What is Faith?
Part 1: Faith is more than just believing
My dad and I were hanging out one day talking about God stuff. He asked me, “Do you know what faith is?”
I thought to myself, “Here we go. What kind of question is that? Of course I know what faith is.”
I replied, “Faith is believing that Christ is our Savior.”
My dad rebuttled, “There is way more to faith than just believing.”
Thus, a “Time for a Word” study of faith came to fruition. Alright dad. I understand. There is more to faith than just believing. Faith is multi-dimensional.
Faith is believing that God exists, trusting Him that He is in control, and knowing that He has provided us with eternal salvation. Finally, faith is doing good works because we have committed our lives to Christ. Living faith is active in that it is revealed to those around us through acts of kindness both big and small.
The first step of faith is believing
Do you believe that God exists and is our creator? Believing, which is actually a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8), is the first step of living in faith. We cannot see God but we can see and relish in the beauty He created. How could one not believe in God when you see places like Niagara Falls or Yosemite? These natural wonders display the sheer power, beauty and perfection of His work.
If nature fails to reveal that our Lord exists, then look at the amazing intricacies of the human body. Your body is made up of around 7,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (7octillion) atoms. Only our creator could do that .
Part 2: Faith is Trusting
Secondly, faith is trusting. Faith is knowing that God is in control of our lives and the ruler of everything. Therefore, we can put our total trust in Him that He has a perfect and divine plan for each of us. “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose” (Phillipians 2:13 NIV). God has a purpose for your life. He knows all your circumstances. He even knows the number of hairs on your head (Luke 12:7). Therefore, trust Him that He will take care of you and guide you.
One of my friends and I pass a phrase to comfort each other when we are in need. She will tell me, “Don’t worry. I have your back.” This exemplifies the trusting part of faith. It is knowing that God has our back. He is watching over us. So when we have this trust, our anxiety can diminish and we can rest a little easier in Him.
Queen Esther trusted God even under the most dire circumstances
The story of Queen Esther exemplifies how trusting in God reveals his penchant for using the most impossible circumstances to accomplish His purposes. He will “accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20 NLT). But we must be willing to trust him.
If you have not read the story of Esther, then I urge you to do so. The story is an example of how God provides care and guidance over our lives. Although we may not understand our present short-term circumstances, we must trust that God is in complete control. He causes everything to work together for the good of those who love Him (Romans 8:28). However, sometimes we have to wait patiently.
Life is not always pleasant
Our lives will not always be pleasant on earth. Remember we live in a fallen world, but remember that God works out everything for the long-range good.
Esther’s story begins during the reign of King Xerxes, Persia’s fifth king. He was searching for a new queen. Ironically, out of all the beautiful women in his empire, King Xerxes chose Esther, an orphaned, exiled Jew, to be queen. Her Jewish family had been exiled from Judah a hundred years earlier and had been deported to Babylon, which in turn was conquered by Persia.
This did not happen by accident. God strategically placed Esther in the palace, close to the King’s heart.
Mordecai, Esther’s older cousin, watched over her after Esther’s parents died. Mordecai acquired a palace position, allowing him to continue to advise Esther even after she became queen. This was by no accident either.
Some time later, Haman, an Amalekite whose ancestors despised the Jews, was appointed second-in-command to King Xerxes. Haman expected other officials to kneel before him as a sign of respect because he was given such a superior position in the palace. However, Mordecai refused to bow before Haman. Mordecai worshipped God alone and therefore would not kneel down before Haman and acknowledge him as a god.
This is an example of trusting God through obedience. Mordecai probably knew severe punishment would arise from his disobediencee to Haman. However, Mordecai chose to obey God (Deuteronomy 25:17-19 and Exodus 17:16). He refused to bow down before Haman. He would only bow down and worship the one true God. “We are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone” (James 2:24 NLT).
Get out of your comfort zone
We should pursue increased trust in God and do the right thing, even if it means getting out of our comfort zone. Mordecai was definitely taking a risk when he did not submit to Haman. Stepping outside of our comfort zone could be as simple as taking food to someone in need that you don’t know very well. I know I have a hard time taking risks but trusting God can only be fully experienced through obedience and action.
Punishment did come to Mordecai for stepping out of his comfort zone and doing the right thing by not bowing to Haman. Haman wished to destroy Mordecai for his disobedience and insubordination. Haman was already filled with racial hatred for the Jews because of the long-standing struggle between the Jews and Haman’s ancestors, the Amalekites. In response to this deep-seeded hatred, Haman persuaded King Xerxes to order that all Jews be wiped out on a single day.
“Dispatches were sent by swift messengers into all the provinces of the empire, giving the order that all Jews–young and old, including women and children–must be killed, slaughtered and annihilated on a single day. This was scheduled to happen on March 7 of the next year. The property of the Jews would be given to those who killed them” (Esther 3:13 NLT).
Their circumstances seemed impossible.
Can you imagine the intense fear the Jews in Persia endured during this time? Not only were they foreigners in a land they had been deported to, but now a decree had been issued to annihilate them. From a human standpoint, their circumstances seemed impossible to survive.
However, Mordecai demonstrates his trust in God and not on his own understanding. He once again takes action, sending Esther a message about the order for the Jews to be annihilated and urges her to go before the King to plead for the Jews in Persia. Esther relays this message to Mordecai.
“All the king’s officials and even the people in the provinces know that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him for thirty days” (Esther 4:11 NLT).
Mordecai totally trusted God…
Mordecai’s reply to Esther demontsrates the type of overflowing trust we should have in our Lord.
“Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when
all other Jews are killed. If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief
for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die.
Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such as a time as this?”
Esther 4:13-14 (NLT)
Mordecai trusted that God would deliver the Jews somehow. He believed God would provide even if Esther refused to help.
Although Esther hesitates and waivers at first, she pulls through and demonstrates her full trust in God by going to Him in prayer and asking for His assistance. She demonstrates her trust and dependence on God by praying. This is shown through her reply to Mordecai.
“Go and gather all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three
days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against
the law, I will go to see the king. If I must die, I must die” (Esther 4:16 NLT).
Life is not so much how we act, but how we react.
This lesson in trusting in God comes through Mordecai’s and Esther’s replies to each other and their actions. The other day I heard a celebrity say, “Life is not so much how we act, but how we react.” Their reaction to dire circumstances was obedience to God and fasting. Prayer was always accompanied by fasting in the old testament (Exodus 34:28).
Esther successfully interceded for the Jews. The Lord gives her and Mordecai favor with King Xerxes. They had to trust in the Lord, pray for his guidance, and patiently wait to see how everything would unfold.
Will you trust? Will you pray? Will you wait?
God was in control during the days of Esther as He is now, in our present day. “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 NIV). Trust Him that he will take care of you. You will endure hardships here on this earth, but pray for guidance and He will show you the path you should take. But you must trust him and wait patiently for his response. Trust. Pray. Wait. Repeat. Trust. Pray. Wait. Repeat. Your path of life will unfold with less anxiety and more joy by trusting Him.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)
Part 3: Faith is Knowing
The third part of faith is knowing that God has provided us with the gift of eternal salvation. When I think of gift giving, it prompts me to think of the contrasting roles involved. There is a giver and a receiver.
A free gift
God gives us salvation, the free gift of eternal life through Jesus, our Lord (Romans 6:23b). A gift is not something the recipient can earn or pay for. Otherwise, it would not be a gift. We cannot earn our salvation through works. Only through God’s mercy and grace can a person be saved (Ephesians 2:4-7). “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8 NIV).
Grace occurs when someone gives you something you don’t deserve. God gives us salvation through the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. We don’t deserve this gift, but He gives us the gift of eternal life because of His love for us.
We are saved by having faith, which is also given to us by God. True saving faith is supernatural, a gift of God that He produces in the heart. Saving faith consists of multiple elements.
The first element that is imperative to having faith is that the mind must understand the truth about Christ (Romans 10:14-17). Salvation comes when a person hears the word of God and believes the facts of the gospel. The second element is volitional in that the person will repent of past transgressions (I John 1:9) and commit to living a life of obedience to Christ (John 14:21-24).
Receiving salvation is the easy part. God has done all the work. The harder part is committing to living a life of obedience to Christ and growing as a disciple. This commitment to doing God’s work brings us to the fourth dimension of faith, the active doing. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10 NIV).
Part 4: Faith is Doing
Thus far, we have discussed the preparatory phases of faith: believing, knowing and trusting. God has given you the gift of believing in Him, knowing we have eternal salvation through Him, and trusting He will take care of our needs. He is preparing us for the “doing.”
The fourth part of faith is actively committing to God and living according to God’s will. It is the action part of faith. How is one to know what God’s will is? It is as simple as studying the Bible and learning what He wants us to do.
Faith in Action
I can say that the Bible completely intimidates me. In the past, I would not even pick it up because I felt like my time was so limited and I did not know where to begin reading. Faith in action begins and ends with the two greatest commandments. When Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment in the Law, he replied:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your
mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love
your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two
commandments” (Matthew 22:36-40 NIV).
Love God and love your neighbors…
Therefore, our moral obligations hinge on two categories: love for God, and love for one’s neighbors. Only when Christ dwells in us through faith are we capable of meeting our moral duties. Then, we will desire to love our God and will want to treat our neighbors well. We will be able to actively pursue meeting both the physical and spiritual needs of our neighbors.
It doesn’t mean that we will not have a few minor failures once in a while, or perhaps a few major ones. It means that our faith continually reforms us to be more like Christ. This reformation allows our faith to be alive and active.
What does your faith do?
When our faith is alive and active, it comforts us in times of grief. Our faith gives us hope even when we are moving from one crises to the next. Our faith allows us to overcome the impossible and have joy in the most dire circumstances. Above all other things, our faith gives us eternal life.
Timeforaword.com
“What is Faith?”
Lawna Afong 7/22/2014