Some passages are abbreviated in one Gospel, but we have more detail in another. Matthew 17:14-20 is one such account, which has more detail in Mark 9:14-29. This is the story of a father who bring his demon-possessed boy to the disciples, who can't cast it out. Then Jesus casts it out.
When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, because he has seizures and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire and into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they were not able to heal him.” Jesus answered, “You unbelieving and perverse generation! How much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I endure you? Bring him here to me.” Then Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” He told them, “It was because of your little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; nothing will be impossible for you.”Matthew 17:14–20, NET
Now this one seems to be clear-cut pure Word Faith at first glance: it's all about having enough faith and not doubting; mind over matter. But when we ask the question faith in what, we see something different. There's a clue in the longer passage of Mark.
Then, after he went into the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we cast it out?” He told them, “This kind can come out only by prayer.”Mark 9:28–29, NET
Let's run it through the worldview grid first.
|
Worldview area |
Word Faith |
Evangelical Charismatic |
|
Where is the power located |
In you, activated by faith |
In the Holy Spirit who is in you, activated through relationship |
|
How we know what to do day-to-day |
By understanding the principles of faith |
By looking to what God is saying for that occasion (via prayer) |
|
What is reality |
Although it might look like we have little power sometimes, really, we should continue to not doubt, and believe we have the victory |
The physical is reality, but we will see more of the miraculous when we move according to where God wants to move |
So the Word of Faith religion asks us to have faith in our faith, essentially. Notice they never really define the object of our faith. That's deliberate. If you had faith in what God was saying, as Mark 9:29 says, and indeed what Matthew 17:20 is getting at, you are in relationship, hearing from God, and being directed by him. If you "have faith", you don't need to have that relationship, you just believe in a certain outcome, and will it into being. It's totally different. Now let me tell you why it's different.
There's a big difference here because what the Word of Faith religion is actually teaching here is hypnosis. You heard it right. When you examine what goes on with those who practise hypnosis, you quickly realise they're saying and doing the same things. We don't have the time or space to go into that (that requires a book—see footnote), but hypnotists get people to focus on one thing, to trigger both suggestive and non-suggestive reactions. So anyone relying on building an expectation (e.g. that God is about to move) is wittingly or unwittingly moving towards hypnotising people.See Slaying in the Spirit: The Toronto Blessing; The telling wonder, 1995, by Nader Mikhaiel.
Notice, though, that Jesus never had to build an expectation. He simply goes around rebuking demons and healing immediately. He never teaches that you have to picture the reality you want, believe for it, and focus on it, to make it manifest. He teaches us to come to him in prayer, and then act on what he says. One is a hypnotist technique, the other is a relationship.
This is why faith and belief is rarely defined. If you merely "have faith", then the faith preacher can insert whatever picture or expectation they want you to have faith in. For example, Hagin likes to insert "God's best", as if 100% perfection can be achieved now. But if you actually had faith in what Jesus is saying to you at that moment, you don't need to concentrate and focus on that, you just need to simply act on it, knowing that that's what the Spirit wants to do. That's faith—doing what Jesus tells you to do.
So Jesus is telling his disciples to come to God in prayer, and then if he says to you to move a mountain (figuratively speaking), then you go and do it. His Spirit is there to do that. That's why it will work, because His Spirit wants to do that through you. He's not saying that you have power in and of yourselves if you just picture it in your mind and focus on it and believe it, that it will then come to pass due to the force of your faith.
Note that, if you're a cessationist reading this, I'm also being careful to not give credibility to your view. There is power in the Spirit to do the miraculous today. But it's according to God's will, not our will; it's to glorify Him and His word, not us; and it fully relies on the Spirit, not some technique. Pointing out the wrong way in no way means there's no way forward.
Bottom line: come to God and do what he says.