"These three remain: faith, hope and love (agape). But the greatest of these is love"
(1 Cor 13:13).
Faith
"Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen"
(Heb 11:1). Faith is confidence that goes beyond evidence. It's the confidence of the hope in the Word of God, the assurance of what we don't see, the promises of God. "We live by faith, not by sight." (Rom 1:17, 2 Cor 5:7, Gal 3:11b, Heb 10:38a,
Hab 2:4b), see time 43:37–45:05 in Bible Q & A With Pastor Paul and Sue.
We are called to live by faith in Jesus as Christian believers, see Sanctification.
- A positive feeling, it's not a feeling at all.
- Blind optimism (wishful thinking).
- An intellectual nod of agreement to a believe.
Even Satan and his demons believe that God exists (James 2:19).
But they are still not saved and can't be saved. - Believing in spite of evidence, see The Fermi Paradox.
Faith in Jesus, our cornerstone, is very basic for the Christian belief (1 Pet 2:6–8a,
1 Cor 1:18). It's required for our salvation (Acts 16:29–32, Heb 4:2, Eph 2:8–9).
To believe in my heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, is a crucial part for being saved (Rom 10:9–10). I can get eternal life together with God. We need to make Jesus Savior and Lord in our lives (Rom 10:9–10) and receive him into our hearts by faith (John 1:12), see Salvation.
The resurrection is the proof that God the Father has accepted the sacrifice that Jesus did on the cross on our behalf, see The Resurrection of Jesus. Because of Jesus' resurrection we know that we are released from our sin, since Jesus payed the price when he died physically on the cross (Rom 4:25), see The Crucifixion of Jesus.
We have been justified through faith in Jesus and what he did on the cross
(Rom 5:1–5).
Jesus' resurrection results in that we as born again Christians have the following:
- Peace with God.
- Access by faith into God's grace.
- The hope of the glory of God.
- A new understanding of suffering.
Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times, see The Apostle Peter. But Jesus also said to Peter: "I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers" (Luk 22:32). The biggest concern that Jesus had about Peter's denying of him was that his faith would fail, that it would shipwreck him in his belief in Jesus.
We can believe many true things about the Lord, and at the same time have disbelief in some specific area. Jesus confronted the disciples that they hadn't believed him when he foretold them about his coming resurrection (Luk 24:38–43), see
2) Passover (Jewish Easter) in When Did Jesus Die and when Was He Born?
Even Jesus couldn't do any miracles in Nazareth, except laying his hands on a few sick people and heal them, because of their lack of faith (Mat 13:54–58,
Mark 6:1–6). On the other hand, there was a servant to a Roman centurion who was sick and about to die. Jesus said to the centurion: "Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would." His servant was healed at that moment. Jesus didn't even have to meet the servant. Jesus said about the Roman centurion that he hadn't found such faith in Israel as the centurion had. (Mat 8:5–13, Luk 7:1–10).
Faith in God isn't so much an intellectual issue based on facts, it's more a heart issue (Luk 24:25, Rom 10:9b–10a). Faith isn't knowing what will happen. Faith is choosing to trust God when having no idea what God is up to or how it's all going to play out.
I choose to believe. Faith has nothing to do with feelings or emotions, it's a matter of choice. A choice to not believe in God can be based on that a person doesn't want to turn away from a specific sin or lifestyle in his life.
When we ask God in prayer, we must believe and not doubt (Mat 17:20,
James 1:6–7). "Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him." (Heb 11:6 (NIV)). See this verse explained at time 15:46–17:22 in
DAVID GUZIK SERMON ON Hebrews 11:1-16 – Jesus’ People of Faith 1.
Faith is an expression in our hearts on God's unlimited ability. Jesus said:
"All things are possible for one who believes" (Mark 9:23b). The faith that God wants us to have, is that we can do anything through the Holy Spirit that lives in us
(Eph 3:20), see Ask, and it will be given to you in The Sermon on the Mount.
Paul was concerned that because of false teachings, the faith of some had been
shipwrecked. See the tools to strengthen our faith in How to Build Your Faith.
See also the faith of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Heb 11:34a, Dan 3:12–18), and the meaning of "were made strong out of weakness" (Heb 11:34c, Eph 6:10),
at time 16:37–20:21 in the same link.
Hope
(Titus 2:13, 1 Cor 15:19). Waiting for Jesus means living in expectation of his return. It has a powerful effect on how we live our lives every single day
(1 John 3:2–3, 1 Thess 1:9–10), see The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins.
in The Book of Peter. As Christians we are born again into a living hope, predicated on the resurrection of Jesus Christ. That's the power that is behind our hope.
False Teaching on Healing in Word of Faith Movement in the U.S.
They are almost exclusively fixated on this life which is temporarily,
and very little on the eternal life (1 Pet 2:11). This doesn't mean that
God doesn't care about this life, he does (Luk 12:7). But focus of our hope
should be in the many things that this world can't supply (Col 3:1–4):
- Forgiveness is found only in the cross of Jesus,
see The Crucifixion of Jesus. - The Lord will never leave us nor forsake us.
- God is sovereignly overseeing the affairs of mankind,
see God is sovereign in God's Attributes. - God will lead us according to the purpose of his will,
see Sanctification. - Jesus will return for his church, see The Return of Jesus.
- Physical death ushers us into his presence.
- We will receive new physical bodies/death vanquished,
see The Rapture. - We will transferred into his likeness, see Sanctification.
- We will be reunited with those who have died in Christ.
Agape Love
See time 13:32–15:25 in 2 Timothy 1 (Part 2) :13–18 • Holding fast, guarding.
since we then will see him with our own eyes (Heb 11:1, Rom 8:24).
