Foundation Topic

What Is Faith?

There are many "faiths" in the world, and many ways we use the word "faith." Is it "blind," a "shot in the dark," or just a fancy word for wishful thinking? The Bible defines faith clearly and describes it as the very foundation of our lives. Faith is personal—it means considering someone trustworthy. Biblically speaking, faith means trusting God's Word enough to act upon it.

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What Is Christian Faith?

Everybody has faith.

People who invest in the stock market put their faith in equities, other people have faith in their elected officials, others in their families. Whenever I eat dinner, I have faith in my wife’s ability to cook a tasty meal.

In virtually every moment of your life, you are expressing faith in something. We know this by example, but by definition, what is faith?

Furthermore, what sets the Christian faith apart from all other expressions of faith?

Here’s the definition of faith from Dictionary.com: “Complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”

The Bible defines faith similarly: “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (Hebrews 11:1 NIV).

Both definitions involve confidence and trust. The difference between everyday faith and biblical faith is the object of our faith, or in what we choose to put our confidence.

Have you ever trusted in someone only to be let down? We have all had that happen at some point in our lives. We may have put our faith in someone, but they failed us. It wasn’t our faith that failed, but the object of our faith.

Your “faith” is only as good as the person or thing that you choose to put your faith in.

When I drive down the turnpike, I have faith that other drivers are paying attention to the highway and obeying the rules of the road. Every so often, though, this faith is misplaced. We call these events accidents.

Each time you sit down, you don’t first take out tools and measure the strength of your chair. You just sit in it. Why? Because your chair has proven through past experience that it can hold your weight. So, you consider it an object worthy of your trust.

Some people have faith in faith. They believe something to be true because, well, they just believe it to be true. In essence, their faith is in themselves.

So faith is only as good as its object. For Christians, that object is God himself.

by Bibles.net

OPEN YOUR BIBLE

Theme Verse

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.

HEBREWS 11:1 NIV

What Is Faith?
Article: 8 Min

What Is Christian Faith?

by Bibles.net
Quote

Faith Is Not a Subjective Leap

Furthermore, faith is not a subjective leap; it is a reasoned trust in the God who reveals himself clearly in the gospel. The whole Christian faith rests not on our collective feelings, experiences, or moral sentiments but on the public announcement that God has acted in history to save us from sin and death.

by Michael Horton | Source

A BIBLICAL DEFINITION OF FAITH

Quote

True Faith Is...

Question: What is true faith?

Answer: True faith is a sure knowledge whereby I accept as true all that God has revealed to us in his Word. [1] At the same time it is a firm confidence [2] that not only to others, but also to me, [3] God has granted forgiveness of sins, everlasting righteousness, and salvation, [4] out of mere grace, only for the sake of Christ's merits. [5] This faith the Holy Spirit works in my heart by the gospel.[6]

[1] John 17:3, 17; Hebrews 11:1-3; James 2:19.
[2] Romans 4:18-21; 5:1; 10:10; Hebrews 4:16.
[3] Galatians 2:20.
[4] Romans 1:17; Hebrews 10:10.
[5] Romans 3:20-26; Galatians 2:16; Ephesians 2:8-10.
[6] Acts 16:14; Romans 1:16; 10:17; I Corinthians 1:21.

Heidelberg Catechism, Q&A #21, Lord's Day 7 | Source

Folk | Indie

Power

by Chris Tomlin feat. Bear Rinehart of NEEDTOBREATHE
Article: 10 Min

Implicit Trust: The Key to Triumph

by LTC Joseph F. Howell, USAR at Officers’ Christian Fellowship

Image

Now faith
is the substance
of things hoped for,
the evidence of things
not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 KJV
Videos

Quote

Why Is Faith Called "the Substance of Things Hoped For?"

Eternal life is promised to us but it is promised to the dead.
We are told of the resurrection of the blessed but meantime we are involved in corruption.
We are declared to be just and sin dwells within us.
We hear that we are blessed but meantime we are overwhelmed by untold miseries.
We are promised an abundance of good things but we often go hungry and thirsty.
God proclaims that he will come to us immediately but seems deaf to our cries.
Faith is therefore rightly called the substance of things which are still the objects of hope. 

by John Calvin | Source
Messages: 45 Min

What Faith Is

by Tim Mackie

Messages: 69 Min

Hebrews 11: What Is Faith?

by John MacArthur

Quote

Faith and Rest

Faith is rest, not toil. It is the giving up all the former weary efforts to do or feel something good, in order to induce God to love and pardon; and the calm reception of the truth so long rejected, that God is not waiting for any such inducements, but loves and pardons of his own goodwill, and is showing that goodwill to any sinner who will come to him on such a footing, casting away his own poor performances or goodnesses, and relying implicitly upon the free love of him who so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son.

by Horatius Bonar | Source
How to Exercise Faith?
Article: 7 Min

What Does a Life of Faith Look Like?

by Bibles.net

Article: 7 Min

How Can Reading Scripture Strengthen Your Faith?

by Rosalie J. Karjala at Blog.Bible

Image

So then faith
cometh by hearing,
and hearing
by the word of God.

Romans 10:17 KJV
Verse
Galatians 2:20 ESV

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Messages: 39 Min

Relying on God

by Scott Lothery

Verse
Hebrews 11:6 CSB

Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Quote

Faith is to believe
what we do not see,
and the reward of this faith is to
see what we believe.

Verse
Romans 4:18-21 ESV

In hope he [Abraham] believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.”

He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

Praise & Worship

Promises

by The Worship Initiative feat. Trenton Bell and Dinah Wright
Image

For we walk by
faith,

not by
sight.

2 Corinthians 5:7 ESV
Article: 6 Min

Trusting God
When the Facts
Tell Us Not To

by Bibles.net

Verse
Mark 11:22-24 NIV

“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."

Verse
What the Bible says about faith in action

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

James 2:14-26 ESV

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Quote

Faith is like a radar
that sees through
the fog—
the reality of things
at a distance that
the human eye
cannot see.

Corrie Ten Boom
Image

Whatever
does not proceed
from faith
is sin.

Romans 14:23 ESV
Article: 8 Min

How to Measure Faith?

by Thomas Overmiller at Shepherd Thoughts

Image

For nothing
will be
impossible
with God.

Luke 1:37 ESV
Verse
Matthew 17:20 NIV

He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Praise & Worship

The Story I'll Tell

by The Worship Initiative feat. Trenton Bell and Dinah Wright
Verse
Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Verse
Our Prayer For You

"And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Hebrews 6:11-12 ESV)

"With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith." (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12 NIV)

Verse
May God Help You Live by Faith

Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but has now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God be glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.

ROMANS 16:25-27 ESV

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