FAITH PART II
Faith that gets actual results is not passively dropped into our spirit beings. We are all given a measure of faith, and the same measure of faith, when we are born again. But our faith must be developed. It is a process. Not an overnight sensation. And because God created everything to grow and work by Seed and the Word of God is Seed, our Faith is quickened and energized and made effective by the Word (Gen. 8:22, Luke 8:11a, Rom. 10:17).
| Part I of this article is WHY is Faith so especially important to God? Read Here |
Faith is a process. Hearing a verse we need to hear during a Sunday sermon and saying Amen is most often not faith yet. It is the start of our having to spend time with that Word and develop and grow out our faith for what we are believing for. A process. Like all things in the Kingdom, first the blade, then the ear, then the full head of corn (Mark 4:28).
These are the steps to grow and develop your faith for what you are believing for. PLEASE, this is not a “formula”. We don’t do formulas. Or rubbing Alladin’s lamp for something. But there are steps, to help us see our faith come into bloom.
Whenever you are believing for a need for yourself or someone else, we must always begin with The Word. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word. Find a promise or promises in the Bible that speak to what you desire. That Word represents your title deed and can be trusted. The Word always has the power to bring itself to pass.
That Word (title deed) you find that speaks to the need or problem is next to be meditated upon, until an image of the answer is formed in you. It will happen, because The Word works this way. It’s where the answer becomes louder than the need or problem you are facing.
What is meditation on the Word? It is not yoga or transcendental. Bible meditation is pondering the Word, chewing on it, working it. In the original languages, Bible meditation is pictured as a cow that chews its cud. They eat, it comes back up, they swallow again, and repeat. (Don’t be grossed out. God created cows and their digestion. Embrace the point of working the Word, until something begins to happen in you.)
There comes a point in meditating the Word, that the image of the answer is formed in us, a threshold is hit as it were, and it is at that point that the Word is settled in our hearts — to the point that it just wants to come out and be spoken, with faith and authority. The mouth always want to speak out what is in the heart when it’s established there (Matt. 12:34b). It is not enough that faith is established in our hearts in mediating the Word. At the right time, that Word must be brought forth by the mouth and spoken, called confession or profession. The authority of faith works and has as its operation “saying” (speaking, confessing the Word made alive or quickened in you). It’s how you got saved (see Romans 10:9). It’s how we remove mountains that stand in our way (see Mark 11:23). Words of faith (those that come out of the soil of the heart and spoken out of the heart when readied) are containers of power.
This whole process works, you will see. Faith is developed this way.
From there, at that right time, we act it out.
Faith without corresponding action is dead and useless (James 2:26). Faith is exercised just like a muscle. It is developed and it gets stronger with working it and then letting it actually do something.
The end result of Faith is RESULTS. We are all called to get RESULTS. Isn’t that what we are after?It is time to learn and be an Overcomer.
John McCurdy is currently a Pastor in New Jersey. His heart and assignment is to teach Believers to Believe and how to have the overcomer’s life – which John sees almost more than anything people are longing for. He teaches and has taught Bible School in the metropolitan NYC/NJ area, as well as to international students from several nations.
