Faith speaks.
What was birthed in your heart by hearing should be found within your mouth (see Romans 10:8).
In 2 Corinthians 4:13, Paul writes the following: But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I BELIEVED, THEREFORE I SPOKE,” we also believe, therefore we also speak…
The spirit of faith is found within the breath that produces our words.
The Spirit or breath of God was moving over an unformed and empty earth. Then God said, “Let there be light…” (see Genesis 1:2-3).
There is no language without breath.
It’s the spirit of faith that compels us to speak.
Returning once again to the story of the woman with the hemorrhage, we quickly see that when she heard about Jesus, she acted (see Mark 5:27).
What you hear about Jesus matters.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ (see Romans 10:17).
Not only did this woman come up in the crowd from behind and touch Jesus’ cloak, she first thought to herself, “If I just touch His garments, I will get well.”
What she thought preceded what she did.
Her faith was manifested both in physical action and in what she thought or said to herself.
She may not have said out loud what she thought, but she spoke within herself.
Here’s what I’ve come to understand about faith: it acts.
Generally speaking, there is a physical act that accompanies what we believe.
In some cases, speaking is that physical act.
What comes out of my mouth first had to be conceived within my heart.
When my wife was pregnant with our twins, I knew that my family now needed a vehicle that would seat a group of people that were about to become ‘Connolly — Party of 6.’
It was during this time that God, by His Spirit within, spoke these words to me: “Your Father knows what you need before you ask Him” (see Matthew 6:8).
Those words were seed that were sown into the soil of my heart and they immediately took root.
The moment they were conceived, I began to declare everywhere and to everyone that somehow, someway God was going to give my family a minivan.
It was settled in my heart. I was convinced.
But that’s what faith is, isn’t it? It’s the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (see Hebrews 11:1).
The Holy Spirit spoke something to me and faith came.
Now, I wasn’t sharing my beliefs in hopes that someone would overhear and buy me a van. That would be manipulative. Rather, I was simply declaring with my mouth the promise that was conceived within me.
The evidence that I believed was contained in what I was boldly declaring.
The belief that God would supply my needs was so great that I could all but see the van. It was all but tangible to me. It was as if it was already parked in the driveway.
Even though my two eyes didn’t see a van, the eyes of my heart did.
The twins, not adhering to the original plan, made their appearance seven weeks prior to their due date.
Because of the severity of my wife’s preeclampsia, they had to be born premature.
At the time of their arrival, my family and I were still without a van.
But… three days after they were born… I received an email from an individual who just so happened to be in a service where I was ministering and felt compelled by the Lord to contribute to my need. She went home to talk to her husband about it — who, by the way, was not in the service — and he shockingly agreed.
A day after I received the email, I met them for the first time. They drove me to a Toyota dealer in Sinking Spring, PA and wrote a check for $27,500 to purchase a 2012 Toyota Sienna for my family.
I, along with the salesman, was dumbfounded. It’s one thing to believe it; it’s another to actually see it happen before your eyes.
The progression of my faith was as follows (and please don’t miss this!):
1) The Holy Spirit spoke a verse to my heart and faith came as a result.
2) I began to declare with my mouth what I believed God was going to do.
3) I persevered until the end — even in the face of my twins being born, I still believed God was able to perform what He spoke to me.
4) The van was purchased for my family.
But the seed in the good soil, these are the ones who have heard the word in an honest and good heart, and hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance. | Luke 8:15
Faith comes when we hear.
What was birthed in our heart should be found in our mouth.
What we believe for, we should wait for. We persevere.
And perseverance will always bring a reward.
- Brian Connolly, Faith Like Birds Ministries