Faith

*Love*Joy*Peace*Longsuffering*Gentleness*Goodness*

*Faith*Meekness*Temperance*

Have you ever wondered, exactly what is faith? Usually, when we ask that, we are just given the Bible description of Heb. 11:1 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." This still left me scratching my head, though. The second part of the this definition, when put with that verse, helped me to understand what the verse was saying: Faith = Belief and trust in and loyalty to God. Firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Complete trust. When you have a firm belief in something for which there is no proof, it's as if you see it in your mind, and know in your heart that it's there. What you are hoping for has substance, and to you, it is really there; you can't see it yet, but the evidence is inside you. That's the faith. We have a firm belief that Jesus is the Son of God. The only proof of this is what's written in the Bible, which to many people today is not proof at all. There is no birth certificate for Him, no DNA evidence, and it defies all logic. However, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is true. We have faith in this thing. We believe that the Bible is the actual Word of God. This is another thing that many people today don't believe. But our faith tells us it is true, and that's how we can take the Bible as the foundation for our lives.

It is impossible for us to be saved and go to Heaven without faith. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" Eph. 2:8. "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb. 11:6. We have to have faith to believe that Jesus died to take away our sins, so we will repent. After we are saved, we have to go on and do works, so our faith will grow. "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." James 2:26. Works of faith are the things we actually do in trusting God, not just saying it with our mouth. Like when we are facing a hardship, and we've done all that we can do, when we pray and turn it over to God to work it out for us, we are trusting Him. When we continue to worry and fret over it, we're not trusting him any more. Or when we fast, we are trusting God to not let us suffer any ill effects from not eating and drinking. When we are trusting God to take care of us, we don't run around panic-stricken over every thing that could possibly happen to us.

Faith is part of our spiritual armor that we put on every day, to protect us from the weapons the Devil uses against our souls. "Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked." Eph. 6:16. "But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation." I Thes. 5:8. Shields and breastplates protect their wearers from arrows, fiery ones, as Paul said in Ephesians. Having a flaming arrow hit you in the chest is not pleasant! Don't go about your day without your armor on! When some little demon sends a fiery dart your way, telling you that nobody cares about you, or that nobody will know if you do some little sin, throw up your shield of faith, and say "No way! God loves me, I'm His child, and He knows everything I do!" When you resist like that, he'll leave you alone for a while.

Look what else faith will do for us, as it grows and gets stronger. "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Heb. 6:12. Faith and patience will enable us to inherit the eternal life that's been promised to us. "And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him." James 5:15. We can receive healing from God if we have faith enough to believe it. Who doesn't want that? "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." I John 5:4. Our faith will give us the strength to overcome the pull of worldly things, which would drag us down and keep us from Heaven.

Sometimes, the Lord sends us things to test our faith. Remember when He told Abraham to offer Isaac as a sacrifice? He had already told Abraham how Isaac would be the father of a great nation, and Abraham's faith in God was so strong that he figured that if he killed Isaac, God would have to raise him back up to fulfill the promise. But God didn't really want Abraham to perform a human sacrifice; He just wanted to see just how much Abraham trusted Him to keep His promise. Look at these verses about trying (testing) our faith. "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience." James 1:3. God doesn't give us everything lickety-split. He makes us wait; sometimes, it seems like it's almost too late, but it's not really. Over time, this increases our patience. Children expect instant gratification, and part of our growth process into mature Christians is to learn to wait. God doesn't want us to remain little children in Christ. We have to grow up. Look at this one: "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." I Pet. 1:7-9. Read that again, slowly, please. See that? The trial of our faith is more precious than gold! Why? So that when Jesus comes back, we might be worthy of praise, because we love Him and believe in Him, even though we've never seen Him. And look what the end result of that is – the salvation of our souls!

CHALLENGE: This week, let's give ourselves a faith check-up. Here are a few things to remember along the way. Jesus was talking to us about fretting over having our daily needs met, when He said this, "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" Matt. 6:30. If we are walking in God's grace, He will meet our needs on a daily basis. Are you fretting about your personal safety? "And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm." Matt. 8:26. This was when Jesus and the disciples were in the boat and a storm came up, and it looked like they were going to die. Personally, I would have been terrified, too. But Jesus was showing them, and us, that they were in the presence of the One who had the power to do the impossible. He still does, and we can still be in His presence every day. Let Him help you with the impossible. One final note: here's what Paul wrote to Timothy, "Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." I Tim. 4:12. Do you see where it says "of the believers", not "to the believers"? Of course we are to be an example to everyone we see, but an example of what? Every person is a good example: either of what to be, or what not to be. We are to be an example of the believers, and one of the things we need to show is faith. Let's live in such a way that when anyone, believer or not, looks at us, they can say, "That person is a Christian; I can tell by what they say, but also by how they live." Let's be examples of what a believer in Christ looks like!