A Few Thoughts About Faith

I have watched "preachers" on TV several times who I think of mostly as "feel good" preachers or motivational speakers. Although their 'sermons' are very exciting and lively, their messages don't usually touch me very deeply. Every now and then they will say something that God uses in my heart.

For instance, messages such as: " Your words have creative power, declare it. Speak God's favor over every area of your life. Declare it. Your words bring faith into action", I believe that Our words have creative power as long as we are speaking THE Word. And words do not bring faith into action. On the contrary; ACTING in faith brings a response from God. "Your faith has made you whole", " It shall be done according to your faith." and others. Maybe our words can work us up into acting on faith.. but the words alone are not faith in action. Just because we speak a word, does not mean we believe it. The belief factor has to be there. Faith is the act of believing God.. not believing IN Him (even demons believe in Him), but believing Him to do what He says He will do and then acting on that belief. Words do come into play; however. If I do not waiver in my faith, and if I continue to believe and speak my belief that God is answering my prayer and acting on my behalf, then because of His promise, I know I will receive what I ask. "Whatsoever you ask, believing, that you will receive."(Matthew 21:22) Sometimes the answer is different than we expected, but He does answer.

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Heb 11:3) The Lord calls us to act in faith.

Abraham ACTED on faith... Moses ACTED on faith.... Peter ACTED on faith... and on and on. They were all rewarded because of their FAITH ACTION. Moses lifted his staff... Peter climbed over the side of the boat to take a first step on the water... It might have been a simple physical action on their part, but those actions done in faith resulted in extravagant responses from God. Would you climb over the side of the boat? It probably seemed like a very silly and foolish thing to do from a human standpoint. It took an ACT of faith. They didn't make a declaration of what God was going to do and then expect God to do it. They waited for God to speak to them and tell them what to do or say and then they did it. God responded to their ACT of faith. He parted the sea. He caused Peter to walk on water. Because they took a faith action.

A ball player up to bat will never get to first base, never make a homerun, never score a point, unless he swings his bat. If we want to see answers from God, we have to swing our faith bat.

So... I speak my words of faith and belief. I believe God will answer my prayers in my best interests and in His wisdom. I even make statements to that effect. "God will do this. God will do that." Even though I do not see any evidence, it is already the same as accomplished because God is always faithful to His promise. I just don't see the evidence yet. But I know that I will. His answer may surprise me, but I know that He will answer. My words of faith are my belief in action. Because I speak what God has put into my heart and I believe that what He tells me is truth.

I do believe we can speak favor (blessings) in our lives. I have done this in my family. It is self-evident. The blessings or favor I spoke into my children's lives have come to pass. It was as though I prophesied over them. Out of our mouths come blessings or cursing. It's up to us to believe and speak blessings.

It was not my act of speaking that brought about a response from God ... it was my act of faith. My faith was expressed in words. But not only was I speaking blessings into my children's lives, I was praying to God for those blessings and trusting Him to deliver. Have you ever spoken your faith aloud? Have you ever prayed about something and trusted God for the answer and spoken out loud about it to others or to the person you may be praying for? Telling them that an answer is on its way?

I told my daughter "One of these days, God is going to turn your life around, and you are going to have an incredible testimony!" I told her this because this is what I had been praying for and I believed God's promise that if you raise your child in the way he/she should go, then when they are old they will return to it. In this case, He acted very quickly in her life to answer my prayer.

I am not a 'name it and claim it' believer. I know that God's ways are higher than mine and if I don't see the answer that I think I want, it is because He has a better answer. I trust Him. I think that many are quick to judge when someone starts talking about actual physical or spiritual power and are suspicious of anything that is not your "traditional' belief.

There is more to Christianity than the Baptist doctrine or Methodist or any other denomination. Thank goodness! These are sound doctrines, but there is more to God and Christianity than a religious doctrine.

There is also more to Christianity than salvation. What is the point in being saved when you are young and then 'trying' to live a Christian life on your own? You can't do it. You will fail every time. Only the power of the Holy Spirit can live the Christian life through you. He is the one with the power and He gives it freely to His children who believe and act on their belief. We have to 'die' daily so that the Spirit can flow through us. And we have to actively believe Him.

If a Christian has no evidence of the Holy Spirit in him, then he/she should start asking for it. How do you get it? By seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. Seek a relationship with the Lord... seek to live in His kingdom. If being saved is the end all and be all of Christianity, then that is a tremendous and undeserved blessing for us! But the Bible teaches us that there is more!


Each saved person is sealed with the Holy Spirit. It's up to that saved person to access that Spirit in order to live the Christian life. The Holy Spirit is a person. He is one of the Trinity. If I have a person living with me, I interact with that person. We have conversations. We do things together. We take that other person in to consideration when we go places or do things.

Now... just think if the other person that lives with you is a super hero. He has the power to take you anywhere, to protect you from anything, to help you in any situation. Wouldn't you take advantage of that? Wouldn't your life be different? Wouldn't the way you think about situations be different? Other people would know about this relationship because it would be evident in your life. They would want to get to know this super hero guy too. After all, you have a relationship with a super hero who is there for you. It kind of makes a difference.

If a Christian's life exhibits no difference... no power...then why would an unsaved person even be interested? I think this is one reason why churches today are not seeing large numbers saved.

Just think... After 9/11 many thousands of people flocked to church... some maybe for the first time. But are they still there? They came looking for help...answers.. something tangible that would make a difference. Were they met by Holy Spirit empowered Christians that could show them salvation and a new way of living? Or did they find "church as usual"?

The Holy Spirit is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory. "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might." Ephesians 1:14, 18-19.

There is power in the Holy Spirit that dwells in the believer and that power is accessed by the believer's acts of faith and by God's faithfulness to respond to our belief.

I think I am going to go to Wal-mart. Hey Holy Spirit! Ya wanna come along?