There are people, Christians mostly, that take offense at those who preach the faith message. Quite frankly, I don’t understand people that are so down on those who preach faith. Those who focus on faith are told they are extremist, fundamentalist, even false teachers. Now I can understand if those preachers are preaching something other than the Bible. But if they are preaching faith – they are preaching one of the most, if not the most, important subjects in the Bible.

But Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” That seems to put a pretty large amount of importance on faith. In fact, the more you think about it, without faith, you aren’t getting anything from God. Perhaps, in His mercy, which we all benefit from, you might receive a miracle that falls outside the faith realm, but that is not the norm.

Most of us will receive in accordance of our faith. In fact, God has put all of us on the same grounds. He has told us all that we will receive from Him according to our faith.

“Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.” – Matthew 9:29

“And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.” – Mark 5:34

“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” – Mark 11:24

Now the Lord has told us that unless we have faith, we cannot please Him. He has said that it is by our faith that we receive. God would be unjust if He said this and then didn’t give us direction on how we could get faith. But He has given us direction. He has told us all how we can get faith.

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” -Romans 10:17

Once we have this faith, then we can receive. We can receive salvation, we can receive healing, we can receive our needs met, we can receive anything the Bible promises. But how do we do that? By faith. To get anything God has promised it, we must receive it by faith. But in most cases, not all, we must build our faith up. Most things we will not receive by just hearing the Word once. In fact, the Greek for Romans 10:17 actually gives the meaning of “faith comes by hearing and hearing and hearing…” It is a continual process, building up your faith. In fact, when you hear the Word preached on any subject, one of two things is going to happen. You will either have a new belief instilled in you and a seed will be planted, or the belief you already have will be watered. That seed will grow; your faith will grow, until what you are believing for is manifested in the natural realm.

Now this isn’t always the case. People receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior after hearing of Him once. They receive the Baptism of the Spirit with speaking in tongues after only hearing it once. They receive healing after just hearing about it once. You receiving certain things is based on who much faith you have for that thing. In most cases though, we will need to build our faith up to receive though.

Take for instance the farmer. He doesn’t plant his crop and go away and one day it’s all there magically big, tall and ready for harvest. No, he plants it and has to continually water it, and once it has come to maturation, it is ready to be harvested. In just the same way, we have to have our belief planted or instilled, watered, and it will then produce a harvest.

Of course, this is also where confession comes in. Many people, Christians now, have a negative thought when the word confession is said. They either see it as the confession of sins or some wacky extremist teaching of blab it and grab it. However there is more to it than that.

The Bible says, “But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach (Romans 10:8). The Word is in your mouth. That is confession. Confession or proclamation of God’s Word is an integral part of the Christian life. We must continually be confessing God’s Word. Why? Because we are continually be bombarded with the words of the world. And we continually need faith produced in our life. The Bible says that the just shall live by faith.

This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, that you may observe and do according to all that is written in it. For then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall deal wisely and have good success. – Joshua 1:8

The word meditate here actually means to mutter. It means to say. Bring this over into the New Covenant, which we rightful can do, and it means that God’s Word shall not depart your mouth, but you shall meditate, mutter, confess, say it day and night.

Now many Christians have a misconception of what confession is. They believe those that teach and believe in confession are trying to force God to do something, as if twisting His arm will get Him to do something. Let me let you in on something: God isn’t going to do anything He doesn’t want to do. The purpose of confession isn’t to change God. It is to change us. It is to build faith into us so we can receive.

So how does faith come, for specific things? How does faith come for salvation? How does faith come for healing? How does faith come for financial needs being met? Faith comes the same way for every subject and every problem. Faith comes by hearing and hearing the Word of God. If you need healing, you need to hear the Word of God on the subject of healing. You need to listen to messages of healing, confess scriptures on healing, build your faith on healing. The same is true with every other issue and problem.

On the issue of salvation, without faith, no one will receive Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. How do they receive Him? By hearing the Word preached on the subject and having their faith built, and confessing Him as Lord.

As you can see from Scripture, faith is vitally important. In fact, it is probably the most important subject in the Bible. For without faith, we cannot receive anything from God. Without faith we cannot be born again! We can’t please God, follow God, receive from God! Nothing. So whatever you desire from God, find scriptures that promise you those things. Just a few of them will do – 2 or 3 – and confess those scriptures, continually and daily. Don’t look at what you see, what your circumstances are. Look at the Word of God, build your faith on that, and watch what you are believing for manifest!