What is faith?
Faith is trusting God when there
is no one else to trust. Faith is relying upon God in the midst of trouble.
Faith is having confidence in God’s promises. Faith sees the invisible and
believes the impossible. Faith is a conviction that no matter what the
circumstances look like, God will fulfill His word. Faith is knowing beyond a
shadow of a doubt that God will take care of you. Faith is believing in God
more than you believe in your problems. “Faith is the substance of things
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1 - KJV).
‘Faith’ is a ticket to go to God in Heaven. For example, if you have to
travel by train, you have to purchased a train ticket first. When you bought
the ticket, you did not demand to see the train you would be riding in. You have
faith the train would be at the railway station when the time arrived for you
to leave on your trip. The ticket represented the promise of the train. Faith
is like that ticket, it is the substance which guarantees God’s promises will
come true.
We should “live by
faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Faith is similar to the title
deed to a property you have never seen. Once the title of a property belongs to
you, the property also belongs to you. You can say with assurance, “I own this
land” even though you have never seen it. Where does faith come from? Jesus is
both the “author and the finisher” of our faith (Hebrews 12:2).
Jesus is the source of our faith, he is the object of our faith, and he
is the guaranteer of our faith. The Apostle Paul wrote, “faith comes from
hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ”
(Romans 10:17). Faith is ignited when we hear the word of God. God has
already given a measure of faith to every person (Romans 12:3), but the
more we hear God’s word, the greater our faith grows.
We absolutely need
faith. Repeatedly, the Bible drives this point home with this simple verse, “The
righteous shall live by faith” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11;
Hebrews 10:38). Those in right standing before God must live by faith. You
will reign in heaven or rot in hell based on your level of faith in God.
Because “...without faith it is impossible to please God... anyone who comes
to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek
him” (Hebrews 11:6).
God always moves in
response to faith. God is no respecter of persons, He is a respecter of faith.
The Centurion told Jesus, “Just say the word and my servant will be healed.”
Sure enough, Jesus met him at the point of his faith when he said, “It
will be done just as you believed it would” (Matthew 8:5-13). The man’s
servant was healed that very hour. Just as Jesus responded to the faith of this
desperate man, the power of God will meet you at the point of your faith. God
will move heaven and earth because of faith.
If you do not work your
faith, your faith will not work. Faith is like a muscle, the more you use it,
the greater it grows. Faith is not faith until you take action.“Faith
by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead” (James 2:17). Faith
without works is dead.
“ Workless faith” is an
oxymoron. As a matter of fact, faith without works can not even be called
faith. When the four men lowered their friend through the roof, Luke says Jesus
“saw their faith.”
In other words, he noticed a
physical action which demonstrated their faith. They acted on their faith, and
Jesus took notice (Luke 5:17-26).
It is vital to act on your faith. You can put action to your faith by
moving your body in a way you could not move it before. If you have a paralyzed
arm, try moving it. If you could not walk, stand up and begin walking. If you
have a tumor on your body, place your hand on the tumor and begin praying. Act
on your faith right now by reaching out towards Jesus.
May God bless you.
