Insight Into Faith

By William R. Cunningham

Introduction

We hear all the time that we should have faith in God and that we should trust God. What does this look like? How do I know if I really trust God or if I really believe what the Lord said in his word? How do I know that I have interpreted the bible correctly and can therefore stand on what it says? These and many other questions may enter the minds and lips of Christians all over the world.

The objective of this lesson is simply to provide insight into the operation of faith in the bible. I was listening to a testimony of a man who battled skin cancer for 8 years believing that God would heal him. Just listening to the testimony you might think he had it altogether and it just took that long for him to be healed of cancer. However, after listening to him teach and talking about his ordeal, it became evident that his was a struggle of faith and how it operates in our lives. He won his battle through constantly reading and studying his bible and listening to a lot of biblical teaching.

Being a Christian is more than “going to heaven when you die.” Being a Christian involves the here and now and it is therefore expedient that we operate as much as we can according to the kingdom of God. This lesson is designed to prompt discussion as we delve into the operation of faith in our lives according to the scriptures.

Faith

What is faith? Faith can be defined simply as reliance upon and trust in God. Consider the illustration of faith from the scriptures.

Hebrews 11:1 (NASB95) — 1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

According to the above scripture passage, faith is being assured of the things you hope for and the conviction of the things that you don’t see (see as not being evident with the senses or experience). A key to faith is hope and we therefore must be careful that the hope we have is a picture indeed painted from what God has revealed to us from his word. This necessitates understanding of the word of God and not mere familiarity with passages.

Hope and Belief

A key to faith is developing a hope consistent with the revelation of God from his word and perhaps what he has revealed to you personally for your own life.

We should distinguish the hope revealed in Hebrews with wishful thinking. The word “hope for” in Hebrews 11:1 refers to an attitude of looking forward to something, a trusting, a confident expectation, and to anticipate. This is what separates hope from wishful thinking.

There is no expectation when we wish for something (even though we may use the word hope, but really mean wish). Wishful thinking is passive while faith is active. When you wish something would happen you do not expect it to happen, but rather when all is done you would like it if it, whatever “it” is, would be the outcome. Sometimes or perhaps many times Christians wish for something with no confidence and therefore no expectation that God will come through for them.

There appears to even be a subtle difference between belief and faith as discussed here. Faith here is active and is activated (put into motion so to speak) because of what we believe. We can also believe something and do nothing about it. Remember that the bible said, “faith without works is dead” (James 2:26). We can believe that God will supply our needs or that he loves us, but live our lives as if we are on our own and that God doesn’t care. We believe what the bible says, but for one reason or another we don’t appropriate God’s word or what we believe to our own lives.

For example, a person may believe that God can heal them, but do not expect him to do so at all. Someone may believe that God prospers people, but have no confidence that God will help them in their new business. Belief must be converted to hope so that we can operate in faith.

What do you hope for?

Scripture Text

Read the scripture below and be prepared to discuss your thoughts on it.

Matthew 21:18–22 (HCSB) — 18 Early in the morning, as He was returning to the city, He was hungry. 19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered. 20 When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” 21 Jesus answered them, “I assure you: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 And if you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”

Discussion Questions

How do you interpret the scripture text and why?
What if there is a “force” that we tap into by believing and operating in faith in the same way we can tap into the force of gravity or electromagnetism?
What if this “force of faith” is neutral and we use it like any other thing on the earth for good or evil? (note that the author does not suggest that faith is a force, but rather only used the word “force” for illustration purposes)
This would seem to explain the validity of spiritualists else they would all be meaningless. Perhaps they can access the spirit realm and cause things to happen because that method of access is neutral. God didn’t intend for us to do that in the same way he does not intend for us to sin or to use physical laws to hurt instead of help.
If a person doesn’t believe a particular interpretation from Scripture and therefore does not see any results, then could it be that she doesn’t receive because she doesn’t believe and not because of the scripture? For example, if I say that the scripture text does not teach that we can have what we pray for and therefore, I don’t get what I pray for and assume it must be God’s will, then does that happen because of lack of faith or proper interpretation of the scripture? What about the converse?
Is faith subjective or objective?