You probably already are a person of faith. You have renewed your mind in the Word of God and have your inner man strong in faith. You quote scriptures, and you are living by faith. Now, God is going to put your faith to a test.

That's right! He will put it to a test.

That's how He —and you—find out how strong your faith is. If you want God's bountiful blessings to fall on you and to flow in you all the time, your faith will have to pass God's test. Not my test or your test, God's test.

God will promote you, if He can trust you. If He can't, He won't promote you. People ask all the time, "Why doesn't God bless His people more?" Because they have not passed the test.

His test is His Word—believing it and acting on it.

Not long ago, the Lord gave me $200,000. I said, "Lord, what am I going to do with it? I don't need it. What did You give it to me for?"

He said, "You passed my test."

I said, "Passed your test? What in the world did I do to pass Your test?"

He said, "You fulfilled a scripture. Tell them everywhere you go...tell them that the Bible is my test; every time they fulfill a scripture, tell them to never worry about the answers to their prayers."

James 2:23 says, "And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God." Abraham fulfilled the Scriptures of believing that what God had said would come to pass.

Abraham waited 25 years for God to do what He said He would do.

How long have you waited and not doubted God?

James 1:8 says, "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." He doesn't get anything from God. But if he stands steadfast in faith, until we pass God's test, not doubting, then the blessings of God begin to flow to us. And they flow and they flow...

People across the country ask me why God blesses me so often and in so many ways, and how I can successfully operate a number of businesses and still teach twenty nights a month. "Well," I say, "I don't use the blessings against God. If he gives me $20,000 this week through a business deal, I don't stop passing out tracts at the airport. I go right on to my next speaking engagement and cast devils out of people. I still take time with the one who has the lonely heart. If I come across someone who is hungry, I feed him. The one that no one else will help, I take time with him."

God will give you money if He can trust you with it. He will make you rich. He will give you spiritual gifts. He will open up the treasures of the spirit world to you.

You can pass God's test—believe His Word. You can know the blessings of God in your life in a measure you never thought possible.

Source: Misguided Faith by Norvel Hayes.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers