2 Peter 1:3-10

3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and Godliness through our knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. 4 Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. 5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness and to goodness, knowledge 6 and to knowledge, self control and to self control, perseverance and to perseverance, Godliness 7 and to Godliness, brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins. 10 Therefore my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall



The above scripture contains the blueprint for growth in Christ. For the word of God to reach its full potential, it has to be spoken out into the atmosphere, and not just anyone can do this. The person proclaiming it, must have faith in the principles that are spoken.

When a person is shot and killed, it is true to say the bullet killed him. But before this could happen, even though the bullet contained all the power to do the killing, three objects had to come together: the person to pull the trigger, the gun from which the bullet was fired, and the bullet that does the killing. Only when this combination is met, can the bullet reach its full potential. Likewise, a threefold combination is required for the release of the spoken word: the person that speaks it, the faith that releases it, and the word that performs the transformation.

Jesus demonstrated this three fold combination when he spoke to the fig tree destroying it from the roots up, and when he spoke to the spirit of death which was over Lazarus, and when he spoke to the widow's son being carried in his coffin to his own funeral, and also to Jairus's daughter who had died. He also demonstrated this when he spoke to the infirmities of leprosy, blindness, deafness, or to the dumb.

These miracles did not happen through some mystical power of mind control. Jesus, full of faith and power, spoke to the problem, and the word came forth out of his mouth; like a bullet leaving the barrel of a smoking rifle and finding the target it was sent to neutralize. For the Christian to become effective in the realm of the supernatural, it is essential to realize the power of the spoken word in faith.