Starting Our Faith Journey
Genuine Faith is to Know a Truth with Certainty in Your Heart
Genuine faith is to know a truth with certainty in your heart. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1-3, NKJV)
If we know we are safe in the middle of a storm, that knowing is a substance—the substance of faith. If we have received a negative diagnosis yet know in our spirit that we will recover, that knowing is evidence that healing will come.
Faith is not presumption; nor is it to be confused with hope.
Presumption is based on our desire for a certain result.
Hope is a step on the road toward faith.
Faith is the spark of God’s life in our spirit. The stronger the flame, the greater our certainty that God’s promises are true. The brighter it burns, the more of God’s light shines through us.
As we walk out our lives as believers in Christ, our faith will grow and mature as we tend our faith — much as a good farmer would tend his crops. It all starts with a seed that comes alive when we invite Christ into our hearts. How we nurture that seed is our story — our journey of faith.
The Journey Begins with a Revelation of God as Creator
Shalom (our inward sense of completeness or wholeness) begins with a decision to accept and believe that God was, God is, and God always will be. God is the “I AM.” He does not need to explain Himself or prove Himself. Rather, He reveals Himself. The Bible begins with God’s revelation of creation. (Learn More)
Taking Our Stand Against Unbelief
We protect the territory of our hearts by erecting boundaries. That means saying “no” to ideas and concepts that conflict with the nature of God. We can know God’s nature because it is revealed in the Word of God and through the life and ministry of Jesus. “He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:15, ESV) “Anyone who has seen [Jesus] has seen the Father.” (John 14:9, REB) (Learn More)
Faith that God Speaks to Us Through Scripture
“Many times our theologians have been our enemies. They have made a philosophy out of the truth; turned the Word into dogma and creed when it should have been as though the Master were here speaking to us. The Word should speak to us as He would have if He were here. When we pick up the Bible it would be good to remember that it is the Book with God in it; Life in it; a God-indwelt book.” (E. W. Kenyon)
Faith in the God Who Changes Not
Of God’s many attributes revealed to us through scripture, His unchanging nature (His immutability) is one that provides immeasurable comfort. This attribute of God means that God is constant in His nature, His character, His purposes, and His promises. We can rely on God to keep His word for His words are creative. When God speaks a word, the matter is done. (Learn More)
Faith in the God Who Sees Me
God’s ability to see our hearts and the imaginations of our thoughts means that He knows each of us just as we really are. We cannot fool Him with an outward appearance of piety; nor can we earn His love through mighty deeds. He knows us as we are now and as we will be in the future. He knows us, and yet He loves us. This is a fundamental truth that needs to lodge in the heart of every man and woman. Each of us is loved with the pure love of God. (Learn More)
Faith for the Present Moment
There is much to be said of the beauty of the present moment. The present moment is where God lives, for He is the God of the “I AM.” If we desire to interact with God, we must do so in the now. When we speak, we speak in the now. When we think, we think in the now. When we love, we love in the now. When our hearts overflow with gratitude, our hearts do so in the now. (Learn More)
Faith for Salvation
Jesus is clear. We will not be able to see or enter the kingdom of God until we are born again in our spirit. So, how is this change in our spirit to occur? As with the analogy of the wind, we may not fully comprehend the “how” of rebirth, but we will be able to sense the change in our spirit when we are “reborn.” This change in our spirit is the “washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:6) It is a profound change in our identity. (Learn More)
Faith that God’s Spirit Indwells the Believer
In order to make headway in our walk of faith, it is helpful to first meditate on the relationship between our spirit, our soul and our body. Scripture recognizes that the born again believer exists on three levels:
each born again believer lives in a tangible physical body,
each born again believer has a soul that expresses his or her identity and involves the believer’s mind, will, and emotions, and
each born again believer is infilled by the Spirit of God (Learn More)
Faith That There is No Distance in God
“Faith is an inward operation of that divine power that dwells in the contrite heart and can lay hold of the things not seen. Faith is a divine act; Faith is God in the soul.” (Smith Wigglesworth on Faith, p. 130, Whitaker House 1998) (Learn More)
Faith in God’s Sovereignty and Our Authority
God has absolute moral and legal authority over all matter because He is the Creator of all matter. “All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:3, ESV) Had God so desired, all of matter would be incapable of diverging from His will and His plan. As creator, He had the power to make us as He pleased.
In the case of humanity, however, it pleased God to give us a measure of free will. I say “a measure” because the free will of humanity is exercised in the context of spiritual realities that were created from before the beginning of time. (Learn More)