Romans 10:1721
Without faith, there is no way to acquire God’s grace. (See Ephesians 2:8.) Christ said, “According to your faith let it be to you” (Matthew 9:29b). Lack of faith is not weakness; it is wickedness. Unbelief is slander against God. (See 1 John 5:10.)
So, what is faith? FAITH: “Forsaking All, I Trust Him.”
Where Do You Put Your Faith?
Weak faith in God is better than strong, misplaced faith in anything else.
Never put faith in faith. “Positive thinking” is not faith. There is nothing mystical about believing. “If you believe it, you can achieve it” is simply not true.
We must be “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2a; emphasis added). The original Greek literally means looking away from everything else. Don’t look at others. Don’t look at yourself. Don’t look at circumstances. Don’t look at Satan. Look to Jesus.
The object of your faith is the one true God. The more you know Him, the more you will find faith as the byproduct. (See Psalm 9:10.)
Where Do You Get Faith?
God is the object of your faith, so the origin of your faith is God’s Word. “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (see Romans 10:17).
Nobody can believe unless God enables Him to. (See John 6:44,65; Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 1:29.) To enable you to believe, God uses His Word. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). In the Bible, “hope” means bedrock assurance based on the Word of God.
The Greek word translated as “word” is rhema, which means the communication of the Word of God. It is not the Bible you hold in your hand which gives you faith; rather, it is God speaking to you out of that Bible.
Why Do You Have Faith?
Faith is not man’s way of getting man’s will done on Earth; faith is God’s way of getting God’s will done in Heaven. Many think that faith is something we use for ourselves. If faith is a tool for you, that would make God your servant. But God is not your servant; you are His.
Are we hemmed up by the will of God? Yep—like a minnow hemmed in by the Atlantic Ocean! The will of God does not mean fewer blessings. The objective of faith is that God’s Word will have its effect, and that God will accomplish His will through us.
“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us” (1 John 5:14; emphasis added).
How do we know His will? By knowing His Word.
How do we trust His Word? By knowing Him.
How Do You Live By Faith?
The object of faith is God, so know Him. The origin of faith is the Word of God, so hear Him. The objective of faith is the will of God, so yield to Him. The operation of faith is the work of God, so obey Him.
If you say you believe God but you do not obey Him, you do not believe Him. Faith is belief with legs on it. Faith obeys.
You are not saved because of your works; you work because you are saved. If it has not changed your life, if it does not make you a different person, if it does not cause you to obey the Word of God, then do not say you have faith, and do not say you are going to Heaven. “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:26b).
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