Faith, Hope, and Love are bound to each other. Where one is so are the others, even though they are not of the same importance.
1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 MEV
remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patient hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father.
1 Thessalonians 5:8 MEV
But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
What is faith?
Hebrews 11:1 KJV
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1 NASBS
1 Now faith is the confident assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:1 AMP
1 Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen (the conviction of their reality-faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses).
Let’s take the Amplified version and expand on it. Faith is the title-deed of things hoped for.
- 1Title is “the instrument which is evidence of a right.”
- Deed is “A writing containing some contract or agreement, and the evidence of its execution;”
- Things hoped for is the promises (divinely guaranteed) of the Word of God (Bible).
and the evidence of things not seen (the conviction of their reality-faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses).
- Conviction is an inner-knowing, it’s the Holy Spirit witnessing with our spirit.
- Thing is that which is or exists (promises of the Word of God).
- Not seen by the physical eye (2 Corinthians 4:18 KJV While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal).
2Kenneth S. Wuest translates Hebrews 11:1 this way:
”Now faith is the title-deed of things hoped for, the conviction of things which are not being seen.”
3Oral Roberts personal commentary on Hebrews 11:1-3 says:
”The writer describes what faith is – the substance of things hoped for. In other words, everything that is hoped for has substance or reality. So the first part of understanding faith is to know that what we hope for is not just a pipe dream or something we imagine. It has reality and substance.
Then he says faith is not presumption. It is not something we just think is going to be. We have to have evidence. Therefore, faith is strong when it has evidence and not presumption.”
4Kenneth E. Hagin says “Faith says the same thing the Word of God says.” And He says “Hope is always future tense – pointing to the future – but faith is always now.”
So, Where do we get faith?
Romans 12:3 NKJV
3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.
5Oral Roberts says in his personal commentary on Romans 12:3:
“God has given to every one of you some gift, some blessing, and He has given it to you so that you may use it according to the measure of faith that God has given to every man. Here is a scripture I have used for 35 years: “God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” I used to think that faith was something you get, until one day God revealed this scripture to me. He showed me that faith is not something we get, it is something He has already given us. Therefore, we have got to release it to God. Faith is not faith until you release it, until you act upon it.”
A measure of faith is the gift of God to each of us as seen in Romans 12:3 and as we read and meditate the Word of God, our faith increases in strength.
Romans 10:17 KJVS
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
So then we know that, while faith is a gift, it is necessary, and our responsibility, to exercise our faith through use and through meditation. Now, let me clear up meditation real quick. Using Romans 10:17 above for an example, start reading it over and over again, changing emphasis on a word each time reading through.
So then faith…
So then faith…
So then faith…
As you continue to do this, not only do you commit the verse to memory, but you are also seeing it more in depth.
We also need to put our faith to work (employ), or in other words, act on our faith. Faith is a spiritual substance, and we know that all things begin in the spirit and are manifested in the natural through the employment of our faith in agreement with the Word of God.
James 2:14-26 MEV
14 What does it profit, my brothers, if a man says he has faith but has no works? Can faith save him?
15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacking daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” and yet you give them nothing that the body needs, what does it profit?
17 So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.
18 But a man may say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19 You believe that there is one God; you do well. The demons also believe and tremble.
20 But do you want to be shown, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22 Do you see how faith worked with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23 The Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,” and he was called the friend of God. 24 You see then how by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. 25 Likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26 As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead.
Most of the time, we use our faith for ourselves wether it’s rebuking the devil, seedtime and harvest, healing, etcetera. This is a type of works.
There are times though that we need to hear from God, or it could be said, led of the Spirit, and we need to be willing and obedient. Kenneth E. Hagin teaches very well about being willing AND obedient because it is possible to be obedient without being willing, which can hamper manifestation in our lives. A couple of notes here:
- Verify what you “hear” with scripture. You should be able to find 2 to 3 verses that agree with it. If not, then it’s most likely not God.
- If you can do it yourself in the natural, it’s probably not God.
That’s it for part 1, we’ll continue on in part 2 next Sunday.
- Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary ↩
- Wuest’s Word Studies, HEBREWS in the GREEK New Testament for the English reader. Kenneth S. Wuest ↩
- The New Testament Comes Alive, A personal New Testament Commentary, Volume Three Hebrews – Revelation. Oral Roberts. ↩
- What Faith Is, Kenneth E. Hagin ↩
- The New Testament Comes Alive, A personal New Testament Commentary, Volume Two, Acts – Philemon. Oral Roberts ↩