The definition of the word essence is: fundamental nature or quality; having the special qualities of the original substance.  As Christians we have the fundamental nature and quality of the Creator in us.  He is our original substance.  After the disciples had made the comment about the fig tree withering away that Jesus had cursed it the day before, Jesus told them to “have faith in God”.  Some translations state it this way, “have the faith of God” or “have the faith that comes from God”.  We are to operate our faith the same way that God does. (Mark 11:22).

The essence (the quality) of our faith is determined by how much we know about faith: how it works and whether we work it or not!  It is possible to know something and never use that knowledge and thereby never receiving the benefit from that knowledge.  Example in point: we can have money in the bank but if we don’t know how to withdraw that money or simply don’t make a withdrawal, it will not benefit us.  The same is true of faith.  We can, and do have promises in the Bible but if we don’t know how to apply those promises to our lives they won’t do us very much good.  I’ve see people who know the Word of God but don’t actually apply it to their lives and then wonder why God isn’t acting on their behalf.  Have you done that?  I think we all have at some point in our lives; we just don’t like to admit it.  After all, we’re faith people, right, and don’t faith people always walk in faith?  No, we don’t always; and that’s the problem.

One example of not applying the Word of God to our lives is when we have the beginning of a cold and we just keep blowing our nose and sneezing; maybe get a little more sleep and hope that those over-the-counter cold medicine will get rid of the symptoms; but they only treat the symptoms, they don’t get rid of anything.  We should go to the very root of the problem by rebuking the symptoms  and the cause of the cold with the Word of God, stating the we are healed by the stripes on Jesus’ back (1 Peter 2:24).  Now I’m not against medicine, I’m just saying that we should FIRST be speaking the healing Word of God over our bodies to get well.  It really doesn’t do us any good to say we believe in healing if we are not speaking the healing into our bodies.

Another example might be with finances.  If we are saying that God will supply all our needs, and yet we are not living in that reality, maybe we should take a look at whether we are obeying His Word concerning tithing and giving of offerings.  If we are not obedient then we are not putting action to our faith.   (Malachi 3:8-11).  The Bible tells us in James 2:17 that without actions to our faith, our faith is dead.  Something that is dead doesn’t give us any benefits!

A third area could be relationships.  Are you in strife with someone?  Upset over what they said or did?  Proverbs 29:22 tells us that an angry man stirs us strife, and Proverbs 15:1 teaches us that a soft answer turns away wrath but grievous words stir up anger.  The answer to curtailing strife and anger is to walk in love and forgiveness (Ephesians 4:32).  When strife and anger raises it potential power in our homes we need to take authority over it by speaking truth in love, watching the tones of our words and always forgive.

Now some may say that the promises of God manifest in our lives as He wills and when He wills but this is not entirely true.  The Gifts of the Holy Spirit operate as He wills, but we have a part in whether or not the promises are manifested in our lives.  The reason is that He has given us the right to choose for ourselves how we will live.  This began in the Garden of Eden when He gave Adam and Eve the right to choose whether to obey Him or to disobey Him.  (As we know they disobeyed Him and as a result sent the human race in a downward spiral of a sinful nature (Romans 5:19).  We needed a Savior and could not save ourselves so God sent Jesus to be our Savior (John 3:16).

God did His part by sending Jesus to the Cross to take the penalty for our sins, Jesus did His part by obeying the will of the Father; our part is to accept and receive Jesus as our Savior.   We can choose to believe this Truth or not to believe it, but this Truth does not change just because we don’t believe it!  God’s Word is truth and His Word will never change because He is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

We activate our faith, or apply it to our lives, by speaking out what the Bible says about the situation we are facing.  If sickness or disease has attacked our body we need to speak out the true fact that we are healed by the blood and Name of Jesus, for “by His stripes we are healed” (1 Peter 2:24, Isaiah 53:5, Psalm 103:2-3).

We see in Proverbs 18:21 that “death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof”.  Thereof means “of that and from that”.  So the truth of this Scripture is that we are either speaking death or life into our lives.  We are the ones doing the speaking; it’s our words that have this power to determine what kind of life we have.  Another way of saying this, is that we eat (live with or have) the fruit (the results) of our words.  Matthew 12:37 tells us that we are either condemned or justified by our words.  To justify something means to conform to a fact.  The words we speak will either bring us to and in agreement with the promises of the Bible or set us outside of the promises of God.  I’d rather be inside and within the Promises of His word, wouldn’t you?  We have the same choice that Adam and Eve had, either to believe and obey the God’s Word or doubt, reject and disobey His Word.  The choice is up to us.

So, to bring this all together: the essence (strength and power) of our faith has its fundamental foundation in and on the God-kind of faith – words!  Remember He calls those things that are not AS though they are (Romans 4:17).  We build our God-kind-of-faith by hearing and hearing His Word-the Bible; and we release the power of the God-kind-of-faith in our lives by the words we speak that agree with His Word.

My prayer this week is that we will listen to our words and judge them correctly as to whether or not we are speaking the God-kind-of-faith into our lives.