The Faith Element

  • Carlton Williams
  • Feb 17, 2009
  • Series: Chew On This

John 4:10 ‘Jesus answered her, “if you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.”’ (emphasis mine)

THE FAITH ELEMENT

I heard a man of God say once that ‘revelation leads to conviction and conviction leads to movement’.  Romans 10:13 says that, ‘whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved’ but then Paul immediately qualifies this statement by asking, ‘How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?’

Paul is indicating here that the power is not in the ability to ‘call’ but in the ability to call in faith.  We tend to pre-occupy ourselves with the ‘action’ part of the equation; in the prayer, in the fasting, in the giving, etc.  These are all good, but there is an essential part of the equation that ensures that the action is not void of the power to produce.  Anyone can close their eyes and say a few words and anyone can put some coins into an offering bucket that goes by, or deny themselves of food for a short while.  These actions alone do not carry any weight. 

This is clearly illustrated in the story of the woman with the issue of blood in Mark chapter 5.  The woman believed that if she could only touch the hem of Jesus’ garment she would be healed. She did, and she was!  Jesus, realising that power had gone out from Him, turned around in the crowd and asked, ‘Who touched my clothes?’ This was a crowd. A crowd of people in need, with Jesus as the focus of their attention!  The disciples were perplexed.  ‘You see the people crowding against you’, the disciples answered, ‘and yet you ask, “who touched me?”’ 

Everyone was touching Jesus.  Everyone’s ‘actions’ were the same but only one touch made a demand on the power that was there all the time.  Why was that?  Well, that touch had something behind it: Faith.  Faith is the hand that receives all that God makes available by grace.  Faith is what makes the difference in your prayer, your giving, or your fasting.  These actions are simply vehicles for the expression of your faith.  Without the faith element, your prayer, giving or any other Christian service will be void.

So, how does faith come?  Paul concludes his thought in Romans 10:17, ‘So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’.  Faith comes. It doesn’t have to be stirred up or stretched or wound up. It comes. 

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in our text:  ‘If you knew… you would have asked…’ If you had the revelation, it would have led to an action. Faith comes when you receive revelation.  Once revelation is received, faith is there.  And that faith propels you into action.  Faith comes by hearing and hearing the spoken word of God.  As you continually speak God’s word to yourself in meditation, faith comes.  Actions that proceed from faith always yield undeniable results. 

The power of God is readily available.  The provision of health, wisdom, prosperity, protection, peace and everything else promised in the word has already been made.
The power is not in the touch; the power is in the faith!

Paul said in 2Corinthians 4:13, ‘It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken”.  With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak.’ (NIV)  Faith is the power that precedes every action that yields results!

Feed on the word. Feed on the promises of God. Feed your faith.  Pack your spiritual being with God’s word.  Don’t be among the crowd who pray, and touch, and give and fast, hoping that God will somehow listen and act.  Be the one that lays hold of the Lord in confidence knowing that you cannot be denied!