. God wants you to look to Jesus for help.
Norvel Hayes shares how to avoid the major hindrances to receiving
from God.
It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man.
Psalm 118:8