“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
Faith is the foundation of Christianity. We have faith in our journey with Christ, as that is the only way we are able to please God (Hebrews 11:6). The Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 as “confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” Faith is a gift that has been given to us by God (Ephesians 2:8-9). Paul writes in the book of Timothy that grace, faith and love were poured out to him (1 Timothy 1:14). Faith allows us to believe in things that we have not seen physically, and also allows us to do things that are way beyond our human abilities. Jesus taught that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we are able to move mountains (Matthew 17:20). This may not be physical mountains, but mountains represent anything in our lives that may seem impossible to move or any obstacle/challenge in our lives that we are unable to overcome. The way we can overcome these challenges we face in life is by having faith that God hears when we call out to him (Matthew 21:22)
We can build up our faith by hearing the Word of God. The more time we spend reading and engaging with the scriptures, the more we are able to build up our faith (Romans 10:17). The way I see it is the word is the seed, and our heart is the soil (Mathew 13:1-23). The more we tend and maintain the seeds by meditating on the word, the more we are able to produce fruits and therefore produce faith (Psalms 1:2-3). It may also be helpful to look at faith in terms of a muscle. The more you exercise a muscle, the stronger and bigger it gets. The more you put your faith in God, the more it grows. You will be able to overcome situations that may arise in your life by casting your burdens unto Jesus, with full faith and hope that he will sustain you (Psalm 55:22).
The hardships faced in life can be used by God to strengthen our faith. James 1:2-4 reinforces this point by saying “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Having this faith, we are able to have the perfect peace that flows out of God. Psalm 46:10 says “Be still and know that I am God”. It encourages us to trust in the Lord no matter our circumstances. However, we can only truly trust God if we have faith that he is here with us all the time.
Hebrews 11 is often called “the hall of faith”. It demonstrates characters in the Bible that are commended for the faith that they had. Even though most of these people in this chapter had made mistakes in their lifetime, their names have been recorded in this chapter to praise the masses of faith they showed. This is encouraging to us as we also constantly mess up but by our faith in Christ Jesus our Lord, we are saved.
God bless,
Hermela
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