How Faith Works
Matthew gives us a great example of how faith works. “And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, ”Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:18-20.
Faith only receives what God has already provided. Faith is not about performance or working hard, but faith believes and receives what Christ has made available. Faith believes in receiving what Christ has done. If Christ has not provided it, faith cannot make up things for us. “For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8. This truth is an extremely important framework to understanding how faith works.
Faith takes from the spiritual and brings it to the natural. “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]. Hebrews 11:1.
Faith is not something we do to gain a response from God, that is not how faith works. Faith is our positive response to what God has already done through grace.
SIX Truths TO KNOW ABOUT FAITH
YES, You Have Faith
The first truth to understanding how faith works is to affirm that, yes, we have faith. Sometimes when Christians find themselves in difficult situations, and they study or hear that anything is possible in Christ, they ask, “Why then did I lose the healing?” or “Why did that brother get into an auto accident? So many questions are coming out because of their experiences.
In fourteen to sixteen verse of Matthew seventeen, the disciples of Jesus found themselves in this kind of situation. A man had brought his son, who was oppressed by a devil, to them so they could cast the devil out. They tried everything they knew to cast out the devil, but all their efforts failed. When Jesus came and met them in that situation, He cast the devil out of the boy, and he was cured that very hour. Verse eighteen of Matthew seventeen.
The disciples were stunned, and they asked Jesus privately, “Why couldn’t we cast him out?” Jesus didn’t do anything they weren’t familiar with. Otherwise, they would have said, “Oh! Master, we see now where we missed it.” But they didn’t say that. They were surprised because they did what He did and said what He said, but the devil didn’t come out. So they asked Him, “Why couldn’t we do it?”
Jesus’ response is both remarkable and instructive. He told them, “Because of your unbelief” verse twenty of Matthew seventeen. Short but profound words. He let them know it didn’t work because of their unbelief. Imagine how the disciples must have felt; they had been with Jesus for a long time, yet He told them they couldn’t cast out the devil because of their unbelief, He gave them a clear image of how faith works.
So Jesus said to them, ”Because of your [a]unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20.
In other words, with faith, anything is possible. If it didn’t work, you weren’t in faith because faith always works—unbelief, on the other hand, short circuits the power of God.
Faith Always Works
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. 1 Corinthians 13:13. It means that these three faith, hope, and love do not fade or fail; they are stable, and they remain. After everything else fails, they abide. So if your faith failed, then it wasn’t faith, for faith never dies; it always produces results.
The reason the situation did not change is your unbelief. You may say, “I know I had faith.” Well, Jesus said, “If you have faith, nothing shall be impossible unto you.” Please don’t come back and say it didn’t work. That means you are telling Jesus, “Lord, you are not right, you lied. I said what you said to say, and it didn’t work”.
The problem with many people is that they are waiting to see a physical manifestation before they believe it worked. Jesus didn’t say when you say to the mountain “remove,” then watch and see it go. He said when you ask it to go, it will go. So once you make the command, begin to act as what you believe, what you are expecting to experience.
It is essential to understand that everything God made has intelligence. In the Old Covenant, Moses proved this when he spoke to the ground, and it parted wide open [ Numbers 16:31-32]. Joshua proved it when he talked to the sun and moon, and they stood still [ Joshua 10:12-13]; Elisha proved it when he spoke to River Jordan, and it parted [2 Kings 2:14]; Ezekiel proved it when he talked to dry bones, and they became a mighty army [Ezekiel 37:4-10].
Over in the New Covenant, Jesus proved it too. He spoke to the wind, water, bread, trees, and fish, and they responded to the Word of His command. In the same way, your body has intelligence, so talk to it, and it will respond.
Another essential thing to notice in this scripture is that Jesus didn’t say, “If you have faith, you shall fight the mountain, or shout long enough for the devil to hear you, or beg God to take the mountain out.” No, He said, “If you have faith, you shall say unto this mountain” in other words, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say to that sickness, “Go from my body,” and it shall go. You will speak to that pain, headache, and it will all leave, and nothing shall be impossible to you.
The Weapon of the Tongue
Speech that heals is like a life-giving tree, but a perverse speech breaks the spirit. Proverbs 15:4.
Whenever you speak words contrary to God’s Word concerning your life, you cause destruction in the spirit, and it is only a matter of time before the ruins show up in the physical realm. It may come as an infection or a growth, and you may wonder, how did this get here? It was your tongue.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit. Proverbs 18:21. Whether you live or die is dependent on the words you say. If someone keeps saying things like, “This sickness will kill me,” no matter how many doctors try to help him, he will never get well. Why? He has signed his death into law with his own words.
Look also at ships: although they are so large and are driven by fierce winds, they are turned by a tiny rudder wherever the pilot desires. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles! James 3:4-5.
Your tongue is that small helm, and you are the captain. If your life is headed for the rocks, and it looks like everything is getting darker, God is saying, “Use your tongue to change the direction,” because you can.
Jesus said to them, ”Because of your [a]unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20.
If a problem shows up in your body, speak faith words to it. Do not talk contrary words; instead, confess God’s Word of healing and health in Christ Jesus. Jesus said, “… ye shall SAY, and nothing shall be impossible unto you.” When you speak words of faith, anything is possible.
Protect Your Heart
Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life. Proverbs 4:23. Do not let just anything come in; only accept the Word of God.
This is vital because you can not give what you do not have. If you do not have the word of God in you, you can not speak it forth. In Proverbs 4:20-22. The scripture says, My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart; For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.
Let the word of God fill your thinking. The result would be that your words will become consistent with what God’s Word says. The truth is, you can not think on the Word of God for long enough without it changing the way you talk. It will fill your heart with faith and put away contrariness from your tongue. God’s word said, So Jesus said to them, ”Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20.
You can Reverse Negative Circumstances with Faith
Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.”
He answered him and said, ”O faithless[ generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
So He asked his father, ”How long has this been happening to him?”
And he said, “From childhood. And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
Jesus said to him, ”If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, ”Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. Mark 9:17-27.
These scriptures illustrate the account of a loving father who was concerned for his son’s health. His little boy had been sick; he was deaf and dumb, and several times, he would suffer convulsions, and this convulsion would throw the boy into the fire and into the water to kill him.
The boy’s condition was a complicated case because he suffered convulsions; in addition to been he deaf and dumb. The Bible also tells us he had suffered from the condition since he was a child. Imagine the emotional turmoil the boy’s father and his family must have gone through until they heard about Jesus.
The man went to Jesus’s disciples, but they could not cast the devil out. Then he met Jesus and cried out to Him, “if you can please, do something, have compassion on us, and help us,” Mark 9:22.
Now, you must notice Jesus’ response. He said, “if you can believe, all things are possible to him that believe.” The Master turned the whole thing around and said, “The power of God can do anything, so it is not a question of what I can do; it is what you can believe.”
The man probably saw Jesus as a good miracle worker, which is why he spoke the way he did. That is the way some people think today, and it is wrong. They go to a minister and say, “if you can do anything, please help me.” Understand that it is not what the minister can do. The question is, how much can you believe?
Understand that if your situation is going to change, it is going to be by your faith. That is how faith works. It is not another person’s faith or the minister’s faith, but your confidence will change that situation. Jesus did not say, “if you can believe, all things are possible to God.” It says all things are possible to YOU when you believe. No matter what you are going through today, you can change it if you can believe it.
Faith Keeps Victories
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—[a]our faith. 1 John 5:4.
The lack of understanding of this truth is the reason why, sometimes, when people face difficulties in their lives, they pray, “I know my God is going to do it; I know He will not fail me.” Even though that sounds wonderful, it is wrong, and it will not work. It is not God’s responsibility to effect the change you desire; it is your responsibility.
I would say that all of God’s children would understand that Christianity is not a life that we live with the expectation that God will help us. God has already done everything necessary for us to live a healthy, prosperous, joyful, and fulfilled life. What we need is the application of our faith.
Let’s look at Matthew 17:20 for another image of how faith works. It says, “So Jesus said to them, ”Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. “
A mustard seed is a tiny seed, yet Jesus said if you have faith as small as that seed, you would tell a mountain to move and it would, and nothing shall be impossible unto you. In other words, with the smallest amount of faith, you can have mighty miracles if you would put it to work. It means we do not have a faith problem; we do have an unbelief problem.
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. The confident assurance that what you have expected is there and the conviction of the reality of things you do not see.
Now, Jesus said, “if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, nothing shall be impossible unto you.” It means that with faith, you can change anything. Your faith is the victory.
If there is something in your body that you do not like, do not stay with it; change it. And you do this by voicing and acting your faith. You will quickly see how faith works wonders. Identify scriptures that tells you of your divine health and healing in Christ Jesus, and then voice it and act that way.
What is that mountain of infirmity that has weighed you down for so long? Do not cry to God; use your faith to remove it. When you do this, you can be sure there would be a change. Even when it seems like nothing happened, keep acting your faith; it is only a matter of time before the change will be evident for all to see because faith always works.
