Faith Needs These

When a person wants to prepare stew or some other dishes, the person would get all the things he would need ready before starting the preparation so that when he starts and he gets halfway and discovers that one of the ingredients needed is not handy, he would be laboring to get those things which would have negative effect on what he is preparing and or may spoil it. But when those things are handy, the preparation would be seamless for him.

Jesus Christ while making an illustration like this says,

“For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?” (Luk 14:28)

After getting all that it would cost him to finish the task would ensure that those things needed are handy before he starts building the tower.

I will want us to see some things which on detail studies about faith we shall discover that faith needs for its effectiveness in this article. What I have found out that faith needs are these: expression, confession and profession.

Expression is defined as things that people say, write or do in order to show their feelings, opinions and ideas.

Confession is defined as a statement of your religious beliefs and principles.

The Greek word for confession is “ὁμολογέω”, Romanized form is homologeō (phonetic spelling is hom-ol-og-eh'-o) which means assent, acknowledge. (Rom 10:10) while in first Timothy 6:13 the word used is “ὁμολογία”, Romanized form is homologia (pronounced as hom-ol-og-ee'-ah) which means acknowledgement.

While the Hebrew word for it is “תּודה”, Romanized form is tôdâh (pronounced as to-daw') which means avowal. (Joshua 7:19; ezra 10:11) while in 2 chronicles 30:22 and the book of Daniel 9:4 the word used is “ידה” Romanized form is yâdâh (pronounced as yaw-daw') which means to revere. The Hebrew definition is related to worship in the temple where the Israelis would raise their hands to avow or worship Yahweh.

Profession is defined as a statement about what you believe, feel or think about something, that is sometimes made publicly. It is synonymous with declaration.

The Greek word for profession is “ὁμολογία”, Romanized form is homologia (pronounced as hom-ol-og-ee'-ah) which means acknowledgement. (1 Ti. 6:12; Heb. 3:1; 4:14; 10:23)

Faith needs expression, when the blind men accosted Jesus he asks them what he wants him to do for them. And their response was that they regain their sights. Assuming they are silent something spectacular may not be done for them, what they want they may not possess because of their failure to express themselves unto God.

“And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.

“And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.

“And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, what will ye that I shall do unto you?

“They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.

“So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.” (Mat 20:30-34)

I read a story of a journalist whom a rich man asks what he wants from him and the journalist replies vaguely, saying anything that the person likes, and he writes a cheque of $500:00 for him. Now, that is not a proper expression, faith tells us that we should learn to tell God the actual thing in our heart that we want him do for us, we shouldn’t assume, though he knows the position of our hearts, he knows what we lack and what we want at particular instance, but as a father who knows the child is hungry would ask from the child what he or she wants despite knowing the child is hungry so does God want us to tell him what we want, he wants us to express ourselves unto him.

King Solomon became the wealthiest person who has ever lived in the world because he expressed himself well unto the Lord and God crowns his expression with additives. We shall see from God’s reply that what God thought he would ask was not what he asks for.

“In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.

“And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

“And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.

“And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

“Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

“And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.

“And God said unto him, because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

“Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.

“And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.” (1 Ki 3:5-13)

is defined as a statement of your religious beliefs and principles. This is also required in faith you need to state your religious beliefs and principles to the devil and others so that they would know your position.

“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

“For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Rom 10:9-10)

Verse ten of this book explains the previous verse into details it states that we do not have to confess alone without believing the word in our hearts. Verse 10 now re-orientates it that, it is with the heart that the believe originated from; after which it has to be confessed to send fiery signals to the demonic world, to shatter devils and its hosts.

The confession may not necessarily mean shouting at times, but it must be uttered, silently and sometimes like talking to yourself, soliloquy, because you know that God is with you where you are, and he will pay you back before all (Mat 6:6). For Hannah did not shout when she was talking to Yahweh.

“So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the LORD.

“And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore.

“And she vowed a vow, and said, O LORD of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man child, then I will give him unto the LORD all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.

“And it came to pass, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli marked her mouth.

“Now Hannah, she spake in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard: therefore Eli thought she had been drunken.” (1 Sa 1:9-13)

Some of the importance of the words of confession of believers are:

When we confess of our faith in the Lord this will send demons packing for, he will know that we now belong to God. When Jesus confesses his position, the bible says the devil left him.

“Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.” (Mat 4:11)

Our words of confession to the Lord makes God release his angels to come and minister unto us for by that we have shown whose we are. That is why the apostle says anyone that would be saved must confess Jesus as Lord. When we confess him as Lord, we give him a locus standi in our lives. It is like a signpost erected at some area, saying “beware of dogs” or “military zone beware”. This shows anyone passing through the place not to trespass.

All believers at a time or another do have elements of doubt springing up in our lives much so when we have been looking unto God on something for a while. Such iota of doubt the devil may want to put in our lives that if surely, we are God’s children why has he not answered us? But when we confess our position, such iota of doubt would be dealt with.

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines doubt as a feeling of being uncertain about something; to feel that something is not true or will not happen; to not to trust somebody or something; not to believe.

Let us see the Hebrew and the Greek words used for doubt to add to the definition of what doubt implies.

The Hebrew word associated with it from the King James Version of the bible is “תּלא”, which when Romanized becomes tâlâ' (pronounced as taw-law') which means to be uncertain (Gen 37:33)

The Greek word for doubt is “διστάζω”, Romanized form is distazō (pronounced as dis-tad'-zo) which means to waver (Mat 14:33) Another Greek word for doubt is “διακρίνω”, Romanized form is diakrinō Phonetic spelling is dee-ak-ree'-no) which means hesitate, stagger, waver (Mat. 21:21; Mar. 11:23)

On another note, physician Luke uses this Greek word “διαπορέω”, Romanized form is diaporeō (pronounced as dee-ap-or-eh'-o) in Acts 2:12, while apostle Paul uses “ἀπορέω” Romanized form is aporeō (pronounced as ap-or-eh'-o) in Galatians 4:20 both words mean be at loss, perplexed.

Doubt means being uncertain, perplexed and confused about what one heard which could make one lose trust in the person or thing.

Having seen what doubt means from the above definitions, I want to add that contrarily to confession, doubt sometimes neither requires expression nor confession before it manifests and becomes cancerous. All it needs is to sprout up from the heart and after sprouting up, the ensuing reactions will reveal the position of the person’s heart, that he is doubting.

To add credence to this we shall see from the account of what transpired between Eve and serpent that Eve never at a time told her love what was passing through her heart about what Yahweh said that they shouldn’t eat of a tree. However, her position to not eat neither touch has changed, she has started doubting what was said, that was why she could toe the line that the serpent has shown her.

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” (Gen 3:6)

It was because she has nursed doubts about those words in her heart that makes her to look at the tree for another time. The doubts had been hidden in here, neither has she expressed nor talk about it until she was shown the reason to water the doubts in her to maturity.

Devil will want us to nurse the doubts in us to maturity, to fall away from the grace if we have not shown him the way if we failed to confess who owns us to him.

“And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.” (1 Ti 2:14)

The woman’s kind of doubt as shown her doesn’t involve utterance that I do not think what God said is possible, but it was in her and her actions show what was in there afterwards. A doubter would always take a step contrary to God’s words.

Another example that I want us to see from this scriptures on this word of doubt is the case of the friend of God, Abraham what happened to him when God was talking with him that he will surely give him a son of covenant, the bible says he laughs in himself and raised question to the possibility of that coming to pass at his age.

“Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear?

“And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!” (Gen 17:17-18)

We shall see that Father Abraham did not express his doubts to God, though hidden in his heart, while replying God he changes it and says, “unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee”.

From this we can say that we do not need to express our doubts verbally, but our actions, what we do a second after that mixed seed of doubt has been implanted in our hearts would speak, a proverb says, “action speaks louder than voice”. This action of Abraham was what delayed the fulfilment of the promise of the covenant child to him.

The promise of the covenant child was delayed in appearing unto Father Abraham because it took God a while to convince him that he will always bring to pass what he has said.

“He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

“And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.” (Rom 4:20-21)

Persuaded here in Greek is written as “πληροφορέω” which when Romanized becomes plērophoreō (pronounced as play-rof-or-eh'-o) which means completely assure or convince, make full proof of.

That iota of doubt takes a while before it is completely dealt with in his heart, because it has mingled with tradition and the word of God has been misplaced to mean what he did.

How we often misplaced the word of faith for our own ideas, for the suggestion of men these days too. That is what is handcuffing God from performing and fulfilling his promises to us all.

The word persuaded therefore I could say literarily means that God got the faith out of him (Abraham) through much difficulties, it was after he attained that and there was no iota of doubt in him again that he believes that he was able also to perform that which he says.

Every bible students know that he has to pass through so many things until he attained the full stature of faith. ‘God revenged all his doubts, until his faith, believe is fulfilled’ (2 Cor. 10:6 paraphrased)

As small as that seed of doubt is in our hearts it is dangerous and we must cry to God against it that it should be destroyed and annihilated before it keeps us from attaining God’s full stature, God’s blessings.

Doubt does not have to be expressed verbally but faith has to be confessed, to indicate your total dependence on him.

Jesus has told all believers that he has given us power to cast out demons. This confession is helpful in ensuring that we do not weary ourselves when casting out demons.

“And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;” (Mar 16:17)

We do not need to shout because we have confessed our position in the Lord and the Lord has marked us so, with the devils’ base shattered in Jesus name.

Shouting to pray and to cast out demons is common here basing their words on the book of Psalms 56:9 which says, “when I cry unto thee, then shall mine enemies turn back: this I know; for God is for me” (Psa 56:9)

The idea of the cry in this verse to the local speakers and preachers in my land is shouting. However, the Hebrew word for cry here is “קרא”, Romanized form is qârâ' (pronounced as kaw-raw') which implies, call out by name, call, pronounce.

It is this basis that people shout while praying here because we often believe or view it that our minds would not be on what we are saying except we cried and shouted at the top of our voices. This is imported into exorcism too, but we have been counsel that those who would attend to many people that day would become exhausted by the time they attend to two or three people if they do not apply wisdom to it, and the wisdom is conserving the energy to meet and attend to others always believing that with your confession you have put yourself in Jesus custody and devil has no place in our lives.

Although there is no gain saying that sometimes it may require our shouting, speaking at the top of our voices as our Lord and master, Jesus also did when calling out the dead Lazarus, but he did not do this repeatedly. (Joh 11:43)

is defined as a statement about what you believe, feel or think about something, that is sometimes made publicly. It is synonymous with declaration.

The three Hebrews profess their faith before all and sundry in the land of Babylon, especially before the King, they damned the consequences, they never had an inkling that they would be saved, for assuming they had such they may be proud, but they did not they decide to cast their lives into the winds with the believe that the winds would take them to the bosom of the Lord.

“Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

“If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

“But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” (Dan 3:16-18)

Thiers’ was a resolute faith, a faith that looks upward to God than looking downwards, a faith that desires to be with their maker than staying in this corrupt and perverse world again. It is this kind of faith that we should be professing it is this kind of faith that can take us beyond the level which we are to another level in the spiritual and physical realm.

so that there won’t be miscommunication between us and our maker. The confession of our faith would send jitters to the camp of the enemies and would show the world whose we are, and our professions of faith would soar us higher to where the hands of the enemies cannot touch.