"(as it is written, "I have made you a father of many nations") in the presence of Him whom he believed--God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did;" Romans 4:17

We read in the Bible of a man named Abraham. Abraham desperately wanted a child of his own. Abraham was very old, and fearful he would die childless. Everything around Abraham must have told him that he would not have a child with his wife Sarah, everything except God. God told Abraham he would one day be a great nation, and he would have a child with Sarah. Despite Abraham's age or the age of his wife, and regardless of what anyone told him, when God said, "yes" to Abraham's request to have a child Abraham received the faith he needed to have a child. It was at this point Abraham could confess he would one day be a great nation, even though at the time he had not child with Sarah. Faith that comes from the Lord confesses God's word regardless of what is seen. Faith lives and walks by the Word of God, not by what is seen.

God calls those things which have not yet come to pass as though they had already happened. When we receive God's word, we may do the same. We cannot force God to do something by merely confessing it, but when God tells us that it will come to pass; faith counts it done. The Bible teaches us that, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Faith hears God's promise, His word and trusts Him no matter how crazy or impossible it may seem. We are assured that God's word will never return empty, it will always do what it was sent out to do.

"He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform."  

Romans 4:20-21