What Faith Does

Faith is an action.  It does.  Faith and Depression are opposites.  Depression is an all-consuming focus on self while faith is an all-consuming focus on God.  You cannot have both at the same time.  In Isaiah 6, Isaiah could have had a lot to be depressed about.  It was the year the King Uzziah died.  The country was without a ruler on their throne so the land was thrown into uncertainty and confusion.  It was at that time, that he said "I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple"

(1).  Faith first of all sees.  No matter what the situation or the problem, faith looks above the immediate need into the heavenly realm to the Solution.  No matter what is lacking or insufficient in the earthly realm, faith eyes the Completer and finds their completion in who He is.  Faith shifts the focus to the Lord.  Now Isaiah was not looking at the empty throne in Judah's palace, but he was looking at Heaven's throne that remained ever occupied by the Great I am: the One who Was, who Is and who Is to come.  It is impossible to stay despondent, needy and desperate when contemplating with eyes of faith the One that is the Beginning and the End and everything we need in-between.

(2). Faith pulls down what is in Heaven onto Earth by what it says.  Mark 11:22-23 says "Have faith in God...Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he say have whatsoever he saith.  Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have them"  Out of our mouth comes blessing or cursing.  Out of our mouth comes really what we believe because we are speaking out what is in our heart.  Our confession can bring into the seen realm heavenly blessings of provision, health and wholeness that Christ purchased for us.  We can command mountains of doubt, unbelief, fear, depression, infirmity and lack to go.  The problem is that many Christians get stuck looking at the temporary problem and speak it out.  The speak it over their home, over their children and over their futures.  That is all they can receive.  God is so good that he is not limited by our speech and blesses us anyways, but in some circumstances we do grieve the Holy Spirit and what He has for us, stopping the very gifts God wants to send our way or we allow the shadows cast on our lives to linger instead of shedding the light of God's promises on the test that could translate into a turn-around. 

Isaiah noticed when he had a vision of God that everything around the Creator was given over to praise.  Isaiah 6:3 says the angels "cried one to another and said holy, holy,  holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory."  If you have nothing good to say, it is always safe to give God praise!  In fact, when you have a true vision of God and His glory there is little else to do.  You have to say something.  Praise is something that rises inside and cannot help but give glory to the Lamb. 

(3) Finally, Faith brings a shaking.  The result of seeing God in your circumstance and rehearsing all of His attributes is a shaking.  As the presence of God (which dwells in our praise) descends to the earth realm things shake up and the problems disappear.  In Heaven's throneroom, Isaiah saw that "The posts of the door were shaken at the voice of him that cried and the house was filled with smoke" (4).  This is what happened in Acts 4 after Peter and John had been threatened by the religious leaders for healing the lame man.  They gathered with friends and had a prayer meeting asking God for even more boldness, healing miracles and signs and wonders.  It says that as they prayed "the place was shaken .where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spake the word of God with boldness" (31).  The  Holy Spirit operates among us and in us.  When we pray to the Father and uplift the Son, He comes in the room and shakes things up so that only what is God remains.  He gives us boldness and a prayer language to manifest God on the earth. 

Hebrews 12 speaks of God's shaking in this way "When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: “Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also.27This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.28Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. 29For our God is a devouring fire."  When God shakes things up, man-made rules, thinking, restrictions, limitations and hang-ups have to go--only God's kingdom remains.  It is when God comes into the situation that the physical realm begins to change to take on the characteristics and nature of God and His heavenly kingdom.

A shaking is also what happened to Paul and Silas in Acts 16:25-26.  At midnight when Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises to God, "Suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's chains were loosed."  When praise went up to God, God's glory came down and the prison shackles had to break off.  God used an earthquake to turn things around in favor of His servants.  In the same way, God will intervene in natural and supernatural means when we give Him praise.

So then faith is seeing, saying and a shaking.  It is exciting to grasp onto God's faith.  God's faith for you.  God's faith for your family.  God's faith for your future.  It's not even your faith, it's Christ's faith on your behalf.  Lay hold of it.  Speak it, and see God shake things up all for His glory.