What is Faith?

 

Faith and Believe in the Gospels - What is Faith?

Yesterday we looked at Faith and believe in the gospels and saw the power of faith. I concluded, “I want to be clear, this is not a matter of faith in faith, no, this is faith in Jesus Christ. We’re not talking the power of positive thinking, either. No, this is the power of the risen Lord Jesus Christ, available to us and released to, in, and through us as we believe Him.”

Faith is clearly a kingdom principle. Faith is not only a kingdom principle, it is an essential and central principle of the kingdom. Why?

Hebrews 11:6 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.

How essential is faith? Absolutely vital!

So the question is, What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

This is faith, this is what it means to believe; and it involves assurance and conviction.

In other words, to believe is to accept as true the Word and promises of God; to believe in Jesus is to be persuaded that he is the Christ, the Son of God, the Savior, who came into this world, ministered and taught, was crucified, died, and rose again, and to trust Him to save your life. Belief is simply that which we have believed: that God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to be Savior, Healer, Deliverer.

Faith is another way of saying the same thing. Faith is what we have believed. To have faith is to believe, and a person who believes has faith. I hear people all the time saying, “We trust God by faith” and “By faith we believe in Jesus.” It’s unnecessary and repetitive. To believe is to trust, to trust is to have faith. Belief and faith are really interchangeable. They’re the same side of the coin, the other side being believe. Belief and faith is that which I have believed. When we encourage folks to “Have faith in Christ” we simply mean, “Believe in Christ, trust Him.” 

Let’s look at example of how this works from Matthew 9:27-29

27 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us.
28 And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.
29 Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.

Before this Jesus had healed a leper, a man sick of the palsy, a woman confined to bed and sick of a fever, many that were possessed with demons, calmed a raging storm on the Sea of Galilee, cast demons out of two men desperately possessed, healed a paralyzed man, raised a little girl who had recently died, healed a woman with an issue of blood twelve years.

It’s at this point that these two blind men come to Jesus, crying, “Have mercy on us.” They were asking him to heal them, restore their sight. Jesus asked them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? Are you persuaded and confident that I am able to do this? They’d been hearing wonderful things, amazing things of Jesus’ power and grace - “Do you believe I am able to do this for you?”

They answered, “Yes, Lord. We believe you can do this. We believe you are able to restore sight to our blind eyes.” This is big! They were blind and were confident He could heal them. They were believing him to heal them, trusting him to do it.

The blind men didn't say, “It would be really neat if you did this.” or, “We would really like you to do this.” or, “We wish you could.” No, they believed he was able to do it; they were persuaded he could and were confident he would. The leper, the man sick of the palsy, the man whose daughter was lying dead in bed, the woman whose daughter was possessed with a demon, the woman with the twelve year issue of blood, they all believed that he could heal them and that he would if they could just get to him. This is faith. A confidence, a persuasion, that what he'd done for others he was able to and would do for them if they could just talk to him or touch him. This is faith. This is faith.

According to your faith be it unto you. They were healed by faith. Well, they were healed by Jesus Christ, but it was their faith that received the power of Christ to be healed! According to your faith, as you have believed, what you believed for. This is the kingdom principle of faith.

Faith, believing Christ is able to answer your prayer, save your soul, fill you with the Holy Spirit, deliver, provide, heal you, rescue you, and much more, is an essential kingdom principle, because Without faith it is impossible to please God.

If faith is so important, How do I get faith?