When I have heard people declare that they have received something “by faith,” or they are walking “by faith,” or they are believing “by faith,” I often wonder, “What exactly does that mean? What does it LOOK like?”
Now I know what faith is, and I know I have faith because I’ve received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. I know what Hebrews 11 says about faith: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” But I have faced trials and crises that have challenged my faith and the truths and promises in God’s word. I also know that God has spoken promises to me that have not yet come to pass. I know that we are supposed activate our faith because in James 2 it says that faith without works is dead…I need to put feet to my faith. But how? What does that look like?
The very first step of faith is to respond to a crisis, trial, or challenge, by running to Father God and asking, “What do YOU say about this, Lord?” We have heard the report of the doctor, or seen the bank statement, or witnessed the circumstances. But what we need to know is God’s perspective, God’s word, God’s promise. We’ve heard the truth, but what we really need to hear is the truer Truth.
All of scripture is God’s promise to us...it is His love letter to all people for all time. However, we also need to hear the spoken rhema word of God for our particular situation. Romans 10:17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the (rhema) word of Christ.”
How do we hear the rhema word of God? We need to get alone with Him and draw close to Him. We worship Him, read His Word, and pray both with our understanding and in our spiritual language. In 1 Corinthians 14:14 Paul writes, “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.” I don’t know about you, but when the enemy is attacking my mind, I NEED my mind to be unfruitful! It needs to be silenced by the loud praying of my spirit! When I am intimate with the Father, and the chatter of my mind is silenced, then I position myself to hear the truer Truth, the spoken word from the heart of the Father. Once I hear the word from my Father, then I know I have heard the truer Truth about my situation!
When you know that the Lord has spoken to you personally and specifically, then faith fills your being. The Lord’s word, received in the secret place through intimacy, is the truer Truth on which you hang your faith, and it is the starting point in the journey of walking “by faith.”
