“I have faith in God!,” says one person. “I have faith in Allah!,” says another. One even says he has faith in himself. Another says he has faith in his girlfriend. One lady said she, “has faith in her Maytag washer.”
Faith, like the word love, is one of those words that is often misunderstood and misused. You can have faith in anything or anyone. In this lesson, we explore what the word faith means and how we can apply it in our spiritual life.
We will hopefully be able to define the word faith, discover what it means to have faith in someone or something, and then apply it in our spiritual lives using God’s word as our guide.
As humans, we tend to have faith in many things. Some are good, some don’t matter, and some are terrible things to have faith in.
The dictionary defines faith as having complete trust or confidence in someone or something. The bible defines it in a similar way but it is more than that though. It needs to be complete to please God. Read Hebrews 11:1-3:
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 2 For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.
This section of Hebrews is often called the “heroes of faith” because it describes men and women full of faith and faithful acts. Faith is described here as “confidence in hope.” Faith is assurance of a particular hope or thing. These things are not seen but one has faith because they have confidence they are true and will be. Verse 3 talks about our faith that God created the worlds. We weren’t there, we don’t have direct proof, but have confident belief that it is true. In the following verses, biblical figures of faith are mentioned:
In these examples, it is apparent that the biblical definition includes the ideal not only of belief, but demonstration of that belief through obedient acts. These “heroes of faith” are forever uplifted in God’s word for this reason! This obedient faith with works is important to God as mentioned in verse 6:
6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Though there was not proof of the particular promises at the time, these men and women showed their faith through their obedience knowing that their hope was in God and His faithfulness. In this verse, we see we cannot please God unless we have a faith of belief, obedience, and diligent searching for His will.
| Person | Verses | Example of faith |
| Abel | 4 | Sacrificing his best showing assurance he would receive God’s witness of his righteous, excellent gifts |
| Enoch | 5 | Pleased God showing assurance that God would testify of His pleasure in Him |
| Noah | 7 | Prepared an ark moved by godly reverence showing assurance that God would save his household |
| Abraham | 8-10 | Left home for the place God told him to go showing assurance that God would give it as an inheritance |
| Sarah | 11 | Judged God faithful in His promise to give her a child showing assurance of God’s promised for the child |
| Abraham | 17-19 | Obeyed God to sacrifice the child showing assurance that God would make substitution |
| Issac | 20 | Blessed Jacob and Esau showing assurance of the things God had promised them and their offspring |
| Jacob | 21 | Blessed Joseph’s sons showing assurance of God’s promises to them and their offspring |
| Joseph | 22 | Gave instructions to later move his bones showing assurance that God would bring Israel out of Egypt |
| Moses’ Parents | 23 | Saved Moses despite king’s command showing assurance of safety of the child by God |
| Moses | 24-27 | Forsook his position in Egypt showing assurance of deliverance of his people by God |
| Joshua | 30 | Encircled Jericho for 7 days showing assurance that God would deliver the town to the Israelites |
| Rahab | 31 | Hid the Israelite spies in godly reverence showing assurance that God’s promise to them was true |
| Judges, David, Samuel, Others | 32-40 | Obeyed in various, valiant ways showing assurance that God’s promises to them were true |
