What is Bible faith?*
The scriptural definition of faith is given in Hebrews 11:1. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Biblical faith contains two elements: substance and evidence.
The word "substance" literally means that which has real existence, the basic essence, the actual reality, the substance of something. Thus your faith is something real that has actuality.
This means that if by faith you claim a promise which God makes you in His Word, and if you believe that you have received the answer when you pray, then your faith stands in the place of what you ask until it manifested visibly.
Faith is also "evidence". Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Evidence of anything is absolute proof of its reality and existence. This means that the very fact that you have faith that God has heard and granted your request is evidence that you have received what you do not see yet. You have received it "by faith". You see the the invisible reality with the spiritual eye of faith. When you know in your heart that your request has been answered before you see it, your faith is the evidence that you have it.
On the other hand, if there is merely hope or desire present then there is no evidence. Mere hope is often mingled with doubts, fears and anxieties as to whether or not you will really receive what you have asked for.
When genuine faith is in the heart you know that God has granted your petition when you ask, and this faith, as heart knowledge, is your evidence that you have what you do not as yet see.
Jesus said: "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.-Mark11:24.
1. GROUND YOUR FAITH IN THE WORD OF GOD
The Apostle Paul declares "...faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."-Rom10:17
And more important - Faith comes by hearing and BELIEVING the word of God. This is the whole secret to faith, not just to read and have it in your head, but to believe what God says with all your heart. (Your being.) Faith is believing that God will do for, in, or through you what He promises in His word. Faith is believing God. God and His Word are one accord. Believing His Word is believing God. Faith is more than just believing you are saved, its your way of life and believing all that God is.
2. CLAIM AS YOURS WHAT YOUR FAITH HAS EMBRACED FROM GOD'S WORD
Next thing you have to do is ASK once in faith then thank Him for it before you see anything.
1 John 5:14-15
New King James Version (NKJV)
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
We will only receive God's promises which we specifically claim as ours by faith.
It is not ours unless we appropriate it by faith. This is clear in the case of salvation; it is just as true regarding bodily healing or any other blessing God promises the believer. James says "you have not, because you ask not.." James4:2.
However, when you ask, ask in simple, childlike faith. Faith does not plead and beg for what God has promised; this indicates a lack of faith. We are not asking by faith if we think we have to persuade God to do what He has already offered to do for those who ask.
God is ready and willing to bestow what He promises upon those who in quiet assurance take Him at His word and ask, believing. He does not have to be persuaded for He has already said "YES" to all His promises in Christ Jesus "for all the promises of God in Him are yes and in Him Amen." 11Cor1:20. Since God has already said yes to everything He has promised you in His word, even before you ask, then the answer cannot be no if you ask in faith!
"And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive" Matthews21:22.
3. BOLDLY CONFESS WHAT YOU HAVE BELIEVED AND CLAIMED BY FAITH
Confession brings possession, for what you confess is your faith speaking. Confession is faith's way of expressing itself. "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom10:10. If we genuinely believe that God will keep His promise to us, it will be expressed by what we say or confess.
Jesus in Mark 11:23 also emphasizes the significant relationship between what we say or confess and receiving what we ask: For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says."
We always receive what we say or confess. This is why the Scriptures places such a strong emphasis upon a positive confession.
- Matt10:32-33 "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven."
-1Tim6:12-13 "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate,"
-James1:6-7 "6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;"
If we make a negative confession of doubt, then we receive nothing.
If we confess what God's word says, then He will bring it to pass.
Confessions of doubt imprisons your faith so that it cannot be released, for
"thou art snared with the words of thy mouth" Proverbs 6:2
For example, if you are believing the Lord for finances, using Phil 4:19: "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
What you should is thank the Lord every day that His word is true, that He will provide, and you speak to your circumstances that it must get inline with the word of God (The specific promise you are standing on by faith)
But if you make negative confessions like well... seems like we're going to be broke because the bills aren't paid or month end is next week etc.
Faith says God will make a way, I am not going to look at circumstances (which may be very real facts to you at that point) but God's word is TRUTH.
Prov3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths."
We must therefore, make sure our initial confession, as well as our subsequent confession, is in harmony with God's word. Again the sober warnings in James1:6-7 & Proverbs6:2.
4. ACT ON YOUR FAITH
There is a difference between heart faith and mere intellectual belief. Often people think they have genuine faith, but they do not act their faith. The Scriptures show that when true faith is present it will provide corresponding works or actions of faith.
When Jesus anointed the blind man's eyes with clay and commanded him to go wash in the pool of Siloam, this gave the man an opportunity to put his faith into action.
"Faith, if it hath not works, is dead" James2:17
In Mark2:1-5 we read that Jesus "saw" the faith of the men who lowered the man sick of palsy down through the roof. Obviously you cannot see faith. BUT you can see faith at work!
It is to their faith in action that Jesus refers.
(You can imagine they would not have gone through all that effort to get their friend through the roof, if they didn't truly believe Jesus will heal him)
When genuine faith is present it alone will be sufficient, and it will take the place of other things we used to run to for help. We must act our faith. Genuine faith always produces corresponding actions that are in agreement with our confession of faith.
All the heroes of faith recorded in Hebrews 11 are said to have done something which gave evidence of their faith. "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain... by faith Noah..prepared an ark... by faith Abraham offered up Isaac... by faith Moses... forsook Egypt. etc. When true faith is present we will always act on it.
If you claim a promise of God, you may not know the exact moment the manifestation will occur, but it always comes as you are acting in agreement with your confession of faith in God's Word!
5. HOLD FAST TO YOUR CONFESSION OF FAITH WITHOUT WAVERING
Genuine faith never confesses what it sees or feels in the natural realm, for this may not appear to change immediately; but faith confesses what God's word promises in the face of all apparent circumstances to the contrary. Therefore we are admonished: "Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering; for He who promised is faithful" Heb10:23
Jesus teaches us in Mark 11:24 that when we pray we are to believe that we have received when we ask, and that we shall see it manifested. The significant thing is that it is always after we believe and confess that we have received that the answer is manifested. Sometimes it is a moment after; at other times it is a week, a month, or longer before the answer is seen in the visible realm. But true faith continues to confess that God has heard and granted our request and that we shall have it. We must always receive it in the faith realm, before we shall see it in the natural or visible realm.
Faith is not concerned with the calender - it is based on what God has promised, not what physical circumstances appear to indicate at the present. Abraham waited many years for the manifestation of God's promise to him of a son, but he held fast to his faith without doubting.
He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.-Rom4:20-21
Your circumstances will be defeated by maintaining a positive confession of faith in the face of all apparent evidence to the contrary. The devil will often not withdraw his symptoms or attack until he has made trial of your faith, for he well knows many begin to waver and doubt in time of testing. Hold fast to your positive confession and he will be forced to withdraw his attack from you. Satan's power to afflict or oppress increases or decreases in direct proportion to your confession of faith or doubt.
Therefore let us indeed hold fast the profession of our faith, without wavering, for He who promised is faithful! Whatever you claim by faith, refuse to look at the problems or circumstances involved; keep your eyes on the promises of God, boldly maintaining your confession of what His word says, and He will surely bring it to pass when the trial of your faith is completed.
We must note that after we have claimed a promise of God by faith, then the form and content of our prayers, confessions, actions and conversation must change.
Prayer: Once you have by faith healing/financial provision/peace/protection etc for yourself, and then continue to keep asking the same thing over and over again, instead of giving thanks to God that He had already heard and granted your request, even though the manifestation is not yet seen, is evidence of a lack of faith. When you pray and pray the same thing it shows unbelief, because Jesus said:"when you pray, believe that you have received".
After you have received by faith, you can praise and thank God daily for the answer, for you must see it in the faith realm first, before you can see it in the visible realm. Read Mark 11:24 and Matthew 21:22.
Confession: After the prayer of faith, our confession must then also change from "God can heal me/ help me/ provide for me and will if i ask" to "I know that God has heard and granted my petition/request according to His Word." The confession of faith always refers to past tense, not future tense (because you have to believe that you have received!)
We must not say God will heal me, but He has healed me, Mark11:24 and 1Peter2:24.
If you pray uncertain future tense it indicates that you do not really believe that God has granted your request when you prayed.
Our confession must not be based on what we see, feel, or what our outward circumstances seem to indicate, but solely on what God says has been done for us when we prayed.
Actions: Our actions must also change to correspond with our faith. We must act out our faith, for if faith hath not works, it is dead. Naaman, the leper, was healed according to the Word of the prophet Elisha only after he had acted on faith and washed seven times in the Jordan river. Noah was saved because he acted on his faith, for we read "by faith, Noah, being warned by God of things not as yet seen, ..prepared an ark to the saving for his house." Heb11:7.
Conversation: Faith never thinks, talks, nor listens to doubt, regardless of symptoms, pains, feelings, or apparent circumstances on the contrary. We are to "hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering" Heb10:23. Faith speaks positively of what God's Word says has been done. It does not say "I have claimed healing for my eyes and it will come but at the moment i am still having a difficulty with doing my work as they are still weak." no- you need to stop acknowledging symptoms and circumstances, and start and continue to speak God's Word about it. Keep thanking Him for your healing, keep thanking Him for the breakthrough, keep thanking Him for change in your family or work situations, for we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us! Rom8:37.
Our conversation must change; it must not be centered on our illness or difficulty, symptoms or feelings, for this is an admonition that Satan has victory over us and the power to keep us in bondage. Confess, on the contrary, that he has no rights to afflict you, and that his attack in your body/family/work/finances has been overcome by faith in God's promise. Hold fast to your confession and Satan will turn loose!
Refuse to talk about your illness, your symptoms, your pains,your problems: this is admitting they belong to you. But the truth is they don't! For John 10:10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
Talk faith and God will manifest it to your sight. Since you receive what you confess, then center your conversation on your faith in God's promise to you, not on outward circumstances.
For as He said in Prov18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit."
I pray that you take time to study this and that the Lord will reveal Himself to you in His mighty light and love, in Jesus Name.
*taken and compiled from uncopyrighted source.
I have never been a part of the "word of faith" ministries.
The scriptural definition of faith is given in Hebrews 11:1. "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Biblical faith contains two elements: substance and evidence.
The word "substance" literally means that which has real existence, the basic essence, the actual reality, the substance of something. Thus your faith is something real that has actuality.
This means that if by faith you claim a promise which God makes you in His Word, and if you believe that you have received the answer when you pray, then your faith stands in the place of what you ask until it manifested visibly.
Faith is also "evidence". Faith is the evidence of things not seen. Evidence of anything is absolute proof of its reality and existence. This means that the very fact that you have faith that God has heard and granted your request is evidence that you have received what you do not see yet. You have received it "by faith". You see the the invisible reality with the spiritual eye of faith. When you know in your heart that your request has been answered before you see it, your faith is the evidence that you have it.
On the other hand, if there is merely hope or desire present then there is no evidence. Mere hope is often mingled with doubts, fears and anxieties as to whether or not you will really receive what you have asked for.
When genuine faith is in the heart you know that God has granted your petition when you ask, and this faith, as heart knowledge, is your evidence that you have what you do not as yet see.
Jesus said: "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.-Mark11:24.
1. GROUND YOUR FAITH IN THE WORD OF GOD
The Apostle Paul declares "...faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."-Rom10:17
And more important - Faith comes by hearing and BELIEVING the word of God. This is the whole secret to faith, not just to read and have it in your head, but to believe what God says with all your heart. (Your being.) Faith is believing that God will do for, in, or through you what He promises in His word. Faith is believing God. God and His Word are one accord. Believing His Word is believing God. Faith is more than just believing you are saved, its your way of life and believing all that God is.
2. CLAIM AS YOURS WHAT YOUR FAITH HAS EMBRACED FROM GOD'S WORD
Next thing you have to do is ASK once in faith then thank Him for it before you see anything.
1 John 5:14-15
New King James Version (NKJV)
14 Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.
We will only receive God's promises which we specifically claim as ours by faith.
It is not ours unless we appropriate it by faith. This is clear in the case of salvation; it is just as true regarding bodily healing or any other blessing God promises the believer. James says "you have not, because you ask not.." James4:2.
However, when you ask, ask in simple, childlike faith. Faith does not plead and beg for what God has promised; this indicates a lack of faith. We are not asking by faith if we think we have to persuade God to do what He has already offered to do for those who ask.
God is ready and willing to bestow what He promises upon those who in quiet assurance take Him at His word and ask, believing. He does not have to be persuaded for He has already said "YES" to all His promises in Christ Jesus "for all the promises of God in Him are yes and in Him Amen." 11Cor1:20. Since God has already said yes to everything He has promised you in His word, even before you ask, then the answer cannot be no if you ask in faith!
"And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive" Matthews21:22.
3. BOLDLY CONFESS WHAT YOU HAVE BELIEVED AND CLAIMED BY FAITH
Confession brings possession, for what you confess is your faith speaking. Confession is faith's way of expressing itself. "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom10:10. If we genuinely believe that God will keep His promise to us, it will be expressed by what we say or confess.
Jesus in Mark 11:23 also emphasizes the significant relationship between what we say or confess and receiving what we ask: For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says."
We always receive what we say or confess. This is why the Scriptures places such a strong emphasis upon a positive confession.
- Matt10:32-33 "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. 33 But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven."
-1Tim6:12-13 "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I urge you in the sight of God who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus who witnessed the good confession before Pontius Pilate,"
-James1:6-7 "6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;"
If we make a negative confession of doubt, then we receive nothing.
If we confess what God's word says, then He will bring it to pass.
Confessions of doubt imprisons your faith so that it cannot be released, for
"thou art snared with the words of thy mouth" Proverbs 6:2
For example, if you are believing the Lord for finances, using Phil 4:19: "And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
What you should is thank the Lord every day that His word is true, that He will provide, and you speak to your circumstances that it must get inline with the word of God (The specific promise you are standing on by faith)
But if you make negative confessions like well... seems like we're going to be broke because the bills aren't paid or month end is next week etc.
Faith says God will make a way, I am not going to look at circumstances (which may be very real facts to you at that point) but God's word is TRUTH.
Prov3:5-6 "Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
And lean not on your own understanding;
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths."
We must therefore, make sure our initial confession, as well as our subsequent confession, is in harmony with God's word. Again the sober warnings in James1:6-7 & Proverbs6:2.
4. ACT ON YOUR FAITH
There is a difference between heart faith and mere intellectual belief. Often people think they have genuine faith, but they do not act their faith. The Scriptures show that when true faith is present it will provide corresponding works or actions of faith.
When Jesus anointed the blind man's eyes with clay and commanded him to go wash in the pool of Siloam, this gave the man an opportunity to put his faith into action.
"Faith, if it hath not works, is dead" James2:17
In Mark2:1-5 we read that Jesus "saw" the faith of the men who lowered the man sick of palsy down through the roof. Obviously you cannot see faith. BUT you can see faith at work!
It is to their faith in action that Jesus refers.
(You can imagine they would not have gone through all that effort to get their friend through the roof, if they didn't truly believe Jesus will heal him)
When genuine faith is present it alone will be sufficient, and it will take the place of other things we used to run to for help. We must act our faith. Genuine faith always produces corresponding actions that are in agreement with our confession of faith.
All the heroes of faith recorded in Hebrews 11 are said to have done something which gave evidence of their faith. "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain... by faith Noah..prepared an ark... by faith Abraham offered up Isaac... by faith Moses... forsook Egypt. etc. When true faith is present we will always act on it.
If you claim a promise of God, you may not know the exact moment the manifestation will occur, but it always comes as you are acting in agreement with your confession of faith in God's Word!
5. HOLD FAST TO YOUR CONFESSION OF FAITH WITHOUT WAVERING
Genuine faith never confesses what it sees or feels in the natural realm, for this may not appear to change immediately; but faith confesses what God's word promises in the face of all apparent circumstances to the contrary. Therefore we are admonished: "Let us hold fast the confession of our faith without wavering; for He who promised is faithful" Heb10:23
Jesus teaches us in Mark 11:24 that when we pray we are to believe that we have received when we ask, and that we shall see it manifested. The significant thing is that it is always after we believe and confess that we have received that the answer is manifested. Sometimes it is a moment after; at other times it is a week, a month, or longer before the answer is seen in the visible realm. But true faith continues to confess that God has heard and granted our request and that we shall have it. We must always receive it in the faith realm, before we shall see it in the natural or visible realm.
Faith is not concerned with the calender - it is based on what God has promised, not what physical circumstances appear to indicate at the present. Abraham waited many years for the manifestation of God's promise to him of a son, but he held fast to his faith without doubting.
He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.-Rom4:20-21
Your circumstances will be defeated by maintaining a positive confession of faith in the face of all apparent evidence to the contrary. The devil will often not withdraw his symptoms or attack until he has made trial of your faith, for he well knows many begin to waver and doubt in time of testing. Hold fast to your positive confession and he will be forced to withdraw his attack from you. Satan's power to afflict or oppress increases or decreases in direct proportion to your confession of faith or doubt.
Therefore let us indeed hold fast the profession of our faith, without wavering, for He who promised is faithful! Whatever you claim by faith, refuse to look at the problems or circumstances involved; keep your eyes on the promises of God, boldly maintaining your confession of what His word says, and He will surely bring it to pass when the trial of your faith is completed.
We must note that after we have claimed a promise of God by faith, then the form and content of our prayers, confessions, actions and conversation must change.
Prayer: Once you have by faith healing/financial provision/peace/protection etc for yourself, and then continue to keep asking the same thing over and over again, instead of giving thanks to God that He had already heard and granted your request, even though the manifestation is not yet seen, is evidence of a lack of faith. When you pray and pray the same thing it shows unbelief, because Jesus said:"when you pray, believe that you have received".
After you have received by faith, you can praise and thank God daily for the answer, for you must see it in the faith realm first, before you can see it in the visible realm. Read Mark 11:24 and Matthew 21:22.
Confession: After the prayer of faith, our confession must then also change from "God can heal me/ help me/ provide for me and will if i ask" to "I know that God has heard and granted my petition/request according to His Word." The confession of faith always refers to past tense, not future tense (because you have to believe that you have received!)
We must not say God will heal me, but He has healed me, Mark11:24 and 1Peter2:24.
If you pray uncertain future tense it indicates that you do not really believe that God has granted your request when you prayed.
Our confession must not be based on what we see, feel, or what our outward circumstances seem to indicate, but solely on what God says has been done for us when we prayed.
Actions: Our actions must also change to correspond with our faith. We must act out our faith, for if faith hath not works, it is dead. Naaman, the leper, was healed according to the Word of the prophet Elisha only after he had acted on faith and washed seven times in the Jordan river. Noah was saved because he acted on his faith, for we read "by faith, Noah, being warned by God of things not as yet seen, ..prepared an ark to the saving for his house." Heb11:7.
Conversation: Faith never thinks, talks, nor listens to doubt, regardless of symptoms, pains, feelings, or apparent circumstances on the contrary. We are to "hold fast to the profession of our faith without wavering" Heb10:23. Faith speaks positively of what God's Word says has been done. It does not say "I have claimed healing for my eyes and it will come but at the moment i am still having a difficulty with doing my work as they are still weak." no- you need to stop acknowledging symptoms and circumstances, and start and continue to speak God's Word about it. Keep thanking Him for your healing, keep thanking Him for the breakthrough, keep thanking Him for change in your family or work situations, for we are more than conquerors through Christ who loved us! Rom8:37.
Our conversation must change; it must not be centered on our illness or difficulty, symptoms or feelings, for this is an admonition that Satan has victory over us and the power to keep us in bondage. Confess, on the contrary, that he has no rights to afflict you, and that his attack in your body/family/work/finances has been overcome by faith in God's promise. Hold fast to your confession and Satan will turn loose!
Refuse to talk about your illness, your symptoms, your pains,your problems: this is admitting they belong to you. But the truth is they don't! For John 10:10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
Talk faith and God will manifest it to your sight. Since you receive what you confess, then center your conversation on your faith in God's promise to you, not on outward circumstances.
For as He said in Prov18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit."
I pray that you take time to study this and that the Lord will reveal Himself to you in His mighty light and love, in Jesus Name.
*taken and compiled from uncopyrighted source.
I have never been a part of the "word of faith" ministries.
