How Can I Release My Faith?

Jesus told his disciples: “ … truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.” Matt 17:20

Your faith is what you believe, those things of which you have a firm conviction. But your faith will do you no good until it is released. In fact, walking in victory has at least as much to do with what you do with your faith then how ‘big’ your faith is.

In the book of James, God says that faith without accompanying actions is dead.

‘What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.’ James 2:14-17 ESV

The word ‘dead’ in this verse does not mean that faith doesn’t exist. It just means it may as well NOT exist, for all the good it will do you. This doesn't just apply to good works. It also applies to faith for any of God’s promises. We can believe God’s will for us, we can be sure that God is able- but unless we release our faith, our lives will continue on the same trajectory they have always gone.

So the question needs to be asked, ‘How do I release my faith?’

James goes on to describe the number one way of releasing our faith- through our words. James’ says our tongue directs our life the same way a bit will direct a horse, or a rudder directs a ship; in fact, the words we say will ‘direct the course or our life’. (James 3:1-6)

Most Christians are aware of Romans 10:9-10, they’re some of the best-known verses on how one gets saved.

‘… if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth, he confesses, resulting in salvation’ Romans 10:9-10 (NASB)

In this passage, God places just as high a priority on the confession of our faith as He does on the actual subject of our faith. One without the other will get you nothing. That’s because acting on your faith takes what is essentially a spiritual eternal truth and brings it into the physical temporal realm.

Let’s say that another way: acting on your faith, and in particular speaking your faith, takes the spiritual reality of what you believe and applies it to this world’s circumstances.

The word for ‘saved’ in Romans 10 has a number of applications. The same word can mean ‘healed’ or ‘delivered’, it’s used that way many times in the New Testament. Well, if God wants us to believe and speak for something as important as our salvation, then surely the same principle will apply in other areas of His redemptive work. We can reasonably say: ‘If I believe in my heart that God has provided for me, then confession with my mouth will result in provision’ or ‘If I believe in my heart that the joy of the Lord is my strength, then confessing the joy of the Lord, will give me strength’.

This can sound a lot like the ‘blab it and grab it’ teaching. However, we’re not talking about aimlessly blabbing any old thing for any selfish reason. We’re talking about being fully convinced of God’s will for our life and lining up our words with His Word!

Probably the most explicit teaching on the subject comes from Jesus’ himself, in Mark 11.

‘Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him.’ Mark 11:22-23 (NASB)

Here Jesus is illustrating how to apply faith and in doing so he emphasised speaking at least as much as he emphasised faith. In fact, Jesus doesn’t say you will have what you believe. Look at the scripture carefully. He says if you believe what you say is going to happen, you will have what you say! Clearly, our faith is only released when our actions and our words line up with our beliefs.

Once we start to get some light on this we can see it all through the Bible. Faith acted on brings results: the lepers were healed as they went (Luke 17:14), the cripple was healed as he stretched out his hand (Matt 12:13), the woman with the issue of blood said ‘If I but touch His cloak I shall be healed’ and she received power for healing as she touched the hem of Jesus garment (Matt 9:20).

Our faith is released when we speak and act in line with what we believe.