Objection: Faith Is Simply Trust in God, Not a Force That You Use to Change Things Yourself
Faith does involve trusting God; Jesus said to have faith in God (Mark 11:22) before He said that you could move a mountain (Mark 11:23). I believe that the implication is that you trust what God said about the power and authority that He authorizes you to use. It is still your responsibility to exercise that power and authority.
However, the many who object along this line actually mean that you just trust God to change circumstances rather than doing anything about them yourself, and that is just plain wrong. Faith is NOT simply trusting and loving God and accepting whatever happens cheerfully. They tell us that you cannot use faith to change physical circumstances yourself because only God can do it. Then they tell us how egotistical it is to try to take control over things ourselves.
This sounds spiritual and even consecrated, but Jesus plainly taught that your faith can change physical circumstances, and that it’s up to you to use it, not God. YOU have authority because you are in Christ, who was given ALL authority in heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18). YOU tread on all the things of the devil (Luke 10:19), including sickness. God will not do it for you.
Mark 11:23-24 and Luke 17:5-6 are clear teachings that you can speak to a mountain or a tree and it must obey you. Jesus did not teach that you should simply trust and love God and accept a mountain that is in your way. He did not say to ask God to move a mountain for you. There is no mention here of God using your authority for you or moving in a way that avoids having you exercise your authority. You must speak to the mountain. You must speak to the tree. The mountain or the tree won’t move until you command it to move with faith-filled words out of your mouth.
You can complain to God about the mountain and nothing will happen. You can accept the mountain’s presence and think that you’re being humble. You can love God with all your heart and mind and still stay defeated. You can ask God to do something about your circumstances, but He’s already told you what to do about them. They will not change until you speak to them yourself. Scripture tells us that death and life are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21), and that’s talking about your tongue! We know that this is true, because with your mouth you make confession unto salvation (Romans 10:9-10). If you do not do this, you will be damned. It is up to you, not God, to confess Jesus as Lord with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead. Until you do this, you are not saved, no matter how good your works or intentions are. God does not save you apart from the confession of your mouth. He will not confess Jesus as your Lord for you. You must speak God’s Word if you want something to change.
When Peter walked on water and then started to sink, the Lord talked about the smallness of his faith. Peter’s faith allowed him to walk on water as Jesus did. Peter’s faith (in Jesus’ command to come) was responsible for this miracle, but Peter’s doubt caused him to start sinking. If it had all been up to God, Peter would have walked the whole way to Jesus without sinking.
Jesus rebuked His disciples for their unbelief when they could not cast out a devil in Matthew 17:14-21 and Mark 9:17-29. Jesus had explicitly given them power and authority to cast out all devils (not just “little” ones) before this incident occurred. They had the power. They just didn’t use it properly because of their unbelief. The Lord expected them to do it with their faith. He told them what they could do if they had faith the size of a mustard seed.
Note in particular that the father of the demonized boy asked Jesus to help if He could do anything. Jesus immediately put the responsibility on the man and said that all things were possible to him if he could believe (Mark 9:23). The same is true for you.
In multiple cases, Jesus told a sick person that his or her faith had made him well. (See According to YOUR FAITH Be It Done unto You for a complete list of such cases.) He did not attribute these healings to His own faith, but to the faith of the people who came. Thus, the responsibility for receiving the healing was on the person, not on Jesus.
James stated very bluntly that if you waver and are double-minded, you must not think that you will receive anything from the Lord (James 1:5-8). He said that you must ask in faith. That is your responsibility. You have God’s Word, by which faith comes, and it is your responsibility to read the Word, believe it, and act on it. There is a world of difference between acting in faith and just resigning yourself to whatever happens and believing that it’s God will and “trusting” Him with the result. This is not real trust at all, as religious as this may sound, because if you trusted God, you would trust His words in the Scriptures listed above. If you don’t trust Jesus’ words, you do not really trust Jesus. If you do not trust God’s words, you do not really trust God.
God has given you the privilege of speaking His Word to circumstances. In case it seems egotistical to think that you and not God are the one changing things, you should realize that there is a partnership involved. It’s your mouth, but it’s God’s Word. There is nothing puffed up about using God’s Word to move mountains. You have the easy part – speaking. God’s Word has the inherent power to take care of the mountain for you once you speak it. When you bring God’s Word onto the scene, you bring God Himself on the scene. To this extent, it is God doing the work, so God gets the glory, not you. You are still trusting in God.
I once lifted hundreds of pounds of music equipment at once at a church’s loading dock. It was easy. I pressed the UP button and the lift lifted it up. If I had not pressed the UP button, the equipment would have stayed where it was. I had to do something. But you are probably not glorifying me for my strength. I don’t expect any offers to star in a constant-violence-and-gore movie because of this feat. The lift did the work; I just had to press the button. This is a good analogy of the partnership involved between you and God when you speak His Word. The Word does the work, but it can’t do anything until it comes out of your mouth. No one should think that you’re a big shot because you just had the good sense to put something to work that is far more powerful than you are by yourself. God gets the glory, but there’s nothing to get glory over until you press the button by speaking God’s Word to your situation.