Faith in the purest sense is the ceasing of resistance, even when there’s no physical evidence, when the other evidence is present – the other evidence is physical, proof.
Not feeding ourselves on what God hasn’t done.
Faith in it’s purest form is the absence of resistance.
Faith doesn’t deny a problems existence, it denies it influence.
He or she was someone whom aridity and desolation never disturbed, for he or she had a deeply rooted and vigorous faith
There is a difference between secular and Biblical faith. Biblical faith is an active dependence on God's promises in His Word, and the assurance that if we follow the instructions written for us in the Bible our experience with God will be enhanced.
Secular faith is the faith that if I look both ways before I cross the road, I won't get hit by a car; and if I slow down on the motorway, I have faith that the driver behind me knows how to use his brake pedal. Secular faith is going to the convenience store to buy milk and knowing that there will be milk there to buy. It is also engaging a plumber to fix the bathroom pipe, and knowing that he knows what he is doing.
Existentialism (the philosophical stance) is basically faith in faith. "If I have faith, then I have faith that I have faith. In other words, "If I believe something to be true, then it is true." The Prosperity doctrine is at this level. "If I believe that God is going to give me a large pay-rise, a band new motor car and a six bedroom mansion with three bathrooms, then He will give it to me." or, "If I have the faith to be healed, I will be healed." All this is Existentialism and not Biblical faith. It is faith in what I choose to believe at any one time.
Biblical faith is securely linked to God's Word to us. If I believe that God is not willing that any should perish but that all my come to repentance, then if I act according to that and repent, then I can know that I will not perish because God's Word says that if I repent, I will not perish. Similarly, the Scripture, "To as many as receive Him [Christ] God will give them eternal life". So, when I act on the promise and receive Christ as my Saviour, I can know that I have eternal life. It is not that I believe that I have eternal life, but rather the Word of God says that I have eternal life when I receive Jesus; and the Word says that if I repent, I will not perish. If I have a terminal disease, and I go to God about it, and I get an unmistakable response, "I am the God who heals you." then I can believe that I will be healed, not because I have a sense of faith that will happen, but that the Word of God has told me so, therefore my dependence for healing is not on my faith, but on what God has said in His Word.
