I wasn’t fully aware of how I operated in the area of dreams until I had lunch one day with an evangelist friend. “I’ve been watching you for several years,” he said. “You say you’re going to go to New York City and meet with the president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and it actually comes to pass. You say that you’re going to go to India and preach to a million people, and it actually comes to pass. You say you’re going to go preach to the Kremlin Palace in Moscow, and it comes to pass. You say you’re going to speak at the 43rd General Assembly of the United Nations at the peace conference, and it comes to pass.”
He paused, looked me in the eye, and asked, “Do you know how you do what you do?” “No, I don’t,” I replied. “It’s found in 1 Corinthians 12. It’s the gift of faith, verse nine. All believers have been given saving faith by God as the means of salvation. That’s found in Ephesians 2:8-9. But few believers operate in the gift of faith. I don’t. The Bible says to earnestly desire the best gifts. You have obviously desired this gift, and God has given it to you.”
Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it” (John 14:12-14, NIV).
One of the things I realized about the gift of faith is that you don’t just receive it and it stays with you. The gift of faith can come on you in an astonishing way, and when it comes, you can know in your mind what you’re believing for has already happened. You can’t differentiate the future promise from present reality. That’s why your faith is so important when it comes to your dreams. You must believe in this vivid way, and God will help you.
I have probably experienced the power of the gift of faith 30 or 40 times in my life. I don’t believe for a second that God chose to give me the gift of faith simply because I was special. I believe that those gifts are available for all believers, but you don’t hear much teaching about the gift of faith. You also don’t see many people hungering and thirsting and earnestly desiring the gift of faith. You do see people earnestly hungering and desiring other gifts of the Holy Spirit, but for some reason, the revelation of the gift of faith has been ignored by most believers.
I pray that God will open your eyes to it and that you will be able to truly have a purpose and favor and receive this glorious gift. In 1 Corinthians 12:4 we are told, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.” Verses 9-10 add “to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.”
The gift of faith is not normal faith. It’s a supernatural faith that God gives you for a special need or opportunity. It’s extraordinary, mountain-moving faith for supernatural results and in specific situations. When we began our ministry, I saw the gift of faith providing for our needs, but as time went on, that gift of faith started operating in ways that are above and beyond. We dreamed of making a huge impact around the world.
I’ve realized in my life that desperation is the mother of invention. God’s not going to give these gifts to content believers who are simply casual in their walk with God. These are radical, life-transforming gifts, and they’re for radical believers who do what God says. I want to encourage you to begin seeking and praying, searching the Scriptures on the gift of faith. Read the stories about those who have operated in them throughout the Bible and start seeking the Lord to give you that gift, and to give you opportunities where that gift can be manifested.
Jesus increased in favor with God and with man (Luke 2:52). The power of the Holy Spirit can also cause you to increase in favor with God and with people. I have put a lot of pictures in my new book about dreams. The reason I did that is because I’ve had people say to me that there’s no possibility that you could be doing the things that you’re doing. They’re absolutely right. There is no possibility that I could be doing it in my own power. But I’m not doing it in the natural. I’m doing it in the supernatural. I pray that the Spirit of God will put a hunger and thirst in your heart for seeing His dreams come to pass through your life and that your life will never be the same.