The Spirit Of Faith

As many of you know, I wrote the book "Put the Word In Your Mouth" in 2018. Even though I wrote the book and shared what God shared with me about praying and speaking His Word, I want you to understand that changing the way you speak is a process. Things happen, we get frustrated, and sometimes we just are not aware of the things that come out of our mouths out of habit, and that's what I want to talk about.

A few days ago, God brought something to my attention. I guess I had gotten lackadaisy in my speech and God used something to remind me how powerful the words that come out of my mouth are, even when I think they don't matter. I had an app on my phone that reminded me of appointments and when to take my meds. Almost every morning, when the alarm went off, I would fuss at the app, saying things like "I'm tired of hearing you shut up. I’m tired of that noise."

​So one day, I looked at the phone and I saw that I had the app on my phone's screen twice, and I chose to delete one of them. However, not paying attention, I actually uninstalled the entire app. When the app didn't go off as usual the next morning, I was like, "What's going on? Why didn’t it go off?" I looked and realized that I actually uninstalled the entire app rather than deleting one from the screen. When I tried to reinstall it, I couldn't. 

The app was on an old phone that I only used for the app, so I thought I'll just reinstall it on my new phone, which I did, but I could not get the sound to work. The alarm wouldn't go off to remind me of the tasks I had on there. I installed another app on my phone and put a task on there just to test it and see if the alarm would go off. The next morning, when I woke up, I still had like four or five minutes before the alarm was due to go off. As I was lying there waiting, I heard the Lord say, "Remember all those times when you fussed at the other alarm and told it to shut up; that you were tired of hearing that noise?"

"Yes, Lord, I remember." Then He said, "Can you see just how powerful your words are, even when you think they don't matter?" "Yes, God, I can see that." So then the new alarm went off like clockwork and I learned a very important lesson. Even though I wrote the book, Put The Word In Your Mouth, learning how not to speak what we are used to is a process that I believe we will be forever learning, but the Lord is gracious enough to work with us to get us to the place where we can consistently speak life and His promises, and He has a sense of humor.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that faith is the way to please God. This type of faith is made up of two main components: believing in the heart and saying with the mouth. 

• Romans 1:17 tells us that the righteous will live by faith!
• Romans 14:23 tells us that whatever is not of faith is sin!
• Matthew 9:29 tells us that faith determines what God can do in your life!
• Matthew 17:20 tells us that faith solves impossible problems.

Many of us think that faith is simply trust, confidence, assurance, or belief. We think our faith is on point because we believe that God still does miracles and heals the sick today, that He wants to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory. We believe that all the promises of God are yes and amen. All of these are true, but according to the Bible, there is more to faith. 

Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 12:3 tells us that God has given to every man the measure of faith. Romans 10:10 tells us, "For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved." So we all have faith, and we can get more faith by hearing the Word of God, but faith must still be released to do its job. It is released by speaking. You must have both believing and speaking in order for your faith to work.

This is what Romans 10:9-10 shows us: "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. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." We get saved by believing and speaking, and we’re supposed to continue to live our lives exercising these same principles. 

In 2 Corinthians 4:13, Paul said, "we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, "I believed and therefore I spoke," we also believe and therefore speak. So no matter what some say, believe God and speak what you believe. Sometimes we just need to be reminded to watch what we say, to speak our faith, and to say what we believe, not what we see and feel, as God reminded me with the app. Our confession can actually undermine our faith and cause us unnecessary problems. Because again, faith comes by hearing, so if we have more faith in the problem than in the promise, what will we get? You’ll never rise above your confession.

Jesus said in Mark 11:23: 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.

Jesus did not say you would have whatever you believe. He said that you will have whatever you say when you believe it in your heart. Your words must agree with your beliefs, otherwise you are not exercising Bible faith or the faith that receives! The question is not what you believe, but what you are saying. You can believe 100% right, but if you’re not speaking your faith, it won’t work. You can’t live in victory and talk defeat. You can’t receive healing and speak sickness and disease. This is not denying that the sickness or disease is there, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying, despite what you see with your physical eyes, you have to speak what God says about sickness and disease.

• God said in His Word in Psalms 34:19: Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. You can’t live in power and talk weakness. Faith believes and faith speaks!
• He said in His Word in Psalms 103:3: Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
• He said in His Word in Psalms 107:20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.
• He said in His Word in Isaiah 40:29: He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
• He said in His Word in Isaiah 53:5: But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
• He said in His Word in Jeremiah 30:17: For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the LORD;
• He said in His Word in Malachi 4:2: But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings;

And I can go on and on and on and on about what God said in His word and the promises that he has declared out of his very own mouth.
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David spoke his faith in God fighting the giant in 1st Samuel chapter 17: 33 And Saul said to David, "You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him, for you are but a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth." 34 But David said to Saul, "Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, 35 I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. 36 Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God." 37 And David said, "The Lord who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine." And Saul said to David, "Go, and the Lord be with you!"
In Luke chapter 7, the centurion spoke his faith in Jesus when he said, "Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. 7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. 8 For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it." Jesus then turned to the crowd following Him and said, "Never have I found such faith in all of Israel."

The woman with the issue of blood in Mark chapter 5 said, "If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole." She spoke her faith and received what she spoke. We have the same opportunity today to believe God and let His power work in our lives. The same faith principles must be used: believing and speaking.

Keep in mind that unbelief is very subtle. It can slip out of our mouth before we know it. We know that God loves us and that He has a plan and a future for us, but even still, it is easy to talk as if those things aren’t true. Things like "I’m so sick and tired! What am I going to do? How am I going to make it?" It’s not just what you believe that puts you over in life, it’s what you believe and speak.

The words that we speak are so important. As you study the Bible, you will notice that God never does anything until He says it. Romans 4:17 tells us that God "quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were." In other words, God speaks the final outcome. He has done nothing in the earth without first speaking it or speaking it through one of His prophets. That’s the way He worked then, and it seems He works this way even now, that God will do nothing in the earth unless it is spoken, prophesied, or called for by the prayer of faith.

Take a look at the situations going on in your life. Some of them you had no control over, of course, but some of them you allowed and brought into your life because of the words that you spoke out of your mouth. There are some people who will tell you that speaking and confessing God’s word, calling things that be not as though they are, is false doctrine. They call this a name-it-claim-it doctrine, and in essence teach against watching what and how we speak. As for me, I'm going to stick with the word of God and the revelation that God gives me according to His Word and I hope that you will do the same. Let the Holy Spirit bring you revelation and understanding of God's word. 

Proverbs 18:21 tells us that "the tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit." Basically, my understanding of this proverb is that we should be careful to watch what we speak and be slow to speak. If you love to talk, you will eat the fruit of your words.  Have you heard the phrase, "He will be eating his words." Words can condemn us. For example, when you’re arrested, the police officer will tell you that you have the right to remain silent and what you say can be used against you, and when you are on trial you have the right to plead the fifth amendment.

Faith sees victory, unbelief sees defeat. In Numbers 13 and 14, God told the nation of Israel that he had given them the Promised Land. When they got to its borders, Moses sent twelve spies into the Promised Land to see what was there and what they were faced with, including Joshua and Caleb. For forty days, the men traveled together and scouted the territory God promised them. When they returned, even though their physical eyes had seen exactly the same things, they gave very different reports. Caleb said, "Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it" (Numbers 13:30), but ten of the spies banded together and said, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we" (Numbers 13:31).

What was the difference? Now remember that the scripture says that God has given to every man the measure of faith. So the ten spies did not use their measure of faith; they allowed doubt and what they saw to cause them to fear. The spirit of fear caused them not except what God said, and they were unable to enter into the Promised Land. God said Caleb had "a different spirit" (Numbers 14:24). That different spirit was the spirit of faith! Joshua also had the spirit of faith.

Faith speaks victory. Jesus said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." (Matthew 12:34) Joshua and Caleb’s perspectives were determined by what was inside them, not by what they saw, and because of that, they were able to inherit the Promised Land. I thank God that he loved me enough to bring to my attention that I was allowing my faith and my words to become sluggish and to speak against what he had declared over my life. God loves you that much, too. My prayer for us all is that we continue to focus on the promises of God and say what God says about us. That the Holy Spirit will help us to refuse to say things contrary to God’s Word concerning us and our family. That we understand that we must get God’s Word in our heart so that it will flow out of our mouth to change things in your life. This is not some other kind of doctrine or works. It is faith speaking and agree with God. Faith receives what God has freely given us, and faith speaks!