Heb [11:1] {KJV}
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
The word ‘Faith’ from Heb. 11:1, the Greek definition from the Strong’s Concordance, here’s the link for the Blue Letter Bible Concordance: {
https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/...jv/tr/0-1/ }
A.
relating to God
-- the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ
B.
relating to Christ
-- a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God
C. the religious beliefs of Christians
D. belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same
Eph 2:
[8] For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
[9] Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Faith is not something that is natural to us humans, but God gave us the gift of faith so we could exercise it and know Him. Jesus referred to faith as a grain of mustard seed, calling it the least of all seeds.
Luke 17 :
[6] And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Matt. 13:
[32] Which indeed is the least of all seeds:…..
When a person who may have never heard the gospel of Jesus, or maybe they have, they have lived a life and whether or not they know it, God has been leading them on a path preparing them for a collusion with Jesus, to hear the word of God which is the power of God onto salvation.
John 6:
[44] No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
[65] And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.
A person that God has been dealing with, showing them things in their life to prepare them for the gospel, when you witness to them, and a door is open to tell them about Jesus, that person can not even hear the gospel preached in the power of Holy Spirit unless God set up the meeting.
That grain of faith that God instilled in them from birth is awakened when they hear the word of God, even if they want to argue with you, they are still hearing the word of God and they are receiving that word into their heart. So if they do not exercise that faith to receive Jesus right then and there, we did what we were supposed to do. We were never told to save a person, which we can not, that’s God’s doing, Jesus said to preach… end of story.
But the word that is preached into a person’s heart is going to stay with them, moving in their hearts like a living substance and working in them the will of God. If they never accept Jesus, the word in their heart will still be germinating, trying to grow and bring them to salvation until the end.
Isa. 55:
[10] For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
[11] So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
It’s possible that when you are in heaven a person you witnessed to will come up to you and want to shake your hand and thank you for telling them of Jesus and salvation and say to you, “ the words you spoke to me stayed with me for 35 years, and I heard them at different times, in the still moments of the night; I couldn’t get rid of those words about Jesus, and at a time that I needed them, I accepted Jesus into my heart and now I’m here for eternity with Jesus because of what you told me, thank you.”
So we preach the word of God by faith, most the time not seeing the end result but believing that God will use what we said to move in a person's heart.
Even as the rich young ruler turn and walked away from Jesus not wanting to turn to God, at least at that time, God gave Jesus the words the young ruler needed to hear and those words stayed with him. Who is to say the ruler was condemned to a Godless eternity or not? maybe in the future he did turn to God, or maybe not, but the words Jesus gave to him preformed God’s will in his heart for the rest of his life.
Once a person has accepted Jesus into their hearts, there is one of two ways for that person to go, toward Jesus, growing in Him or away from God, no 2 ways about it.
Proverbs 19:
[15] Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.
Even in idleness you’re moving away from God.
Now faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
Romans 8:
[16] But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
[17] So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
God has gave us the tools, and He expects us to do our part to grow in Him. Samuel was one of the greatest prophets in the bible, but when he was young he was just like us, a newbie in God. He did not know the voice of God, nor did he know how to walk before God, evident by 1 Sam. 3:
[7] Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, neither was the word of the LORD yet revealed unto him.
Eli had to instruct him.
1 Sam. 3:
[21] And the LORD appeared again in Shiloh: for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the word of the LORD.
So Samuel started to grow in faith by reading God’s word and doing it.
So do we grow in faith by reading God’s word only? No. We have to pray and talk with Him and we have to do it, and faith will grow. It will grow naturally, like as grass grows because God made it that way, faith grows by doing what God said to do for it to grow, because that is the law of faith that God established. Funny, just by reading and praying a person is showing their faith in God.
David went with courage to fight Goliath, did he just decide that day to go out against the giant? No, David had been following God from early youth, growing in faith in God. He heard the stories of how God bought Israel out of Egypt, gave them the promised land, delivered them from the hand of their enemies, hearing from his parents, during the feasts of the Lord and in the synagogues.
As he was out in the fields he prayed, wrote and sang psalms of praise to God, but there also were 2 big events while he was in the field that acted as building blocks to his faith.
Sam. 17
[34] And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock:
[35] And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
[36] Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear: and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of the living God.
[37] David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go, and the LORD be with thee.
David grew in faith and trust in God by the things he experienced to the point that he was confident that God was with him and no one could stand again him.
As David got older he became king, we can see his faith and confidence grow more in God. The Philistine’s came up against him and he went before God to ask His counsel for the battles against them:
2 Sam. 5:
[19] And David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand? And the LORD said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into thine hand.
I like the way David was specific in his inquiry with God, “Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt thou deliver them into mine hand?”
[20] And David came to Baal-perazim, and David smote them there, and said, The LORD hath broken forth upon mine enemies before me, as the breach of waters. Therefore he called the name of that place Baal-perazim.
[21] And there they left their images, and David and his men burned them.
Again the philistines came and David went before God.
[22] And the Philistines came up yet again, and spread themselves in the valley of Rephaim.
[23] And when David inquired of the LORD, he said, Thou shalt not go up; but fetch a compass behind them, and come upon them over against the mulberry trees.
[25] And David did so, as the LORD had commanded him; and smote the Philistines from Geba until thou come to Gazer.
David up to this point kept moving forward in his spiritual walk grow in faith towards God.
It pleases God that His children believe in Him,
John 1:
[12] But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
As Jesus said to Thomas, “blessed are those that have not seen and believe”.
God is always talking to us, we just need to stop and listen and talk to Him throughout our day.
Heb. 11:
[6] But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
When we pray we are exercising our faith.
When we read His word we are exercising our faith.
When we fellowship we are exercising our faith.
When we do the word of God we are exercising our faith.
Acts 20:
[32] And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.
God’s word will build us up in faith and establish us in God.
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