ever received the baptism of the Holy Ghost; we received healing by exercising simple faith in
what God's Word says.
Also, if these general answers to prayer were the result of the gift of faith in operation, then not
everyone — even if they had the baptism in the Holy Ghost — would be able to obtain answers
to prayer, because not everyone will have this gift operating in them. Remember, the Bible
says, "For to ONE is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom. . . . To another faith by the same
Spirit" (1 Cor. 12:8,9).
Therefore, if we had to rely on this gift of faith to get our prayers answered, then not everyone
could get their prayers answered, and we know that is untrue.
But there is a faith — I call it a general faith — that all believers have that can be increased by
feeding on the Word of God and exercising it in the arena of life. We can all have an everincreasing faith. The gift of faith, however, is a supernatural manifestation of the Holy Spirit
given as the Spirit wills.
The Gift of Faith vs. The Gift of the Working of Miracles
The gift of faith is also distinct from the working of miracles, although both gifts produce
miracles. One of them is active and the other is passive.
The working of miracles is active; it actively works a miracle. The gift of faith doesn't work a
miracle, but passively receives a miracle.
In other words, the difference between the working of miracles and the gift of faith is that the
gift of working of miracles actively does, and the gift of special faith passively receives.
When Daniel was in the lions' den, he received a miracle. In those days as well as throughout
history, there have been those who were thrown to the lions and the lions devoured them. Why
didn't the lions devour Daniel? The Bible says that ". . . Daniel was taken up out of the den,
and no manner of hurt was found upon him, because he believed in his God" (Dan. 6:23).
There is no doubt that God gave Daniel special faith, a special manifestation of this gift of the
Spirit, to receive deliverance. Daniel didn't do anything. He just lay down and went to sleep.
His faith was pas-sive rather than active, yet he received a miracle.
We see Jesus exercising this gift of faith as He slept in the back of the ship during a raging
storm (Mark 4:38). Someone might argue, "Yes, but that was Jesus. He is the Son of God."
However, Jesus never did anything except by the power of the Holy Ghost. Jesus voluntarily
stripped Himself of what power He had as the Son of God when He came to the earth (Phil.
2:7). Jesus was just as much the Son of God before the Holy Ghost came upon Him and
anointed Him as He was after He was anointed. Yet because He stripped Himself of that
power vested in Him as the Son of God when He came to the earth, Jesus never worked any
miracles prior to the time He was ba F