You may say, “Everything depends on God. He’s the One who determines everything. If He wants me to live, I’ll live.” As nice and humble as this communication sounds, it’s wrong. Many have died unnecessarily by thinking and talking this way.

There are Christians who keep hoping that God will come into their situation, shake everything up, and make things all right. They say, “It’s up to God.” They talk this way because it helps them escape responsibility. But we do have a role to play in effecting the changes that we desire in our lives.

It isn’t enough to hope God will someday make everything all right; you’ve got a role to play. The profound words from the Master in our opening Scripture not only show us that we can change anything, but they also tell us how. Jesus said, “Have faith in God.” Some Bibles with a good marginal reference indicate that this can also read as “Have the faith of God.” In other words, “Have the God-kind of faith.”

This is the kind of faith God operates to produce whatever He desires! Jesus demonstrated this kind of faith and showed us how it functions. Mark 11:12-14 says, “And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.”

When Jesus faced a situation He didn’t like, He didn’t keep quiet about it. Instead, He spoke what He wanted. It’s important to note that the Bible specifically tells us Jesus spoke to the tree and His disciples heard it. He spoke out loud, not in His mind. This reveals a very important principle: the God-kind of faith speaks! Expressing a similar thought, Paul declared in Romans 4:17, “…even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” In other words, God calls things that do not exist into existence! He speaks forth what He wants to see! Another important thing to note is that Jesus didn’t wait to see if there were any changes.

He simply made the declaration and continued on His journey. Interestingly, nothing seemed to happen to the tree at the time He spoke; otherwise, His disciples would have noticed it. But Jesus knew something had happened and just went on His way. Someone says, “I won’t believe it until I see it.” Well, that’s not how the God-kind of faith works. Believing comes ahead of seeing. If you don’t believe it, you’ll never see it. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

When you’re functioning with the God-kind of faith, you just know you have what you’ve hoped for, regardless of any evidence to the contrary. Your faith in God’s Word is your evidence! In the account from Mark 11, it wasn’t until the next morning that the changes became evident (see Mark 11:20- 21). Then Jesus said, “Have the faith of God.” With the God-kind of faith, you can do much more than cause a tree to wither. You can speak to a mountain and tell it to move into the sea, and it’ll happen! Your life and future are actually in your hands. If there’s a condition in your body that you don’t like, don’t tolerate it. Change it! It doesn’t matter how hopeless the case seems. With the God-kind of faith, you can change anything.

Jesus said you will tell a mountain to move and it will! Now, you may ask, “How can I get the God-kind of faith?” If you’re born again, you’ve got it already! God has dealt to every one of His children the measure of faith (Romans 12:3). This means you got it the day you were born again. All you need to do now is use it to cause the changes you desire in your life. This is God’s desire for you! He doesn’t want you to be a victim. He wants you to come to the point where nothing moves you and you’re unfazed in the face of adversity because you know you can change anything!