To Define Faith.

[Traveler 1]

To Define Faith.

It would seem strange that the time has come where there now needs to be an explanation of what faith is. Supposed to be such a simple definition, but in our generation it has become so twisted that this is one of the greatest hindrances to the development of the saints and the breaking of their power found in the gifts of the Spirit.

What faith is not ;

Faith is not some mystical spiritual power that you need to develop more of so as to get rich quicker or walk on water. In fact the gifts of the spirit are not even meant to be used to gain wealth as in mammon for power in this world this side of the rapture. So even the motivation for the building up of the saints faith has been compromised. Yes you need faith to gain access to God but it is Gods power that does the miracles, not your faith. It is your faith in God that makes you a conduit for the power of God to flow through you.

In the kingdom of God everything revolves around God and God is the source of the saints power. In the kingdom of Satan everything revolves around self and power is to be found in the development of self. Hence the twisting of the definition of faith into a force that is supposed to be developed in self. We were warned about this in the book of Daniel and his description of the Son of Perdition.

Dan 11:37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all.
Dan 11:38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.

As you can see, a gay atheist that believes in a god of forces, Sounds like something out of the movie Star wars. ( May the force be with you !) If you are trying to develop and build up your force of faith then you are not worshiping God, you are idolizing Self and as such serving the kingdom of Satan.

What faith is;

A dictionary definition is this ;

G4100
πιστεύω
pisteuō
pist-yoo'-o
From G4102; to have faith (in, upon, or with respect to, a person or thing), that is, credit; by implication to entrust (especially one’s spiritual well being to Christ): - believe (-r), commit (to trust), put in trust with.

Faith has to rest in something or someone. Do you have trust in your spouse to come to your aid if you are in trouble. That is faith in your spouse. Do you believe that if you get in your car to drive to work in the morning that it will get you there, you are displaying faith in your car.

Likewise you have faith in God. You trust God and believe in God that he will be looking out for your better well-being as viewed from the perspective of his kingdom. You are the servant of the Lord, the Lord is not your servant ! The relationship is God centre, not self centre.

In prayer the actual power that makes the miracle happen comes from God, not the saint. The prayer of the saint is that of an intercessor that is asking God to intervene in natural events on their behalf. The saint is asking God for help because the saint has faith in God to answer their requests. Faith in God is much the same as trust in God.

Think of a relationship between a child and a parent. The Child has faith in the parent to look out for them and if the child asks the parent for something then the child will have the expectation of an answer. The parent can still hold back if the request will be a problem down the line but the trust relationship between the parent and child remains. The relationship between the Saint and God is much the same with the exception that the saint is a bit more mature and God does expect respect and obedience from the saint and the saint is often given small tasks to do in service of the kingdom.

This faith in God is a requirement for everything from the basic salvation to the operation of the gifts of the spirit to an active prayer life. Without this faith there just is no real relationship with God.

Heb 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
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.
Heb 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

It is the trust / faith and belief in God that gives you the confidence to believe the scriptures and grow spiritually to the point where you come into the fullness of the promises. A lack of or misdirected faith in God will result in a dry academic religion with no power.

This can be demonstrated in the verses below.

Act 3:12 And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
Act 3:13 The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.
Act 3:14 But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
Act 3:15 And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
Act 3:16 And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

A notable miracle occurred under the ministry of the original apostles and the people started to look on them as if they were special holy people. Correction they were uneducated fishermen. They were the peasantry of the day. But they had been redeemed by Jesus and they had the authority to use his name and they had faith in God the Father of Jesus to work the miracle in answer to their prayers. And in that passage they stated as such. It still works exactly the same way to day. I have seen miracles under my own small ministry even though I am very ordinary in every way.

Get your theology and motives right and anyone reading this will be able to start walking in the power of the spirit as well. That is how the real body of Christ self perpetuates and grows from generation to generation down through time. Or do you really think all those who gave their lives for Christ did so because of religious delusions ?

The cost to you;

Do not think that if you grow to the point where you start to walk in the fullness of the spirit that Satan will leave you to go your merry way. Persecution is sure to follow. If you are not being persecuted then you need to see if you are doing something wrong from the perspective of the kingdom of God. The events explained in the passage below is typical and often repeated right to this day. Note that it came from the religious establishment.

Act 6:7 And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith.
Act 6:8 And Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Act 6:9 Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of Asia, disputing with Stephen.
Act 6:10 And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake.
Act 6:11 Then they suborned men, which said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.
Act 6:12 And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and brought him to the council,
Act 6:13 And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law:

Now Stephen had a nice little ministry going there. The gifts of the spirit was operating through him and people where coming to the Lord etc. It was members of other synagogues that first came to debate with him and try to lead him astray or comply with their way. This did not go well for them so they gathered false witnesses to slander him and then used that to bring him before the law courts to destroy him publicly.

This is demonically induced and Satan has a whole lot of demons dedicated to isolating the saints that get in the way. This can be combated and driven back in prayer but that is another subject. Just know that this type of persecution will hit any saint that moves in the will of the Lord. It’s a lot less devastating if you have a heads up and are expect it. It will always come from your area of greatest weakness.

 

[Gell]

Yep. I believe the word faith is very much misunderstood. Even the famous richard dawkins does not understand the true meaning of the word.
I always thought that faith is blind.
But the Lord showed me it is really not. Now what atheism is, that is blind faith. It is still a belief no matter what they would say.
“Now faith is the confidence of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things NOT SEEN.”
There are lots of evidence. From intellectual design, historical facts, witness accounts, movement of the holy spirit, miracles etc.
But most of all, because our very being cries out for our Creator, whether we recognise it or not.

 

[Tigger45]

Faith is a gift from God which illumines a person's spirit to receive the grace of God.

 

[Bobber]

It would seem strange that the time has come where there now needs to be an explanation of what faith is.

Should be a lot more discussion on it really.

Faith is not some mystical spiritual power that you need to develop more of so as to get rich quicker or walk on water.

Well faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Rom 10:17 Actually with a proper Covenant realization of things you'll find yourself having faith for all things that pertain to life and godliness. 2 Pt 1:3

Yes you need faith to gain access to God but it is Gods power that does the miracles, not your faith. It is your faith in God that makes you a conduit for the power of God to flow through you.

Well it's tricky how you're saying this or how people take words. In your saying it's not our faith that does the miracles well true it's not human power but Gods power and yet it can be said in a sense that your faith had a part to play. When the disciples would lay hands on the sick to see them recover or Moses spread out his rod over the Sea....well they contributed an action which if not a part the miracle would not have occurred. And you say as much in your second statement It is your faith in God that makes you a conduit but so many would say, Nope nothing, nothing, nothing we do has anything to do with bringing about something which is pure nonsense. There are things we do.

Sounds like something out of the movie Star wars. ( May the force be with you !) If you are trying to develop and build up your force of faith then you are not worshiping God, you are idolizing Self and as such serving the kingdom of Satan.

Well I agree I never did like the idea of the "force of faith" in spiritual teaching. It's very misleading. In the secular world psychologists might use the term as to mean the power of being optimistic and there is a certain energy in being optimistic which can lead people into a positive end result, but that's more having a basic understanding how how the mind works in having clarity to achieve things. I will say this though Jesus did reveal there is a certain methodology involved in how to function in faith...NO FAITH IS NOT A POWER.....but expressing faith before God is to be demonstrated certain ways. Keep in mind, the disciples asked Jesus to increase their faith.....but Jesus didn't commend their way of thinking. What he said rather was,

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”He replied, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you. Luke 17:5-6

They wanted an increase of faith but Jesus basically told them it's not so much an increase you need but you need rather to understand the method in which faith functions, which is...speaking and saying. When a saint declares let's say a well known Psalm and they do it from their heart..."The Lord is my Sheppard I do not want....(and then all the rest) they're releasing faith. Let's just say in the spirit they're defining a parameter which is to say God I agree with your thoughts on the matter and not what my devilish worried thoughts would like to say, and by declaring God's word his power will release, or bring protection of whatever scripture your bringing up. And no it's not whatever scripture in the Bible you want to point to but rather what's a part of our inheritance in Christ AND...it's not our POWER of faith but it does show God faith.

Faith has to rest in something or someone. Do you have trust in your spouse to come to your aid if you are in trouble. That is faith in your spouse. Do you believe that if you get in your car to drive to work in the morning that it will get you there, you are displaying faith in your car.Likewise you have faith in God. You trust God and believe in God that he will be looking out for your better well-being as viewed from the perspective of his kingdom.

I agree but there is diversities with this....in I Corinthians 12: 8-11, the "gift of faith" is talking about in certain circumstances God will drop into one and overwhelming confidence to carry out a certain thing knowing there will be a certain end result. It's not so much as looking to God although the power to make something happen is from God but there it is a supernatural confidence and boldness which comes on one to achieve a certain end. So in a slight way it could in this type setting be considered a power or some would call it an anointing to achieve a certain end. All the glory still goes to God however.

 

[Traveler 1]

I was just told something that explains things well,
You know how much faith someone has in their breaks by how fast they drive.

Anyway what brought the confusion regarding faith into the church doctrine was the prosperity teaching. The name it and claim it ideas. While everyone was positive confessing they were actually loosing their spiritual gifts and being rendered powerless.

 

[Johnny4ChristJesus]

I was just told something that explains things well,
You know how much faith someone has in their breaks by how fast they drive.

Anyway what brought the confusion regarding faith into the church doctrine was the prosperity teaching. The name it and claim it ideas. While everyone was positive confessing they were actually loosing their spiritual gifts and being rendered powerless.

First, thanks for bringing the discussion of faith up. It is something that needs to be discussed, because there are more than a few who think faith is just intellectual assent and that it requires nothing from us other than that. And, that is not faith.

I also don't appreciate the "prosperity" lie, but what faith is started to be confused much earlier in church history than the prosperity people. I don't believe the lie which has been told for much longer that continues to have dead people sit in sanctuaries and be told that they are going to heaven. That started well before the prosperity teachings. And, it really boils down to the idea that you can have faith that doesn't change you or your priorities.

I don't agree with the "fast car" analogy you just proposed. When driving, there is a whole lot more that goes into driving than just a belief in breaks, including my own driving skills, my confidence in other people's driving skills, other natural and man-related environmental factors such as weather, and other road conditions, other car factors, etc. It would have to be a really really controlled experiment to have brakes be the only factor in how fast I drive a car.