Speaking The Word of Faith
by Norman Grubb

Taken from Yes I Am, the following article  explores how we take spirit action—then  move from thought to deed—to bring about  a desired outcome.

We have seen that one stream of the  rivers of living water flows out from us  in our believing attitudes. We might call  this the Power of Positive Believing.  We have it clear that everyone, with no  exception, is projecting his attitude. No  man can live unto himself. Modern science  informs us that every atomic particle  has its field of attraction or repulsion;  so also we humans have. The poet  Francis Thompson wrote in “The  Mistress of Vision”: 

All things by immortal power, 
Near or far, hiddenly, 
To each other linked are, 
That thou canst not stir a flower 
Without troubling of a star…. 

Paul said the same with his “None of us  liveth unto himself, and no man dieth  unto himself.” 

We know well enough what our  frowns and head-shakings and pessimism  and general negative attitudes  do. How wonderful it is, instead, to be  constant inner-see-ers of God, in His  perfect ways, meaning everything and  everybody to be at this moment just  what they are. Thus “with the lift of our  soul,” without effort or put-on-ness,  maybe saying nothing, but with the  replacement of the garment of praise for  the spirit of heaviness, not trying to  impress or change a person, we cannot  but be a light of hope, praise, and faith  in dark places. We are not hiding the  apparent hurts. But mercy is rejoicing  against judgment in us, and there is no  hiding it. The Spirit is secretly touching  the strings of response in hearts where  there are only the bass notes sounding. 

But spirit attitude is only the preliminary  to spirit action. No person on  earth functions without first inwardly  reacting to things, and is always in a  negative or positive attitude toward  them. From this he moves on to the  moment of decision as to what he will  do about it. The general thought-level,  which can move in any direction, is  now replaced by a decisive, inner word-  level. He says within himself, “I will do  this,” “I will take that,” “I will go  there.” Thus he speaks within himself  his “word of faith.” From that inner  process, by which general thought is  replaced by specific word, he now  moves on to outer deed—from thought  to word to deed. From Father-level to  Son-level to Spirit-level. By no other  process has any single conscious action  ever taken place in all human history. It  is the universal human process of selfmanifestation,  whether it is the taking  and eating of some food from a plate, or  a decision of the United States  Congress! It is also the process of creation  in Genesis 1. The Father has His  universal plan of the ages; the Son,  called the Word, gives the plan its particular  form with His “Let there be”; the  Spirit moves upon the face of the waters  and transforms the word into substance.  Father, Son, Spirit—thought, word,  deed. 

The critical moment of any action,  whether by the Three-in-One, or by  man made in His likeness, is the speaking  of the decisive word: attitude  (Father) moves into word (Son) and  action (Spirit). That is why we say that a  word puts a person in action. 

In any mundane activity, this is the  order. Thoughts are preparatory. Deeds  are the products. Speaking the decisive  word transmutes the thought into deed.  The word is at the heart of the process.  So a person in action is really his word  in action. 

Now move that up into the operations  of the kingdom of God, the realm  of the spirit dimension, of which all  earthly forms are visible reproductions— spirit-essence slowed down to  the point of visibility. Now we are the  sons of God operating in the Spirit  kingdom, though outwardly flesh members  of a three-dimensional world. How  then do we operate? Precisely as we do  in our three-dimensional world of  space-time. Not one iota of difference.  We operate from the Father-level of our  general understanding of situations and  the purpose in them, on to the Son-level  of the decisive moment of the spoken  word of what is to come to pass, and on  to the Spirit-level of the thing done. But  how can we say that? Because we as  sons of God are in union with the  Father, Son, and Spirit by His grace and  election; and that union means that we  are so inwardly one that we act as He.  We think His thoughts; we speak His  word of faith; we do His deeds. 

How do we think His thoughts on  the Father-level? Because we have the  mind of Christ, as the Scripture states.  We no longer look around outside us, or  upward, to gather His thoughts. We  understand that He is living out His perfect  purposes by His body members…  and therefore by me as one of them.  Therefore, whatever situation I am at  present in is precisely the expression of  His present mind for me. All, then, that  I have to do is to sort out in my mind  what is the situation in which He is now  living by me, and what is my relation to  the people with whom He has linked  me. This necessitates seeing each situation  as His perfect purpose. 

But now we go further. I have taken  it for granted that He has a distinct purpose  to fulfill by me, His son, in the situation.  I must now, therefore, particularize  the circumstances or the people  concerned, and know what it is He purposes  doing in them. What is that particular  thing? I must get that “in the  clear” to move on to the decisive word  of faith. How do I get it clear? By boldly  taking it for granted that He thinks  His present thoughts by me. For He is  “working in me to will and do of His  good pleasure.” He is causing me to  desire His desires. So I name that desire  precisely, for “What things soever ye  [not He] desire…ye shall have” (Mark  11:24). I do not hesitate, except for  whatever time it takes to formulate my  desire. (And if I am part of a group,  together seeking the mind of God, it  may take a while to get to one mind.) So  first comes attitude. 

Then I move straight in to the Sonlevel  of speaking the word of faith. I do  precisely what Jesus (in Mark 11:20-26)  told His disciples to do. He had earlier  commanded the fig tree to bear no more  fruit (vss. 12-14). The next morning,  when they passed the withered tree,  Peter commented on it: “Master, look,  the fig tree you cursed is withered  away.” Jesus simply replied, “Now you  have this same ‘faith of God’” (which is  the literal rendering, rather than “faith  in God”). And what does that mean?  Obviously, seeing as God sees the situation,  and thus believing with His  believing. And how does God do this?  Through my eyes and inner comprehension.  So if something appears like a  mountain of difficulty to me, that is  how He is first causing me to see it. 

Jesus then tells His disciples to say  to any such mountain, “Be thou  removed, and be thou cast into the sea,”  and in doing so, to believe it is a completed  fact. The result: “You will have  whatever you have said.” It couldn’t be  simpler. Don’t beg. Don’t beseech. Just  say it! But there is the added proviso  that we don’t doubt in our hearts—don’t  allow mental soul-doubts, which we  surely have, to disturb our fixed, inner  word of faith: “Whosoever…shall not  doubt in his heart, but shall believe that  those things which he saith shall come  to pass, he shall have whatsoever he  saith” (vs. 23). 

But how can I say “Be removed” to  a mountain? Because it is only a mountain  to my human seeing. Read what  God said to Zerubbabel in Zechariah  4:7: “Who art thou, O great mountain?  Before Zerubbabel…a plain.” Thus to  the eyes of faith a “mountain” is no  obstacle, and as Jesus said, is removed  and cast into the sea by the word of  faith. 

So, having the mind of Christ, as  “sons in action” we discern that “next  thing” God is moving us on to and bring  it into being. It is just that simple. It is  only the “graveclothes” of suspicion of  our old self-seeking selves which  makes us hesitate about saying that the  thing we desire is His mind. But He has  said, “What things soever ye desire  when ye pray, believe…” (vs. 24). You  desire. Then let’s be that simple. If He  in us trusts our desires to be His desires,  let us trust ourselves. We have discarded  and rejected those doubtings and  questionings of our motives by accepting  our vital Galatians 2:20 relationship,  so let us now practice holy  boldness, just as John keeps saying  in His union epistle: “We  have confidence toward  God…. This is the confidence that we  have in Him…. We may have boldness  [even] in the day of judgment.” 

Then, being bold in defining exactly  what are the things we are presently  desiring in place of the mountain confronting  us, and naming them, we speak  the key word of the countdown—we  press the button marked, “SAY.” We do  that from our inner spirit-center, simply  by our authority as sons of God. Jesus  has plainly told us to act as God by “the  faith of God”—by His inner believing  imparted to us, by our inner union of  mind and understanding. This means  that in acting as He, all of His mighty  resources are at our disposal. It is not  now a matter of us being at His disposal,  but of Him being at our disposal. He  is operating in this present world-system  by us. We say with Caleb, “Let us  go up at once and possess it, for we are  well able to overcome it.” And in so  doing, we laugh the laugh of faith. 

Speaking this word of faith (having  once settled what the desire is) could  not be more simple. It is the “obedience  of faith” (Rom. 16:26). That is all the  “works” involved. It is a work of faith  to this extent: all that the outer appearances  can pour on us at such a “speaking”  moment, they will pour. That is to  say, we shall likely feel the full impact  of the foolishness of faith. It looks  absurd. It is absurd, because the agony  of faith is that nothing can ever be experienced  until after we’ve committed  ourselves to it, not before. As we’ve  seen, that is actually true in a minor way  of even the least act of everyday faith,  like sitting on a chair. How much more  when it is these leaps into what is invisible  and impossible and unattainable by  human methods! So there is a travail of  faith because of the assaults on us by  every emotional reaction to the absurdity  and impossibility of it. And equally,  by every rational objection to what spirit- faith has always been—the irrational.  So in that sense, we say speaking this  word is not simple. Yet it is, because it is  just speaking the word! And that is why  something equivalent to “confessing it  with our mouth” is a seal on it—a  means by which, once we have said a  thing, it’s a settled matter—and the  affirmation to ourself or to others helps  to settle us into it. But that’s all. These  are our supreme moments when the  rivers of the Spirit are flowing out of us  on our spirit level. This is the faith that  gives substance to things hoped for. 

How It Affects Our Prayer Life 

Speaking the word of faith obviously  makes a big difference to our prayer  life. In explaining this new understanding  of prayer I have sometimes said that  “I don’t pray any more.” I should not  say that, chiefly because the Bible is  full of exhortations to prayer and illustrations  of prayer. What I’m meaning is  that at the heart of my praying, the  prayer of request has been replaced by  the prayer of acceptance of what I’ve  asked for. Certainly, prayer cannot  mean what we often interpret it to  mean—having special times of prayer,  etc.—because Paul has told us to pray  without ceasing, and that we cannot do  unless we see prayer to be a condition in  which communion with God is always  continuous, on our subconscious (and,  as needful, conscious) level. 

I am not now referring to those  periods of corporate prayer expressing  fellowship, worship and praise. Some  enjoy them in the quietness of an  Episcopal-type worship service, or of  the Lord’s Supper. Others, including  myself, though being most at home in  home fellowships, also enjoy the Spiritled  out-pourings in more charismatictype  meetings when all are unitedly and  vocally pouring out their hearts in  praise; and this may often include both  songs and singing in the Spirit, in one  great volume of sound, sometimes  interspersed with messages in tongues  and interpretations. This was obviously  part and parcel of the normal worship  times in the early church (1 Cor. 14:26-  33). It shows how far we have cooled  off from the glow and freedom of those  days when, in our established churches,  we have a pastor to do the praying and  preaching. This is a far call from a fellowship  so living, and with so many  wanting to take part, that it isn’t a question  of calling on and encouraging the  brethren to participate but rather of having  enough orderliness for one to follow  another, and giving room for two or  three to speak in tongues also. 

How far we’ve come when such a  message in tongues would cause a  shock (and even division) in the church  fellowship, instead of being so ordinary  that no notice is taken. I was in a fellowship  I like to be with in Halford House,  Richmond, England, on a Sunday  morning, with about two hundred present.  In the freedom of the worship hour  I heard one speak in tongues with an  interpretation. Then another spoke and  no interpreter. When I inquired afterwards  about the one with no interpretation…“ You made a mistake,” said my  friend. “The second one was a Chinese  sister speaking in her own language.”  But the point I am making is that in a  period of worship and praise by song,  prayer, Scripture, a message in tongues  may be taken for granted; and it was a  non-Pentecostal assembly. How far we  have wandered. 

It is something to hear the rising and  falling of the sound of the Spirit in a  Korean country congregation, maybe of a  couple of thousand—and Presbyterian—  unitedly praying at 4:00 a.m.; and that  glow and glory can be shared today in  many fellowships of many natures, by no  means officially Pentecostal. 

But back to our main line about the  word of faith as the heartbeat of our  prayer life. We have seen that we first  need to know the mind of Christ, in  each given situation, expressed through  our own minds—relating to the challenge,  the mountain that confronts us.  Knowing that His mind and ours are in  union, we come to a plain settlement  (even if it takes time to sort things out)  of what it is that we desire in the situation.  We then boldly take it for granted  that that means His desire by us, knowing  that He freely said in Mark 11:24,  “What things soever ye desire, when ye  pray, believe that ye receive them, and  ye shall have them.” 

And now we are moving into the  heart of the matter. Jesus had just said,  “Say unto this mountain, Be thou  removed…” and you will have whatsoever  you say. Now, speaking of naming  our desires in prayer, He said, “Believe  that you have received them, and they  shall be granted you”—“have  received,” not “receive”—and I quote  the New American Standard version  here, because it best brings out the  meaning of the Greek aorist tense. 

This is where the difference lies  between my former request-type praying  and what Jesus was saying to His  disciples and now us. I see God marvelously  privileging me and you to be  His agents of production in lives and  conditions. Just as we produce in the  material realm by specifically deciding  what we shall make and then making it,  so now in the realm of the Spirit. For  me, I ask no longer, unless I also believe  and receive. Folks say, “But doesn’t  God tell us to ask?” Yes, but asking is  not to inform God of what I need. “Your  heavenly Father knoweth that ye have  need of all these things,” said Jesus.  What is required is God getting me in  my childish ignorance to the point of  deciding what He is meaning me to ask  for. Just as you get a child to choose  which cookie he will take and then ask  for just that one. So asking is just a stepping  stone to receiving. As Jesus said,  “Ask…seek…knock, and it shall be  opened unto you.” So to my asking I  add taking and receiving. Indeed, as I  get used to taking by the word of faith, I  hardly notice I’m asking—one is almost  dissolved into the other. 

So I move right in and speak the  desire into reality. How? By that word  of faith which “calls the things that be  not as though they were,” which is said  to be God’s form of faith (Rom. 4:17),  and therefore mine. I speak that word.  When it is on the mundane, human  level that I speak any such word, I then  go on to fulfill it. This time I am recognizing  that it is God speaking that word  by me, and so He goes on to fulfill it—  and it is precisely the same as when He  brought the visible creation into being  by the word of His Son. 

For many years after his retirement as  General Secretary of the Worldwide  Evangelization Crusade, Norman  Grubb traveled extensively sharing the  truth of our union with Christ. He also  carried on a huge personal correspondence  with individuals throughout the  world. He was the author of many  books and pamphlets, a number of  which are available through the  Zerubbabel Book Ministry. Norman  lived with his daughter, Priscilla, in  Fort Washington, PA. Norman P.  Grubb entered the Kingdom at 98 years  of age.