What is Faith?

Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. (Hebrews 11:1 Amplified)

Welcome to today's grand feasting on God's word. We will take a journey from today into the heart of scripture on the subject of faith. We will be looking at the definition of bible faith, its possibilities, and all its importance. Thomas Aquinas captured the crux of faith thus, "To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible."

When you first heard the word faith, what was the definition that wells from your mind? God's preparatory class for managing man's anxiety? A blind optimism and a manufactured hopeful feeling? Perhaps, many even see faith as a necessary dogma—a cerebral assent to a Christian doctrine which you must believe. Our verse for today makes it clear that faith isn't a sail through the stormy seas of life with no paddle of hope to sail through.

Faith is an action based on the word of God. Faith is not some 'feeling or emotion' we manufacture to manage our fears of the unknown. It is man's absolute response to what God has said or revealed in His Word. It is not a shot in the dark.

When Jesus told Simon the fisherman to let down his nets in the deep water. Simon responded by saying that he and his companions had worked hard all night and had not caught anything. Then Peter said, "But because you say so, I will let down the nets" (Luke 5:5).

Peter responded with an action based on the words of Lord Jesus. Faith means acting on what God says in spite of our opinions, our experience, and our education. Faith is acting on the truth, whether we feel the truth or not, whether we like the truth or not, and whether we agree with the truth or not.

Also, when you act upon what the Holy Spirit may speak to your heart, there will be credible results. That is faith!

During many of my services, when the anointing is moving very strongly, there will be words of knowledge exactly describing people's conditions. There are many people who respond to the word knowing that it is the LORD who is speaking to them. There is no way that I could know their conditions so precisely. Those who respond to the word, receive healing from the LORD.

Now there are some people, who know that the word that has come forth exactly describes their condition, but they never respond. They probably think that God's power is going to move on them and make them do something whether they want to do it or not. That's not the way the Holy Spirit works.

Evil spirits force and compel people to do things that they don't want to do. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, is like a gentleman. He will never force you and push you to do something. He will gently prompt you, but then it's up to you to respond. It is up to you to respond with an action based on the word that has come.