Faith

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:1

Faith Is an Imparted Substance

The Greek word translated as substance is hupostasis. It refers to something that stands underneath and gives support or reality to something else. Faith is therefore more than hoping for the best, agreeing with an idea, or trying hard to stay positive. Faith gives spiritual reality to something that has not yet appeared in the natural world. It is a substance.

Faith is not something we manufacture in our minds. It begins with God and is imparted by Him.

Romans 12:3 says that God has dealt, or distributed, a measure of faith. Philippians 1:29 says it has been granted to us to believe. Faith comes from God first. We are able to believe because He has placed something within the heart.

Faith Comes Before Believing

We often talk about faith as though it simply means believing hard enough. Biblical faith is not human willpower turned up to a higher level.

You do not create faith by forcing yourself to believe or by repeating something until it feels true. God reveals something about Himself, His will, or His Word. That revelation brings faith into the human spirit. Once faith is there, you can respond by believing, speaking, obeying, and acting.

1. God reveals something.
2. Faith is imparted.
3. An inner picture begins to form.
4. The person believes.
5. The mouth speaks.
6. The person acts.
7. What was unseen begins to take shape.

Believing does not produce faith. Believing is our response after faith has been imparted.

Have the Faith of God

In Mark 11:22, the Greek wording reads, “Have faith of God.” Most English translations say, “Have faith in God.” The wording also points to the source of the faith Jesus was describing: the faith of God. This is not ordinary human confidence. It is faith that comes from God and carries His nature.

Jesus then spoke about a person talking to a mountain, refusing to doubt in the heart, and believing that what was spoken would happen. The mountain is not moved by empty words or a memorized formula. Several things must come together:

1. Faith has been imparted by God.
2. The heart receives it without becoming divided.
3. The mouth speaks from what is truly in the heart.
4. The person acts in agreement with what was spoken.

The power is not in saying the right phrase. It is in words that carry God-imparted faith.

Faith That Moves Mountains

Matthew 17:20 says that faith as small as a mustard seed can move a mountain. The point is not only the amount of faith a person has. A small amount of genuine faith from God carries more authority than a large amount of human optimism. He gives the faith to move the mountain. Human belief cannot move what requires divine faith.

When God imparts faith, that faith carries the substance of the result. Our responsibility is to receive it, guard it, believe it, speak it, and follow the direction that comes with it.

Faith Gives the Heart an Inner Picture

Hebrews 11:1 also calls faith the evidence, or proof, of things not seen. The result may not be visible yet, but faith gives the heart an inner awareness of what God has revealed. It brings conviction. You begin to see it inwardly before you see it outwardly.

This is not the same as daydreaming or imagining whatever you happen to want. The picture of faith must come from something God has spoken or revealed, not simply from personal desire.

• Receive it in the heart.
• Let it form the inner picture.
• Believe what God has revealed.
• Speak in agreement with it.
• Act in obedience to it.
• Stay with it until the result becomes visible.

What appears outwardly starts with something God has placed inwardly.

How God’s Word Works

Isaiah 55:10–11 compares God’s Word to rain coming down from heaven. The rain waters the earth, causes life to grow, and produces seed for the sower and bread for the eater.

God says His Word works in much the same way. It goes out from Him and accomplishes the purpose for which He sent it.

1. The thought is in God.
2. God speaks it.
3. His Word goes out.
4. The Word enters receptive ground.
5. Life begins to develop.
6. The intended result comes forth.

Rain does not create the seed, but it awakens the life already placed inside it. In the same way, God’s Word carries the ability to bring forth what He has spoken. Faith comes when the human spirit receives that Word.

Guard Your Heart

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.”
Proverbs 4:23

The heart is the center from which the direction and issues of life flow. That is why Scripture tells us to guard it carefully. What we allow to settle in the heart eventually works its way into our thoughts, expectations, images, words, choices, actions, and results.

Our words cannot carry real faith when they are fighting against what the heart actually believes. A person can say, “I believe,” while the heart is still full of fear, doubt, bitterness, or an opposite picture. When that happens, the mouth and the heart are pulling in different directions.

Jesus did not only say to speak. He also said not to doubt in the heart. The heart carries the substance. The mouth releases what the heart contains.

The Fruit of the Lips

Isaiah 57:19 says, “I create the fruit of the lips.” Words are called fruit because they grow from an inward root. Fruit shows what kind of tree it came from. In the same way, our words reveal what has been planted and allowed to grow in the heart.

Faith-filled words are not sounds we repeat to talk ourselves into believing something. They come from a heart that has genuinely received something from God. When the heart and the mouth agree, words become a way for inward faith to be released outwardly.

Spiritual Principles Are Not the Same as Faith

There are spiritual principles connected to the heart, thoughts, images, words, and actions. Some New Age teachings have noticed or copied parts of these principles. They speak about visualization, confession, manifestation, intention, and attraction. The fact that someone uses a principle does not mean that person understands where it came from or what it is for.

A principle can work when people cooperate with it, just as a natural law can work for anyone. Gravity does not stop working because a person is not a Christian.

Biblical faith, however, is not a neutral technique for getting whatever we want. True faith starts with God. The inner picture comes from His revelation. The words agree with Him, and the purpose remains submitted to Him.

People can use focus, expectation, imagination, and speech to influence the direction of their lives without walking with God. That may be the use of a principle, but it should not be confused with receiving faith from God.

Putting It Together

Faith is more than believing. Faith is the God-given substance that makes believing possible.

It begins in God. It comes through His Word and revelation, enters the human spirit, forms an inner picture, and produces conviction. We then respond by believing, speaking, obeying, and continuing in what He has shown us.

Faith is something we receive. Believing is what we do after we receive it. The mouth must agree with the heart. The heart must agree with the revelation. And the revelation must come from God.

When those things come into agreement, faith is no longer merely a mental attitude. It becomes the spiritual substance through which God brings an unseen purpose into visible expression.