How do you know if you really believe God? You know in your heart without a doubt that what God says in His Word is yours. You know it's yours, so you act like it is, because you know something, you know it's yours.
King David believed he had a covenant of promise with Almighty God. He believed in that covenant to such a degree that when he saw Goliath the giant ( 1 Sam 17:26-50), he knew he would (this is the bottom line of faith, he knew he would) defeat him. David didn't hope that he would defeat him, he knew he would. Now this is the true believing that God requires of a man/woman who is in covenant relationship with Him. (If you have made Jesus the Lord and Savior of your life, you are in a covenant relationship with God through the blood of Jesus Christ).
This is real genuine believing; I believe the word to such a degree (with all my heart) that I know that what stands before me is already defeated. When I enter the battle with this mind set, knowing that my enemy is (already) defeated, I fight with the confidence as the one who knows he already has won the battle. I fight with a strength that only comes from knowing that my enemy is already defeated before I take the first step towards him.
My faith is established in the Word of God (my covenant with Him) so that I now already know the outcome before I even enter the battle. This is when I know that I really do believe God, because I'll step out in confidence and act on what I believe. If I stand before my enemy hoping that God will help me overcome it, then I can know for sure that I am not believing Him. If I am anxious and fretful, then I can know for sure that I don't believe God. It's when I stand before my giant and know that I will defeat him because of my covenant that I have with Almighty God, that's when I know that I'm believing.
If I see my enemy defeated before I enter the fight, I know I'm believing. If I hope to defeat my enemy, I'm not believing. If I'm only in hope, I'll be defeated by my enemy, and I'll blame God for not coming through for me. But God requires faith, not hope. Hope has no substance to it until faith is added (Heb 11:1). Hope is just that, "you hope God will", but faith says, "I know God will do what I hope He will do."
How do you get to that level of believing? First by knowledge of the of the Word of God. You must know what the Word says and what your covenant rights are between you and God. God's Word is God's will (He never changes)and faith begins where the will of God is known. Second, meditating that knowledge until you believe it. God told me years ago, "your ability to believe Me comes from Me" (Heb 12:2, 1 Cor 2:9-13). How do you know you believe it? When you've gone from just knowing what the Word says, and the hope that comes from knowing that Word, to the place of confident action (faith) knowing that the enemy that stands before you is already defeated, because your covenant with God says so. You know he is defeated, so you'll fight with a supernatural strength, God's strength, and you'll overcome just like God said you would.
2 Cor 2:14 says, "NOW (right now!!, before the fight) thanks be unto God who ALWAYS causes me to TRIUMPH in Christ." God says you always win if you'll believe Him (that's a big IF). No weapon formed against you shall prosper (Isa 54:17) if you know your covenant rights with God and believe them.
If you can stand before your enemy with a grin on your face ( you know that is what Goliath was really upset with David about. It wasn't David's smaller size and being a youth, it was that grin on his face. Now that is just something that God has let me see, I have no scripture to back that up, but God sure put a smile on my face by showing that to me) because you already know that he is defeated, you can know for sure that you really are believing God and what you are believing, it will come to pass!
Now build your foundation with God's Word. Read Gal 3:29, Heb 8:6, 2Pet 1:4&19
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