Faith is more than what most of us think it is: it is more than a vague phenomenon that ‘christians’ hold on to. Faith is in fact the basis of Christianity.
Hebrew 11:6 speaks of first accepting God to be more than a concept, then acknowledging Him as the greatest authority and the ultimate ruler in the affairs of men. The seeker is then required to relate to the fact that God is just, so much so that He responds to and meets the needs of those who are committed to Him. This is the category of those whom the writer of the book of Hebrews qualifies as they that ‘please’ God.
Relating to God is first and foremost an act of faith. A regular feature problem is that most of us consider it a ‘religious act’ which basically makes us wear it as a cloak when we come into a ‘Christian gathering’ and take it off when we return to our real lives. For as long as we do this, the bible says it is impossible for us to please God.
Faith, which comes from hearing the word of God, is grown through a relationship with the person of the word. The more we know Him, the more revelation we have and the more our psyche is made alive to the God nature (II Cor 3:18, I Jh 3:2).
For faith to produce fruit, resonance needs to be established between the believer’s heart and the items of expectation. This points at the necessity for building up faith. Expectation, as a concept, is premised on knowledge: a pregnant woman is tagged ‘expecting’ because everyone can see her protruding stomach; a child expects a birthday gift from his/her parent because it is a tradition he has either seen at work or heard of. So it makes sense that one can only expect something he has benefitted from or can relate to. Little wonder then that the bible describes faith as an evidence of things not seen. How can you not see something yet claim to have an evidence of it! What exactly is this evidence? Answer: Faith.
In the same line of reasoning, if I am going to build faith enough to get something, then my faith needs to be fed in the line of my expectation. The people who were healed by Jesus knew about his healing power before they came to him. I would like to put it to you that those who got more than they had previously heard of had worked their expectation to the point of enjoying such benefits as they did and they were commended on having great faith.
Faith, the bible says, comes by hearing (sinking into one’s spirit the possibilities that exist in God and how far beyond man’s ways they are) and hearing the word of God. The aim is to transform the believer’s mind to the point where he can expect more than his human limitations, his seemingly insurmountable challenges and deep-seated mortal convictions. It follows then to say that in all it is, faith is also an attitude.
The dispensation that we have come to is one that demands that we put our mouths where our faith is. II Corinthians 4:13 puts it this way: the fact that we believe makes us to speak what we have believed. And since God’s angels obey the voice of His word, it is a must that we speak the word while putting on the attitude of faith.
