We define faith as the complete trust and confidence that we have in the Person of Jesus Christ and every promise that we now have access to because of who He is and what He has done.
Faith is fundamental to Christian living. Without faith, we are easily swayed, we cannot please God and we lose sight of why we do what we do. In times when we feel our faith in God dwindling, we know we're going down a dangerous path.
We often need faith to believe God for provision, protection, security and acceptance because it is in our nature to forget God's goodness. That's why Psalms 103:2 strongly tells us to "...forget not His benefits." But truth be told, it can really be easy to forget the goodness of God, especially when times get tough.
When we face financial crisis, relationship dysfunction, a delay in God's promises or an increasing pressure in life, we feel our faiths put to the test and crack and sometimes even break under all the weight. When we feel the strength of our will and soul leave us, how can we build ourselves up to become firm in the foundation of our faith?
Faith is not a feeling
First, we must understand that faith has nothing to do with our feelings. Putting our faith on the foundation that is emotions can make it very unstable. God likens our faith foundations to being either rock or sand. When we place our faith on things as fleeting or shaky as emotions, circumstances or favor, we become like foolish men building on the wrong foundations.
God desires that we plant our faith on things that do not waver or change such as God's Word. That's why Romans 10:17 so strongly encourages us, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."
Faith is found in Jesus
Moreover, the best foundation that we can ever lay our faith on is the Person of Jesus Christ. He is the same yesterday, today and forever and because we know that Jesus will remain forever faithful, we can put our hope and trust in Him.
1 John 5:5 says, "Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." It's not easy to put our faith in God because we tend to overcomplicate faith. God doesn't expect you to get your faith right, but the good news is that even as we grow still in putting our faith in God, God remains faithful still.
God is not the kind of God who will not be gracious or faithful to someone who hasn't mastered full and complete trust yet. If He did then none of us would be recipients of His unlimited grace. But because Jesus gives His life as a prize -- a gift freely received by all -- we can be assured that God will remain faithful when we are not.
