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The Succinct Command of Faith
The Succinct Command of Faith
David W Palmer
(Matthew 21:19 NKJV) And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.
Jesus used very few words to apply his faith to the fig tree: “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” That’s all the words he needed to achieve an amazing release of spiritual power, which brought what he said to pass. But when you think about it, that’s the way it has always been with God. For example:
(Acts 3:6 ESV) But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”
This passage from Acts is a clear example of how we, like Jesus, can operate faith through simple, authoritative commands that are succinct, concise, and pithy. We note that Peter began his command with, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth …” Today, we need to explore exactly what this means in this context, and how we too can make these sharp, precise commands of faith that release great power with pin-point accuracy.
First, why do we need accuracy? Or to put it another way, “Why do we need to be completely specific?” When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he used the phrase, “Lazarus, come forth!” (John 11:43 KJV). As this was spoken at a burial site, perhaps the outcome would have been vastly different if he simply said a general, “Come forth!”
An example of why we need to be specific as well as concise occurred in my life when we were very new Christians. We had received teaching about the authority of the name of Jesus, and about giving clear commands of faith. Perhaps our understanding of it all was in its infancy, but we were willing to try it:
My friend, John, and I were visiting a factory late one night in Abbotsford, Melbourne, where John had some space to work on his electronics. The factory owner had a Doberman watchdog; it was effective, but had a crooked leg from an earlier accident. Wanting to release our faith, and hoping to see this imperfect dog’s leg healed; we sneaked up on it, and yelled, “Be healed in the name of Jesus!” It jumped in fright and ran off; we went home.
John and I didn’t return to that factory for several months. When we did, the owner was sitting at his desk utterly bewildered. When we asked him what the problem was, he pointed to the back door. We went out to see what had happened to his fierce watchdog, only to find that it was not a Dober-man as originally thought; she was now a Dober-mum. “Lady” was now the doting mother of a large litter of pups. The complication, of course, was that the factory owner had bought her to be a watchdog, and paid the vet to have her de-sexed. Sadly her leg was still crooked, but a more important part of her identity was healed.
From what we fondly recall as “The Doberman Debacle,” we learned that when we release faith commands in Jesus’s name, we must be specific. We should have said, “leg, be healed” if that was what we wanted, not the general, “be healed!” When we said that, God had healed her reproductive organs, hence the litter of whelps.
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By DAVID W. PALMERThe Succinct Command of Faith
David W Palmer
(Matthew 21:19 NKJV) And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.
Jesus used very few words to apply his faith to the fig tree: “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” That’s all the words he needed to achieve an amazing release of spiritual power, which brought what he said to pass. But when you think about it, that’s the way it has always been with God. For example:
(Acts 3:6 ESV) But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”
This passage from Acts is a clear example of how we, like Jesus, can operate faith through simple, authoritative commands that are succinct, concise, and pithy. We note that Peter began his command with, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth …” Today, we need to explore exactly what this means in this context, and how we too can make these sharp, precise commands of faith that release great power with pin-point accuracy.
First, why do we need accuracy? Or to put it another way, “Why do we need to be completely specific?” When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, he used the phrase, “Lazarus, come forth!” (John 11:43 KJV). As this was spoken at a burial site, perhaps the outcome would have been vastly different if he simply said a general, “Come forth!”
An example of why we need to be specific as well as concise occurred in my life when we were very new Christians. We had received teaching about the authority of the name of Jesus, and about giving clear commands of faith. Perhaps our understanding of it all was in its infancy, but we were willing to try it:
My friend, John, and I were visiting a factory late one night in Abbotsford, Melbourne, where John had some space to work on his electronics. The factory owner had a Doberman watchdog; it was effective, but had a crooked leg from an earlier accident. Wanting to release our faith, and hoping to see this imperfect dog’s leg healed; we sneaked up on it, and yelled, “Be healed in the name of Jesus!” It jumped in fright and ran off; we went home.
John and I didn’t return to that factory for several months. When we did, the owner was sitting at his desk utterly bewildered. When we asked him what the problem was, he pointed to the back door. We went out to see what had happened to his fierce watchdog, only to find that it was not a Dober-man as originally thought; she was now a Dober-mum. “Lady” was now the doting mother of a large litter of pups. The complication, of course, was that the factory owner had bought her to be a watchdog, and paid the vet to have her de-sexed. Sadly her leg was still crooked, but a more important part of her identity was healed.
From what we fondly recall as “The Doberman Debacle,” we learned that when we release faith commands in Jesus’s name, we must be specific. We should have said, “leg, be healed” if that was what we wanted, not the general, “be healed!” When we said that, God had healed her reproductive organs, hence the litter of whelps.