Faith is the currency used to exchange the things we don’t want for the things that we expect from God in this kingdom. If a man lacks faith, then he finds it impossible to walk with God. [Hebrews 11:6]
Our walk with God is not only service to Him, this is of utmost importance, but there is also a place for our receiving from God. We do not only receive for ourselves the things that we want, but we also receive for friends, family and even those that we do not know, the things that we want released into their lives from the heavenlies through our faith.
When we come across sick people, or people afflicted by evil spirits, or people who need the touch of God in one area or the other in their lives, it takes faith to cause a change in their condition. When we are faced with trying times of sickness, confusion, lack and bad circumstances, it takes faith as well to see positive changes. So, either ways, whether it is for ourselves, or for others, we still see faith play an important role in linking the request to an answer that causes a transformation.
Faith is the word of God that we have understood and have begun to practice. Contrary to what some people think, it is not a spontaneous action, but an instant action birthed out of the word of God that you have heard or read, meditated on, and the Spirit of God has now empowered you with an understanding that makes it a possibility in your life. So, when you go out to heal the sick, it is not something that you just come to try out or test, but it is from the understanding of what Jesus has said which has found residence in your spirit and is now gaining an expression.
For whatever we seek to see God’s power do, it comes from the place of our fellowship with Him which grants us access into the understanding of the reality of the possibility of that dimension.
When the Apostles went about healing the sick and casting out all manner of evil spirits, they did it because of what they had heard, understood and were now practicing:
“And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;
they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
- Mark 16:17-18 ESV
This was why they did the things that they did, because they had understood, so it became easy for them to believe as Jesus said:
“Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
- Mark 11:24 ESV
Faith comes from hearing the word of God, so we need to hear and understand it if we want to command results. [Romans 10:17]
We do not grow faith in isolation of the word of God and prayer. Whatever we want to do that is supernatural and involves God’s power must also involve His word, because He will not be committed to what He has not said:
“so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
- Isaiah 55:11 ESV
The easiest way to get God committed to what you want to do is to get the word that He has spoken. No man can invent anything else outside of what God has intended and then expect God to move in their direction. That is not how it works.
The apostles of old understood this, and even men of now who walk in mighty power and do signs and wonders that show the presence of God also understand this.
This is faith; that our actions are anchored upon the word of God, and not on what we imagine. If God has said a thing that we want to see in our lives, then it is our duty to search it out and by the help of the Spirit of God understand the way that God would want us to have it. Only after this can we begin to exercise “faith” that works.
There must be an experiential understanding and encounter with God if we want to really walk with Him and enjoy all of Him:
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—
the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us—
that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.”
- 1 John 1:1-3 ESV
This was the testimony of John the Apostle who had known Jesus, and was calling the believers into this experience as well. We have the word of God that can be trusted, written for us so that we may believe.
The faith that will produce results is not a trial and error method, but a deliberate and conscious one that is birthed from the understanding of who God is through God’s word!
So, when you get a hold of this faith, begin to walk in the light of it. Speak to the things that you do not want to see. Heal the sick, deliver the oppressed by the word of your mouth, and proclaim the goodness of God over every bad situation in your life.