I have a friend who served as a pastor in India for many years. He said, “In Eastern cultures, we see the Bible differently than you do. We see in pictures. We read in the scriptures that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), and we really see faith coming! We confess it because God says it is so, and we see it coming with our spiritual eyes.”

I believe the Lord wants us to see what happens when we take the Bible seriously and speak the truth to ourselves. We will “see faith coming.” Most of the time, people wait to feel their faith with their emotions, but this is going about it backwards.

Imagine a train running down a track. Let’s compare the engine that pulls the train to the Word of God. The next car is our faith. And the last car, the caboose, is our feelings or our emotions.

When we place our faith in the Word of God, our “feelings or emotions” will always follow like a caboose. However, if we place our faith in our feelings first, we will be frustrated and the enemy will begin to discourage us. We must place our faith in the Word of God first. Then the “feelings of faith” will follow.

Faith is not a feeling. It is a mighty, living force released in our lives when we choose to hear and confess God’s Word daily. “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.” (Hebrews 4:12).