Faith Towards God..

Part 4 of 9

True Biblical faith is the complete and utter reliance upon Jesus in every area of our lives, both spiritual and natural, past, present and future. We must trust in God, putting total confidence upon Him (toward Him), and not in ourselves or our dead works. There can be no faith unless there has first been proper repentance (Mk 1:15; Acts 20:21).

What is faith?

What is faith? How does the Bible define it? Some of the Hebrew words for faith are "ĕmûnâh" and "êmûn", and they mean "trustworthiness, security, stability, to be established". In Greek, the word for faith is "pistis", and means "persuasion, credence, reliance upon, assurance". This word is also translated as "assurance", "belief", and "fidelity".

The epistle to the Hebrews tells us that faith is a "substance" (11:1). In other words, it's not to be a mere ethereal idea, but rather, it's to be a bedrock, a foundation, a confidence in the God of Christianity - the Lord Jesus. Faith is the proof and conviction of things not seen with the natural eye, and it is always based upon the inalterable Word of God.

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report" (Heb 11:1-2). The Greek word used here for "substance" means "that which stands under something else; confidence or ground". Thus, true faith is to be the very ground that we stand upon. The word used for "evidence" means "proof, conviction". Faith, therefore, is simply the proof that the thing we are hoping for, and that we cannot see as yet, has come. This is why Scripture continually encourages us to forake the seen realm, and cling to the realm of faith, though yet unseen: "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living" (Ps 27:13). Paul told his readers to "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen". But why? Because "the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor 4:18).

Interestingly, this word "substance" is also translated "person" in Hebrews 1:1-3: "God... Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son... Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high". Friends, faith is a Person! The existance (substance) of Jesus is our evidence that the Father (whom no man has seen) really exists. You may be wondering, "how can I know for sure that God exists?" Well, the physical existance and incarnation of King Jesus is our proof - He is our substance of all things unseen!

"Now" faith is...

It's relatively easy to have faith in the past and future.. But what about the present? Faith in the present is a different story. Faith in the present is called "now faith". Because God is "now", our faith should likewise be "now". Do we merely have faith in what God DID, or WILL DO? Those in Scripture who were commended for their great faith were those who believed in what God could do NOW! In Luke 7:1-10, we see the story of the centurion and his sick servant. The centurion knew that Jesus could simply say the word and his servant would be healed. He ignored the fact that his servant was "ready to die" (vs. 2). He wasn't only believing in what Jesus had done previously, or what He may do in the future, he was believing for God to help him in the present! This "now faith" was called "great faith" by Jesus Himself (vs. 9); a faith that stood out in all of Israel!

Paul had "now faith" (Acts 28:1-6); He believed the Word of God for the present. The woman with the chronic "issue of blood" did too (Mk 5:25-35). Her faith was contrasted from that of the entire multitude. Bartimeaus too believed for the present (Mk 10:46-52). He knew if he could just get Jesus to stop, then he would surely be healed! Jesus did stop, and said to him "thy faith [present tense faith] hath made thee whole" (10:52).

Faith towards God..

Great faith is always to be "fatih towards God" (Heb 6:1). Faith in any other is a mockery of Biblical faith, and should be forsaken! Do we put our confidence in the government, a job, science? If so, your faith is not "towards God". The Psalmist rightly tells us to "put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help" (Ps 146:3). He says, "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes" (Ps 118:9).

Faith towards God is our avenue for communion: "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water" (Heb 10:22).

Faith towards God is our access to Him: "...Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him" (Eph 3:11-12).

A lack of true faith will only hinder us: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways" (Jas 1:5-8)C

Dear reader, let's rightly take heed to the counsel of Scripture! Let our faith be towards God! "Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?" (Isa 2:22).

How do we acquire faith?

It's wonderful to see these things about Biblical faith, but how can we personally acquire them? How do they become our own? It cannot be emphasized enough that true Biblical faith simply comes from God! He is our eternal source. We simply repond to His enablement. God has given us all a measure of faith (Rom 12:3, 6); and this measure of faith towards God is an effect of His righteousness: "And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever" (Isa 32:17).

The faith that God wants us to possess actually originates within Himself, and is released to us by and through His Word (Acts 11:14; 4:4). This is why the Bible is called "the Word of faith" (Rom 10:8). This is also why Scripture calls faith the "faith of God" (Rom 3:3; Eph 3:12), and faith "by Him" (Acts 3:16). Paul tells us that "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Rom 10:17). It isn't something that we have to carnally muster up within ourselves. It's a gift from God!

Scripture tells us that we have a common "like precious faith" (2 Pet 1:1), and "spirit of faith" (2 Cor 4:13). Jesus is said to be the Author of our faith (Heb 12:2). Scripture also tells us that faith is a gift of God (Eph 2:8), that we've all been given a measure of faith (Rom 12:3; Jn 1:12-13), that we're to live by the faith of the Son of God (Gal 2:20), and believe on behalf of the Lord (Phil 1:29). It tells us that our faith and love is to be found "in Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 1:14; 2 Tim 1:13); and that the faith we do have, we have received (1 Cor 4:7).

A growing and thriving faith..

As believers, our God-given faith is to grow! The Bible says our faith increases (2 Cor 10:15), and grows exceedingly (2 Thess 1:3). We're to add to, develop, and mature our faith (2 Pet 1:5; Jas 2:5; Rom 4:20), and grow from faith to faith (Rom 1:17). Faith, if it is true Biblical faith, is not to remain stagnant. Rather, it's to be put to use, and built upon, bearing fruit (Gal 5:22), and being perfected (1 Thess 3:10). This is done in many ways including the Word of God (Rom 10:17), speaking in the Spirit (Jude 20), works of faith (Jas 1:22-25; Jn 9:1-7; Heb 11:17-21; etc), trials and testings (1 Pet 1:6-7; Jas 1:3), sharing our faith (Phil 6), and experience (Rom 5:3-5).


And thus we have seen some of the major principles related to true Biblical faith. We've learned what it is, where and who it comes from, how it operates, who it's to be directed towards, and how it properly grows and flourishes. How wonderful that we are made able to fully partake of King Jesus by faith (Gal 3:9)! What a merciful God we serve!

To be continued...