Black Belt Faith
- Bishop Keith Butler
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. (Matthew 21:22)
There is a difference between a man who knows how to throw a punch and a twelfth-degree black belt. Both can fight, but the black belt has reached a level the casual fighter has not. He has trained so long, so consistently, so deeply that the skill is no longer something he thinks about; it has become part of who he is. He does not freeze under pressure and try to remember his training. The training is already inside him. That is the level of spiritual warrior God seeks in His people.
Jesus makes the promise broad—all things and whatsoever. He does not narrow the categories. He does not say some things or certain things under certain conditions. He said, “All things whatsoever you ask in prayer.” The scope of the promise is as large as it could be. But then He attached the condition that determines whether the promise is activated: believing, not hoping. It is not trying to believe but really believing.
That one word is where most people stumble. They pray and hope it works out. They ask and wait to see. But hoping and believing are not the same thing.
Hope is expectation without conviction. Faith is knowing it is done in the spirit and simply waiting for the natural to catch up.
This is why you need to be taught and trained in the Word of God. You cannot operate at the black belt level without training. You need to be in a church that teaches the Word, and you need to spend time in consistent prayer yourself. Those are things that build the kind of belief that does not waver under pressure. Build the belief before you need it. Train now so that when you ask, you are already believing.
Practical Application
Identify one thing you have been praying about where you have been hoping rather than believing. Take it back to the Word today. Find what God says about it and settle it in your spirit until you have moved from hope to conviction. Then pray it again and this time believing.
James 1:6; Hebrews 11:1
