Faith Releases the Power of God’s Word

The word of God contains energy or power from God. The word of God is alive and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). 

The word of God “effectively works in you who believe” (1 Thessalonians 2:13). In Greek the word is “energizes.” The word of God energizes those who believe it. 

The energy contained in the word of God is supernatural. It comes from the Holy Spirit. It is beyond the natural realm and natural laws. The power of the word of God is above these things because God is above them, and he can do all things. He is not limited.

The infinite power in the word of God often remains dormant, and it is not released. We need faith. Faith releases the power of the word of God. The word of God energizes “those who believe.” God is looking for people to believe what he says.

“Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). Without faith, the word of God does not become active within us or release its divine power to transform us.

The Bible contains grand promises like “all things are possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23), and “whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22). These grand promises of God’s word are experienced by us when we believe God’s word.

Faith is compared to a mustard seed that can move a mountain. Faith sometimes seems small, but it can do amazing things because it taps into the power of Almighty God. 

Faith is not about just dreaming and hoping for whatever we want. Biblical faith is based on something real in the spiritual realm – the eternal word of God. The word of God already exists, whether we believe that word or not. The word of God precedes our faith. Faith does not create the word of God, but faith recognizes the already-existing word of God. Faith comes by hearing (Romans 10:17), not by thinking. Hearing the word of God must precede true faith.

However, we must go beyond hearing. Jesus told about a person who heard the word of God and didn’t do it. Jesus said he was building his house on the sand (Matthew 7:24-27). When the storms came, his life was destroyed. Without obedience to the word of God, our lives are not based on anything real in the spiritual realm, and they may fall apart. We need to build our lives on the rock of God’s word, then they will have eternal permanence. We build on the rock as we obey God’s word.

When Jesus comes back, some people will tell him that they spent a lot of time with him, knew him well, heard his word frequently, and called him Lord (Luke 13:26). Yet he will reject them. The reason they will be rejected is that they did not obey his word. Their disobedience to the word of God proved their lack of faith. And without faith, it is impossible to be saved.

James tells us to be “doers of the word, not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). People are deceived when they think that just hearing the word of God is enough. We need to not just hear the word, but we need to do it. And we will do it if we believe it. Obedience to the word of God proves our faith (James 2:18). 

If we believe that God has given us an instruction, we will act upon it. On the other hand, if we don’t believe God spoke to us, then we won’t act. It’s easy to obey God when his word is clear. But if we are not sure what God is saying, we will be less confidence in our obedience. Our wavering obedience shows our lack of faith in the word – was it really from God or not? 

Sometimes we are 100% sure God is telling us to do something, but we still don’t obey him. This reveals lack of faith in God. It proves that we don’t trust God with the consequences of our obedience. We don’t believe he is good, and we don’t trust he will take care of us. Therefore we disobey his word. Obedience proves faith, and it is the necessary complement to faith. Disobedience proves unbelief.

Once Paul was preaching. A crippled man believed what Paul was saying, and Paul saw that he had faith. Paul told him to stand up and walk. Immediately the lame man stood and walked (Acts 14:8-10). The man’s faith was proved by his obedience, and his faith released the power of the word of God to heal his crippled legs.

Jesus did not heal every sick person in every town he was in. In fact, sometimes he healed only one person. This is because he could do nothing except what he saw his Father do (John 5:19). Jesus was limited by the revelation he received from his Father. Jesus was not acting independently of his Father, saying or doing his own things. Instead, Jesus was perfectly confined to the will of his Father. This means that everything Jesus did originated in heaven. Through obedience, Jesus brought heaven’s words and works into the earth.

God has not called us to do whatever we want to do. There are many sick people in the world, but God does not expect us to go lay hands on all of them. Instead, God wants us to hear from him, believe the specific words he has for us, and then do those things. God has specific words for us to speak and works for us to do. We need to hear from God in order to understand the specific plan he has for our lives. Then we need to do the specific things he tells us to do.

When we confine ourselves to the will of God, we avoid the frustration that can arise when we have expectations that God will do things he never said he will do. The word of God is independent from us, and it is discovered as we study the Bible, pray, and are in fellowship with strong believers.

The word of God has inherent power. We need to believe the word of God in order to release this power. The eternal word of God precedes our faith and exists independently of our faith. To have real faith, we must first recognize what God is saying. Genuine faith is proved by obedience. If we believe God is saying something, then we will do it. Obedience to God proves our faith, and it unleashes God’s power which throws mountains into the sea.