Faith is one of the most misunderstood and misappropriated aspects of Christian living, particularly for people brought up in Pentecostal or Charismatic circles as I was. After sifting though the mis-information and mis-conceptions I have been fed over the years, I eventually had to go back to the Bible and find out from the source what faith really is - and what it isn't for that matter, also.
I heard my first sermon on faith when I was eight years old. The text the visiting evangelist spoke on was Mark 11: 23: "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". I was blown away by what the preacher said. I knew how small a grain of mustard seed was and I knew that, by comparison, my faith was as big as a football. I was a kid after all, I had no reason to doubt what I'd been told and I couldn't wait to try it out.
The next weekend I was off like a shot into the town where I lived, which was at the foot of a very large hill. I stood in front of the hill and told it, "Chevin (that was its name), be removed and be cast into the sea', fully expecting it to disappear before my eyes. To my total surprise it just sat there. I said it again and again it just sat there. I went home mystified but decided to check my Bible to see if I hadn't said it right, and sure enough, I could see what was wrong. This "mountain" was 50 kms from the sea so, of course, it wasn't going to be cast into the sea because there was no sea nearby for it to be cast into.
That summer holidays our family went to a seaside resort where there was a mountain range that ended in a big cliff that overlooked the beach. The holidays were coming up soon so I couldn't wait to use my new-found powers on the mountain. When we got there, the first thing I did was take off up the beach to the cliff and command it to "be removed and be cast into the sea" - but like the hill near home, it just sat there. I was crest-fallen. I told my brother what had happened and all he could say was that we came to the beach to have fun, not to cast mountains into the sea. I spoke to my parents about it and they told me not to be so silly. The best explanation I got was from my Sunday School teacher who said that God wouldn't answer a prayer like that because there were probably people living on the mountain and He wouldn't let them be drowned or have their homes destroyed just because I wanted to see a mountain get cast into the sea. I told Him I knew God had the option of saying yes or no to it if it was a prayer, but I wasn't asking God for something, I was simply exercising my God-given powers. Jesus had quite clearly said that if I say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and I do not doubt in my heart, but believe that those things I say will be done, I can have whatever I say. I believed they would be done, so why weren't they? My teacher told me Jesus didn't really mean that, and so I asked, "If He didn't mean it, why did He say it?" He had no answer.
I was devastated; could I ever trust what the Bible said again? I so much wanted to believe what the Bible said, so I told myself that either Mark must not have written down accurately what Jesus had said, or else what Jesus really said must have been altered in the translation from ancient Greek to modern day English. Whatever the explanation, when it came to having faith to believe for anything again, I was going to take a lot of convincing.
I now realise that my experience as an 8 year old was in fact my first encounter with the teachings of what has become known as the Faith Movement. They quote verses like Mark 11: 23 and Hebrews 11 verse 1 as evidence that we can have whatever we want simply by "believing" it into existence. If you don't get what you want, it's because you don't have enough faith to receive it. What you then must do is go back and exercise your faith until it has grown sufficiency that all doubt about not receiving what you are wanting has gone; then and only then will whatever it is you are believing for come into existence.
Conversely, if there are things in your life you don't want, like an illness, you have to believe that they are not there by pretending they don't exist, and if you believe hard enough (have enough faith), then they won't be there. Faith is seen as something like The Force in the Star Wars movies, some super power that is conjured up to get what you want. It's a bit like a credit card - you put the card in the slot, punch in your PIN and out comes whatever you've ask for.
It sounds great in theory, and the scriptures they stand on as the basis for the teaching seem to support their beliefs, but what is not explained is the fact that Jesus said your faith only needs to be the size of a grain of mustard seed (he said nothing about exercising your faith until it is big enough to create what you want it to). It also ignores the fact that saying something like a sickness doesn't exist when it clearly does is both lying (breaking one of the ten commandments) and deceptive, neither of which are Godly behavioural traits. I have seen so many people lose their trust in God and/or themselves by following the concept of believing for something in this way and feeling disillusioned when what they believed for never came. It leads them to conclude that either God was not true to His word and can't be trusted or else, knowing that they had done their best, they just aren't good enough or they are just failures.
So what exactly Is Faith?
For many years, the best definition I could come up with was "to trust without doubt". With the knowledge and understanding I have today, I can see that when you have faith you do trust (God) without doubt, but if you trust without doubt, that doesn't necessarily mean you have faith. The dictionary defines faith as "reliance, or trust in, belief in religious doctrines, especially such as affects character and conduct, spiritual apprehension of divine truth apart from proof".
The Bible Lexicon defines the meaning of the word "faith" in the context that it was used by Jesus and the writers of the New Testament as "the conviction that God exists and that He is the Creator and ruler of all things, the Provider and bestower of eternal Salvation through Christ". Now let us substitute that definition of what Jesus and the Apostles were actually referring to when they used the word "faith" and apply it to Hebrews 11, the chapter in the New Testament which discusses faith in detail.
Hebrew 11: 1, which says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen", is a verse many people quote in attempting to define faith. Before we apply the Lexicon definition to this verse, we need to be sure we understand the context in which it was written. The use of the word 'now' at the beginning of the verse indicates that what is about to be said, is connected to whatever has just been said, and is in fact the next step or stage in the teaching being discussed. By reading chapters 9, 10 and 11, we learn that the subject being discussed is the reconciling of mankind back to God through the forgiveness of sin. Chapter 9 verse 16 declares the "thing hoped for" as being our everlasting inheritance, which is to be rescued, delivered and redeemed from our sinful state (eternal life). The "things not (yet) seen" are described in chapter 10 verses 15 and 16 as being that God will inscribe His law on the hearts of those who believe (have faith) in God and He will remember their sins and lawbreaking no more".
As further evidence that the "things hoped for" do not refer to anything people ask God for, so as to meet their individual needs or requirements, Hebrews 11 verse 39 indicates that, of all the warriors of faith that chapter 11 had just described, not one of them in their lifetimes ever saw the things they "hoped for", or for which they were exercising their faith in order to receive them. They never attained it; what they did receive was the supernatural meeting of their day to day needs as their exercised their belief (faith) in God's provision of salvation, healing and restoration that was to come and that, in their lifetimes, would remain "not seen".
Taking all that into consideration, Hebrews 11 verse 1 is really saying, "Now the conviction that God exists and that He is the Creator and ruler of all things, the Provider and bestower of eternal Salvation through Christ, is the substance (confirmation, title deed) through which we will receive our everlasting inheritance, which is to be rescued, delivered and redeemed from our sinful state, it is the down-payment or deposit of that which we possess now but have not yet received in its fullness."
Hebrews 11: 4 says: "By faith, Abel brought God a better and more acceptable sacrifice than Cain … he was righteous … and God bore witness by accepting and acknowledging his gifts" (Amplified version). Abel walked closely with God, and by doing so he was 'seen' as being righteous (he was upright and in a right standing with God). Because he knew his God, he had the knowledge, understanding and inner conviction (the Lexicon definition of faith) of what sacrifice to bring to God. Prompted by this knowledge (faith) he brought his sacrifice to God, knowing it would be acceptable to God. God witnessed (confirmed) that by accepting it and acknowledging his gifts. Abel knew what kind of sacrifice would be acceptable and brought it, because he knew God. Cain knew he had to bring a sacrifice to God also, which he did, and like Abel, appears to have brought it willingly and selected the best he had to offer for his sacrifice. The difference between the two is that Abel brought his in faith, but Cain didn't. That doesn't mean Abel believed God would accept his offering but Cain didn't. Abel knew God would accept his offering because his knowledge of God (faith) told him what would and wouldn't be acceptable to God. Cain lacked that knowledge because he either had no relationship with God and hence no knowledge/conviction of what would be acceptable, or else he knew what would be acceptable but chose to disobey God.
How do we receive faith?
Romans 10: 17 says, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God". To fully understand what this verse is really saying, we need to first understand what the key words in the verse mean. By dictionary definition, 'hearing' is to receive and interpret knowledge through an audible voice. In the natural, in order to hear an audible voice one has to have ears. In the spiritual, in order to hear God's voice one has to have spiritual ears that are in tune with the frequency of His voice. The closer you align yourself with Him, the closer He will align himself with you. The more you get to know Him, the more you will recognise His voice. You'll never hear His voice unless you have a relationship with Him. Notice that it does not say,"faith comes by reading ... the word of God"; if that's what God meant that's what He would have said. But He didn't - he said faith comes by hearing.
In the New Testament, two Greek words are translated into English as meaning 'word" - Logos and Rhema. Logos is a word or comment that embodies a conception or idea. It is used to describe Jesus in the Gospel of John chapter 1, the idea or concept referred to there being that He is the means through which God brought salvation to mankind. Logos can best be described as God's knowledge, wisdom and understanding, settled forever in Heaven. It's His will, His way of doing things, His overall design.
Rhema and not Logos is the Greek word found in Romans 10: 17. It is through hearing a Rhema that faith comes and not through Logos. A Rhema is a word, comment or directive spoken at a specific time and place that relates to a particular situation. Rhemas are stand-alone messages that God speaks via the Holy Spirit to an individual in which Logos is applied to an individual's life at a particular time and place. There are Rhemas in the Bible that were spoken to an individual whose circumstance and situation may be identical to ours today, the principles of which can be applied by us to our lives. These in fact form part of the Logos and give us our knowledge of God but are not to be seen as substitutions for the Rhemas God wants to give individually to each of us.
Luke 4: 4 says: "Man shall not live by bread alone but by ever Rhema that proceeds (constantly present tense) from the mouth of God." These Rhemas Jesus was talking about are the words that God speaks in on-going conversations He has with his children, in which he shares with them the view of our lives from His perspective. In these conversations He expounds his wisdom, knowledge and understanding which, when applied to the situation the person finds them in, throws light on their present circumstances and wisdom in the decision-making process. It is to these Rhemas that Jesus was referring in John Chapter 10 when He said, "My sheep hear My voice".
Taking all these things into consideration, Romans 10: 17 is really saying: "The conviction that God exists and that He is the Creator and ruler of all things, the Provider and bestower of eternal Salvation through Christ comes through the reception and interpretion of knowledge, that knowledge having come through the audible voice of God in the form of a revelation, warning or directive straight from Him to an individual."
How much faith do we need?
Romans 12: 3 indicates that God has given to us a certain measure of faith. That doesn't mean he has been more generous with some people than others and therefore they can do greater things because they have more faith. The word 'measure' here means calculated amount that is adequate to meet the need. When a pharmacist prepares a prescription, he calculates a measured amount of medicine. To take less than the amount calculated and measured as appropriate for our individual situation and condition can make the medicine ineffective, just as to take more can do harm or damage. In a similar manner, God has measured out for us just the amount of faith we need for whatever situation we find ourselves in. As Jesus illustrated in Mark 11: 23, it doesn't matter if that measure of faith is so small it's no bigger than a mustard seed. If it is what God gave you, it will be sufficient for you to do whatever needs to be done, even if it's something as big as casting a mountain into the sea (that's what that verse really means). Let's look at that verse again, and in its correct perspective, but including verse 22 also, since verse 23 is only the latter half of what Jesus was saying: "Have faith in God, for assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things He says will be done, he will have whatever He (God) says. He will be able to even say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and it will be done because God said it will be done."
How much is too little?
Nowhere in the Bible are we taught that our faith is like a muscle, such as one in our arm that, the more we exercise, the more strength it has and the more weight it can lift. We are given the measure of faith we need and no amount of exercising it will make it grow any bigger. We do need to exercise it, but in the same way we exercise our rights as a citizen of a country. Exercising that right does not make us a bigger person, it does not increase our rights as a citizen or give us more power or authority; it simply means we access all the benefits of being a citizen and not just a few. It is up to us to learn what those benefits and their accompanying boundaries are and apply them to our lives. In the same way, it is up to us, through digesting the Logos and hearing the Rhemas that God gives us, to find out what our rights, privileges, benefits and boundaries are as God's children, and apply them to our lives. Faith is the means whereby we do this.
In Matthew 14: 31 we read: "And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught them, and said to them, 'O you of little faith, why did you doubt?'" At first, this verse and others in which Jesus refers to people as having little faith, seems to indicate that their faith was too small to be effective, therefore they needed to grow and develop it. The word 'little' is more correctly translated as limited or restricted. Luke 8: 22, in describing the same incident, quotes Jesus as saying, "where is your faith?" rather than "your faith is too small".
That they would say to each other, "Who can this be? For He commands even the winds, and water, and they obey him," after Jesus rescued them indicates that they had accepted the truth about who Jesus was with their intellect but not with their hearts, and thus remained unchanged by it. They had only a mental acceptance of truth and were thus restricted by what their intellect would permit them to believe. Their limited or restricted faith did not allow them to fully appropriate the miracles He had performed and the teaching He had given them, otherwise His mastery over the elements would not have taken them by surprise. They had plenty of hope (wishful thinking that He might do something about the situation, which is why they woke Jesus in the storm) but limited faith (conviction of His true identity, that would have caused them to not be alarmed by the circumstances, and rest in the knowledge that He was there with them).
An example of 'little faith' is contained in the story about a man who falls over a cliff and grabs onto a protruding branch of a tree on his way down. Hanging on by one arm, he calls out, "God, please help me", to which God replies, "Let go of the branch." The man then calls out, "Is there anybody else up there?" The man's intellect told him that God had both the will and ability to help him; but his lack of faith stopped him from knowing in his heart that God knew what He was doing.
Faith vs Sight
Sight is the means whereby our minds see and determine our position within our physical environment; faith is the means whereby our hearts see and determine our position within our spiritual environment. Our senses connect us to the visible world; our faith connects us to the invisible world. Our old nature determines what is possible in the natural by sight; our new nature determines what is possible in the spiritual by faith. Our old nature is at home in the realm of the senses; our new nature is at home in the realm of faith.
2 Corinthians 5: 7 says that we (believers in God) walk by faith and not by sight. We don't need faith to walk by sight; we don't need sight to walk by faith. The two are totally incompatible. Our old nature says "seeing is believing"; faith says "first believe, then you will see". The ungodly live by sight; the righteous live by faith (Habakkuk 2: 4).
Faith and hope are in one way quite similar, but in another way are poles apart. Both generate expectations of things to come, but faith springs from God and the heart and looks to Him for its fulfilment, whereas hope is generated by the mind and looks to the senses for its fulfilment. Faith is an assurance of what we know to be now; hope is wishful thinking for what we want to be in the future.
How do we apply faith?
Mark 11: 24 says: "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have it, and you will receive it". On first reading, that sounds like it's saying: "ask God for things in a prayer, if you believe hard enough, you can have anything you want". The word 'believe' in this verse is the same word used and translated as 'faith' in Hebrew chapter 11 verse 1. Building on what we have already learnt, we see that this verse is really saying: "Whatever you ask for in prayer, apply faith (the knowledge and wisdom attained by direct revelation and instruction from God about things pertaining to your life) in determining what your needs are and accept/believe/understand that, if it is God's best for you then you can and will have it, and you will receive it". That's quite different to "ask God for things in your prayers, and if you believe hard enough, you can have anything you want". Faith isn't a credit card to plug into a spiritual ATM through which you can dictate to God what you want and He's obliged to give it to you, or even some magical power or formula to conjure up whatever you want; it is the means to determine what He thinks you should have, whatever that might be, and an open invitation to God from you to provide it.
The reason we need to do this and the reason why those who have tried it have found that it works is simple. God's view of our lives is like He is seeing it from above; the beginning and the end are both in his perspective as well as all the obstacles, people, circumstances and situations along the way. Our sight is from ground level - we know what is behind us, our knowledge of what is around us is restricted to what we can see, and what's in front beyond our immediate view is totally unknown. Faith is the means whereby we can tap into and look at things from God's perspective. Therefore, living by faith is not blindly believing for things that your intellect has determined you want and/or need; living by faith is getting God's perspective on where you are at and where you are going and letting those things you see and hear from God dictate to your intellect the right decisions to make.
The principles of faith have as much relevance to simple, practical matters as they have to deep, spiritual matters. For example, Jesus told us to give no thought for tomorrow but let tomorrow take care of itself (Matthew 6: 25-34). According to the world's way of thinking, that is a recipe for disaster and financial ruin. According to God's way of thinking, it is the key to God supplying all your needs (sufficiency), according to His riches in glory. 2 Corinthans 9: 8 says that "God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance in every good deed". Jesus had no personal possessions, no large sums of money, yet He and His disciples never lacked anything they needed to survive comfortably - that's sufficiency. But when the situation required more and a good deed was called for, He was able to do something that most people who don't live by faith could never do - feed 5,000 people (John 6: 5-13) - that's abundance! Human intellect says we can't live our lives that way; faith says "yes we can", because faith knows that God's grace will make sure there will not only be enough (sufficiency) but abundance (more than enough) for those willing to share God's provision with others. Sadly today, as in Jesus' day, there are many who prefer to believe in God within the limits of their intellect - some even calling it living by faith - rather than living within the boundless extremities of faith. They forget that the initiative in the application of faith is with God the Father, not us. In John 5: 30, Jesus said, "I do nothing but what the Father tells me to do". He said this because He was perpetually acting in faith and faith perpetually responds to God, unlike human intellect that responds to the senses. Faith is a gift from God and not ours to command. It is not given to satisfy our personal whims and ambitions; on the contrary, its function is to give us the power to override our personal whims and ambitions, thereby permitting us to fulfil God's own eternal purposes in our lives.
This article was written by Stephen Yarrow.