Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke”, we also believe, and so we also speak…

  • Believing and suffering. Paul aligns himself and his fellow-workers with the psalmist who continued to believe in the face of suffering (Psalm 116:10. Alec Motyer’s excellent quote on this Psalm is worthy of repetition: ‘Just as of old, it was a great cry for help (Ex.2:23-24) that initiated the exodus acts of God, so faith working by prayer remains the greatest force available to God’s earthly people’).
  • Believing and speaking go together. If we believe it we will want to confess it, somewhere, some way, somehow. Beliefs in the heart naturally want to overflow through the mouth. The call to preach is a call to let the Bible speak; to say only what it says: ”…according to what has been written…” So the conviction that it is the Word of God is of crucial importance. It is a travesty when people stand in the pulpit and try to talk about the Bible, but they don’t really believe it. God may nevertheless bless any truth genuinely spoken. If it is gospel truth, the seed can still take root and grow. But preachers who don’t believe what they are saying will lack conviction and authenticity. That said, I once knew a vicar who was converted in the middle of one of his own sermons. It lit up and became alive to him. Truly, God’s ways are mysterious and wonderful.