I suppose one of the greatest misunderstandings in the Christian walk is the understanding of faith. Let’s step back a moment and look at what faith actually is. Faith is not a noun, it is not an object that we acquire. Faith is an action that we put forth. If we were to use the idea properly it would be an act of “faithing”. Faith is taking what we know to be true and acting on it as if it is absolute truth. The concept of the mustard seed, which is a very small seed, is Yeshua’s description of the power of faith (Matt 17:20). If we take what we know to be true about God, the instructions that He has given us, and act upon them, we will be unstoppable.

Matthew 17:20 (KJV)

“And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.”

Moving mountains? The idea may be that what seems impossible is an illusion. Putting faith in action will have results that go beyond our wildest imagination. God’s word says (fill in the blank), I am going to act on this as if it is true. Now watch God work. The word of caution on this is obvious. Make sure that what you are believing is the truth and not a warm fuzzy idea that some horrid positive thinker has extrapolated from the Word of God. Just because a person gives you a scripture and verse does not mean that the idea is biblical! It also does not mean that this idea came from God.

I may be striking a sacred cow for a moment. The “name it and claim it” folks have a really good sounding idea. Until you search out their support scriptures. Almost every single one that they use to support their idea’s are drawn out of context or misquoted entirely. The base idea though is powerful. If we take what we know to be true and act upon it, God will do the rest.

I have been writing a book on healing for the last few years. One reason I started the book was because of a gross error that I heard taught from a pulpit. One pastor put forth 100 scriptures that assured physical healing. I carefully searched each scripture out and found that only one was in context. The rest were misquoted, misconstrued, out of context, and some did not address the subject at all. The entire teaching was a sham built upon fable.

What I have learned from writing the book boils down to the simple truth that God heals. He has made many tools available to us to get healing. First, we have the instructions of God to follow. Secondly, He gave us marvelous healers who are called “doctors”. Third, we have a myriad of other avenues to approach which will bring healing. Last and most important, God does heal supernaturally. I believe that faith is putting all possible resources at work to seek healing. This means that we put prayer to work. It means that we see medical doctors. It means that we seek out holistic options. When we are done with this, we do it again. Faith is aggressive, pushy and a determined effort to follow our belief.

Probably the most important thing we can do when healed is to seek verification that he healing has taken place. God may heal supernaturally and miraculously in an instantaneous way. This happens but is rare. On my recent trip to the Philippines, I saw hundreds of miracles take place. I also know of a man who claimed that his wife was healed of stomach cancer. He refused to have it verified because he claimed that that was a lack of “faith”. Now the cancer has spread to the lymph system and his wife has a very short time to live. In my opinion, faith is not blind. It is not an object that we invoke. It is an action that we put forth. In the case of my friend, it is impossible to know if the stomach cancer was treatable. We will never know now. I am certain though that if they had sought verification, every medical possibility would have been exhausted.

Most often God honors faith. He honors us when we take what we know and put it in action to find or elicit healing. As a short illustration, if you have a tooth-ache, go to the dentist!  Faith is putting into action the truth that is at hand.

I deviated from my normal study of examining the scriptures for a reason. I am very tired of hearing people pull this verse out of context to make it say anything they want. To understand faith is to understand what is really is. Think of faith as a verb, an action word. In the area of healing, action is not sitting on your butt claiming that you are healed.