“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith..” – Mark 11:23
If faith is a gift from God, why is it that so little of its fruit or so little of its manifestation is exhibited in the lives of many Christian believers? Why is it that sometimes, our faith doesn’t seem to be taking effect in our lives? That we are not seeing its results, though we want to see it? The secret lies in the power of “releasing” our faith. The Christian life is not just about “receiving” faith but also about learning how to “release” it.
It cannot be because faith is powerless for every gift of God the Bible says is perfect. If the faith we receive does not bring about a manifestation, it has to be because God’s faith is either not received with understanding or because it is not released. We don’t have a lot of manifestation because we don’t have the importance of releasing faith. And not just receiving it. If we don’t release our faith, we cannot receive the promised manifestation.There has to be an exchange, a release of our faith that brings about our desired result. God’s imparted faith must be released in order to receive God’s promised blessing.
So how do we exactly release our faith?
The Role of Prayer and Fasting
“Not My will, but Yours be done”. – Luke 22:42
Our prayer life is totally designed to do God’s will. Hearing God speak to us is the major purpose of prayer and fasting.
The basic channel for both the reception and the release of faith is prayer and fasting. It is where we receive faith, and where we release faith. Prayer is the place where we learn to hear God speaking to us. It is where we can easily receive faith if our prayer is not always going to God trying to get something but if we allow our prayer life to really mature, it is the place that we move into hearing God speaking to us. Since God is the author and the finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2) we need to spend time in his presence to receive faith. It is impossible to come into God’s presence outside of prayer. But the very purpose of prayer and fasting is not trying to get something from God.
We are coming before the throne of God to hear God speak to us. Fasting is the place where we come before the throne to hear God speak to us, and not to constantly talk and tell Him what we want. Mature prayer and fasting is coming to hear God’s voice. Whenever we pray, our spirit has to get quiet enough so we can hear God speaking to us, and in that relationship when God speaks to us, suddenly we know what God wants us to do and what His will is for us. His desire is coming into alignment with doing His purpose and His will and what He wants us to do and in alignment to who and what He desires for us. If we are not praying and fasting, it’s impossible to live a life of faith. If your prayers are always centered around your needs, your situations, and your wants, you will never grow; you will never mature. You need to graduate from always talking when you pray. Instead, you need to hear God speaking to you concerning His will for you. Don’t let your prayers stay infantile.
Releasing is Believing
“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” – Mark 11:24
In the New Testament, the release of faith is called BELIEVING. Faith is a noun while believing is a verb. A verb pertains to an action. The verb gives the noun motion. In other words, we must always have faith before we do the “believing.” One can’t substitute for the other. You must have both. But there’s an order. Faith must always come first, believing must always come second. And the best place to always believe God to release our faith is in prayer.
Faith is hearing God speak to us and believing is releasing that faith and speaking back to God what He has said to us, or speaking to the mountain or the situation. Faith is God’s attitude and thought shared with us while believing is our action based on that attitude. Faith is trust. God cannot lie, therefore believing is obeying. Faith is a God-given ordinance. And believing is performing that ordinance. Remember that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-26). If we receive faith but we don’t release it through our believing, then our faith is dead.
We don’t need more FAITH. We need more BELIEVING. We just have to learn how to release it once we receive it. Without believing, we can hear God speak to us all day long and it will not produce one promise, and it will not cause any manifestation. We must receive faith and release faith to live our lives correctly.
Today, be encouraged to put your faith into practice by believing. Believe every Word that you hear from God. Believe every promise. Release your faith and believe that you will see the manifestation of the things that God has spoken over your life.