Speak It By Faith Before You See It (Full Sermon)
The Christian life is fundamentally defined by God’s commitment to partnership and the authority given to believers through the spoken word. The sources emphasize that achieving success, health, and spiritual freedom hinges on understanding how to leverage faith through declaration, aligning human words with God’s eternal promises.
1. Co-working with the Impossible God
A foundational truth is that “with God nothing is impossible”. However, this declaration implies partnership, not independence. God chooses to work with us, flowing through those who declare His power. We are called co-workers with God.
- The Partnership Dynamic: Our part is to pray, pronounce, declare, and speak. God’s part is to do, supply the power, and execute the impossible. When a problem stands between you and your miracle, you must speak to it.
- Healing Activation: The unlimited power of God seems reserved until someone acts in faith, declaring, “in the name of Jesus, be healed”. The healing is performed by Jesus, but it requires a human channel to flow through.
- The Foundation of Grace: God’s grace—defined as unearned, undeserved favor—is most abundant where sin increases. This grace shines brightest against a dark background, much like jewelry displayed on a dark cloth to maximize contrast. Even the genealogy of Jesus highlights this, featuring women with “shady backgrounds” to demonstrate how grace superabounds over sin.
Rest Finds Favor: The Mystery of Grace
The ultimate example of living by grace is found in the concept of rest. Jesus, though the most active minister, did nothing of Himself but only what He saw the Father do, operating from a position of rest, not performance.
The Hebrew word for grace is Hen. This is related to the story of Noah (Noak), whose name means rest. The scriptures note that Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. When the letters of Noak (rest) are reversed, they spell Hen (grace), illustrating the profound truth that rest finds favor with the Lord.
2. Speaking What You Want to See (Faith Declarations)
The central difference between man’s approach and God’s approach lies in the sequence of sight and speech.
- Man’s Way: “I must see first, then I speak what I see”.
- God’s Way: “I speak what I want to see“.
This principle is rooted in two things Abraham learned about God: God quickens the dead, and God calls those things which do not exist as though they did. When God calls things that are not visible, touchable, or medically confirmed, they exist.
The Example of Abraham and Sarah
God applied this principle directly to Abraham and Sarah by changing their names.
- Abram to Abraham: God breathed the Hebrew letter Hay (picturing grace/breath) into Abram’s name. Abram (great father) became Abraham (father of many/multitudes), long before he had children from Sarah.
- Sarai to Sarah: Sarai meant “the controlling one”. God breathed the Hay into her name, changing it to Sarah, meaning “princess”.
- Speaking Transformation: Even though they were past childbearing age, Sarah received dunamis (strength/dynamite power) to conceive seed. Every time Abraham called her, he called her “Princess,” and every time she referred to him, she called him “Father of Many”. God changed their speech first, resulting in the birth of Isaac.
Speaking to the Mountain
The “mountain” represents any hindrance: cancer, a lump, financial lack, or a child’s rebellion. Jesus instructed believers to speak directly to the mountain.
Jesus emphasized saying three times more than worrying about doubting once. The command is: “Whoever shall say to this mountain, ‘Be thou removed and be thou thrown into the sea,’ and shall not doubt in his heart, but believe that what he says shall come to pass, he will have whatever he says”. Evil prevails when men keep quiet.
3. Identity, Righteousness, and Boldness
The foundation of bold declaration is the finished work of Jesus Christ, which removed all hindrance between humanity and God.
- Exhausting the Curse: Christ absorbed the total punishment, judgment, and wrath of God on the cross, exhausting all of God’s anger and curse on our behalf. Everything necessary for our blessing has been accomplished in the eternal realm.
- Our New Identity: Because of Christ, we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ. This is our real identity, even though sin may still reside in the flesh. God will not impute or take into account the sin that is in us.
- Bold Access: Since Christ’s holiness satisfied God’s judgment, we can now come boldly to God’s presence without fear, inferiority, or a spirit of bondage. God’s holiness is now on our side, and if God is for us, no one can be successfully against us, not even the devil.
Believers are kings and priests. The Bible asserts that “where the word of a king is, there is power”. The same life, power, health, and anointing that flows in the Vine (Christ) flows in us (the branches).