The Walk of Faith

Faith is the key to the Christian life. Through faith we have access to the impossible! (Mark 9:23). Faith is the key to gaining the ear of God (Is. 65:24; Matt.6:5), the approval of God (Rom. 5:1; James 2:23), and the full inheritance He has for us, His people (Heb.11:1; John 14:12-14). In fact, the whole Gospel is unlocked by our faith (Rom.1:16-17).

Kinds of Knowledge

2 Corinthians 5:7
This scripture reveals two kinds of knowledge that we can receive:

Sense knowledge - based on appearance
Revelation knowledge - based on God's word (Rom.10:17)

Faith Pleases God

Hebrews 11:6; 1 Peter 1:6-7
Many Christians see faith as just being a way to get things from God. But faith is more than that. Faith in itself is something that pleases the heart of God. Some people think that true faith is where you get the answer straight away. But the Bible talks about the "trying of your faith", like gold being refined in a fire.

We often see only our immediate need, but God is after something far deeper in our lives than just the answer to our requests. The moment God answers our prayer, we don't need faith anymore - we already have our answer. So God sometimes delays the answer just long enough to prove our faith genuine. We still get the answer, but something far more valuable is worked into our hearts - our character is strengthened by our faith in God. In fact, some of the greatest examples of faith in Scripture are examples of enduring faith (see Mark 7:25-30; Rom.4:18-21).

How Faith Works

God has designed the Christian life around the principle of faith, which has four stages:

A word from God

Firstly, God encourages us with a word relevant to our circumstances. This may come through the written Scripture or by the inner voice of the Holy Spirit (see Gen.15:3-5; 17:15-21; Josh.1:8; Ps.1:2).

Obedience to the word

For faith to operate in our situation, we must take a step of faith and obey that word. Faith is active, not passive. Most of God's promises are conditional - He will do His part, if we do our part (see Genesis 15:6; Matthew 7:24-27; James 2:17).

The crisis - or "trial of faith"

This is a period of testing. Everything happening around us appears contrary to what God has said, and there seems to be no natural evidence for our believing. At this point, our faith rests completely on God's word (see Rom. 4:16-21; Ps.105:17-20).

The result

The end result is victory on the part of the believer, bringing glory to God (1 John 5:4; Genesis 21:1-3; Psalm 105:20-22; Acts 3:16; Heb.6:13-15).

The Life of Faith

What I am - righteous by faith (Eph.2:8; Phil.3:9)
What I have - promises by faith (Heb.6:12)
What I can do - exploits by faith (Mark 16:17-18; John 14:12)

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