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Living faith speaks and by speaking grows stronger.

King David knew lots about faith. In Psalm 23 he demonstrates the important principle we will explore today.

In verse 1 David writes, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” That is a statement of faith. Similarly, the last verse in the psalm speaks words of faith: “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever” (v. 6).

Speaking confident words about what God will do in the future is a normal part of David’s psalms. Is that presumptuous? Should he attach to each statement of faith the words “Not my will but yours be done,” as Jesus used in the Garden of Gethsemane?

Was David presumptuous when he shouted to Goliath in the hearing of the soldiers nearby, “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.” (1 Samuel 17:45–47)

That is as bold a declaration of faith as you will ever see. And as correct as the words “Lord willing” are, David does not say that. He believes he knows God’s will in this matter, and he speaks it out for all to hear. Judging by the results, we can conclude that God approved of David’s confidence in him.

Faith speaks

Living faith speaks and by speaking grows stronger.

Faith must speak, for Jesus said, “The mouth speaks what the heart is full of” (Luke 6:45). There is an unavoidable unity between the heart and the tongue.

A heart brimming with faith delights to put that faith into words.

Faith declarations are a fruit of faith feelings. Words are organic to faith. They are like roots growing down from a seed into the earth and like the stem sprouting up from that seed and reaching for the sun.

Unbelief speaks

Unbelief certainly speaks. When we do not truly believe, we can scarcely hold back our negativity, complaints, grumbling, and forebodings.

When the twelve spies sent by Moses to explore the Promised Land returned, ten of them tried to say something positive but then spoke the fear that had taken over their hearts:

“We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.” (Numbers 13:27–28)

Two of the twelve spies—Joshua and Caleb—had faith, and they answered the fears of the ten with a verbal declaration of confidence in what God would do. “Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, ‘Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.’” (Numbers 13:30)

Fearing that the faith of Caleb and Joshua might persuade the nation to invade and fight, the ten spies then spoke the terror and doubt that had taken over their souls:

“‘We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.’ So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, ‘The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.’” (Numbers 13:31–33)

Unbelief speaks and by speaking grows stronger.

The spirituality of words

Spoken words are spiritual and powerful. They are an inevitable, organic element of faith or doubt.

Paul referred to the “spirit of faith.” He said, “Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, ‘I believed, and so I spoke,’ we also believe, and so we also speak” (2 Corinthians 4:13). The spirit of faith is, “I believed, and so I spoke.”

Spoken words are so spiritually important and such a reliable indicator of the heart that God includes them in his description of how a person is saved. Romans 10:9–10 says:

“If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”

Confessions matter to God. Our spoken declarations of faith correspond to his spoken declarations of promise.

Faith speaks in two ways

Have you ever tried to speak words of faith when your heart did not believe? You can feel the bifurcation of your soul. It feels as though you are lying (though you are not, for it is never wrong to agree with what God says). Consequently, sometimes we need to declare God’s promise aloud until we can declare our faith aloud.

That illustrates the need for two sorts of faith statements. One is declaring God’s promise; the other is declaring the fulfillment of that promise. Both are important and powerful.

If you are sick, for example, you declare the promise, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases” (Psalm 103:2–3). You say it aloud until you believe it, for living faith speaks and by speaking grows stronger. And when you truly believe God’s promise, you declare with a unified heart, “I am healed.” (See By Faith I Already Have the Answers to My Prayers.)

Takeaway

Living faith speaks and by speaking grows stronger.

Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)

Does God hear us? How can we be sure our prayers are more than smoke in the wind?

A few weeks ago I sold my used car to CarMax. From beginning to end, as we discussed the deal I paid close attention to everything the representatives said and every written document. What was I promising to them, and what were they promising to me? Eventually I signed the papers, and they gave me a check. All based on words.

In human relations, words are decisive. In our relations with God, words also are decisive. We pay close attention to what God promises, and God pays close attention to what we ask and say.

When you utter a prayer, a monumental, earth-shaking thing has happened. A human being has asked Almighty God to do something, this God who rules all things has heard it, and this One who is faithful and true will certainly act according to his promises and conditions. Large or small, miraculous or seemingly mundane, something changes because you uttered a prayer and met certain conditions. Whether your prayer moves a nation or comforts a grief-stricken widow, the King of the universe acts because of your words.

God hears

When you become convinced of this truth, it will transform your prayer life. How normal it is to feel as though our words in prayer are like smoke—immaterial, insubstantial, temporary. It seems they dissipate and disappear. We cannot see our words, and we cannot see God. We can feel we are just talking to ourselves or that God pays little attention to them. And so, our words seem less consequential than they actually are.

But the truth is, our words in prayer are like the signed contract of a car sale, or like the switches on a railroad track that send a rumbling, earth-shaking, 200-ton locomotive and its train of many cars rolling down one track instead of another. This is the significance of words spoken to God. Every time you pray, it is momentous. Every word you utter to God matters.

Here are seven Scriptural illustrations of the crucial truth that God pays perfect attention to your every word and prayer, and works in your life according to them.

Psalm 139:1–4

In Psalm 139:1–4 David writes, “O LORD, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether.” (ESV)

God knows everything, everything in the past, present, and future. He knows every single word you spoke and thought you had when you were a child, when you were 20, or anytime else in your life. Your life is an open book to him, and every word is written down. In fact, so great is his knowledge of your words, he knows them “altogether” even before you speak them!

David says God is searching everything about you and knows it all. He is paying attention. That certainly includes your prayers.

Daniel 10:12

As the prophet Daniel sought the Lord earnestly for three weeks regarding the situation of the nation of Israel, Daniel 10 recounts that an angel appeared to him. The angel tells Daniel, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words” (Daniel 10:12).

Why did the angel come to Daniel? “I have come because of your words.”

Was God listening? “Your words have been heard.”

Mark 7:25–29

Mark 7 says Jesus went into the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon, and “Immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, ‘Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.’ But she answered him, ‘Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.’ And he said to her, ‘For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.’” (Mark 7:25–29)

What changed? Why did Jesus first refuse to act but then change his mind? “For this statement.” If she had not said what she said, Jesus would not have done what he did. In the kingdom of heaven, words are decisive.

Note that her first requests were not decisive in causing Jesus to act, but her final answer was.

Matthew 9:27–30

Traveling elsewhere, Jesus encountered a pair of blind men. The “two blind men followed him, crying aloud, ‘Have mercy on us, Son of David.’ Then he entered the house, the blind men came to him, and Jesus said to them, ‘Do you believe that I am able to do this?’ They said to him, ‘Yes, Lord.’ Then he touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it done to you.’ And their eyes were opened.”

Jesus did not immediately heal these two men as they pleaded for mercy. One of the conditions of answered prayer is faith, and Jesus wanted to establish that these men had it. So he kept walking and eventually entered a house. The blind men persistently followed him down the road and entered the house behind him. There he examined them with a simple, direct question: Do you believe?

Their two-word answer was decisive: “Yes, Lord.” Those words were enough for Jesus. Their previous cries for mercy did not bring the healing, but these two words were telling. These two words carried the day, because their words were words of faith, “He touched their eyes, saying, ‘According to your faith be it done to you.’ And their eyes were opened.”

Just a couple of words—faith words—and their lives were changed.

Matthew 8:5–10, 13

On still another occasion when Jesus “had entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, ‘Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home, suffering terribly.’ And he said to him, ‘I will come and heal him.’ But the centurion replied, ‘Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. And I say to one, “Go,” and he goes, and to another, “Come,” and he comes, and to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, ‘Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. … And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.’ And the servant was healed at that very moment.”

This story is all about one’s confidence in the decisive nature of words. The centurion recognizes the decisive power of Jesus’s words, but he also displays his confidence in the decisive nature of his own words, not only with the soldiers under his command but also with his request of Jesus. He fully believed Jesus would have regard for his petition.

And Jesus did pay close attention to everything the centurion said. Jesus heard enough to know the centurion had faith. Words display faith. As Jesus said elsewhere, “The mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart” (Matthew 12:34). This is one reason our words are crucially important. They reveal faith or doubt. “And to the centurion Jesus said, ‘Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.’”

Genesis 18:22–33

Before God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, he allowed Abraham to intercede with him on behalf of their righteous residents. In the well-known account, Abraham requests that God would spare the city for the sake of 50 righteous people.

“And the LORD said, ‘If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.’” (Genesis 18:26)

Notice that God answers Abraham with precisely the number requested: 50. And with each of the requests that follow, God agrees to the precise number stated by Abraham: 45, 40, 30, 20, and 10. We do not know how low God would have gone if Abraham had continued. But the point is, God showed his intention to act based precisely on a man’s words.

When Abraham began this negotiation and first asked for the number 50, God could have skipped the negotiations and said he would not only spare the city for the sake of 50, but for 10. Instead we see God following the principle that he pays perfect attention to our every word and prayer, and in accordance with them works in our lives.

Numbers 30:2–15

We conclude with what the Bible says about making vows to God. Notice in the following passage their binding nature.

Numbers 30:2–5 says, “If a man vows a vow to the LORD, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth. If a woman vows a vow to the LORD and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father’s house in her youth, and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the LORD will forgive her, because her father opposed her.”

Making a vow is like signing a mortgage. A person binds and obligates himself or herself to pay the debt. God pays attention to a human vow; to break that promise is to sin against him.