What is Faith?
Smith Wigglesworth defined faith as an act—that is, acting on God’s word. How do we act on God’s word? By faith! The power in God’s word is always available to us, like the electrical power in your house is available to you, but you must turn on the switch to enjoy the light. Your faith acts as the switch to experience God’s power.
Let’s look at some examples of those who acted on the word of God and experienced abundant victory or blessings.
A Centurion (Matthew 8): A centurion who had faith in God’s word came to Jesus to seek healing for his servant who was seriously sick. Jesus wanted to go with him to his house to heal his servant, but the centurion said to Jesus, “Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof, but only speak a word, and my servant will be healed.” The centurion, who was a high-ranking officer in the army, knew the authority in a commander’s word, so he said, “Your word is enough.” He had faith in God’s word, and as written in Psalm 107:20, “He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”
Jesus commended the centurion’s faith and said, “Truly I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.” And what happened to the centurion’s servant? We are told that his servant was healed that same hour when Jesus said to him, “Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you” (Matthew 8:13).
Peter (Luke 5): Peter was a professional fisherman who worked hard all night and caught nothing. Jesus asked for Peter’s boat as a platform to teach the people. After the Lord finished teaching, He asked Peter to launch his nets for a catch, and this was daytime, when it’s usually difficult to catch fish. Peter, an experienced fisherman, knew it was not the best time to catch fish, but he simply said, “Nevertheless, at Your word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5). What was the result of his faith in the Lord’s word? “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break” (Luke 5:6).
A Woman in London during World War II: I heard this story from Reverend Kenneth Hagin. An elderly woman turned up missing in London during World War II. Her neighbors didn’t see her in the bomb shelters during enemy air raids, so they assumed she had been killed or had left town. When some of them saw her on the street several days later, they asked where she had been. She answered that she hadn’t been anywhere. “But what did you do during the bombing?” “I just stayed in bed and slept.” “Weren’t you afraid? “No, after I read in the Bible that God neither slumbers nor sleeps, I decided there wasn’t any need for both of us to stay awake!” She believed in God’s word in Psalm 121:4, and she slept without fear, knowing that God would keep her safe.
The Woman with the Issue of Blood (Mark 5): The woman with the issue of blood had suffered for twelve years and spent her resources on physicians without getting better. She had faith that by touching Jesus’ clothes, she would be healed. She acted by pressing through the crowd to get to Jesus and touching His clothes, and she was instantly healed. This woman had to overcome all odds against her. First, the Jewish religious tradition forbade her from mingling with the public. She had to live as an outcast from society, because those who encountered her would have become unclean themselves. Secondly, she had the issue of blood for so long that she must have been weak, but she pressed on, believing that rather than her making Jesus unclean according to Jewish religious tradition, Jesus was going to make her clean.
This woman teaches us four important steps to receiving from God through faith: (1) Say it; (2) Do it; (3) Receive it; and (4) Tell it. The woman by faith said what she wanted and followed it with action, and she received it, and she told it publicly as a testimony to the power of God. Jesus said, “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them” (Mark 11:24). Her action was an important part of her faith in God’s word to make her whole.
Jesus said unto the woman, “Your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction” (Mark 5:34).
In the general epistle of James chapter two, James said, “What good is it, my brethren, if a man professes to have faith, and yet his actions do not correspond? … someone will say, ‘You have faith, I have actions: prove to me your faith apart from corresponding actions and I will prove mine to you by my actions’ … You notice that his [Abraham’s] faith was co-operating with his actions, and that by his actions his faith was perfected” (James 2:14, 18, 22 Weymouth).
So, what does believe in God do for you? Like the woman with the issue of blood or like Peter, believe and act on His word. His word is sufficient!