What is faith?

Mululi Mudenda
 What is faith?

What is faith?

The cornerstone of our relationship with God is our faith.

What is faith? Jesus made statements like, Ye of little faith,

and I’ve never seen such great faith, he also said where is

your faith? Showing us that faith can be in the wrong thing

or misplaced. Stephen the rst martyr was described as

full of faith in Acts 6. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without

faith it’s impossible to please God. So let’s explore faith,

what is it and where can we get more?

In Matthew 23, Jesus is rebuking the Scribes and Pharisees for their hypocrisy, He pronounces 7 woes,

in verse 23 he states,

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites because you give a tithe of the mint, and the dill, and
the cumin and neglect the weightier things of the law, justice, mercy and FAITH.

Jesus is emphasizing the importance of faith, calling it the weightier things of the law, the very

signi cant part of the Torah

Jesus is drawing from Micah 6:8, “He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires

of you, to act justly and to love mercy and walk humbly with your God.”

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 What is faith?

Paul the apostle reiterates the importance of faith,

“and now these 3 remain, FAITH, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” -1 Cor 13:13

Faith is superseded by love

Deuteronomy 7:9, introduces us to El-Emunah, the

faith-full God. Faith expresses  trust,

dependability, consistency. God is faithful because

he is immutable, that is unchanging, unwavering

The Greek word for faith is “Pistis,”translated into

English also as belief, assurance, trust. The root word for Pistis means to be persuaded or to be

convinced.

Faith is de ned by the writer of Hebrews as follows

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

The word substance is translated in other versions as evidence or assurance or conviction, the ampli ed

Bible translates it as “the reality.” The word literally means “to make rm,” substance implies the

linchpin of our hopes.

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 What is faith?

Our faith is not blind, it’s rooted in God’s

promises and word. It’s evidence based,

because if God did it before he can do it

again. Chapter 11 of Hebrews speaks of

people who pleased God because they

simply believed in the promises of God, they

are called the cloud of witnesses. Hebrews

11:33 says this about these champions,

“who through faith conquered kingdoms,

administered justice, gained what was promised, who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of
ames, and escaped the edge of the sword, whose weakness was turned to strength, and who became
powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again.”

Faith makes the unlikely likely, the impossible possible, makes the unseen seen

All this is a product of the size of your faith, Jesus said, “according to your faith let it be done unto you”

The apostles once said to Jesus

“Lord increase our faith,” – Luke 17:5

Jesus doesn’t seem to answer the question directly but instead answers by saying,

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 What is faith?

“if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can

say to this mulberry tree, be uprooted and planted in
the sea, and it will obey you.” – Luke 17:6

A seed has potential that is overwhelming, from

something as little as a mustard seed is a huge tree.

Jesus was talking about growth, he was talking about

increase, releasing the potential that exists in

something as little as a mustard seed. Later on after his resurrection the apostles Peter and John

perform a great miracle at the gate called beautiful of a man who was lame from birth. When

questioned about it they answered,

Acts 4:20, “we cannot help speaking of the things we have seen or heard,”

Their faith was a product of what they surrounded themselves with, they saw the miracles Jesus

performed, they heard what Jesus taught. So your faith increases by what you hear and see or rather

what you allow yourself to see and hear.

The patriarch Abraham was old and his Mrs, Sara was both barren and old.

God shows him the stars of the sky and the sand of the seashore as to how

many his descendants will be. Constantly seeing the stars and the sand

boosted his faith. Romans 4:20 says this about Abraham,

“at the promise of God he did not stagger through unbelief, but was
strengthened in  faith.

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 What is faith?

Romans 10;17 tells us “ faith comes by hearing and hearing...

Our God is faith full, trustworthy, reputable, his cv or resume is impeccable, believe his word, believe

his promises. That’s what faith is

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