Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1).
The faith in this context is the faith in the word of God. The scripture afformed that all things in heaven, on the earth and underneath the earth were created by the word of God.
This scriptural writings which accounts to be Bible today were written by men moved by the spirit of God and kept till date so that generations to come can take part in the hope of glory. God want believers to have faith and believe all what was written in the scripture.
So, how do we exercise this faith?
The scripture says that ‘faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’ (Romans 10:17).
The hearing here is not with our human ear that makes up part of our mortal body, but of the heart. What is this heart? In the scripture it is sometimes used interchangeably with the spirit of a man. The scripture said ‘for by heart one beliefs unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation’ (Romans 10:10).
For the purpose of this blog i will be discussing how faith comes by hearing what is preached and how faith also comes by reading and understanding the scriptures.
Apostle Paul simplied this for us when he said how then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? (Romans 10:14-15). Here, God said that faith in His words will come alive in us when we devote time to listen to sermons. The sermon could be any area of the scripture we are believing God for. Before this hearing comes alive in our heart, we may have to listen to the same sermon over and over again and sometimes it could just be at once.
When hearing comes alive in our heart, The Holy Spirit will help us to undertand what is preached in our heart and it will consequently spread across our soul.
Furthermore, the faith that comes from when we devote time to the reading of the scripture is very similar to what the disciples experienced with Jesus when He rose from the dead. Luke 24: 14-49 On the road to Emmaus He appeared to Cleopas and some of His followers. They were engaging in discussion with Jesus without knowing it was Jesus. In their conversation they were exercising unbelief. When they arrived at their destination they invited Jesus to spend the night with them as it was late. While they reclined at the table, His own disciples were still exercising unbelief about what they have read in the scroll and what they have seen with Jesus. Altbough, they have not yet received the Holy Spirit at this time to help them understand what they have seen and what was written in the scroll. The scripture affirm that Jesus open the eyes of their understanding to help His disciples and followers to understand what they seen and what was written in the scripture (Luke 24:44). So also we must spend time to read and understand what is written in the scripture.
When we spend time in reading the scripture faith comes alive in our heart the moment the Holy Spirit help us to open the eyes of our understanding to beleive what God is saying.
Brothers and sisters it is important to know that when hearing takes place in our heart, it is a conscious responsibility of a believer to continue to meditate on this words so that manifestation of such word can take place through renewing of the mind.
Stay blessed & encouraged!