Sunday, July 18, 2010

Speak in Faith

This week we will be discussing the topic of how we speak. When I heard the theme I immediately thought of the spiritual application. The power of life and death, of blessing and cursing, lie in our tongues. My mother is one of our shy and silent lurkers here on Inkwell Inspirations, but she actually has much to say on this subject. In fact, she has an entire website centered on this subject called Talking Faith. So I thought I'd use something she wrote for our devotional today.

Our Example of Faith
by Cindy Dickey (Dina's Mom)

Galatians 3:8- And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying "In you all the nations shall be blessed."

Can you imagine what it was like for Abraham to have God, the Creator of the universe appear to him and personally preach the Gospel to him? The Lord first instructed Abram to leave the land of his father and promised him that if he would obey, all the families of the earth would be blessed. Abram did obey and entered into covenant with God.

When Abram was 90 years old the Lord again appeared to him and again acknowledged the covenant that He had with Abram and changed his name to Abraham, which means father of many nations. Isaac was born when Abraham was 100 years old, so for ten years he called himself the father of many nations before the child of promise was born.

Romans 4: 17 tells us that the God of Abraham calls things that are not as though they were. That is what He taught Abram to do when He changed his name to Abraham. This was the method by which Abraham received the promise of God. We, like Abraham, receive the promises of God in the same way. We have a choice to call ourselves healed when our body is dealing with sickness and pain because 1 Peter 2: 24 says that by the stripes of Jesus we WERE healed. Whatever problem we may be facing, there is a promise of God to cover it.

The gospel is the "good news". We receive the good news by faith and begin to speak as though it is a higher truth than the existing problem. It is not that we deny the circumstance, but we deny its right to exist in our lives when Jesus paid the price to make the promise of God available to us.

Abraham is called the father of faith. He was personally taught by God himself. He is our example of how to operate in faith. Romans 4:19 tells us that he did not consider his own body which was already dead as far as reproductive ability was concerned, and he did not consider the deadness of Sarah's womb, nor did he waver at the promise of God through unbelief. He gave glory to God and was fully persuaded that God was able to perform what He had promised.

James says a double minded man is unstable in his ways and should not think that he will receive anything from the Lord. So let us follow the example of Abraham and speak as though the promises of God are true and God is faithful who promised.

6 comments:

  1. Whenever I teach on faith I call it expectation in action. We don't just sit around expecting God to do all the work, but neither do we hare off on our own plans.

    It's like living in Florida and getting news of a hurricane. You can't see it, smell it, or hear it yet. But you believe it's on its way, so you prepare to receive it. You board up windows, stock up on water and batteries, etc.

    Same way with faith. Sometimes the measure of our preparation determines the effectiveness of the thing we've prayed for and longed for.

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  2. Love this post, Dina! Kudos to your Mom!
    Lisa, "expectation in action" is a fabulous way to describe what faith is. Faith is (or should be) a verb!
    Sometimes the only action we can take is that of declaration and confession of what we believe. Like the woman with the issue of blood. Several translations say, "she kept saying to herself, if I but touch the hem of His garment, I will be healed." I think her constant confession gave her the strength and courage to press on through the crowd and touch the Master. And when He turned to her, He said, "YOUR faith has healed you." Interesting.
    I love this subject. Can ya tell?
    Niki

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  3. Great thoughts, Lisa. Niki, won't this flow great into yur post for tomorrow? Hopefully Mom will stop by later this afternoon, if she's not off partying at the beach as usual :)

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  4. Dina,
    thanks for sharing your mom's words with us about faith. Hope you get a chance to stop in yet this evening, Cindy.

    I also love your example Lisa. And I agree with you, Niki. Faith is a verb.

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  5. Something that came to mind for me is the way that God is bigger than Time and space. We are so limited in our understanding. Dina, your mom's post gave me a lot to think about and dear Inky sisters added to it as they always do.

    I wish I lived and spoke more in the promise of what is to come, for it has already happened in God's estimation.

    Thanks, Cindy for sharing your words with us.

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  6. (From Cindy) I appreciate all the encouraging comments. Lisa, that was a good analogy. Faith without works is dead. We act as if God's promise is true and prepare accordingly. Nikki, It is one of my favorite subjects also, and the woman with the issue of blood is an excellent example of the reward of spoken faith with corresponding action. Dina, we actually didn't make it to the beach today. We hung out at the mall instead.:)Jillian, faith is a verb. A type of quantum physics where energy actually becomes substance. Amen, Debra. In God's estimation everything that "pertains to life and godliness" has already been provided through the precious promises made available through redemption. Example: "By His stripes you WERE healed." 1 Peter 2:24

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