When you think about faith, there are a lot of scriptures that jump to the forefront. And when someone asks you about your faith, you probably instantly begin sharing your salvation story, or something about your relationship with Jesus. But what is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 (AMP) - Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].
Now - Faith - Is.
Faith is the promises of God manifesting in your life. You may not see them in the natural, but you know they’re there. What is your faith believing for? Are you following the example that God Himself gives us?
Romans 4:17 (NKJV) - ...God - who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did.
What has God promised you? A healing, changes in finances, new relationships? Do you have something dead in your life that God wants to give new life to?
2 Corinthians 1:20 (NKJV) - For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us.
It’s all about His glory - He will get the glory when His promises come to pass in our lives. We know that the promises God gave you are yes and amen - and we know that faith is believing for them, even if you haven’t seen it yet. But there’s another component that we need to keep in mind. Are you speaking your promises into existence, or are you killing them? What are you saying about what you’re believing for?
Several years ago, there was a movie about two policemen from different cultures - one of whom spoke limited English. During one of their attempts at communicating, the young man says, “Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?” It was played for laughs, but behind it is a serious question.
Do you understand the words that are coming out of your own mouth?
Proverbs 18:21 - Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it and indulge it will eat its fruit and bear the consequences of their words.
Your mouth speaks your destiny into existence - it speaks your vision into being. It is the activation of your faith. It speaks those things which are not as though they are. It creates the world around you.
Now, it’s easy to say what sounds good when there are others around. How many have heard people “get their church speak on”, but the minute they walk out the door, their entire attitude changes. The person you see on Tuesday doesn’t sound like the person you talked to in church this weekend.
Even as believers we can get caught up in some of that. Have you ever caught yourself getting mad at coworkers, fussing at someone who cut you off in traffic, aggravated at your spouse or kids? What do you say in that moment of frustration? Do you continue to speak life?
Do our words go against the very thing that God promised us? Have you ever said, “Well God promised me this thing, BUT…” But what? Did God promise it? Isn’t that promise “yes and amen”?
James 1:6-8 - 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. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Uh oh. Our “but” just got in the way. We “wonder” about something God said. You’re letting in that shred of doubt creep in that maybe, just maybe, God changed His mind. Which of course we know He doesn’t do.
Luke 6:45 (NKJV) - A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
We have to keep our hearts and minds set firmly in the Word, and speak it into and over your life. Keeping your mind focused on God will continue to fill your heart with even more of Him. The time has come for us to increase our faith - speak to those things that God has given us. Don’t go around the mountain any more. Speak to it and tell it to move!
Mark 11:22-24 (NKJV) - So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 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. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
Let’s renew our minds by dwelling on those things that are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, a good report... Get God’s Word and truths in our heart. What’s in our hearts will come out of our mouth and as we speak, we can see our reality change around us. It really boils down to these four things:
Mind - Heart - Mouth - Reality
Now - Faith - Is
Our lives are a story - God’s promises manifesting in this world. We each have a story to tell. A story of dreams and desires. A story of decisions and destinies. Will we tell the story we were born to tell, or will we sit on it and not share those things God has given us to share? Will we be who God has called us to be or will we miss it by idle chat or foolish words? The choice is ours and ours alone. I know what my choice is, what is yours?
Ephesians 3:20-21 - Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Be Blessed my friends!