Bible Study Foundations for Faith

[golfjack]

I thought it would be good to study faith little by little. Please stay on topic, and please no debating. Just discussion with everyone's input. Questions are encouraged and we can all answer these querstions in a respectful way. I will start by asking a few questions:

How do we get Faith? What is faith? How is real faith built? and how does Faith grow? This could be a good starting point.


May God bless, golfjack

 

[cyberjosh]

How do we get Faith?

We are given it by God.

"John answered and said, 'A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven'." (John 3:27)

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day. " (John 6:44)

"And He was saying, 'For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.'" (John 6:65)

"You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. " (John 15:16)

"So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy." (Romans 9:16)

"For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." (Ephesians 2:8)

What is faith?

Well that could take pages, but in essence faith is a life style of belief and submission to God. From a Biblical perspective true faith and belief always manifest themselves in obedience.

The Bible simply states:

"Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." (Hebrews 11:1)

But also the Bible clearly shows that true faith is always acted upon. Faith works through love, which entails obedience:

"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love." (Galatians 5:6)

"...constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father." (1 Thessalonians 1:3)

"To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power." (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

"But someone may well say, 'You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works.' " (James 2:18)

"But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless? " (James 2:20)

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The Bible also makes clear comparisons/contrasts between
(dis)belief and (dis)obediance:

"He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 3:36)

"And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief." (Hebrews 3:18-19)

"7 This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve,
"THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED,
THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone,"
8 and,
"A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE";
for they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom they were also appointed. " (1 Peter 2:7-8)

So we see clearly here that if you believe, you will obey. If you disbelieve, you will disobey. Unfortunately our English word "belief" does not carry this additional Biblical connotation/meaning.

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How is real faith built? and how does Faith grow? This could be a good starting point.

God lays all the foundations and makes it grow according to our heart and our submission to him. It also grows as we read his Word, our main source of encouragement for faith. It also requires humility before God.

"Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, 'I do believe; help my unbelief.'" (Mark 9:24)

"Yet he [Abraham] did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God. (Romans 4:20)

"We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged, and the love of each one of you toward one another grows ever greater." (2 Thessalonians 1:3)

"Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in Him and established in your faith, just as you were instructed, and overflowing with gratitude." (Colossians 2:6-7)

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[golfjack]

reply

What is faith? Faith in other words, is grasping the unrealities of Hope and bringing them into the realm of reality. Abraham is a good example of this. Read Hebrews 11: 1. Real faith ( the God kind-of faith) is built on the Word. Faith is believing with heart and spoken into existence. The substance is the Word of God. The things hoped for are the spoken words out of our mouths, just like we did when we are saved. Therefore, we build faith by meditating on the Word, we dig deeply into it, and feed upon it. What natural food is to the physical man, the Word of God is to the spiritual man. God has told us without faith it is impossible to please Him.



May God bless, golfjack

 

[cyberjosh]

What is faith? Faith in other words, is grasping the unrealities of Hope and bringing them into the realm of reality. Abraham is a good example of this. Read Hebrews 11: 1. Real faith ( the God kind-of faith) is built on the Word. Faith is believing with heart and spoken into existence. The substance is the Word of God. The things hoped for are the spoken words out of our mouths, just like we did when we are saved. Therefore, we build faith by meditating on the Word, we dig deeply into it, and feed upon it. What natural food is to the physical man, the Word of God is to the spiritual man. God has told us without faith it is impossible to please Him.

Very good summary golfjack.

Did you agree with my somewhat more systematic approach? I tried to keep my personal commentary to a minimum and let the verses speak for themselves.

God Bless,

~Josh

 

[golfjack]

reply

Cyber, I agree with you. I am so use to preaching this that I assume people know some verses. I will try my best to use Scripture to prove my points.

By the way, I have been pondering about this for awhile. Do unbelievers have a the gift of faith or do believers have this gift when they are saved? I believe the answer is Roman's 12:3. Some say a Measure, but it really says the measure. Paul was referring to believers in this verse.



May God bless, golfjack

 

[cyberjosh]

By the way, I have been pondering about this for awhile. Do unbelievers have a the gift of faith or do believers have this gift when they are saved? I believe the answer is Roman's 12:3. Some say a Measure, but it really says the measure. Paul was referring to believers in this verse.

Hmmm... I'm not quite sure what you are asking here. God gives the unbeliever the faith to accept him and become saved, but once we are saved God gives us more and more faith, in accordance with his will, as we mature in Him.

 

[stovebolts]

Re: reply

What is faith? Faith in other words, is grasping the unrealities of Hope and bringing them into the realm of reality. Abraham is a good example of this. Read Hebrews 11: 1. Real faith ( the God kind-of faith) is built on the Word. Faith is believing with heart and spoken into existence. The substance is the Word of God. The things hoped for are the spoken words out of our mouths, just like we did when we are saved. Therefore, we build faith by meditating on the Word, we dig deeply into it, and feed upon it. What natural food is to the physical man, the Word of God is to the spiritual man. God has told us without faith it is impossible to please Him.



May God bless, golfjack

So, would it be safe to say that faith is a response?
Lets try this…
Philippians 3:8-9 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

Romans 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

It’s pretty clear that righteousness comes from the faith of Christ right?
To answer your other question Jack, who does Christ call? If the Jews were the elect, then what were the gentiles?
Romans 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:

Colossians 1:16-17 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

 

[golfjack]

reply

The Jews are the sons and daughters of God. The gentles are the adopted ones of God. We have been grafted in.



May God bless, golfjack

 

[Gabbylittleangel]

Re: reply

...By the way, I have been pondering about this for awhile. Do unbelievers have a the gift of faith or do believers have this gift when they are saved? I believe the answer is Roman's 12:3. Some say a Measure, but it really says the measure. Paul was referring to believers in this verse.

golfjack,

I believe that all have been given a measure of faith. The unbeliever puts their measure of faith into something other than God. They take their faith and put it in man, money, doctors, lottery tickets....anything that they think is going to produce the desired results.

It seems that when they come to God spiritually bankrupt, with a desire to come into His kingdom, the measure of faith is given back to them again.
(I am thinking of the story of the prodigal son as I type this)

The measure of faith that is put in things other than God, disappears. The measure of faith that is put in God, well it grows and produces fruit. Some 30 fold, some 60, some hundredfold.

 

[jgredline]

What is faith/
Speaking for myself, I have been through allot. Far more than I have even described in my antidepressents thread. It used to be that I used to cry out,
''God where are you? or ''God Why are you doing this to me?'' and over the years as I have been through trial after trial, it now'' OK, God I praise you because you are with me, and you will get me through this''

I believe nothing will stregthen ones faith more than going through trials and seeing God work things out in ways you never dreamed possible....


Father I praise you for the trials you have allowed me to go through and conquer over the years..
I praise you in Jesus name Amen...

 

[Jay T]

I thought it would be good to study faith little by little. Please stay on topic, and please no debating. Just discussion with everyone's input. Questions are encouraged and we can all answer these querstions in a respectful way. I will start by asking a few questions:

How do we get Faith? What is faith? How is real faith built? and how does Faith grow? This could be a good starting point.


May God bless, golfjack

I believe that faith, is an action word.

Faith that produces no action, is not faith.
I base this on (James 2:14-26).


Jesus Christ pointed out a man who had great faith......and he was not even an Israelite !

Matthew 8:5 And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching him,
8:6 And saying, Lord, my servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
8:7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
8:8 The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof: but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.
8:9 For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this [man], Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth [it].
8:10 When Jesus heard [it], he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.

The early Christians, such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, Daniel, ect., ect.....had faith, GREAT FAITH !
They believed the words of Christ (God), in every detail.

Abraham was considered the 'Father of the Faithful'....because of his unswerving loyalty towards what God said, in spite of any personal feelings, or human reasonings....to the fact that God asked of him, to do...what seemed illogical and irrational behavior.


Todays Christian world, tends to have the attitude: "God Says, But I Think".

Praise God that there is a group of people out there, who have fulfilled the word of God.....
Revelation 14:12 "Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus".


These people have the same faith, Jesus Christ did.
They keep all the commandments of God, just as Jesus Christ did......by relying totally, upon the word of God, just as Jesus Christ did....to live a sinless life.

Faith, is the basis for salvation....not only in a risen Savior, BUT faith, in living a Righteous lifestyle, that will honor God.

Faith, is required, for obeying all the commandments of God, which in itself, guarantees eternal life !

Had Adam & Eve had placed their faith, in the words of Christ (God), instead of satan words, they would have continued in their immortal state of being.