If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. John 15:7 (KJV)

It is important to take time to meditate the word of God before you pray about a certain issue. Meditating in the Word on healing, for example, causes faith to come to you for healing. When you read the scriptures in which Jesus laid hands on the sick and healed them, and think about it, and meditate on it, you will begin to see yourself healed when hands are laid on you. That is seeing yourself healed by faith. That is God's word abiding in you.

You should never hear the Word about healing, have hands laid upon you, and just stop there. If that's the case, there is no scripture to abide in you, and the healing you received may slip away from you. The Word in you needs to be "watered." That means you read the Scriptures daily to fill yours elf with the word of God. Without your effort of getting God's word in your heart, the word that is in there will not have any roots. So you get your healing, but then you lose it. Why? God's word isn't abiding in you.

The Word abide means to take up residence; to dwell in. Why would His words have to abide in us? God's words must abide in you because they are the power. If you are praying without the power source you are not going to get any production. What is the production you're looking for? Faith. Jesus said, "If ye abide in Me, My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will." We know the word of God teaches that you can't ask for anything except by faith. That is why he or she that comes to God must believe. When you are asking you are asking of God. You are coming to God. So for you to ask you must ask in faith. But if you have no Word in your spirit, you have no faith, because faith comes from the word of God.

Now you can get healed. You can hear it, believe it and get healed. But for you to keep it you have to meditate in the word of God, because Satan comes immediately for the word. In order to obtain your desire and keep it, you must be firmly persuaded that you have what God promised. A lot of times people are quick to say, "I abide in Him. Now it's time to ask." However, unless you've taken the time to get the scriptures in your heart, there will be no faith produced in you. I like to say it this way: No Word, no faith.

When the Word is abiding in you, you become firmly persuaded that you have what you are asking for before you even see it. Where do you get that firm persuasion from? The Word. The Word produces confidence in your spirit. The Word produces faith. It makes you more grounded in what God is saying, and more grounded in the fact that if God said it, then it is so. If God said it, then the power is present to bring it to pass.

Scripture References: Joshua 1:8; Romans 4:18-21; Hebrews 11:6

[Courtesy:  Bishop Keith Butler]