The Element of Faith

The Element and Action of Faith

“Lord, I Believe”

The opposite of faith is unbelief.

Matthew 17:20

And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Mark 9:24

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.

Deuteronomy 32:20

And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is no faith.

Hebrews 11:1-40

We will have faith in something, either in God, ourselves, or in something else such as (another individual, knowledge, Etc…). When our Faith wavers, it begins to shift, for our loyalty is toward what we have faith in.

The difference between Faith and hope is determined by the general use of the words. Hope is a wishful thought or action for a designated end while Faith is the beginning of the reality. When you wish for something to happen that is not necessarily a reality that is hope, meanwhile Faith is looking to the reality of the future and knowing that something will happen and then while you wait, you believe it will happen. Jesus is the author of our instigator of our Faith and the object/Person of it.

Faith as it is used in Hebrews 11 is an action word. Our active participation in reaching out toward things yet to be realized is the foundation of our relationship with God and our future.

1 Peter 1:3-5

When we lay down our Faith in Jesus Christ, we open the door to idolatry; creating a systematic theology in which we become entrenched in the bondage of man-made uninspired laws by which we deem to make us holy.

We assume that the Patriarchs were acceptable to God because of their works of obedience. In assuming that obedience to God reigned king over Old Testament faith, we are declaring that faith mattered little to none under the Old Covenant.

While God indeed did require obedience and blessed it physically, it was still the broken and contrite heart that God accepted; not the heart that moved in obedience, because of personal gain that was promised through obedience.

When Faith that works out obedience is a part of our lives, God will bless us with the ultimate blessing of eternal life.

Beginning with Adam, I would like to portray the faith that many of the patriarchs had in God, not just in the Father God, but also in the Son of God the redeemer of mankind.

Adam and Eve believed God would send them a deliverer. They walked in faith toward God in the revelation of truth they had from God!

Genesis 3:15

Genesis 4:1

Genesis 4:25

Each one of the patriarchs from Adam until Noah displayed their faith in God in various ways. For instance, each parent named their son something that pointed to the Messiah. A few of them are as follows: Seth was the appointed one, Enoch had a double meaning of which one had to do with the mouth or conversation and the other was to dedicate (Same root word as Hanukkah), Methuselah was the man of the javelin, one meaning of Lamech meant humbled, and Noah was the comfort or rest.

And then you have Job. Job knew that his redeemer lived, and that he would see him when He stood on the earth.

Job 19:25

Abraham, also known as the father of the faithful, had faith in the future Messiah. Jesus said, “Abraham saw my day and rejoiced”.

Romans 4:3

James 2:23

David too looked forward the Messiah that was to come from his lineage. In one instance, David refers to a future descendant as “Lord”.

Looking back across the Old Testament from our vantage point, we may see Law being held up in obedience either by action of faith or by necessity.

There are so many instances of the Old Testament patriarchs looking in faith either generally to God or specifically to Christ, yet we look at the Old Testament as a time of judgment and law with little to no faith or mercy.

The patience that God displayed, showing a fallen mankind who He is, kept at it for 4,000 years before coming himself to pour out that last full measure of Love. As God continued to reveal Himself over time, men and women moved forward in faith reaching toward. Today God still continues to reveal Himself to mankind through His Word.

1 Timothy 4:12

The question comes up as to whether we are saved. God has given certain guidelines to examine ourselves with and then from there we must reach out in faith, believing that God has saved our soul.

2 Corinthians 13:5

1 John 1:1-7

Some of the things to look at are:

1. If we strive to keep his commands

2. If we love the brotherhood

3. If we strive to know the truth

4. If we embrace hope

1 Thessalonians 5:8

Ephesians 6:16

There is a difference between faith and wishful thinking. In Matthew 17, which we referred to at the beginning, the disciples by all appearance were working in faith to cast out the demon that possessed the young boy. Yet as Jesus indicated to them, their faith was not grounded in truth, thus it was wishful thinking.

The idea that faith works beyond the reality of truth is false, for if there is no substance behind the faith it is a dead faith and is merely wishful. Faith that doesn’t move you to good works is also dead.

The exercise of our faith increases it, so when faced with a doubt, if we say “Lord, I believe” and act on it then our faith will be increased.

Jeremiah under the direction of the Holy Spirit gives a blessing over those who trust in God. This blessing uses an analogy of a physical tree whose roots go deep.

Jeremiah 17:7,8

Blessed are those who trust in the LORD,

whose trust is the LORD.

They shall be like a tree planted by water,

sending out its roots by the stream.

It shall not fear when heat comes,

and its leaves shall stay green;

in the year of the drought it is not anxious,

and it does not cease to bear fruit.