Since faith is essential in our relationship with Jesus Christ it is so important to understand what faith is, and what it is not.
Faith in the original Greek is “Pistis” and a Bible Dictionary defines it as; persuasion, credence, moral conviction, assurance, belief or, fidelity. In our last post, we looked at the definition given by Hebrews 11:1, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”. So, faith for a Christian is believing in the spiritual or unseen.You put your faith in Jesus and your hope in His promises. Again, it is not faith in faith or faith in the promises found in the Bible, but faith in the one who made the promises in the Bible.Show More
So, faith is not wishing, hoping, or wanting something to be. Instead, it is the confidence and assurance that because of the love of God He will not leave you or abandon you to your circumstances. The Apostle Paul says in Romans 8: 38-39, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Do you believe that… that nothing can separate you from God’s Love?
It is your faith in the Lord that causes you to behave or act in a manner that shows you have already received that for which you are believing. Now that was a mouthful! The world says, “Show me and then I will believe!” God says, “Believe in Me and then I will show you!”
Abraham of the Old Testament is called the “Father of Faith” because he acted on what God said even before there was physical proof. God spoke to Abraham that he would be the “father of many nations” even before he had any children. Abraham received the promise of a son when he was 75 years old and was reminded of that promise when he was 90, but it wasn’t until he was 100 years old that the promise was fulfilled. During all that time Abraham believed in what God said. Listen to what Genesis 5:19-22 says about Abraham, “And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 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. And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.” You see faith is believing that you have it before it comes to pass.
Believing with your mind is not the same as demonstrating faith with your actions! True faith gets you into the wheelbarrow!
Start your adventure with God today by remembering that “we walk by faith and not by sight! (2 Cor 5:7)
