Why Doesn’t My Faith Work? Part 1 Faith Is

Hello everyone,

It can be very disheartening when we bring our request to the Lord, speak words of faith, but don’t see the results we’re believing for.  What’s the deal?  Are we doing something wrong?  Why isn’t our faith working?  Does God only answer certain prayers for certain people?  

In this series of letters we’re going to find the answers to these questions from the Word of God.  I’m believing to help you get a clear understanding of how to see your faith go to work and do exactly what the Bible says it should do.

The thing is, sometimes our foundation of what faith really is, how to get it, and how to put it to work -  is a little weak and uncertain.  So let’s briefly begin there, before we move on to reasons why our faith possibly isn’t producing the results we know it should be producing.

So, what is faith? Hebrews 11:1 tells us: “NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].”

In other words, faith is a spiritual force that has the power to reach into the spiritual realm, take a hold of whatever God’s Word has promised, and bring it into our natural world.  

We know we live in a fallen world that because of sin, is full of lack, devastation and heart ache.  But for those of us who have chosen to surrender to the Lordship of Jesus, through faith, we are expected to live above the problems of the life we had before we knew Him.  Faith is what causes us to continuously overcome and live in victory.  This is the life Jesus went to the cross for us to have.  That’s why Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith, it’s impossible to please God. What pleases Him?  Seeing us appropriate everything He and His Son sacrificed for us to have and enjoy!  But we can’t do that without faith.

How do we get faith?  Well the Bible tells us that God has given each of us a measure of faith.  But once we become part of His family, we are expected to increase that measure by spending time meditating on the truth of God’s Word through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  He is the One Who teaches us and makes the Word come alive inside of us to produce the spiritual force of faith. 

How do we put faith to work?  Mark 11:23-24 says, “Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you, and you will [get it].”

According to this portion of scripture, faith goes to work for us the moment we wholeheartedly believe the Word and speak it from the conviction of our hearts.

It’s more than just agreeing with the Word, we must really believe it as the final authority in our lives - not doubting it at all. Then, when our words are consistently in agreement with God’s and don’t contradict what His Word says, they become carriers of that faith.  Like conveyer belts, our words carry the conviction of our hearts and begin to speak those things that are not currently in the natural, as if they are.  That’s how convinced we are of God’s promises being more real than what we see in the natural.  Faith believes what it perceives in the spirit, before it sees it in the natural.  

God is the best example of this in Hebrews 11:3.  It says He spoke the world’s into existence by His own words of faith.  Since we are recreated in His image, and have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, we can believe His Word, speak it into our world, and see it become our reality.

I want to encourage you to take time to let this all sink deep into your heart and mind this week.  In the next couple of letters I’m going to speak about some of the things that can prevent our faith from working and being as effective as the Word says it should be.  

All my love,

Jenny