The Faith that Takes by F. F. Bosworth

The Faith that Takes by F. F. Bosworth

The Faith that Takes
“What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye have received them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24).

FAITH A TITLE-DEED
“Faith is the evidence (or title-deed) to things not seen” (Hebrews. 11:1).
In Jeremiah, a title-deed is repeatedly
spoken of as “the evidence.” Your deed is “the evidence” or proof that you own your home.

So faith is the title deed to what you have not yet seen. When you have been given a deed to a

home which you have not yet seen,

you already have a home before you see it. Jesus repeatedly said,

“He that believeth, hath.”
In Mark 11:24, Jesus command is to believe we “have received” the things we pray for, at the time we pray,

without waiting to see or feel them; and on this condition He promises,

“ye shall have them.” faith for the healing of your body, the same as faith for forgiveness, is to believe,

on the authority of God’s Word, that you “have received” healing before you see or feel it.

You received Christ for your Saviour without seeing Him.

You likewise believed, on the authority of God’s Word, that you were forgiven before you felt forgiven.

Nothing else is faith, for “Faith is the evidence of things not seen.”

As soon as the blessing we take by faith is manifested, faith for
that blessing ends. If you are the beneficiary in a rich man’s will,

you are already wealthy the moment the rich man dies, though
you have not yet seen any of the money. Just so, everything bequeathed to us in our Lord’s Last Will and Testament
is already ours by virtu of the death of Jesus, the Testator.

Faith is simply using what belongs to us.

In connection with healing, the same as with forgiveness,
to believe we “have received” healing at the time we pray, before seeing or feeling it, is the “confidence”
which the Holy Spirit, in Hebrews. 10:35, 36, tells us not to cast away,

for the reason that it “hath great recompence
of reward.” _ Peter tells us that it is the testing of this
faith (the faith that we “have received”) which is “ more
precious than gold.”
Believing that our prayer is granted at the time we
pray, and that therefore we already have what we prayed
for, before we see it, is the “confidence” referred to in
1' John 5:15, 16: “We know that we have the petition that
we desire of Him.”
The fig-tree which Jesus cursed, dried up, not from
the leaves which could be seen, but “from the roots” which
were out of sight. The death of the tree could not be
detected, at the first, by looking at the leaves.

CALVARY OUR “EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION
Calvary was our “Emancipation Proclamation” from
everything outside of the will of God. We are simply to
believe what God says He has done for us, and act upon
it, taking our blood-bought liberty just as the slaves of
the South did after the Emancipation Proclamation by
Abraham Lincoln. Suppose the slaves had judged by the
evidence of the senses, saying, “I don’t feel any different;
I can’t see any change; all my surroundings are just the

same as they were.” Would that be faith? It was faith
only when they acted on the freedom which was already
theirs.
Just so, by believing and acting on the Word of God,
everything that belongs to us in Christ, becomes available
at once. To accept any contrary physical evidence
in preference to the Word of God, is to nulify the Word,
as far as you are concerned. Faith is believing what God
says in the face of the contrary evidence of the senses.
We are to be “steadfast” in resisting, as seasons for
doubting, everything contrary to the Word of God. Faith
means that we have left the sense realm.
If a friend should deposit in the bank a hundred
thousand dollars to your credit and bring you the passbook
and a check book, you wouldn’t examine your empty
pocketbook to see how much money you have; you would
examine your pass-book. The Bible is the Christian’s
pass-book. God has deposited in Christ all I need. It is
already mine. To neglect it is not a proper attitude
toward God. A right attitude toward God and His promises-
will always bring about their fulfillment.
You had to receive Christ before experiencing any of
the wonderful results of receiving Him. Christ first, afterwards
the results. We receive healing, divine life and
strength, and every other promised blessing in exactly
the same way we received Christ and forgiveness. Since
forgiveness is invisible, how did you receive it? Answer:
by faith in His Word. Why not receive divine healing, and
life and strength in the same way?
Any blessing which is received by faith, you must
have before you see it—before it is manifested. Otherwise
it would not be received by faith which is “the evidence
of things not seen.” The “ten lepers” already had
healing in its unmanifested form when they started on
their way to show the priest that they were healed. “As
they went they were healed.” Their healing was manifested
while they were acting their faith. God’s announcement.
“I am the Lord that healeth thee” is to be received
as the voice of God, and believed as a present tense fast,
and evaluated according to its cost.

THE SIX SENSES
As perfume is non-existant to the sense of hearing,
so what we take by faith according to Mark 11:24 is, at
first, non-existant to the five natural senses. You do not
doubt the existance of what you see because you can’t
smell or taste or hear it; then why doubt what you have
taken by faith (the sixth sense) because you can’t yet see
or feel it ? The five, natural senses belong to “the natural
man” who Paul tells us “cannot know the things of God.”
It is only by our sixth sense—faith—that we can see and
take and hold on to the blessings God offers to us until they
are fully manifested. To consult our natural senses for
evidence that our prayer has been granted is as rediculous
as trying to see with our ears or to hear with our eyes.
All of our six senses work independently of each other;
you see what you can’t hear; you hear what you can’t see;

etc., etc. Just so you have by faith what is, at first, nonexistant
to the natural senses. It is important to see that
the contrary evidence of the senses is no reason for doubting;
because the evidences upon faith rests are still perfect.
It is faith only when we are believing in the face of the
contrary evidence of the senses. Abraham received and
believed the Word of God in the face nature’s evidence to
the impossibility.
You must already have perfume before you can smell
it. You must already have food before you can taste it;
and you must already have healing before you can feel it.
Faith receives forgiveness and healing and praises God

for them when there is nothing to praise Him for as far
as the five senses are yet witnesses.
Jesus said, “I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me”
when the raising of Lazarus was yet in an unmanifested
form. Just so it is before we see or feel any change that
we are to believe that our prayer for healing is granted
and are to say as Jesus did, “I thank Thee that Thou hast
heard me.” The angels at Dothan were already present
before they become visible to the servant of Elisha. The
ability God gave him to see these angels did not create
them.

God works while we maintain the mental habit of
faith—“while we look not at the things which are seen,
but at the things which are not seen”—at God, at His
promises, His faithfulness, His justice, etc., (2 Corinthians. 4:18).
Faith has to do only with the unseen and unfelt. As soon
as what we have taken by faith is manifested to the senses,
it ceases to be faith.

HAVING BEFORE SEEING
I put a certain amount of money in Mrs. Bosworth’s
coat pocket, and later told her I had, asking her if she
believed me. She said, “Of course I do” and thanked me
for it. She actually had this money before she saw it.
Why should we believe the bare word of others and demand
visible proof from God?
Continue to believe that God gave you what you asked
for when you prayed, thanking and praising Him for what
He has given, and it will always materialize. This always
puts God to working. So many are waiting for God to
heal them, when He is waiting for them to take what He
is offering them. How trying it would be to a friend
who offered you a gift, -for you to cry and beg for it,
and keep him waiting for you to take it!
Let me put this in another way. Since Jesus commands
us to believe we ‘‘have received” the things we
pray for at the time we pray, and before they take visible
form, it is clear that they exist in two forms: First, invisible,
afterwards, visible. First, “believe that ye have
received them (in their invisible form) and ye shall have
them” (in their visible or material form).

We have them first, in the faith realm, afterwards in
the sense realm. So, Jesus, in Mark 11:24, commands us
as soon as we pray to believe that we “have received” (in
its invisible form) what we pray for, before He changes
it into its visible or material form. The angels at Dothan
were just as truly present and real in their invisible form
as when they become visible to Elisha’s servant. The
“ten lepers” each had their healing in its invisible form
while they were on their way to show the priests their
healing in its visible and material form.
When Jesus said, “I thank Thee that Thou hast heard
me” the raising of Lazarus was complete in the faith
realm before it was seen, a few moments later, in the sense
or material form. Just so we are to believe that we already
have our complete healing in its invisible fonm before
God changes it into its visible or material form. The
fact that “faith is the evidence (or title-deed) to things
not seen,” proves that we must already have the things
we pray for in their invisible form, before God can change
them into their visible or manifested form.
The entire 11th chapter of Hebrews records the actions
of God’s saints in the faith realm before the results of
their faith took visible form. All the acts of faith are
in the realm of the yet unseen. Believing that we have
received the things we pray for at the time we pray, is
the “confidence” which is to be steadfast and unwavering
until God changes the blessing we have taken, from its
invisible to its visible form.
Walking by faith is walking by the kind of sight which
sees and is occupied with “eternal” things: with God, with
His promises, His faithfulness, and the many other perfect
reasons for faith. It was believing without seeing that
gave Peter “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” Nothing
he had ever seen gave him as much joy as he now had by
believing without seeing.
The sacrifice of praise and the giving of thanks continually
is done in the faith realm, or before our blessings
have been changed into their visible form. Jonah called
his symptoms “lying vanities” and sacrificed with the voice
of thanksgiving w'hile he was still in the stomach of the
great fish. The Israelites sang praises on their way to battle.

F. F. Bosworth.

This is an excerpt from Chapter 9 of Christ the Healer.