Pondering some more... on Faith

A couple of years back I shared a piece I wrote after my bungee experience that opened my eyes to a few things about faith. And not so long ago a friend shared a verse with me (Romans 14 22, 23 ‘… everything that does not come from faith is sin.’) that got me thinking… and drew me to connect with Heb 11:6 which drew me to flip the pages of my bible in search for verses on faith. Here are the notes I made:

 

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 Faith is the substance of things hoped for…evidence of things not seen…

How do we get faith?

Romans 10:17 Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God…

Galatians 3:2 …did you receive the Spirit by the works of law or by the hearing of faith? Hebrews 12:2 …Jesus… the author and finisher of our faith….

Ephesians 3:17 …Christ dwell in our hearts through faith …

 

TO NOTE:

Hebrews 11:6 …impossible to please God without faith…

 What an absence of faith looks like/is?

Romans 14:22, 23 Whatever is not from faith is sin… (a lack of faith/doubt equated to sin)

Hebrews 3:12 …an evil heart of unbelief… (A lack of faith is equated to an evil heart)

The pluses:

Romans 5:1-5 …justified by faith; hope does not disappoint… (it does not disappoint)

As instructed, we ought to (Ephesians 6:16) take the shield of faith to quench the darts of the wicked one…

We see evidence of others (Hebrews 11:33, 34); people subdued kingdoms, stopped mouths of lions etc through/by faith

And also …only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham… (Galatians 3:7, 9)

Keeping in mind that …the just shall live by faith…. (Galatians 3:11)

Therefore, we ought to pursue faith…. (2 Timothy 2:22) and

...abound in faith (2Corinthians 8:7)  but in grace also…

 However;

…faith without works is dead (James 2:14ff) … and it works hand in hand with ______Galatians 5:6 …faith working through love… (Ephesians 3:17 …Christ dwell in our hearts through faith …being rooted and grounded in love…)

Factoring in… Ephesians 2:8 …by grace we’ve been saved through faith…..gift of God…

More:

Philemon 6 …sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing…

1 Peter 1:7 genuineness of your faith being much more precious than gold that perishes….

The other thing that has came out for me from all this is a connection:

faith----------love----------actions/works-----------grace.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for…evidence of things not seen. I cannot please God without faith (which comes by the Word of God) and a lack of faith is having an evil heart (or at least likened to that) and to have faith but no works renders my faith dead. My active faith needs to work through love; and God is love (it is by grace that I have been saved through faith). Besides, love is above the law and conquers all things and covers a multitude of sins. For these three remain Faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love. Faith is my weapon against the enemy and is a channel for the gift of salvation, for my answers and for my communion with God because in the first place he who comes to God must believe that he is (Heb 11:6) – hence faith (which without its impossible to please God). Yet Jesus is the author and finisher of my faith.