Have you ever believed in something whole heartedly but did not have the faith that it was going to happen? If you believe in something or someone and don't have the faith what good is it? You can say you believe in God, but if you don't have faith in God your belief goes out the window. Faith and belief go hand in hand. If you believe that the chair won't move when you sit down, then it takes faith to sit in the chair.
The definition of faith is the belief and trust in God, knowing that God is real even though you can't see him.
The definition of believe is to accept as true to trust and to have faith. Just by the definitions alone you can not believe if you first do not have faith.
Luke 17:5-6 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith. And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
There are countless numbers of miracles in the Bible none of which could have happened without first having faith and second believing that it was going to happen. Faith is the confident assurance that something will happen, but in order for it to happen you must believe.
Take a look at the story about the paralytic who was healed.
Luke 5:17-26 17And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. 18And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. 19And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus. 20And when he saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee. 21And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone? 22But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts? 23Whether is easier, to say, Thy sins be forgiven thee; or to say, Rise up and walk? 24But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power upon earth to forgive sins, (he said unto the sick of the palsy,) I say unto thee, Arise, and take up thy couch, and go into thine house. 25And immediately he rose up before them, and took up that whereon he lay, and departed to his own house, glorifying God. 26And they were all amazed, and they glorified God, and were filled with fear, saying, We have seen strange things to day.
Notice in the 20th verse it states and when He saw their faith, he said unto him, Man, thy sins are forgiven thee.. When Jesus saw the mens faith who persevered to get their friend in front of Jesus to be healed he healed the man.. It was the faith of those who would do anything for a friend. Some of the things that you have overcome may have been because of someone else's faith. Yes you may have faith but it is those who are persistent with their belief and who have the faith that see things get done. Everyone has faith but not everyone chooses to use it. Is your faith lying dormant like a welcome mat being trampled on or is it soaring like an eagle soars above the land.
There are examples of those in the bible who lack faith and who have great faith. I have shown you an example of men with great faith, now I would like to show you another. This one is about a woman who lacked belief and faith.
Genesis 16:1-2
Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar; 2 so she said to Abram, "The LORD has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant; perhaps I can build a family through her." .
Sarai lacked the belief and faith in knowing that God was going to bless her with a child. She got so disappointed after many years of trying to conceive a child that she lost her focus and her faith. She willingly broke her covenant with her husband due to lack of faith. Many years later at the age of ninety Sarai now called Sarah bore a son named Isaac. God did fulfill his promise to her. .
We can look at this and apply it to our lives.. Have we broken the covenant with God because what He has promised has not come to life yet? Have we lost faith because we can not fathom all that is promised will come to pass? God's way of doing things is definitely different from the way we do things. We want things to happen right away, without looking at what we are going through or what we still need to go through in order for it to happen. If we keep our faith up and we believe without a shadow of a doubt that God will move mountains for us then He will.
We all need to have our faith restored to us. We must ask God to restore our faith when we feel things are too impossible to happen. We must continue to believe that God is working in us and around us. We also must regain our faith and relationship with God through prayer and praise.
So if you are like me and sometimes you ask how is God going to do that. Just have faith and believe that it will happen and it will.
