CHAPTER 1

Faith Without Sweat,Is Dead

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Get ready to Bring your prayer life to an entirelynew level. It is time, as odd as this may sound, to roll upyour sleeves and put some sweat behind those prayersof yours. Remember, the Bible says that faith withoutworks is dead. And so are prayers. So get ready to learnhow prayers backed by performance on your part willproduce tangible results, and even miracles, right herein the world in which you live. But before we go anyfurther, there's a couple things you'll need to do.

First, you'll need to open the windows of yourimagination and unshackle the full power of God'sWord. Why do I say this? Because the sad fact is, most"Christians" have never taken the time to actuallyread the Bible, so they don't even know what God'sWord says. Other Christians who have read it, pickand choose what they decide to believe, and thenassemble their chosen bits and pieces into an imaginarygod who doesn't even exist! Get real. Praying to animaginary god will produce manifestations that arejust as imaginary. No more! It is time to unleash thefull-power, full-throttle Word of God in your life! Thatmeans reading, discussing and accepting all of theBible's teachings, including those subjects that humanintellect, ego and even fears have caused Christiansto disregard. Subjects like faith healing, which manyChristians dismiss even though Jesus healed peopleevery day and said that you and I could perform evengreater miracles if we would only believe! Prayingin heavenly languages gets dismissed even though 1Corinthians 13:1 is read at almost every wedding! MostChristians also avoid tithing by dismissing it as purelyan Old Testament practice, which it isn't. And the"taking up" of the church gets dismissed even though1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 describes this as the mostawesome event of them all! Look at it this way. If youwant God to answer your prayers, you need to stoppraying to your watered-down imaginary god, and startpraying to the all-powerful real One. Sound reasonable?It is time to accept the full-gospel, full-throttle Word ofGod! Finally believing every Word of God to be truewill produce the greatest thrill ride you have ever taken.

The second thing we need to do before we begin iscalled "erasing the chalkboard."

Imagine an old country schoolhouse. Within the fourwalls of the schoolhouse is a single classroom. On thefront wall of the classroom is one of those old dustychalkboards. Can you picture it? Good. This is whereyou need to pay attention. Written on this old dustychalkboard is the name of every person who has everdone you wrong. Everyone who has ever lied to you,stolen from you, cheated on you or hurt your feelings.Take your time with this so every possible name ofevery possible person appears on the chalkboard. Thentake one last look at every one of these names so thisexercise fully sinks in.

Now, imagine picking up an eraser and erase everyname you see written on the chalkboard. Do it! This iscalled forgiveness. Mark 11:25 instructs us to forgivebefore we pray, so erasing the chalkboard becomes anecessary first step.

Next, imagine coming into the classroom with abucket of water, a sponge and a drying towel. Imaginesponging down the chalkboard with water and thendrying the chalkboard with a fresh, clean towel. This iscalled forgetting.

You have now learned to forgive and forget, which asyou know is divine. By erasing your chalkboard, youand your heart are now in a perfect position from whichto pray. So let's get started.

What exactly is a performance-based prayer? It isa prayer that is supported by corresponding action.Too many people have become derailed by thephrase "waiting on the Lord." Basically, they haveturned praying and waiting into praying and sitting.Performance-based prayer is the exact opposite ofpraying and sitting. Performance-based prayer means"praying and performing." It is about getting to workand earning your miracle. How do I know this type ofprayer produces results? Because of the prayer blessingsand manifestations that appear in my life almost everyday. Blessings that I will share with you as we go alongand that will increase the strength of your own prayerexpectations.

My personal walk of faith has been quite a journey.It has taken me from being the skinny, insecure littlekid who was picked last in gym class every day tothe blessings of racing NASCAR, flying jet airplanesand even a black belt in Shotokan karate. Theseblessings and the obedient endurance they required aresignificant on a number of levels. First, because they'veresulted in a lifestyle that is far outside the lines of themainstream image of what a Christian lifestyle lookslike. This benefits the Lord because it makes peoplesit up and take notice! Remember, we Christians aresupposed to let our lights shine! That means living alife so bright and exciting that others see somethingin us that they want for themselves! Can you think ofa better way to inspire God's children to come hometo their Father? But that won't happen as long asChristians accept the misguided teaching that we areto live quietly in the shadows like...