In the creation account in Genesis 1, we see that when God looked at the darkness that was upon the face of the earth, He did not lament about the state of things or simply wish the darkness would go. Rather, God pronounced a change.
He said “Let there be light” (Gen. 1:3), and there was light.
In the same way, He called forth everything He created with the Word (John 1:3). Similarly, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he called him forth.
This is what is known as the God-kind of faith, which is a faith that believes and speaks.
Jesus demonstrated the speaking faith when he spoke to the fig tree and it dried up (Mark 11) and then told his disciples that “…whosoever shall say unto this mountain…” (Mark 11 v.23) will surely have what he says and without doubting in his heart.
The God-kind of faith is one that requires believing in the heart and speaking with the mouth.
When we study God’s Word to locate His promises concerning our needs and meditate on those promises, we come to believe in our heart but the process is not complete till we speak to those situations, affirming God’s promises to create the new realities we want to see.
The God-kind of faith requires believing in God’s promises and his ability to fulfil them; as much as it demands confessing those promises concerning our peculiar and specific needs. As we continually speak to things, circumstances and situations, we proclaim our faith to cause changes and create new realities as God would.
God created the world and the fullness thereof by believing that what He said would come to pass and then spoke them into existence (Gen 1:3, 11, 12, 20-25).
The God-kind of faith comes by hearing God’s Word and exercising the faith for salvation, healing, prosperity and more. As believers, we have the same spirit of faith (2 Cor. 4:13) and it is our responsibility to confess what we believe concerning our studies, jobs, health and even our country, Nigeria.
We need not pray for faith, we only have to exercise the faith that we have received as a gift of God (Eph. 2:8) and thereby grow it, praying and declaring what we believe, the existing circumstances notwithstanding. As Christians, we keep speaking God’s Word to our world; therein is our faith made effective!