Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. —Hebrew 11:1
When I went back to Bible school in my late twenties, I already had a great deal of Biblical training, had served as a deacon, and had overseen many other areas of ministry. Having led several small teaching groups every week, I thought I knew a lot about the Bible. But after my first week of school in Oklahoma, I found out that I didn’t even know what faith was. For years I had used the word “faith” in my teaching and preaching, but I had never truly grasped what it actually meant. This new understanding left me humbled to say the least.
So what is faith? In the simplest terms, faith is a belief. You might say that it is a conviction or a persuasion. If you believe that you can exchange money for items like food and clothing, then you can say you have faith in the system of currency. But if you never attempt to purchase something from a store with the money you have, your faith would be inactive and incomplete. When you act on what you believe, you activate or give evidence to your faith.
Did you know that you can believe something without it necessarily being divine faith? Like in the example above, many things that we have accepted as truth have very little, if any, Biblical legitimacy. Divine faith comes from spiritual revelation, which can come through Scripture or by our spirit being activated by God’s Holy Spirit. It is these nuggets of truth that come from heaven that initiate and grow our understanding of the Father and how His kingdom works.
So divine faith comes from revelation and forms a belief, a conviction, or a persuasion in our minds and hearts about God and how to function in His power and ability. What we believe will affect everything we think, say, and do. These manifested changes in our thoughts, actions, and words activate kingdom principles and the power of God in our lives. Once these changes become a consistent way of life and not just something that we try through discipline alone, they will cause the power of heaven to begin to affect the very world around us.
God is no respecter of persons and He doesn’t show favoritism, but faith does get His attention. As a matter of fact, the Bible tells us that without faith it’s impossible to please God. I don’t know about you, but the main goal of my life is to please God. If it takes living, active, functioning faith to please Him, then I’m going to do everything in my power to get it and use it.
Always remember that divine faith is what we are convinced of and what we believe that not only lines up with God’s Word, but also originates from Him. Open up your heart and your spirit to God and ask Him to fill you with His faith. Activate your faith by doing something with it. Begin today by allowing this revelation to change everything you think, say, and do. Scriptural Context Hebrews 10:35-11:1
Concept Reinforcement Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism..." —Acts 10:34
And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him. —Hebrews 11:6
But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. —James 2:18
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