“…faith without works is dead.” James 2:20
Jesus and His disciples were headed to Jerusalem for Passover. Along the way, Jesus was hungry. Even though it wasn’t the season for figs, Jesus walked up to a fig tree, expecting to find fruit to eat. When Jesus did not find figs on the tree, He told the tree, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” Then Jesus and His disciples went into Jerusalem where many Jews honored Him as their Messiah for the event that we now celebrate as Palm Sunday. That evening, Jesus and the disciples went outside of the city, and the disciples noticed that the fig tree had died.
Jesus then said to them, “…have faith in God. 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, be believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.” Mark 11:22-23
In Luke 17:5,6 Jesus made a similar statement. The disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith. Jesus responded, “If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ it would obey you.” A mustard seed is a small seed. It isn’t the size of a person’s faith that makes a person effective; it’s what we do with the faith we have.
What is faith? Faith is when we surrender our lives to God in dependency on Him. Faith is much more than simply believing in God. Demons believe in God. Faith is when we are relying upon God to the point that we will put action to it. The Bible says that faith without works is dead. If we are surrendered to God, we will obey Him and act on what we believe. Our behavior and our words will line up with what God wants because we are relying upon Him.
Speaking is an action. When we speak to a situation, it should be because God wills it, not just because we will it. The Holy Spirit will back up our obedience to speak in the authority we have as His representative.
Application: Dependency is more than praying a prayer and expecting God to move. Faith recognizes that God wants us to act in obedience to Him in what we do and in what we say. Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in speaking God’s desires, and watch what will happen!