When “Faith” Doesn’t Work

“For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain,
‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’
AND DOES NOT DOUBT IN HIS HEART,
but believes that those things he says will be done,
he will have whatever he says.”
Mark 11:23

We have a problem here.

Is there a secret to effective faith? Well actually, the first step is in understanding the faith concept.

I remember years ago, I read this and sat in a chair in the backyard and commanded a tree to move into the gully. I strained every ounce of “faith” I had in order to make that tree move, because I didn’t want to “doubt.” I wanted to “prove” the Word of God. Didn’t Jesus command a fig tree to dry up, and it did? Well …my tree didn’t move even after I strove to the breaking point with all that was in me to make this Scripture “true.” But of course, nothing happened.

Why not?

Well …because faith doesn’t come that way.

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
(Romans 10:17)

The act of forcing oneself to believe …doesn’t work. You can press yourself to the breaking point in order to “believe,” but it will not work, because that’s not how faith comes.

So …how DOES faith come, then?

Logos versus Rhema

In the passage, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God,” one has to understand what is being said. The Greek translation of “Word” is RHEMA. In the Greek language, which is what the New Testament was written in, there are two words for “Word” …LOGOS and RHEMA. Logos is the written word. One can read the written word and get nothing out of it. A student can read the Bible in a literature class, and get absolutely nothing out of it. The Logos states the truths of God, but the logos does not give life. In fact, used incorrectly, the logos can bring death:

“…for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.”
(2nd Corinthians 3:6)

Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the RHEMA of God. Faith is born when God himself speaks to a heart. Abraham was a very elderly man when God SPOKE to him that he will have a son, a seeming impossibility due to his and his wife’s advanced ages. All he knew was that God SPOKE to him that he would have a son by his wife Sarah.

“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
Romans 4:3

He believed, and that son was born. That son became the father of the Jewish people.

Friend, if you have a need, don’t try to make the Bible say something you want it to say, faith does not come that way. Instead, take your need to the Lord and pray about it until you receive a Word from him, a rhema from him. Until that rhema comes, there is no way you can create faith in yourself, it simply won’t work. You can drive yourself crazy thinking you’re “supposed” to believe thus and so, but it’s a useless pursuit. Ask the Lord to give you a rhema, something from his heart for you to stand on, because when he does, faith will come automatically to you, it will be birthed in you. And if he doesn’t, and often he doesn’t, then just walk your problem out trusting him to guide you in silence if that’s what he chooses to do. You can trust that he will be with you, because you belong to him. But be very careful about grasping at something that won’t work. Better to wait, than to be set up for disappointment.