Good day
I ended off the previous message with the following statement, "If faith pleases God, and faith is something Jesus said may be lacking on the Earth upon His return, then at the very least, we should seek to have an understanding of what faith is and how to live by faith."
You may hear people ask, "which faith do you belong to?", when they're actually asking you which religion you belong to. The term "faith" can therefore mean different things to different people. The best, and only, place to find out what faith means is to turn to the Bible. In this series I'll be covering two components of faith, one that has to do with us believing and receiving from God, and the other which deals with our lifestyle reflecting our belief in God. (which I'll cover at the end of this series)
The Bible says in Hebrews 11:1 that faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
We see an example of this in the below passage:
Romans 4:16-22
So the promise is received by faith. It is given as a free gift. And we are all certain to receive it, whether or not we live according to the law of Moses, if we have faith like Abraham’s. For Abraham is the father of all who believe. That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever He promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous.
The above is an example of what it means to stand in faith. It's trusting in God's promises and believing that He will bring them to pass regardless of how the circumstances may seem in the natural. It's believing that if God said it, He will do it! This is how we receive the promises God has declared over us - by faith!
In James 1:5-8, the Bible says that if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
The Greek word for faith is "pistis". It means belief, trust, confidence, assurance, conviction. This verse tells us that when we ask God for something, we need to ask Him in faith and not doubt. It goes so far as to say that a person who doubts shouldn't even expect to receive anything from the Lord. I can see how that makes sense when a person considers what it means to doubt, it's the complete opposite definition of what it means to have faith.
Jesus also said 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."
Here we see a similar example where faith and doubt are again mentioned in the same sentence. One could also say that if we doubt (if we don't believe) that we receive the things we ask of God, then we won't have them. Notice again that the context is in relation to asking and receiving and how faith is needed.
When people received a miracle from Jesus, you'll often find Him quoting the following, "According to your faith let it be done to you" (Matthew 9:28-29), "Your faith has made you well" (Luke 8:42-48, Luke 18:35-43), "Your faith has healed you" (Mark 10:52), again indicating that faith is needed in order to receive from God, and that without faith (without belief, confidence, trust, hope, expectation) in God, we won't be able to fully experience all the promises He desires us to have.
The most important example of receiving a promise from God is receiving our eternal salvation - and how is this received? ... by faith ... again just indicating how important faith is.
(See Romans 1:16-17, Romans 3:21-26, Romans 5:1-19, Ephesians 2:4-9, Galatians 3:1-11, Philippians 3:8-9)
I trust this message has brought further clarity about what it means when we speak about having faith in God and also highlighted the importance of its use when it comes to receiving from God.
In the next few messages we'll take a look at the following as a means of building our faith, is God still able? Is He still present? and is He still willing?
Amen