This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. (1 John 5:4)
Faith is the key to receiving anything from God. Receiving salvation is dependent on our believing for it. And everything God has given by grace is received through faith. So what is it?
The Bible defines faith for us.
Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1 in the amplified bible says,
Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be
experienced by the physical senses].
The AMPC consistently says this regarding faith as in the following verse from Colossians 1:4.
Colossians 1:4 For we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus [the leaning of your entire human personality on Him in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness]
Faith then, we can conclude to be our confidence and then positive response to what God has already provided by His grace. Faith is simply taking God at His word! Unfortunately, much of the church does not define faith the way the Bible does. They don’t believe you can know God’s will, so many Christians think faith is trusting that whatever happens must be God’s will. Faith begins where the will of God is known, and believing it above anything else. This is why He gave us His Word. It is His will. He wants us to know Him and His purposes and plans for our lives and have access to it. Not everything that happens is God’s will. If we are going to live a life of victory, we have to know Him and His will!
Let’s look at Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Many people try to believe for something they never hoped for. What I mean by that is sometimes we want something but we’ve never intentionally imagined it being true or anticipated the reality of it. If faith is the product of what we hope, then we can’t be in faith without first hoping.
No hope, no faith. Bible hope is different that the world’s interpretation of hope. People say, “I hope so” but that isn’t Bible hope. Bible hope is a positive expectation. This is another reason people that don’t know God’s will, can’t have faith because they aren’t confident they can expect something from God.
It is so important to look at hope when talking about faith because sometimes we “know” God’s will and because of that, assume we also believe for it when we really aren’t.
Is your heart in it? We say that about every day sorts of things, but what exactly is our heart? Are we talking about our feelings? Is it simply when we have an emotional response or is it something far greater? If we want to understand faith, we need to go to the source of our faith for the answer.
The Bible says it’s with the “heart” man believes (Romans 10:8-9). When we receive salvation, it isn’t just an agreement with God’s Word, but a heartfelt conviction that produces a positive response. Amen.
Our heart is directly connected to our faith. So it bears consideration to find out what exactly is our heart. We may realize that when our “heart” is affected, there is an emotional response; but our heart is not just made up of our emotions. We are a spirit being, we have a soul, and we live in a physical body. Our emotions are a part of our soul (mind, will and emotions). And while our mind is important to know the will of God, what we know isn’t necessarily what we believe in the deepest part of our core being, our heart.
Faith begins when you know God’s will and it creates an expectation of good from God. So it goes from our mind into our hearts. Then that hope builds confidence in God’s promises. However, hope is expecting something in the future.
Faith is Now. Faith is our entrance into the grace (provision for man’s every need) of God. And takes as a present possession what was hoped for.
Jesus tells us in Mark 11:22-24
“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. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”
This scripture makes it very clear that if we are to have what we are believing for, we have to believe we receive it when we ask. Not hope for it sometime. Many Christians want all the good God has for them but they don’t truly believe Him for it. When you believe something, you know in your heart that you’ve got it! This assurance of what you believe produces the tangible reality of it. When you know you got it, you got it!
“You can only know what you truly believe by what you are expecting. What you are truly expecting at the core of your being is a better reflection of your faith than what you know. What you are expecting, is really where your faith is at.” (Barry Bennett) As he thinks in his heart, so is he. (Proverbs 23:7)