ABCs of FAITH - How Do We Get Faith?

Today's Lesson:
THE ABCs of FAITH

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ABCs of FAITH 16

HOW DO WE GET FAITH?

So the faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God... Romans 10: 17

Today I want to study the "B" of the ABCs of faith. We started out these lessons by giving you three things you must know about faith which I call the ABCs of faith.
A = WHAT FAITH IS
B= HOW FAITH COMES
C= HOW TO RELEASE YOUR FAITH

Now let's study "B" which is; HOW FAITH COMES.
God demands that we have faith. If He were to demand that we have faith when it is impossible for us to have faith He would be unjust. He is not un-just so He has provided the means whereby faith can be produced. How faith is obtained is simple. But before we get into how we get faith let's refresh and strengthen our understanding of what faith is.

Faith Is Always Now
Faith is now. Faith says, "I" receive the answer right now. I have it now." Hope says, I believe I will receive my healing - sometime." That's not faith, that's hope, because it is looking to some indefinite future time. Faith says, "I receive my healing - now!" In one modern translation of the New Testament Hebrews 11:1 reads; "Faith is giving substance ... to things hoped for."
When Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said, "And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (I Corinthians 13:13), he was not inferring that hope and faith are not important. Each has its place, and one cannot be substituted for another. We cannot substitute love for hope. Neither can we substitute hope for faith. Yet so many people try to receive things from God on the basis of hope rather than faith.
If you need healing, you don't want it in the future - you want it right now, especially if you're in pain. If you need salvation, you cannot put it off to the future, for that may be too late. I like the amplified translation of Hebrews 11: 1.

NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, [a]the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. Hebrews 11:1 (Amplified Bible)

Faith is "the evidence of things not seen," as we read in Hebrews 11:1. To illustrate, you might hope for finances to meet a certain obligation, but faith gives you the assurance that you will have the money when you need it. You might hope for physical strength to do a job that you must do, but faith says, "The Lord is the strength of my life" (Psalm 27:1). In other words, faith says the same thing that the Word of God says.

GOD DEMANDS FAITH OF US -
Hebrews 11: 6 shows that God demands faith of us. Let's look at it in the King James and the Amplified Bible

6But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6 (King James Version)

6But without faith it is impossible to please and be satisfactory to Him. For whoever would come near to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He is the rewarder of those who earnestly and diligently seek Him [out] Hebrews 11:6 (Amplified Bible)

God is a faith God. We must have faith to be well pleasing or satisfactory to God. He did not say He would not love us if we did not have faith, He said that He would not be pleased. You can love someone and not be pleased with their behavior. God loves even the sinner, but He is not pleased with the sin.
God loved the children of Israel but many times he was not pleased with them or their disobedience.

5 But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. 1 Corinthians 10: 5 (King James Version)

We are faith children of a faith God. The just lives by faith!

HOW FAITH COMES
· You don't get faith by praying for it.
· You don't get faith by fasting for it.
· You don't get faith by going out into nature meditating.
· You DO get faith by hearing the Word of God.
Faith, we know, grows out of the Word of God.

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" Romans 10:17


Live Well, Live Blessed!
Bernard

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Author's note:
These lessons are written "daily" like as the fresh manna fell daily in Israel. No left-overs for God's people! Often I am up late or early seeking the mind of God for the fresh Word which I seek to share. What an honor to be able to share with God's people. PLEASE, excuse me if there is an occasional typo. The fresh nature of the newsletter does not allow time for me to have them proof-read. The time is short!
Bernard