Faith is absolutely essential to your walk with God.
What is Faith?
Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1 (AMPC) NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
What Is Hope?
Hebrews 11:1 TPT Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen.
Hope does have some limitations. There are certain things that it cannot do. Faith and hope DO work together and are connected.
Hope is a positive expectation of things in the future.
God always builds our hopes before we actually begin to operate in faith.
Faith and hope can be broken down like this:
Hope is a blueprint or a model.
It is not the building; it is the expectation of the building.
Hope is the ability to imagine what is going to happen.
This is where you start.
How Does Faith Come?
Romans 12:3 KJV For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
“every man that is among you…” is referring to each believer.
Romans 10:17 (NKJV) 17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
“Word of God” (GREEK): Rhema – spoken word uttered by a living voice that brings revelation; a revealed word.
It does absolutely no good to pray for faith.
Your faith is fed and developed as you spend time in the Word of God and the Holy Spirit brings revelation of the Word before you. The Holy Spirit will speak a revealed word to your spirit and faith is fed and grows.
Faith for salvation comes as one hears the Gospel and that message is revealed by the Holy Spirit to your heart. One can then receive the New Birth because they now believe it and can act on it.
Faith for healing, prosperity, peace, etc. comes the same way. You avail yourself to hear the Word of God in that area and the Holy Spirit will bring revelation of that Word to your heart and then the blessing can be received.
The principles of faith are the same in any area, whether it be finances, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, healing or whatever it is. If you can learn the principles of faith, then it is easy to receive whatever it is that you are seeking from God or need to receive.
The principles and laws of God work the same every time and if you can learn them, they will for you every single time.
Dr. Lillian Yoeman said, “If I pray for any one thing, or I pray just one time for anything and I don’t get it, I start changing. I start changing. I start changing because if I pray and that prayer is not answered, there will have to be a change before the answer comes. And I know there can’t be any change with God, because He never changes, so if there’s any change, it has to be on my end. So if I pray and do not receive, then I start changing.”
Faith is of the Heart and Not the Head
Romans 10:8-10 NKJV But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): (9) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Mark 11:23 NKJV For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
It is possible for one to have faith in their heart and doubt in their head.
As long as you don’t let doubt get in your heart, your faith will still work.
Romans 4:20 KJV He staggered (doubted) not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Romans 4:20 NKJV He did not waver (doubt) at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God,
The word doubt in the Greek means: decide, to be in strife with oneself, hesitate
Doubt gets into your heart by putting words to it.
You cannot stop the thoughts of doubt from crossing your mind, but if you do not attach words to them, they will not be fruitful.
If we want to walk by faith, the Word must be superior to everything else and anything else or knowledge, whether that knowledge is ours or somebody else’s knowledge.
Proverbs 3:5 NKJV Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;
Believing with the heart means that we have seen a truth with our spiritual eyes and we get it.
Think about the truth that this is the way we get saved. We “see” the truth of the Gospel and we get it and believe in our hearts that we need to be saved and receive it.
To believe with the heart means to accept what God says as the truth.
Example:
1 Peter 2:24 NKJV (24) who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.
God has already done the work. We don’t have to pray and ask the Lord to heal us. He has already done it. The same is true with salvation.
Let’s say my Mother was to make me a pecan pie and bring it to me. If I call her up on the phone and ask her to please bake me a pie, her response will be, “I already have done it.” The issue is really me learning how to receive and appropriate what she has already done. It is not now about her giving it; it is about me receiving it.
Once something is established over in the spirit realm, it must come to pass in this natural realm.
Matthew 18:18 AMP (18) Truly I tell you, whatever you forbid and declare to be improper and unlawful on earth must be what is already forbidden in heaven, and whatever you permit and declare proper and lawful on earth must be what is already permitted in heaven.
The scriptures say we were already healed.
To believe with the heart means that we believe God’s Word is a fact.
To believe with the heart means that we refuse to worry and cast all of our worry over on Him.
Confession unto Faith:
Romans 10:17 NKJV (17) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
You will believe what you hear yourself say. Faith is built in you by the words that you speak.
While you are building your faith does not mean that your words are not having any effect. They are working in you.
Philemon 1:6 KJV (6) That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.
Paul is letting you know that it is essential for you to possess:
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- a knowledge of exactly who you are in Jesus Christ.
- a knowledge of what Jesus has purchased in your redemption.
- a knowledge of every good thing that God has placed in you by Jesus Christ.
- A knowledge of what God can do through us or what His Word will do through our lips
To make these truths real in your life, you have to put the key in the ignition switch.
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- The key is the Word of God.
- The ignition is your mouth.
- The key is turned in the ignition when you open your mouth and start to speak the truth.
- The good things in you are activated the moment you start confessing the truth.
The way to make these blessings real in your life is to:
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- thoroughly know them through diligent study;
- put these truths into your heart; and
- speak them out loud!
That is how you turn the key in your ignition and energize these truths until they begin to manifest in you!
So quit talking negatively about yourself, and begin to bring the words of your mouth into agreement with the truths God has deposited in your life.
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- God’s Word says you’re healed, so begin to say you’re healed.
- God’s Word says you have the mind of Christ, so begin to say you have the mind of Christ.
- God’s Word says you’re blessed, so begin to say you’re blessed.
You turn the key in the ignition by getting your mouth in agreement with God’s Word. And as you start speaking what God says about you, all your potential will start becoming a manifested reality!
Confession of Faith (Releasing your faith)
Romans 10:8-10 NKJV But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): (9) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (10) For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
These verses speak specifically about salvation, but you receive anything from the Lord the same way. You believe it in your heart and say it with your mouth.
You have to say with your mouth what you believe to receive by faith.
There is no faith without confession. Confession is faith’s way of expressing itself along with corresponding actions.
Faith grows with your confession.
Mark 11:19-24 NKJV (19) When evening had come, He went out of the city. (20) Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. (21) And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” (22) So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. (23) For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. (24) Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Did you notice that Jesus said in verse 23, if a person confesses something “and shall not doubt in his heart” – in other words, if he believes the words he is speaking with his mouth – he will have exactly what he says. The word “doubt” is from the Greek word diakrinomai, which means to hesitate, to waver, to doubt, or to differ.
In context, Jesus is saying that when a person’s heart doesn’t differ from what his mouth is saying, the combination of his heart and mouth in agreement will always make things happen!
James 1:5-8 NKJV (5) If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. (6) But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. (7) For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; (8) he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
I call this concept “the heart-mouth connection.”
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- For instance, if you believe in your heart that Jesus purchased your salvation, and you put your heartfelt faith together with the confession of your mouth, you can literally receive that salvation and make it an eternal fact.
- For instance, if you believe in your heart that Jesus purchased your healing, and you put your heartfelt faith together with the confession of your mouth, you can literally bring that healing into manifestation in your physical body.
God’s creative power is released when the heart and mouth get into agreement!
That is why you must be careful about what you believe in your heart and say with your mouth, because when your heart and mouth get “in sync” with each other, it literally makes things come to pass!
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- Notice that Jesus did not pray about the mountain – He did not ask God to remove the mountain for Him. There is nothing wrong with praying about your mountain, but that is not enough. Speak to your mountain.
- Jesus said that we could speak to the mountain in OUR lives, but we don’t have the right to speak to the mountains in the lives of others (except those we have authority over or have their permission – that’s where prayer comes in).
- Notice that Jesus’ words went to work at the root of the situation and the effect was not immediately visible to the natural eye. The change started at the root (invisible) and then worked its way outward (visible).
WHY DOES SPEAKING THE WORD WORK?
John 17:17 NKJV (17) Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.
God’s truth is the highest truth.
Psalms 138:2 NKJV (2) I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
God’s Word is the very foundation of His integrity and holiness.
Romans 1:22-25 NLT (22) Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. (23) And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. (24) So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. (25) They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator Himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.
God has a problem with this because these people chose to worship something that is below the Creator instead of worshiping Him.
The creation is never greater than the Creator. So, the creation is subject to the Creator.
Only that which is part of God, the Creator is permanent. Everything else is subject to change or temporary.
Everything in this visible realm was created by the Word of God and therefore is subject to the Word of God.
Hebrews 11:3 AMPC By faith we understand that the worlds [during the successive ages] were framed (fashioned, put in order, and equipped for their intended purpose) by the word of God, so that what we see was not made out of things which are visible.
2 Corinthians 4:17-18 NKJV (17) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, (18) while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Those things that are temporary in our lives, are subject to the Word of God, and that includes us!
This is how God operates!
Romans 4:17 NKJV (as it is written, “I HAVE MADE YOU A FATHER OF MANY NATIONS”) in the presence of Him whom he believed–God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;
Romans 4:17 AMPC As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed. [Gen 17:5]
Romans 4:17 NET (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”). He is our father in the presence of God whom he believed – the God who makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.