What is Faith

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By Brent Moeller

For many years when someone asked me what faith is I would go to Hebrews 11:1 (NIV), ‘Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.’ Somehow, this really did not give me a good definition of what faith is. Let me suggest that this scripture is a result of what faith does.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV) tells us that we are saved through faith. So how do we become saved? Romans 10:8-10 (NIV) gives us insight to this question: "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: 9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. Faith is firmly believing in your heart, in the inner man, in what God said. When you believe something in your heart, the belief will manifest itself by what comes out of your mouth, your confession.

I like to compare faith to that of a three legged table. Without one of the three legs, the table will fall. The same is true with faith. Each leg of the table represents a belief in certain areas. Lack in any of these three beliefs will cause faith not to work. The three areas of beliefs are: having the knowledge of what God’s will is (His promises), having the knowledge that God has the power and ability to bring about His will, and the knowledge of God’s love and faithfulness will bring about His promise to pass in our lives. The belief that God will carry out His promise for you, not just for those people recorded in the Bible, not just for the person that gave a testimony, BUT FOR YOU, only comes from a relationship with God and seeing God’s faithfulness in the past. Specific faith must exist for every promise in the Bible; being born again, infilling of the Holy Spirit, healing for our soul and natural body, and spiritual and physical prosperity, the list goes on and on. We must build our beliefs in all of these areas before it becomes a reality in our lives.

As we walk in a firm belief, we also will confess our beliefs out of our heart. The confession is the action of our faith. Just as your confession of what is in your heart brings about your salvation as stated in the last part of Romans 10:10. So does your confession empower God to bring to pass the manifestation in this natural world the belief in our heart. The text of Mark 11:23-24 shines a different light when we speak something as a result of our heart’s beliefs. Many times the Christian world tries to work this principle backwards and hopes that it will work; making a confession and trying to get the belief in their hearts. This does not work. But when beliefs are planted in our hearts, our confession will be as though you have already received the manifestation of God’s promise. Your confession will be as God’s in Romans 4:17 (NIV), ‘calling things that are not as though they were.’ The manifestation of God’s promise WILL come about.

Many times when we ask for something of God, the manifestation does not come right away and we have to stand in faith. During our stand, circumstances feed our natural senses information that is contrary to our beliefs. We are living in this natural world where the enemy is trying to tear down our beliefs that support our faith and belief in God’s faithfulness. Misconceptions from the enemy and physical circumstances work against the beliefs that we build in supporting our faith in the promises of God. This is the reason why God instructs us to renew our minds in Romans 12:2 to build our beliefs strong enough to withstand the attacks of the enemy and physical circumstances that surround us. Additionally, when things happen or God does not move how we think He should, we tend to form beliefs based on conclusions from the circumstances. Yet, these conclusions and beliefs are contrary to what is written in the Bible.

We need to continually feed our faith while we are waiting for the manifestation of what we asked of God. If we do not, the enemy and circumstances undermines our beliefs in the three areas that support our faith and doubt enters in. If doubt enters in, James 1:6-7 (NIV) states ‘But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will receive anything from the Lord;’ The feeding of our faith will help us to persevere in our beliefs. Hebrews 10:35-36 (NIV) states ‘So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.’