Faith

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible."  Hebrews 11:1-3 (NKJV)

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1-3 sets the biblical explanation of what faith is and also what it does for us - in that it acts as the certain, sure, basis for our expectations of those things that God sets out in His word ... But what do those five little letters themselves actually mean when we set them apart to look at them simply as forming the word "faith"?

Looking at the word faith in available dictionaries begins to gin up words like "belief", "trust", and "loyalty" as the definition of the word. And in practical application as it's applied in scripture, I can accept those terms... and in the application is where I find those words getting some serious traction as the key to everything, beginning in Genesis 1:1...

 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  (NKJV)

This one verse has to be among the foundational cornerstones of our "faith". The practical application of our faith is in believing that God created the heavens and the earth. Believing God in all that He's said is the critical, primary requirement that begins lighting the path toward our salvation and also begins to break our adversarial stance before The God who reigns sovereignly over everything. The act of having faith to believe God above everything and anyone else has to be the cornerstone on which the entire core foundation of our lives is built. If that's not the case, whatever we attempt to build into our lives going forward risks being wasted effort. It is God who breathed life into us and for His own purposes. If we can't believe God our lives here will be lived in rebellion against Him and when He calls us to account in the end, we're already forever lost having defied Him and the purpose that He gave us. Faith in God, belief in Him, is counted as righteousness in scripture...

"Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.” And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness."  Genesis 15:5-6 (NKJV)

"Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham."  Galatians 3:7-9 (NKJV)

"And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God."  James 2:23 (NKJV)

True belief of God is counted as righteousness. To disbelieve God at any point is tantamount to calling Him a liar. So our belief is a requirement - not an option if we desire a true relationship with God. I've said before that a world that must see to believe will never see what must be believed in order to be seen. Our belief in what God has said begins to open the door to the greater reality of what truly exists beyond the limited world of mankind's intellect and his own construction. It heals our myopathy to allow us to view the grandeur of the reality of God - the true reality of what exists eternally and the path that we're actually on. 

Another practical application of our faith finds us needing to be "trusting"  that what God tells us is the truth and the only truth - above all of the opinions of anyone else - all of the time. Being diligent to seek out knowledge of our God, that trust then leads us to hold firm the knowledge that as we submit ourselves and our lives to Him, He is moving in our lives, always to our benefit , because of His love for us - no matter the situation or circumstances. This too is "faith". As we begin exercising that faith with expectation, because of our belief and trust in God, and our studied knowledge of Him, we start to see His hand in our lives working to prosper us for eternity.

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work."  2 Timothy 3:16-17

I with so many others, am not who I've been in the past because of the truth of God found in His word and made alive by His Spirit. Preserving the better parts and refining the rest through education, growth, trial, and correction by the Holy Spirit, Christ is forming in me a new creature that is endeavoring each day to be better than the man I was yesterday with His help and guidance. It is a fact of my faith in my God that I am saved and being sanctified purely by His grace. Believing God, having faith in Him, not only allows me to have access to Him through Christ Jesus, but also relationship with Him as I walk the path of His plan for this life that He's given me.

Loyalty - faithfulness, is never more important than when found in the core and heart of a believer of God except when experienced from the heart of God Himself toward us. And that faithfulness from Him is forever unwavering - even when we recognize that our own faithfulness toward Him has become corrupted. Our true confession and repentance will find His forgiveness and bring us back to right standing. It was told to me in my teens that if we ever find that we feel an absence of God's presence, all that we need to do is to turn around and we'll find that He's waiting patiently right where we left Him.

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall
be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Romans 8:38-39 (NKJV)

I have faith that allows me to be persuaded that the Apostle Paul is right. I'm also persuaded that if I ever thought that I found cause to disbelieve or discount any of scripture, that our God by the Holy Spirit made available to us, I would then have reason to question even the parts that I would choose to prefer to believe. For example those parts that would allow me to be saved from everlasting damnation would have to be in question also and I would quickly find myself lost on the account of my lack of faith.

"Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain[b] to the resurrection from the dead." Philippians 3:8-11 (NKJV)(underline emphasis mine)

All accounts found in scripture and the urgent conviction of the Holy Spirit would lead us to understand that our faith in what God has said, from the very beginning of the dictation of His love letter to mankind, is imperative to our salvation.  If we would begin to see and know God we must believe Him by faith like so many others before us that...

 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  Genesis 1:1 (NKJV)

I worry for some that their casual treatment of scripture and belief of God based on their own editing of what He has said - picking and choosing what to believe, or attempting to apply scripture outside of the context in which God gave it, may find themselves eternally lost. I pray that's not true of any of us. I prefer to have hope that we not only know what God has said, but that we take it seriously - believing it faithfully and fully, above anything separate from God's word and anything that man might have contrived in his own intellect.

In Scripture...

"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJV)