by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio

Hello and Happy Day! This is Dr. MaryAnn Diorio, Novelist and Life Coach, welcoming you to another episode of Winning with the Word. Today is Monday, March 11, 2024, and this is Episode #4 in Season 2024. This episode is titled, “The Power of Faith: How Faith Is Released.”

This will be our last episode of four episodes on the topic of faith for now. So let’s dive right in.

In our previous three podcasts, we discussed what faith is not, what faith is, and how to receive faith. If you have not listened to those podcasts, I encourage you to go back and do so. They will help you better understand today’s teaching on how faith is released.

So, how is faith released?

Bottomline, faith is released through our words. Yes, our words.

Romans 10: 9 states this: ” . . . if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Two key words jump out at us in this verse: Confess and Believe.

To confess means to declare. When we confess our sins, we declare them before God. The word confess comes from the popular Latin word confessare, which means to declare or admit.

The second word that stands out is believe. When we declare, we must believe what we declare. And we must believe it in our heart. If we believe it only in our head, then that is not faith. It is only mental assent.

For example, I can declare that I am healed by the stripes of Jesus, but if I don’t really believe it deep down, I will not experience the healing in my body. Or I can believe that God will provide me with a job to pay my bills, but if I don’t really believe it deep down where I live, in my heart, then I will not experience God’s provision.

If we speak something we do not believe, it is not faith. Faith is released when we declare something we believe in our heart.

Mark 11: 23-24 says this: “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, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

Notice, when you pray believe. When you pray believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

In this verse, we also see the necessity of words in releasing faith. Whoever SAYS. Those things which he SAYS. He will have whatever he SAYS.

Our words have great power.

Why are words so essential in releasing our faith? Here are a few reasons:

1. God created the universe using words. In Genesis 1, over and over again, we read: “And God said…and there was. And God said…and there was. And God said…and there was.”

We are made in God’s image. Therefore, we too create with our words. If we continually speak negative words over ourselves and our situation, we will create miserable lives for ourselves. If we speak positive, Scriptural words over ourselves and our situation, we will create beautiful lives.

2. Words are the containers of either life or death. Proverbs 18: 21 tells us that “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

Let me ask you. What are you creating with your words? Are you creating life, or are you creating death?

Are you saying, “My allergies are getting worse” Or are you saying, “Jesus has healed me of all allergies.”

First of all, stop saying my allergies. If you are in Christ, they don’t belong to you. He took them from you when He allowed Himself to be beaten with 39 stripes on his back. So don’t take ownership of anything that is not yours.

Let me tell you a little story. And this is a true story. Many years ago a woman was suffering from a terrible pain in her neck. And she tried everything to get rid of this pain. She went to all kinds of doctors, but nothing helped.

Finally, she went to a Christian doctor who understood the power of words. And as he listened to her complain and describe what she was feeling, he noticed that she kept saying, “So and so is a pain in the neck. This is a pain in the neck. That is a pain in the neck.” And the doctor realized that this dear woman was creating her own problem by speaking the words pain in the neck and by taking ownership of that pain in her neck.

So the doctor said this to her. He said, “I am going to prescribe something for you, and I want you to do it for a month. For one month, I want you to stop saying pain in the neck.”

So the woman looked at him. She raised her eyebrows and wondered, “Well, that’s a strange prescription. ” But she was willing to do it.

So she did. And after a month, she went back to the doctor and she reported that the pain in her neck had left.

That is how important the power of words is in our lives. So we want to speak what belongs to us.

Well, how can we know what is ours and what is not? Well, study the Bible. It’s all in there, my friend. You just have to read it. 🙂 Every promise that God has given us is in the Bible. The problem is we don’t read it, and so we suffer as a consequence.

Here is a vital truth: You will become what you accept. You will become what you accept. Do not accept what does not belong to you.

If you are born again, remember this:

__You are in Christ. Is Christ sick? Of course not. Then neither are you in the spirit realm. But you must release your faith to bring the health that is yours in the spirit realm over here into the natural realm where we now live in our physical bodies.

__The same is true of financial provision. Is Jesus poor? Of course not! The Bible says He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. But we must release our faith in order to bring the financial provision that is already ours in the spirit realm into the physical realm where we now live.

So, accept only what Jesus has provided for you. What has He provided? Health, provision, peace, and joy.

In closing, I want to mention some reasons believers fail to receive from God:

1. Condemnation. We sometimes condemn ourselves either for past sins or for present sins. But the Bible tells us that there is no condemnation for those of us who are in Christ. This is not a license to sin, however. But, it is a recognition that Jesus has set us free from sin and has given us the grace to resist it.

2. Wrong teaching. If you have received wrong teaching about healing, for example, you will struggle with releasing your faith for healing. Get into the Word and find out what God really says about healing. He says that He wants to heal you. He says that He’s able to heal you. He says that He has already healed you. He did so when He took those stripes on His back. Remember this: Faith begins where the will of God is known.

3. Disobedience. Repeated disobedience will block the blessings of God in our lives. Make sure you are hearing the Word and obeying it. He who hears only and does not obey is deceiving himself.

So, my friend, take God at His Word. God cannot lie. If He says you were healed by the stripes of Jesus, then you were healed by the stripes of Jesus. Be fully persuaded. Don’t doubt. Do not let your focus on circumstances keep you from receiving what is yours in Christ. Remember Peter.

Peter was able to walk on water only while he kept his eyes focused on Jesus. The instant Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and put them on the wind and the waves, he sank.

Let’s not be like Peter. Let’s keep our eyes focused on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Then we will experience the abundant life He died to give us.

If you do not yet know Jesus as your Savior and Lord, I urge you now to receive Him. He is coming back to earth very, very soon to remove those who follow Him. Those who do not will be left behind to endure the worst period in human history, known as the Tribulation. It will be a time of terror and catastrophe under the dictatorship of the AntiChrist. You do not want to be here for that!

So, pray with me now:

Lord Jesus, I come to You just as I am. I acknowledge and admit that I am a sinner in need of Your mercy and grace. Forgive me of my sin. I repent before You and ask You to come into my life and save me. Thank You for dying on the Cross for me and for rising from the dead. I receive You now as my Lord and Savior. Make of me what You created me to be. Amen.

If you prayed this prayer, you are now a born-again child of God and eligible to receive all of His promises by faith. Please write to me so that I can send you a free e-booklet titled After You’re Born Again. This booklet will help you get started in your walk with Christ. Write to me at drmaryann@maryanndiorio.com.

Remember that Jesus loves you just as you are and just where you are, and that He will help you to keep on winning with the Word!

Copyright 2024 by MaryAnn Diorio, PhD. All Rights Reserved.
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