People have a lot of ideas of what faith is. Some think its just believing in something or in God, but faith is sooo much more than that and is the most crucial factor of being a Christian. Faith in itself is what makes us Christians, so what does the Bible say about faith?
Faith Defined by the Bible
Hebrews 11:1 says that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. Well, what are the things hoped for? The things hoped for are anything that you are currently believing God for. Faith brings those things to pass. For instance, if you’re believing God for a car, it is faith that is going to bring it into being. Faith stems from a lot of things but for me, overall, faith is overall trust in God to bring things to pass. So, the things hoped for are what you are believing God for and faith is the evidence of your trust. Faith should always yield results, you should always have evidence of what you were believing for, otherwise, that wasn’t faith.
Trust in God
As I previously mentioned, faith is trusting in God above all else and you see this with all the great faith stories in the Bible. The father of our faith, Abraham is a great example of what it means to trust in God. As we all should know, God had promised Abraham that he was going to be the father of many nations but he had no children, he was pushing 100 and Sarah was 90 and wayyyy past her fertile years, yet a year after God had told them this, she had Isaac. Now, how is it that Abraham, 100 years old had a child with Sarah who was 90? The answer is faith! Romans 4:20 says “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”. The key here is that Abraham was fully convinced and did not waver. Those are the most important components of faith because faith is more than believing, it’s knowing that God is going to do exactly what He said He was going to do.
Abraham might’ve not seen it but He knew that God was good for it, God was good and able to make him the father of many nations. That’s where some Christains mess up, they don’t fully believe that God is going to come through for them, so that’s why though they say they believe God but there’s never any “evidence” as Hebrews mentions. In Mark 11:22-23, Jesus starts off this wonderful verse with “Have faith in God”, meaning trust wholeheartedly in God, having faith in God is what brings the things hoped for to pass. That is what faith is and all throughout the Bible, you see victories because people trusted in God and you see failures because people didn’t trust in God completely.
So Jesus answered them, “have faith in God. For assuredly I say to you whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.”
Mark 11:22-23 NKJV
You can tell when people are in faith or not. As I mentioned, some Christians say they are in faith but aren’t sure on the fact that God is going to come through, but they hope He will. Hope and faith are two different things, hope is desiring for something to happen, but faith is knowing something is happening or already happened spiritually, and later there will be a physical manifestation. People that hope, don’t fully trust God’s Word, they know what it says but have their reserves on whether it’s actually true. However, people who have faith, know what the Word of God says, believe it to its full extent, and expect God to bring His Word to pass in their lives.
How does one go from hope to faith? The main thing is to meditate on the Word, see what God has to say about what you’re believing for, and stand on it, and not waver as Abraham did. Abraham believed and stood on the Word of God and because of that, he got Isaac. You must do the same, you must engage God and His Word, that’s how you go from hope to faith. Get face to face with God, through prayer, reading, testimonies, listening to His voice and instruction, and overall just getting in contact with Him. The more you engage with God, the more His Word becomes real to you, and the more you are to believe that He will do as He says. Faith can be a tricky thing but these next few weeks, we’re going to go over the components of faith, faith victories and failures from the Bible, how to build your faith, and walking in a faith-filled life that yields results! And I’ll be learning with you so keep an eye out for my testimonies and hope by the end and even during these weeks on faith, you’ll have testimonies too! Remember faith is ultimate trust in God and His Word and His ability to bring it to pass, so I hoped this helped, see you next week!
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