This is the definition of faith according to the Living Bible, “WHAT IS FAITH? It is the CONFIDENT ASSURANCE that something we want IS GOING TO HAPPEN. It is the CERTAINTY that WHAT WE HOPE FOR IS WAITING FOR US, even though we cannot see it up ahead.” (Hebrews 11:1) The New King James Version says it like this, “Now faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
According to the Oxford Dictionary, it can refer to “complete trust or confidence in someone or something,” “strong belief in God or in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof,” “a system of religious belief,” or “a strongly held belief or theory,”
How do we get faith? “I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as GOD HAS DEALT TO EACH ONE A MEASURE (metron: the controlling basis by which something is determined as acceptable or unacceptable) OF FAITH.” (Romans 12:3)
How important is it for us to have faith? “…without faith IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PLEASE GOD, because anyone who comes to Him MUST BELIEVE that HE EXISTS and that HE REWARDS those who EARNESTLY SEEK HIM.” (Hebrews 11:6)
How can we increase our faith? The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” He replied, “If you have FAITH AS SMALL AS A MUSTARD SEED, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you.” (Luke 17:5-6) “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you MAY KNOW that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that IF WE ASK ANYTHING ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, HE HEARS US. And if we know that He hears us—WHATEVER WE ASK—we know that WE HAVE WHAT WE ASKED OF HIM.” (1 John 5:11-15) ”So then faith COMES BY HEARING, and HEARING by THE WORD OF GOD.” (Romans 10:17)
WE NEED TO READ, LISTEN TO, AND STUDY GODS WORD.
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham