Speaking the Word of Faith
by Norman Grubb

This excellent selection is taken from Yes, I Am, Norman’s last and most complete exposition of the truth of our union with Christ. Yes, I Am is now reprinted and available from Zerubbabel Press.

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.

Attitude-The Preliminary to Action

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 him-self 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 self-manifestation, 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, to word, to 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.

God’s Perfect Purpose

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 Son-level 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."

We Speak the Word

Then, being bold in defining exactly what are the things we are presently desiring in place of the mountain con-fronting 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.