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.
—Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)
You cannot please God without faith. Romans 8:8 says that those who are in the flesh cannot please God. When we compare Hebrews 11:6 and Romans 8:8, we can see that those who are in the flesh are not living in faith. Our faith in Jesus is what pleases God. If we have faith in Jesus, then God is pleased with us based on what Jesus has done and not on anything we do.
Faith is believing that God is. He is ever-present and ever-faithful. The Word is God’s faithful and absolute truth in your life. It is living and powerful (Hebrews 4:12). When we diligently seek God and put our faith in His living and powerful truth, He rewards us based on His Son’s atonement for our sins. We earn nothing without Jesus.
Believing God can do what His Word promises is faith. Questioning if He will do what He promises isn’t exercising faith.
The power of the Word is realized in your life when you act upon it and put your faith in living its truth—even when what God promises you is not seen, heard, or felt with your natural senses. Persistent seeking of God’s truth rewards you. The truth of His Word takes root and comes alive within you. You believe without seeing, hearing, or feeling because you trust your Father who has revealed Himself to you. You believe His promises are true.
The Word discerns your heart and reveals it to you (Hebrews 4:12), but you cannot discern what the Word reveals with your natural mind (1 Corinthians 2:14). God’s Word can only be understood spiritually by the Holy Spirit revealing it to you.
God’s truth is only real in your life when it becomes yours. When the Holy Spirit reveals His promise to you in God’s Word, you choose to take possession of it. When you take His truth and make it your own, it becomes the foundation for what you believe. Your attitude about your life changes. His truth defines your life—and not your feelings, your circumstances, your illness, or your loss. You see who God says you are. You see beyond what you experience.
How we think is crucial to our faith. To be carnally or naturally minded is death to our faith. To be spiritually minded is life and peace (Romans 8:6). Choose to be spiritually minded. Draw a line in the sand, and confidently believe what God has promised you in His Word. When you pray according to His will, He hears you. And having heard, you have what you have requested of Him (1 John 5:14-15).
“But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8)
Faith comes by hearing the Word of God—not with just your mind but with your heart (Romans 10:17). To receive God’s promises, you have to believe His Word. Being double-minded and doubting God comes against the power of His truth in your life.
Are you in bondage? What are you struggling to overcome? What is your need? You don’t have a lack of faith. Each believer has received the same measure of faith (Romans 12:3, KJV). Destruction comes from a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6). The answer to living a victorious life is knowledge of what is yours in Jesus Christ. The knowledge of His truth sets you free from bondage (John 8:32). Knowledge of His truth breaks every chain.
“Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” the father of the demon-possessed boy cried out to Jesus (Mark 9:24).
You can believe in God’s truth and still have unbelief. You can have faith. But when you don’t understand the faith that is yours in Christ, you will not believe.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Faith is the proof of what you cannot see but what you believe.
It doesn’t take faith to believe what you see, hear, and feel. It doesn’t take faith to see your need, your illness, or hear bad news. It is right before you. It takes faith to see what you cannot see, hear, or feel. It takes faith to believe God’s truth that you hope for.
“Have faith in God,” Jesus told the disciples, and then explained they should not doubt, but believe those things He had promised. And they would have what they said (Mark 11:22-24).
The measure of faith God has given you is exercised when you grow spiritually from hearing the Word (Romans 10:17). Walk by faith and not by what you see (2 Corinthians 5:7). Step out in faith and believe in God’s promises. Diligently and unceasingly seek His truth with all your heart. You will find that His Word is true for your life (Matthew 7:8).
The Word of God—the promises in His Word—are spirit and life to you (John 6:63).
“My son," the Holy Spirit says to your heart, "give attention to my words. Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes. Keep them in the midst of your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh” (Proverbs 4:20-22).
© 2023 Lynn Lacher
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