September Newsletter 2026

The Bible tells us in Galatians 5 there is a “Fruit of Faith.” 1 Corinthians 12 tells us there is a “Gift of Faith.” Romans 3 tells us there is a “Law of Faith,” and in 1 Corinthians 4 the Apostle Paul refers to the ancient text in Ps. 116:10 and tells us that there is a “Spirit of Faith!” In each case the statement is made and then passed on, with us left to study and dig out the golden nuggets of God’s Truth.

In this newsletter I want us to focus our attention on the Spirit of Faith. I don’t know about you, but I am attracted to people who operate in the Spirit of Faith. There are not many of them out there, but there are some. I like the Spirit of Faith. It has kept me and provided for me and my family and ministry for all these years.

When I was 16 years old, I was the Youth Leader at my home church, and I spent hours in prayer over what to preach to them. This was an awesome responsibility to me. One day I was praying, asking God to give me something that would speak into their lives, that would set their course so they could serve Him. The Lord gave me a “lifestyle” to teach them. I still have the original notes from that message dated 1966, and this was before the “Word of Faith” message. God said to me, “Write this down, You Can Talk Like God.” I had never heard anything like that in my life! In the next hour or so, He led me through both OT and NT scriptures to prove His point. I taught that to the youth group that week. The church in unison stood up and said, “Blasphemy, crucify him!” I was in serious trouble! The church said, “How dare you tell them they can talk like God?” I repented to the church, thinking they must have known what they were talking about. I was horrified that I had offended God, so I got on my face and wept bitter tears saying, “I’m so sorry, I would never blaspheme against You; I thought You gave me this.”

In the next year and a half (I was 18 years old), I went to Panama on my first mission trip and lived with an Indian tribe that didn’t wear clothes. I immediately got sick. The church and the missionary said I was supposed to get sick. I got yellow fever and had open running sores all over my body. I also had a blood disease, and all kinds of things went wrong with me. I had dysentery for three months and I lost weight and dehydrated to the point that if you pushed in on my skin, it stayed pushed in, not a spongy spring back. The missionary told me I was going to die because it was too far (7 hours by canoe) to the first village with the first doctor. He said, “I don’t know what to do for you.” When I heard that, I sat about halfway up in my hammock and said to him, “I have yellow fever?” And he said, “Yes, among other things.” Then I said, “Sickness, I can fix! The Bible says to lay hands on the sick and they shall recover!” I held my hands up and said, “Here’s my hands,” and then I laid them on myself and said, “Here’s the sick, so in Jesus’ name, I shall recover.” That day I began to get better. It wasn’t an instantaneous thing, but I took a little water and then a little rice, and I gained strength every day.

It came time for me to go home, so I flew into my hometown, and I was skin and bones; my pants were held up with rope, and I still had those running bloody sores all over my body. Jackie and I were engaged to be married, and she picked me up at the airport. She was horrified at what she saw! Nevertheless, it was a Wednesday, so we went to church that night. Just sitting in the service and crossing my legs made some of the sores burst and seep through my trousers. I was so embarrassed and went back to clean myself up, and the church and the missionary said I did good. They patted me on the back! I said to Jackie, “I don’t feel like I did good! I could have done God a better job if I hadn’t been so sick. I could have ministered to more people!”

I was only going to be home two weeks and go right back to the mission field. I decided that I was going to get into the Word of God and find out what it says. I gave Jackie my word that whatever I found in the Word was what we were going to do. “If I find in this book that God wants to kill me, then He can kill me. And if you marry me and He wants to kill you or our children, then He can, but I don’t think He wants to, and I refuse to let the devil do it.”

What kind of General would kill off his own troops? What good does it do God to kill His missionaries? What kind of military strategy is that? I told Jackie that I wouldn’t get out of the Word until I found out who was right, God or the church. I went back to God and said, “You’re going to have to show me. If You want to kill me, that’s fine, but it doesn’t seem smart to me. Doesn’t make any sense to me! If You don’t want to kill me, my wife, or my babies, I’m sure not going to let the devil do it, and I’m not coming out of the Book until I get the answers.” Well, I got them! God reestablished what He had shown me 2 years before and He rebuked me for not sticking with it and listening to the church over Him. I came out of that time in the Word with the ministry we’ve had now for 58 years. And I’ve preached that all over the world, countless times! You can, in fact, talk like God!

In Mark 11 when He spoke to the fig tree, “He answered it.” That means it must have said something. He answered and said to it, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever,” and His disciples heard it. That tells me He said it loud enough, so they all heard it and He put Himself out on a limb. He put Himself in a situation where if something didn’t happen to that fig tree, they would all think He was nuts and leave Him! Then that night they passed by the tree again and nothing had happened to it. The next day they passed it again, and Peter called to His remembrance, “Master look, the fig tree you cursed has withered away.” And Jesus said, “Have faith in God,” or as you all have been taught, have the faith of God. Have the God kind of faith, the God type of faith, the God class of faith. That shows you that there is a God kind of faith, and that we can have it. Romans 12 tells us that God has given every man “the measure of faith.” That says to me that we all start out when we get saved with the same amount of faith. It’s what we do with that faith that makes it grow or decrease. If faith comes by hearing the Word, then it goes away by not hearing the Word. God is not into things that are stale or stagnant. He wants you moving somewhere. He says be hot or cold, not lukewarm. God is not into “Hold the fort.” He’s not into “Retreat!” God is into “Advance!”

This week is our 12th wedding anniversary and we are celebrating each other…………

In the Spirit of Faith,
Terry L. Mize