by Ann Nurse

Created on: March 15, 2011

Understanding and Living Faith

Here is faith described in Hebrews 11:1.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Faith is relying upon God's ability to make a positive difference in troubling circumstances. We trust God more than we rely upon man.

God can do what man is not capable of doing. To walk by faith does not mean you have to be thoroughly furnished in The Word of God; we put our confidence in God for we are not leaning on our personal understanding of how to turn a bad situation around. It is important to keep The Word of God before us for encouragement and to learn more about His will for man. God will not fail us. Learn to hear God speak through His Holy Spirit as we are encouraging ourselves in Him. 

Faith does not mean we are protected from troubles. Troubles come to all of us - the good, the bad and the indifferent. The Word says we will have troubles in this world. Troubles encourage us to trust God and to use the faith He has placed in us. It means that our confidence in God's ability out- weighs the confidence we have in ourselves or another man. We are trusting God for perfecting His purpose in us. The Word of God tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith is not a luxury but it is essential in the life of the believer. To be in line with God's Word, we must be equipped for the warfare.

We must put on the whole armor of God. The Sword of the Spirit; this is The Word. God's Word reduces our susceptibility to the wiles of Satan. Know your position with The Lord. Know who He is to you. Know who you are to God. The problem is not removed before we go through but as we go through. God is with us.

Look at Psalm 23. It says this.

"Ye though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil."

The Word reinforces our confidence and gives us blessed assurance that 'Heaven and earth will pass away before one jot or tittle of God's Word fails us.' The security of walking by faith in God makes us more dependent upon His ability. His Holy Spirit will direct us. Fear will not be able to paralyze us. The Word says to resist the devil and he will flee from you. We praise God as He walks us through the trials and stormy tribulations we encounter in life.

This is not the end of what it means to walk in faith. Our understanding of the meaning of walking by faith has a foundational groundwork in this scripture found in the Book of Romans and it reads like this. Faith walkers ask themselves this question, found in Romans 8:35 and reads like this:

"Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?"

Romans 8:37-38 answers the question and affirms the faithfulness of the believer to stay the course of faith. It says:

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (38) For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, (39) Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We grow from faith to faith. As we grow from faith to faith we firmly take a stand on the faithfulness of God to deliver us and we cling to Our Father and affirm that nothing can remove our trust in His love for His people. The faith we use for today is not sufficient for all days; we get more faith, as we trust more. We may begin small today and tomorrow we are able to encourage someone else to trust God. Our testimony and confidence in God will win others to trust Him. God will not fail to reward our faith in Him.

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