Faith Part 1- What Is It?

What is faith? How do you get it? Are we born with it? How do you know you have it? Is it possible to increase it? How do I use faith? Is it something I can control?

What is faith?

I struggled for a long time with understanding this thing called faith. Whether I had faith was not the issue. That question was settled in Romans 12:3 “to every man is given a measure of faith.” So I knew God had given me a portion to get started with, but, I wasn’t satisfied with knowing I had faith – I wanted a precise by the book definition. The only thing I had to go on were a few vague ideas that never really gelled into that “Aha!” moment.

I don’t mean to give the impression that I constantly searched for a definition. I didn’t. But the question kind of hovered in the background because I really wanted that light bulb in the mind “Aha!” moment. I’d do a little searching here and there but nothing major. Over the years I asked a few people who seemed to have it all together in the “Spirit-filled” department for their definition.

Some of the answers I got were.

Faith is:

• “Knowing God is real even though you can’t see or touch Him.”
• “A feeling you get in your heart”
• “Trust in God
• “It’s knowing that you know that you know.” –  Huh!

I also looked it up in The Enhanced Strong’s Greek Dictionary:  

1. persuasion, i.e. credence 
2. (morally) conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher) 
3. (especially) reliance upon Christ for salvation

And of course, The Bible definition of faith is found in Hebrews 11:1

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (KJV) 

“Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.” (ISV)

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I accepted all of these answers but…

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A couple of days ago I was led to start yet another search through faith bible verses for that elusive definition. At some point, everything sort of clicked and started making sense. These two verses seemed to speak directly to my spirit.

Romans 10:8-9(NKJ) …The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach:) that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Hebrews 11:6 (ISV) “Now without faith, it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who diligently search for Him.”

I realized I’d never experienced that “aha” moment because there is no hidden, mystery meaning. Faith is belief and trust in a God we cannot see.  It’s that simple. I believe God is real, I believe He loves me, and I trust Him completely. 

I also believe:

God raised Jesus from the dead and He lives inside every heart that has opened the door and invited Him to enter.  

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Be Blessed!