We have to speak by faith – 19 February
2008
We all know that “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead.” Hebrews 11: 3 – 4.
In this passage the Lord is teaching us His principles and ways of doing things. In Isaiah 55: 9 He has already declared "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
So if His ways are higher than our ways, why do we try to contradict what he says by our deeds and thoughts? In Hebrews 11 above, the Lord is very clear about what He did when He created the world in Genesis 1. He spoke the word. He commanded - let there be light, the sky, dry land, vegetation, the sun and the moon …. and man, and everything was created.
Since we are created in His own image Gen 1: 26, God expects us to operate by the same principles – i.e. speak or say things you want to see. Speak to whom one may ask? Well, first and foremost speak to Him. That’s why we pray because it’s His will that we should ask. In Ephesians 1: 17 Paul prays “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” There are many examples of prayers – man speaking to God, throughout the bible.
We are also commanded to speak to things to happen the way we want them and problems to be removed. We learn about this in Mark 11: 20 – 23:
In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"
"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.
In conclusion and to emphasize the importance of speaking things into existence, we learn of Moses’ fatal mistake. He broke his faith with the Lord when he struck the rock for water to come out instead of speaking to it.
Numbers 20: 8 and 12 "Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink."
And the consequences –
12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them."
Why do we have to speak by faith? Its because the situation will often look impossible. | 