Faith 1
Faith is a strong belief, complete trust, and unwavering confidence in someone, something, or a set of principles.
In the Bible, faith is complete trust and confidence in God and His promises.
It is important that we understand faith is knowledge based, rooted in the knowledge of the word. Faith is not waking up and saying, “rain will fall today.” Faith is believing what someone has said, and for us, that belief is in what God has said. If we look through the Scriptures, even to the chapter of the Bible that speaks of the heroes of faith, Hebrews 11, we see that they acted in faith on what someone, namely God, had said.
This writing offers a brief introduction to the topic of faith, beginning with what faith is not.
Faith Is Not Denial of Reality
Faith is not denying your state or situation, or refusing to acknowledge your fear.
Some people say, “I am not afraid,” or “I am not sick,” when they actually are.
Psalm 56:3
When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
Even David never denied that he was afraid, but he trusted in God.
Faith Is Not a Force That Controls God
Many people believe that if you simply have enough faith, God will do whatever you want.
That idea is flawed, because God is sovereign and cannot be manipulated.
When bad things happen to you, or when you do not get what you want, it does not mean your faith was not enough.
Scripture never teaches us that.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 (NIV)
Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Apostle Paul prayed and believed in God, and yet God answered him in a way different from what he expected.
We can see examples like Job. Can we say everything happened to him because he lacked faith? No.
Even Timothy was afflicted; this does not prove that he lacked faith.
Faith Is Not Passive; It Is Connected to Obedience
Contrary to what many people think, faith is not simply sitting down doing nothing, waiting emotionally. Faith produces action.
According to Hebrews 11:7, Noah was warned of something that had never happened before. His faith was shown not merely in agreeing that the flood would come, but in doing what God told him to do regarding the flood. He was moved with godly fear.
Real faith will always do something. The book of James repeats this theme over and over again.
Faith Is Not Blind
In the context of our Christian faith, believing is not without reason, logic, testimony, or even eyewitness account. There is a why behind what we believe.
The Christian faith is not blind irrationality, denial of evidence, anti-intellectualism, or pretending to have certainty about everything.
Luke 1:1-4
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
Even Luke did not believe blindly. He investigated what he presented to us.
