LESSON: What Faith Is
Understanding what Faith is.
The definition of FAITH (Hebrews 11:1)
Faith is the substance of the things we hope for.
The Greek word for substance is HUPOSTASIS.
it means the essence; the assurance
Note: The promises of God gives us hope and applying faith on it will bring it to pass.
Faith therefore is the proof of ownership that something belongs to us.
Faith is the proof of ownership of our goal.
Ex. Land Title (God gave the land of Israel to Abraham but he could not possess it for 400 years. Genesis 15:13-21)
If you will continue to hope and continue in faith, you will have possession one day.
2.Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen (Hebrews 11:1)
a. There are things that we cannot experience with our physical senses.
- TV air waves/AM-FM radiowaves/protons/neutrons/electrons/
bacteria/viruses etc.But these things do exist
b. There are things that exist in the realm of faith that we cannot experience with our physical senses.
1.God
2.Heaven
3.The floodwaters of Noah - Note: it had never rained until the flood
Our healing when we are sick
Our prosperity when we are having financial problems
- Our faith is proof that they exist.
The Components of Faith
Faith has parts just like everything else (Hebrews 11:6)
The first part of faith is a revelation knowledge that God is God.
We believe that He exists.
We believe that He exist as God.
We believe that as God He can do what He says He can do.
The second part of faith is revelation knowledge regarding the character
of God.
We must understand that God is the rewarder of those who seek Him.
We must understand the character of God.
Thus, faith is made of revelation knowledge of two things:
God’s power
God’s character
- To misunderstand either one of these will destroy man’s faith in God
What Faith is not
Faith is not presumption
Presumption is the idea that God must help us no matter what we do.
Presumption is us making a decision about what we want God to do
and thinking we can force Him to do it.
Faith is not positive thinking.
Faith is not doing something just because everybody else is doing it.
The people of Israel crossed the red sea by faith.
Because God had told them to.
Egypt attempted to follow them and died.
They were trying to imitate the faith of Israel.
But God had not told them to do it.
Faith is not laziness expecting God to do all the work.
We are called to be co-laborers with God. (Ephesians 2:10)
Faith is believing God to do what only He can do.
And we do everything we can do.
The different types of Faith.
The gift of Faith (1 Corinthians 12:7-9)
The gift of faith is a manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
The gift of faith is given by the Spirit for a certain time and purpose and
then it is gone.
We must recognize that this is the gift of faith and not our own faith in
operation.
We must remember that we cannot even decide to have this gift.
This gift is given by the will of the Holy Spirit
Faith that grows
When we are born again, we all have the measure of faith (Romans 12:3)
As we begin to grow in God, we decide what level of faith we will have.
We may have little faith (Mark 8:16)
We may have great faith (Matthew 8:10)
We may have perfect faith (James 2:21-23)
Our faith will grow from level to level based on two things:
Our growth in the knowledge of the Word of God (Romans 10:17)
Our growth in the knowledge of God (Hebrews 11:6)
Remember, faith is made up of revelation knowledge of God’s
power and God’s nature or character.
Is there any wonder that Abraham had perfect faith? He is called
the friend of God.
Having faith and the ability to use faith, however, are two different
subjects.
How to use our Faith. (Luke 17:5-6)
To use faith it first require a goal (Hebrew 11:1)
We have learned that faith is the title deed of something we are hoping for.
Something we are confidently expecting to receive.
What Faith Is: Page 3
Faith, therefore, cannot operate until there is something we are reaching
for.
We must learn to have very specific goals in our lives if we are going to
receive from God.
God would ask us what we want Him to do. (Mark 10:50-52)
We cannot give some vague answer.
“I want to be blessed”
God has always helped great men of faith to visualize their goals.
Abraham looked into the stars in heaven to see the multitude of
his descendants.
The use of speech or confession in the realm of faith.
Our words have power
Our words have the power of life and death (Proverbs 18:21)
Our words have the power to give direction to our life (James 3:3-6)
Our words have the power to bring about miracles (Mark 11:23)
Our word have the power to overcome satan (Revelations 12:11)
We must therefore, put God’s word deeply within our hearts.
Our words only have power when they are in agreement with God’s
words.
We cannot make ourselves “confess” the Word of God.
Confessions come out of the abundance of the heart
(Matthew 12:34)
We must not, therefore, seek to change our words by our will.
- But rather change our words by changing our hearts.
Confession
We must speak what we believe the word of God says rather than
what we see in the situation.
Confession is not lying.
Confession is merely stating that we believe God’s Word is a higher reality than what we see and feel with our physical senses.
Jesus said that God’s word was truth (John 17:17)
(The Greek word for truth means reality.)
We must learn that no matter what our circumstances are, we
will continue to believe God’s word.
