What is faith?

Faith is more than just believing something is true. It is placing your trust in that something to the point where it affects your actions. It affects your world-view and therefore how you live. Everybody has faith in something.

Faith is not wishful thinking. It is not convincing yourself that something is true just because you want it to be true. Faith is not blind.

Faith in God is more than just believing that God exists, that He did certain things, or that He made certain promises to us. It is relying on God to fulfill those promises.

As an example of faith, God told Abram (Abraham) that He would make a great nation out of him and Abram acted on those promises (Genesis 12:1-4, 12:7, 13:14-18). God did not give any proof that he would keep his promise, but Abram trusted God anyway.

God told Abraham that a son would be born to him through which he would become a great nation and Abraham believed (Genesis 15:1-6, 17:15-19).

After Abraham’s son Isaac was born, God told him to sacrifice him. Abraham still had faith in God’s previous promises as shown by verses 5 and 8. He still obeyed God, knowing that God would provide a substitute sacrifice, or that He would bring Isaac back to life (Genesis 22:1-14).

The Bible records promises that God makes to every man. God promises that He will save us if we trust only in His way of salvation, the death of Jesus Christ in our place. This faith is called “saving faith” (Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:36).

What is to be the object of our faith?

The object of Christian faith must be in God alone. Everyone or thing else will let you down (Proverbs 29:25).

God loves us and will not let us down if we trust in Him (Matthew 6:25-34, 1 Peter 5:7).

Why should we have faith in God?

There are many reasons given by scripture for faith in God:

• For salvation (redemption) (Psalms 34:22).
• For salvation (from death to eternal life). ( John 3:16).
• For salvation (not from works). (John 6:28-29, Galatians 2:19-21).
• For salvation (peace with God). (Romans 5:1).
• For salvation (imputed righteousness). (Philippians 3:9).
• To please God (Hebrews 11:6).
• For hope, peace, and security (2 Chronicles 20:15-24).
• Knowing that God cares for you brings peace of mind ( Isaiah 26:3).
• To be rescued from the wicked (Psalms 37:40).
• For guidance in daily living from God (Proverbs 3:5-6).
• Disbelieving what God says is true can be dangerous ( Isaiah 7:9).
• For protection from the wicked (Ephesians 6:16).
• As a foundation for spiritual growth (2 Peter 1:5-11).
• It is a foundation for love (1 Timothy 1:5).

How do we obtain faith?

Our faith in God comes from reading the Bible. The Bible tells us what God is like, giving us reasons to trust Him (Romans 10:17, John 20:31).

Faith also grows like a muscle: the more we rely on God, the more our faith grows, and the more peace we have as we rest in God’s goodness.

Faith is a gift from God (John 6:44, Ephesians 2:8, Philippians 1:29, 1 Corinthians 12:7-9, 1 Timothy 1:14, Romans 12:3, 2 Peter 1:1).

What are the results of faith?

The results of faith are not based on how strong our faith is but how strong the object of our faith (God) is. As long as we exercise a little faith in God, God can bring big results (Matthew 17:20).

This faith is not that God will fulfill our desires, but that He will fulfill His promises.

True faith in God will result in good works. We can only please God if we believe in Him (Romans 1:5, James 2:14-26).

We must live by faith. Our goal is not to become more self-sufficient, but more dependant on God (Romans 1:17).

Our faith gives us assurance of our salvation. If we don’t exercise our faith, we remain saved, but doubts creep in (Hebrews 11:1).

Patience is a result of faith that doesn’t give up when it is tested ( James 1:2-4).

Faith also prevents us from becoming influenced by the world ( 1 John 5:4).