Have you ever made the statement, “I wish I had more faith?” or “If I just had a little more faith I could believe God for this miracle or physical healing.”
There have been times when I have said this or thought this when faced with a need in my life. Even though I have been to a “Word of Faith College” faith seemed like a mystery at times. It’s funny when we have a need in our life such as healing, or finances, or we need a miracle of some sort. When we don’t see an answer right away we question our lack of faith. We tend to look at what we may be doing wrong. Biblical faith is not about looking at ourselves at what we are doing right or wrong. Are we striving with our own efforts and “faith formulas” rather than simply receiving from our Father who loves us and whom we trust? Biblical faith is always looking at what Jesus has already done. This is not something we make up in our minds. This is a faith that is birthed in us when we are Born Again and strengthened as we hear God’s Word. When we get the revelation that our needs are already being met. Nothing can shake this confidence and conviction. (Eph 1:3, 2 Peter 1:3 ). Nothing can deter that kind of faith. I’m learning to take the mystery out of faith.
Above are Greek words for the English word faith. The Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old Testament and New Testament Words, it tells us that faith is “firm persuasion,” a conviction based upon hearing (akin to peithō, “to persuade”), is used in the NT always of “faith in God or Christ, or things spiritual.” “It goes on to say that the main elements in “faith” in its relation to the invisible God, as distinct from “faith” in man, are especially brought out in the use of this noun and the corresponding verb, pisteuō; they are (1) a firm conviction, producing a full acknowledgment of God’s revelation or truth.”
Faith has substance based on the revelation of God’s Word which is truth. “Faith perceives as real fact what is not revealed to the senses based on God’s Word.” Bible teacher Kenneth Hagin writes: “If our faith is based upon feelings, then we are just using a natural human faith. We cannot get spiritual results with natural human faith. We have to use scriptural faith, Bible faith and believe in God’s Word. If our faith is based upon the Word of God, then we believe the Word regardless of evidence that would satisfy our physical senses.” Faith is a noun and believing is a verb. So believing is an action based on what we know to be true.
When the Bible uses the word mystery it does not mean that God is withholding something from us. It does not mean deep secrets for only a select few who attain some superiority. Faith shouldn’t be a mystery to a believer in Christ. Mark 4:11 (NKJV) –11 And He said to them, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God; but to those who are outside, all things come in parables. (c.f. Ephesians 1:9). God wants us to know about the faith that pleases Him-(Hebrews 11:6). Yes we can learn more about faith, grow in the use of our faith, and see the results of faith in our lives. The writer of Hebrews gives us an idea of how faith looks and acts. Hebrews 11:1 (AMP) -1 NOW 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]. If I own a house, and I move to another state to live, I still have the title deed for that house. That house is still mine even though I can’t see it. Even though I can’t touch it physically. The title deed is the proof that I still own the house even if I’m not living in it. That is what faith is. Faith is assurance, confidence, something concrete, and substance. It is something that supports us. Faith doesn’t rely on what we can see with our senses. Faith is our spiritual eyes, seeing what God sees. We can see better with our hearts than with our physical eyes. Do you know we can believe in a God we cannot see? That’s faith!
1 Peter 1:8-9 (NKJV)-8 whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,9 receiving the end of your faith–the salvation of your souls.
Faith is the title deed of all that God has promised me in His Word. It is God’s word and faith in God’s Word that gives us hope and conviction to believe Him for all that He has provided for us. I believe when you are Born Again that God has dealt to every man the measure of faith. ( Rom 12:3 ).
The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:13 (AMP) -13 Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had who wrote, I have believed, and therefore have I spoken. We too believe, and therefore we speak, Look at Galatians 2:20 (KJV) -20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. This is Apostle Paul’s testimony of the life of faith that he lived. It’s not his faith but the faith of Jesus. 1 Corinthians 6:17 (KJV) –17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Look at 2 Peter 1:1 (KJV) –1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
For us to start to understand more about Biblical faith we must realize that we have faith. We have obtained like precious faith. You don’t need to pray for more faith. You need to use the faith you have in Christ. One of the fruits of the Spirit is faith-(Gal 5:22 ). In your spirit, you have enough faith! You have the ability to believe in God and believe in all that He has promised by His grace. “Grace is what God does for you because of Christ and faith is your positive response to that grace.” If grace hasn’t provided it then we can’t exercise our faith.
We think that faith moves God on our behalf. If we pray enough, study the word enough, and go to church more then God will move on our behalf. Yet God has already moved on our behalf through Christ. Romans 5:8 (KJV) –8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Christ did all the work. On the cross, He said,” It is finished.” So why aren’t we finished with trying to get God to do something? Why aren’t we finished with striving and trying to earn God’s blessing? We need to do those things I mentioned because that keeps our hearts right before God. Remember that you are saved by grace through faith.-(Eph 2:8 ). You need both: God’s part and your part. Grace and faith go together. Actually, God is so good He gives you both parts. Start today, to thank God for His grace and that he has given you faith.
The Bible encourages us to walk by faith-2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV) –7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:). To walk by sight is to always go by our physical senses. However, that is important when we are driving of course. But when it comes to spiritual things we can’t live a life apart from the Word of God and what it promises us. We just can’t go by our feelings and emotions. We just can’t go by what we see in the natural. For example, when we obey what Romans tell us to do in Romans 10:9-10, we can be Born Again. Romans 10:9 (KJV) -9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. We may not feel saved, look saved, or have some emotional experience. No, we put our trust in what God has said not in how we may feel. Everything that God has provided for us comes through faith. The question is not little faith or much faith but using the faith that we have. The Bible tells us that faith works by or is energized by love. Galatians 5:6 (KJV) -6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love. This love is the Greek word “Agape” which speaks of God’s love within us. Faith explodes in our lives when we realize how much God loves us and wants to provide for us. Are you confident in God’s love for you?
Faith is not a crowbar to get God to do something for us. When our kids were at home they didn’t have to beg, whine, or use a crowbar for us to provide for them. They just confidently rested in the fact that Mom and Dad loved them and would provide. They didn’t lose any sleep, they just rested. Matthew 7:11 (KJV) -11 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? So when it comes to faith let’s put the focus back on God, and back on the Word of God. God doesn’t want us to struggle and strive in this area.
The highest form of faith is rest! it is not striving, or struggling to believe in God. Hebrews 4:10-11 (KJV) -10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. In verse one of Hebrews 4, tells us not to come short of this rest because of unbelief. This is not a future rest. This rest is provided in Christ now. Matthew 11:28-30 (NKJV) –28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” Our first rest is salvation through Christ. The rest is rest from legalism and religious works. To try to earn salvation apart from Christ. In fact, works and legalism can hinder what God has already provided from coming into reality in our lives. Remember we are saved by grace through faith. Romans 11:6 (NKJV) –6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. Also inGalatians 3:2-3 (NKJV) –2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit (Born Again ) by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, (Living by faith )are you now being made perfect (Complete) by the flesh? We live by faith with our confidence and trust not in ourselves but in God and the work that God has done through Christ. Romans 1:17 (NKJV) -17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
We are to labor therefore to enter into rest. Christ is our sabbath rest. Labor and rest sound like an oxymoron. The laboring on our part is to stay in the “rest of faith” even when our flesh, the devil, and the world try to distract and undermine us. The main enemy is unbelief.- Mark 6:5-6 (NKJV) -5 Now He could do no mighty work there, except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He marveled because of their unbelief. Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching. It didn’t say HE wouldn’t but that He couldn’t because of their unbelief. Unbelief pulls us in the opposite direction away from our faith. It is not getting more faith but getting rid of unbelief. How do you deal with doubt, fear, and unbelief? It tells us in ( Hebrews 4:12 )-the power of God’s Word. Romans 10:17 (NKJV) –17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The way I look at this scripture is that it’s not telling me that the accumulation of God’s word gives me more faith or how many verses I can quote. I have faith but reading, studying, confessing, and meditating on God’s Word strengthens my faith. It undergirds my faith. Keeps my faith alive and fresh. Keeps my eyes of the natural. Just as unbelief would try to hinder my faith. Time spent in God’s word strengthens or girds my faith. You could say reading and meditating on God’s Word keeps me in the “Rest” of faith. I cease from my own effort, my striving, my performance, and my work mentality. Look when we sit in a chair we are resting. The chair is holding us up and supporting us. It is doing all the work. That’s grace. Natural faith says that I believe the chair will hold me up and it does. There is no struggle, no striving, just resting.
1 Timothy 6:12 (NKJV) -12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
We are not called to fight the devil but fight and confess the good fight of faith. That is our focus. Staying in that place of rest, in the accomplished work of Christ. This rest produces an inward peace. When we are yoked with Jesus knowing He is right beside us and His Spirit lives within us it brings forth assurance, confidence, and peace. The burden of faith rests in Christ and not on us. Listen, the spiritual world is real it’s not fake. The spiritual world actually created the physical world. We see this in how God created the world. He spoke and it was done. Everything we can see and touch—the visible—was created by the invisible- ( Hebrews 11:3 ). Faith is like a bridge between the spiritual realm and the physical realm. Faith is the hand that reaches into the spiritual realm where God is. It is how we receive from Him. Hebrews 6:12 (NKJV) –12 that you do not become sluggish, (Lazy, dull, not confident) but imitate those who through faith and patience (endurance) inherit the promises. We need to know that God has already blessed, healed, and prospered us. You don’t have to come under condemnation, have a legalistic performance mentality, or feel unworthy anymore. That’s good news. There is no more struggle. You can be strong in faith.
I hope this helps and takes some of the mystery out of faith. Take time to meditate on these scriptures. You need to speak them out and make a good confession. Faith is voice-activated or released. Life and death are in the power of your tongue- (Prov 18:21 ). It matters how you talk and what you believe. Don’t talk negatively or be anxious or worry about whether you have faith or not. Stop trying and start trusting. Get into God’s Word and know that He loves you. Faith will come alive! Start mixing your faith today with the grace that God has provided. God has already anticipated everything that you will ever need. This is the conviction of the unseen.
Hebrews 4:1-2 (KJV) –1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
2 Corinthians 4:18 (KJV) -18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Mark 11:22-24 (KJV) –22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
In Christ’s love
Brent and Linda Bushen
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(PS-I give credit to Andrew Wommack and Kenneth Hagin ministry on the teaching of Biblical Faith)