God Helps Those that Believe
There is an old saying that I hear over and over again and tonight I would like to deal with this
misconception. The saying is “God helps those who help themselves.” People say “The Bible says” and
then they quote this verse. Let me tell you if the Bible did say this we should throw the Bible away
because it would contradict everything that God did for us through Jesus Christ and everything that we
have in Christ Jesus!
Benjamin Franklin used it. James Dean, the movie star used it. But, it was first used by an English
politician Algernon Sidney who lived in the seventeenth century. It is not a quote from the Bible.
Let me be quite clear on this, God does not help those who help themselves. God helps those who
BELIEVE HIS WORD!
There is a lot in the Bible about not being lazy or slothful or idle, but, that is not what that quote is
alluding to. What it is saying is that you start a task and God will pitch-in once you start it. First, if it is
true in one instance it has to be true in all instances. So, if a person, say a Christian, decides to work to
get out of depth and then starts working to pay off bills does that means that God will start helping him?
Then why are there millions upon millions of people both good and bad both Christian and non-Christian
that fall short every day of having their needs met? I’m not talking about just monetary needs, but,
heart desires! Desire for someone to share your life with, deliverance from sickness and sorrow,
physical, mental and emotional needs that WE ALL can relate to. Let me ask you WHY would someone
want to be a Christian! Why would someone read the Bible and follow through on what it says? There is
only ONE reason! BECAUSE, THEY WANT A BETTER LIFE!
“God helps those who help themselves” is not going to get you that deliverance! Never, Ever! Let me tell
you WHY! It puts the person before God and it leaves out the power of the holy spirit in the life of the
individual.
Christians are spirit filled men and women. They have all the potential to do the works that Christ did
and more. They have all the power to bring to themselves health, prosperity and peace, but, you have to
put GOD FIRST!
John 14:12 (KJV)
12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater
works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
Mark 11:24 (KJV)
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them,
and ye shall have them.
As I said at the beginning of this article, God helps those who do one thing and one thing only, that is to
believe His Word!
There is action involved in believing, but, look at Mark 11:24 again. It says “when you pray” doesn’t it?
Who first? God first. When you pray do one thing – believe. Have that picture in your mind of God’spromise and deliverance in your life and then comes the action. You, I, we walk out on that believing
and claim those promises.
I remember working in the cold one year, I was fulltime in the ministry and working part time as a frame
carpenter to meet my needs. I didn’t have the nicest cold weather gear and the temperatures dropped
to extremely cold weather. I was cold the first day the front moved in, but, that night I went home and I
found a verse in Hosea that promises us warmth and believe me, I was needing some warmth. I claimed
my right to be warm and that next day I went out into the same cold as the day before and I was warm!
All day and the next and the next. All through that cold spell I stayed warm. Nothing else changed, my
clothes hadn’t changed, the temperatures didn’t change there was one thing that changed, I knew the
promise of God, I claimed it and I believed!
I am not telling you this because I am more special than any other Christian. I am telling you this because
you, as a Christian can do it as well.
There was a married couple that couldn’t have children. They tried everything, but, to no avail. My wife
and I taught them the principle that I am teaching you now and within the year they got their
deliverance. She was pregnant and shortly thereafter they had a beautiful baby. To this day I don’t know
the verse they claimed, but, I know that the only thing that changed was that they claimed the promise
of God. No pills, no in vitro fertilization, no artificial insemination just claiming the promises of God and
believing.
Look at Philippians 4:13.
Philippians 4:13 (KJV)
13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.
The literal translation is, I can do all things through Christ who infuses inner strength into me.
The thing that sets Christians apart is that they are spirit filled men and women. They are sons and
daughters of God and they can manifest that power in this life to bring great deliverance to themselves
and others.
There are over nine hundred promises to us in the Word of God. How many do you know? Do you know
the promise that is made especially for you? Do you know the promise that will give you the absolute
deliverance that you need right now? God does and He is waiting for you to claim that promise and
bring you the deliverance that you so desire.
Below is God’s blessings on Israel. We as Christians can and should lay claim to these promises as well. I
count thirty promises how many do you count? How many will you claim?
Deuteronomy 28:1-14 (KJV)
1 And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God,
to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy
God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the
voice of the LORD thy God.
3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field.
4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, theincrease of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.
6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
7 The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face:
they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.
8 The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest
thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou
shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they
shall be afraid of thee.
11 And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of
thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to
give thee.
12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in
his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and
thou shalt not borrow.
13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and
thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God,
which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
14 And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right
hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.