What is Faith anyway????

How many expressions have you heard that use the word “faith”? “Keep the faith”, “where is your faith?”, “leap of faith”, “act of faith”….and many more.

Well, what is faith, anyway?? I have come to some conclusions about “faith” that I want to share with you and encourage you in your FAITH!

Now faith is not necessarily about religion because many people use faith everyday without even believing in God. In their marriages they “have faith” in their spouse. They have “faith” that when they sit on a chair it will hold them up. Most times without even thinking, people use faith everyday. However, this particular line of thought is about faith in God!

So, what is it? Well, let’s just say, I have learned what it’s not.

It’s not wishing and hoping
It’s not believing hard enough to get what you want
It’s not presumption
It’s not believing something blindly

You may have looked at it like this: faith takes trust and trust takes knowing and knowing takes experience and my faith is based on what I experience. Well, in life that may be true, but in genuine faith, God kind of faith, it’s far from it!!

Hebrews, the “faith” chapter, says in chapter 11: 1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” I have heard many commentaries on what that means. But I believe the meaning is contained in the rest of the chapter, as we read and witness how those who trusted God and that He was, lived and governed their lives.

Read for yourselves and you will understand it’s meaning. I believe you will understand it very different than many ways you’ve learned. By this; seeing their faith, you come to know the God they all served. The God YOU serve and thereby, FAITH IS!!!

I have learned to trust God, have faith in Him, by coming to know Him. However, in my life, some of my experiences don’t jive with what I know of Him or what I have read in His Word about Him, so why have faith?

HOW can you have faith when you don’t SEE any evidence of what you know to be true about God and His Word???

That, my friend, is what faith is all about.

You can see it all in the Bible. For instance, the Israelites heard about God from Moses and the promises that God gave but the minute what they experienced did not match up with the word they heard, they began to accuse God and reject Him (Hebrews 4:2).

But Moses responded differently! He turned immediately TO God! Why? Because He was convinced of something greater than evidence. He believed God’s character! He knew who God was because he had experienced, not the signs and wonders, but the GOD of the signs and wonders and THAT is what made the difference.

Hebrews 11: 27 says, By faith he (Moses) forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

Moses had seen and talked with God as a man speaks with his friend (Exodus 33:11). And because he did, he had a revelation of Who He was, even in the midst of the wilderness experience. Oh, believe me, Moses faced the same hardships in the wilderness as all of Israel did, but with very different results. With, of course, the exception of the water from the rock experience(Numbers 20: 7-12). Because of this, Moses did not enter into the Promised Land. But even in that, He was a man of faith!

The point is, Moses faith was very different because he KNEW God. And so can ours be. Faith is the trust in God’s character and sovereignty that no matter what happens in our lives, God’s got us! He is present! Whether, we live or die, He is God. He is Who He claims to be because He is!!!

Jesus rebuked the disciples for their lack of faith many times because they gave more worship to the circumstances they faced than they did to Who Jesus was. And don’t we do the same? It’s easy to do that when we are overwhelmed in circumstances. When we live in them, mull them over, give ourselves to their power instead of to the majesty of Jesus, the One who heals, provides and cares for every detail of our lives (Hebrews 2:6).

The only way to live differently is to know Him. See Him in the scriptures for who He really is! Then, like Moses we will endure as “seeing Him who is invisible” in every trial and circumstance of our lives. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17)….Jesus IS the Word of God (John 1: 1-5, 14).