Chapter I
Define Faith
As we consider the termite of faith, first of all, let’s define faith.
(1) Faith is always for something you do not have.
Faith is always believing you have something before you get it. Faith can’t operate for something you already have. I can’t exercise faith for the suits hanging in my closet. I can exercise faith for a new one.
(2) Faith is believing you have something before you get it.
Faith is always believing you have something before you get it. If you must wait until you receive it in order to believe that you have it, it is not faith, it is fact. Anyone can believe they are healed when the pain is gone. A heathen can believe that. Anyone can believe they have the money when it’s in their billfold. That’s not faith — that’s fact. Anyone can believe the joy of the Lord is their strength when they are walking in joy. Therefore, remember faith is always believing you have something before you get it. If you don’t believe you have it before you get it, then you aren’t giving God anything to use to bring you what you are believing Him for. Give God faith before you get what you are believing for. God works on the basis of faith. Faith is invisible, but yet it is as real to God, a spirit being, as a chair is to you, a human being. You must realize the truths in the spirit world are as real as the truths in the natural world.
(3) Example of going to Heaven is an excellent illustration.
The best example I can give of believing you have something before you get it is Heaven. If you don’t believe you’re going to Heaven before you ever get there, forget it, you’re not going. Your belief that you are going before you get there is what you are going to walk on in order to get there. If you say, “Well, I’m going to have to wait till I get to Heaven and hear the angels sing before I believe it,” forget it, you probably won’t go. If you say, “I’m going to wait until I walk on those streets of gold before I believe it’s real,” forget it, you’ll never walk on those golden streets. The only way you are going to get to Heaven is by faith, because Heaven is a spiritual fact and it takes faith in order to get you to that spirit world. If you believe God that you have a healing, God is going to take your faith and make your body line up with what you believe you have. Faith is always believing you have it before you get it. If you can’t get a hold of this principle, you will never be able to move in faith.
You must know that faith is a substance. Faith is a force. Faith will bridge the gap between the natural world and the spirit world. Faith will literally reach up into the spirit world and the mind of God and create something there in the spirit world. Then your faith combined with your actions will cause it to materialize down here. Faith is possessing something in the spirit world, in the mind of God, before you ever appropriate it in the natural world. I possess Heaven now, in the spirit world, and one of these days, because I possess it now by faith, I’m going to walk in it. You can possess your healing that way, or unity in your family, or anything else.
Chapter II
Define the Termite
Psalm 112:7 says, “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.” God is saying, I want you to set your heart in a fixed, immovable position upon the Lord.” Notice the words “evil tidings.” This is the termite we are going to be dealing with. “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings.” What are evil tidings? Evil tidings are any thoughts that come to your mind that question the Word of God and try to make you believe that you will not receive what God says you can have. That is an evil tiding. An evil tiding is any thought in your mind that would question the Word of God.
Remember, termites work unseen. They work for a long time before you ever see them. Before faith ever stops working, the termite of evil tidings, evil thoughts, works in your mind below the surface. You can pray and ask God for things, but the evil tidings termite could be in there gnawing away at you. An evil tiding is any thought that questions the integrity of the Word of God. God’s Word says that you are more than a conqueror through Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37). God’s Word is truth. God is not a man that He can lie, neither the son of man that He should repent. God has said it, and God shall do it. Amen! God says you are more than a conqueror. An evil tiding to you personally would say, “No, you are not.” An evil tiding would say, “You don’t have much education, therefore, you can’t learn the Bible.” An evil tiding would say, “You can’t speak very well.” An evil tiding would say, “You know you’re not a conqueror. You’ve failed one time after another.” The Word of God, and a thought that comes to your mind that contradicts the Word of God, cannot both be from God.
The way the devil begins to defeat the Christian is with evil tidings. The Word of God says you can do all things through Jesus Christ. An evil tiding would tell you, “You know you can’t do all things. Look at you. You’re timid, you’re shy, you’re a big mouth, or you’re this or you’re that.” Anytime a thought comes to your mind that would question the integrity of the Word of God, it is an evil tiding, because God’s Word is true. God’s Word says you are more than a conqueror. God’s Word says the love of God is shed abroad in your heart. Therefore, since God’s love is shed abroad in your heart, then you can love all of your brothers and sisters in the Lord. But an evil tiding says you can’t do it. God’s people need to realize that I John 4:4 says, “Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.” I have an alien being living inside of me. I have an alien power living inside of me from another world, another universe. It’s the Holy Spirit of God that enables me to do all things.
Chapter III
Primary Operation Areas
I want to deal with four primary areas evil tidings operate in.
(1) Personal spiritual life
The termite tells you, “You are not a conqueror.” It tells you, “You’re not an overcomer. The love of God is not shed abroad in your heart. You can’t do all things through Christ Jesus.” These are evil tidings. This is where the devil starts, Saints. Romans 12 says you have the measure of faith in your heart. You have the God kind of faith. But the devil knows he can send a termite to destroy your faith by putting doubts in your mind.
The termite of evil tidings works in the individual. The devil doesn’t want the Believer ever to realize that he is what God says he is.
(2) Family life
The second primary area evil tiding work is in the family. First of all they work in you individually as husband, wife, son or daughter. The devil tries to make you think your loved one will never come to Jesus. That is an evil tiding. As Christians today, you must be on guard against evil tidings in your family. Ladies, it’s going to be hard for you to get to the place where you realize your man is really a man of God. Men, it can be hard for you to realize that your wife is really what the Bible says she is. Everyone has failed at some time or other in their life, even since they’ve been Christians. Don’t let the devil bring the evil tidings back into your mind and influence you personally, or don’t let him bring the evil tidings and influence your family relationship.
Any thought that contradicts the Word of God is a lie. It’s from the devil. It’s from the pit of hell. I don’t care if it’s proven in the natural to be true one hundred times over.
(3) Physical
The third way evil tidings work is in you physically, telling you, “You can’t walk in perfect health.” Trying to make you believe you can’t overcome sickness and disease.
If you have any problem in your body, the evil tidings says, “Well, He healed ten other people, but He won’t heal you.” That is an evil tiding. Because the Word of God says “By the stripes of Jesus, you were healed at Calvary.” Not going to be, but you were healed at Calvary, a past fact, and you only need to accept it today.
(4) Material
Evil tidings say “Well, you’ve made so many mistakes and you’re going to have to suffer all your life. You didn’t even finish high school. Look at you, making a hundred twenty-five a week.” That is an evil tiding. God said, “Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over.” That will make you rich. The evil tiding tries to make you say, “With my education or the kind of job I have, I can’t see how there is any way I can prosper financially.” God says, “The blessings of the Lord make you rich and add no sorrow thereto.”
The only way you are going to be able to raise your level of vision is to take the Word of God and hold to it, because the evil tidings always say you can’t make it.
Seventy-five per cent of the young people today under twenty-five years of age already have it in their mind that the prices of homes are so much they will probably never be able to buy one. Most young people today, when they try to conceive of buying a three or four bedroom home, and look at the prices of seventy, eighty, ninety and a hundred thousand dollars, it staggers their minds.
The evil tidings tell you that you can’t walk in victory. The evil tidings tell you that you can’t really expect God to bless you. The evil tidings tell you, “You’re just a little housewife. God’s not really going to use you.” Ladies, when that kind of thought comes to your mind, shout, because blessings are on the way.
Why would the devil tell you it’s not possible for you to live a conquering life, if you couldn’t? The Bible says he’s the father of lies. Why would the devil tell you that you can’t have a good, strong, united family if it wasn’t possible? Why would the devil tell you that you cannot walk in perfect health if it wasn’t possible? Why would the devil tell you that you can’t have what the Bible says if it wasn’t possible? Rise up, brothers and sisters, and realize that evil tidings always question the integrity of the Word of God. An evil tiding is any thought that comes to your mind that tries to make you think God will not do what He says He will do.
To some of you who are up in years, the devil will say, “Man, you’re fifty-five years old. Your best years have already gone by.” Don’t you believe it. The Bible says that “As your days are, so is your strength.” The Bible doesn’t say that you have to get weak. The Bible says “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” The Bible says in Psalms, “He gives his children everlasting strength.” I like the thought that I don’t have to be under, but I can be above. I like to be a conqueror, I like to be an overcomer. I like the thought that I can love my brothers and sisters…that I don’t have to hate…that I don’t have to be bitter. I don’t have to be resentful, I don’t have to feel insecure, I don’t have to feel threatened…that I can walk in victory: physically, mentally and financially. I like the thought that my body is off limits to sickness and disease. Remember, any thought that questions what God says, must be a lie and has to be from the devil. I don’t care if it’s trying to use your education, your past, your present or anything else, if it questions the integrity of the Word of God, it’s right straight out of the pit of hell.
Christians today are being beat down, even though they are saved and filled with the Holy Ghost. They are being discouraged, living under disillusionment, fear, insecurities and frustrations. Saints of God, I want you to know that is not the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Many of God’s people today are living unloved. The enemy may be telling you that you can’t be loved. The devil is trying to cheat you out of your inheritance. He’s trying to keep you from receiving the things that God has in store for His people. I want you to know, brothers and sisters, God is raising up an army of people in these days who are going to believe the Word of God. They are going to be wise in the ways of God. When any thought comes that questions the integrity of the Word of God, rise up and rebel against it and know it’s not from your loving heavenly Father. Psalm 112:7 says “He shall not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.”
Chapter IV
Purpose of the Termite
What is the purpose of the evil tidings? I want to give you three particular purposes. You can name many but these three are the main ones. Why does Satan put a thought in your mind that would cause you to question God?
(1) Distract
The first reason he plants the evil tidings is to distract you. You pray and ask God to heal you, and the enemy throws in an evil tiding. You must keep your heart and mind on Jesus. The Bible says, “All things ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive,” and the devil throws evil tidings in and says, “Are you sure? How about that sin in your life?” He attempts to distract you. James 1:8 says you then become doubleminded. The first purpose of evil tidings is to distract you. Isaiah 26:3 says he whose mind is stayed on Jesus shall have perfect peace. The devil knows if you keep your mind on the Word of God, you’ll be single minded. Therefore, he has a tactic to get your mind off Jesus.
God says all things you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive. (Matthew 21:22). God says “all things.” The first thing the devil is going to do with his evil tidings is qualify the “all things.” He will say the “all things” are for only a few people, certainly not you.
(2) Discourage
As you begin to be distracted, it will interfere with your faith operating and then discouragement comes. The first thing the devil does is get you distracted, doubleminded. If he can keep you distracted, then you’ll delay the manifestation of that which you have believed God for, and then discouragement sets in.
(3) Condemnation
When discouragement begins to come, you’re more susceptible to accept condemnation or fear. The whole purpose of evil tidings are to make you fearful that you may not receive what God’s Word says. That maybe you can’t do what God says you can.
God uses faith. Satan uses fear. The evil tidings cause fear. The enemy uses the force of fear to cut your faith. Here’s the picture: You believe God for something. The devil attempts to distract you and keep you from being single minded, so he uses evil tidings. You begin to waver and slow up. The next thing you know, the manifestation is delayed and you become discouraged. Then fear begins to work. When fear begins to work, faith begins to leave. Fear is like the plug in the bottom of the bath tub and faith is the water coming in the spigot. Many times you are putting faith in, but the plug is not in the bottom, and the faith is going out as fast as it is coming in.
(4) Defeat
First is distraction. Then comes discouragement. Hebrews 12:3 says you get weary in your mind. The chain reaction is always there. Defeat is the end result of evil tidings, if you are not on guard.
- Conquest
How am I going to conquer evil tidings? Recognize any thought that contradicts the Word of God is from the devil.
(1) Commitment
Make a full commitment with your mouth, that you are never going to get off of God’s Word. Philippians 4:8 says only think on those things that are just, holy, pure, lovely, honest and of a good report.
(2) Control
You must control your mind. Isaiah 26:3 says, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Philippians 4:8 and Isaiah 26:3 will help you keep your mind on Jesus. Only think on those things that are just, holy, lovely, pure, honest and of good report.
Satan’s plan is to distract you from the Word and from the greater things of God. Have you ever noticed how you must really concentrate in order to keep your mind on Jesus? How you really have to battle to keep your mind from wandering here and wandering there?
(3) Continuation
Keep your mind on Jesus until you receive that which you have claimed from Him. I’m not telling you it’s easy, I’m telling you it’s possible. You “can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens you.” Refuse to be controlled by evil tidings.
