The Christian religion has gone through several changes over time. One of the most recent changes is called the Word of Faith movement. The Word of Faith movement is based on the belief that if someone recites a biblical promise with faith, it will manifest in reality.
Not too long ago, I bought a small book that lists many of God's promises. The promises cover many areas such as advice, assurance, blessings, comfort, courage, endurance, faith, prosperity, goodness, guidance, help, hope, joy, love, needs, overcoming, peace, perseverance, prayer, protection, renewal, rest, safety, security, health, trusting, wisdom, and work. There is a biblical promise for almost every human need.
So according to the Word of Faith movement, if I want to be restored to full health, all I have to do is open my book of God's promises and recite with faith, "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).
Likewise, if I want to be wealthy, all I have to do is recite with faith, "For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich" (2 Corinthians 8:9).
And likewise, if I want to be wise, all I have to do is recite with faith, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (11 Timothy 1:7).
Furthermore, the Word of Faith movement takes the following biblical quote very seriously: "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:24). In other words, if you pray for something that is covered under God's promises and you display faith, whatever you pray for will manifest in reality.
Some people reading this blog post may scoff, and declare what I have written is twaddle and unscientific. Before doing so, please dust off your Psychology 101 textbook and reread the following phenomena: self-fulfilling prophecy, self-efficacy, and the placebo effect.
If you are more oriented toward metaphysics, please read the following books for further support: "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne, "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill, and "You Can Heal Your Life" by Louise L. Hay.
I am going to conduct an experiment on myself to see if the Word of Faith concept of reciting God's promises and displaying faith produce any positive results. Instead of orally reciting God's promises, I am going to recite them by writing them in my blog. I will write one promise per blog post. I will attempt to do this on a daily basis? Well, probably not. Who has time. But I will try to be as regular as possible.
Besides writing one promise per post, I will display faith by writing about how each promise positively affected me, even if it hasn't at the time. This is called stepping out in faith.
Stepping out in faith entails declaring yourself healed after you prayed for healing, even though it hasn't actually happened at the time. Then the actual healing follows. In other words, you have to believe first, then the healing follows.
Let the experiment begin.