What is Faith?

Faith is as simple as having confidence that you will wake up the next morning. Hebrews 11:1 declares that faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. A human can be persuaded or caused to grow in faith. Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Jude 1:20 says to build up your faith by praying in the Holy Spirit.

The entire 11th chapter of Hebrews is dedicated to humans who chose to live, operate and move by faith, as they were instructed by God. Humans, who were dead, were raised to life. They quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the enemies. These are just a few of the acts that were a result of a human or humans faith.
Simply put: faith is accepting God’s word as truth over every other voice or opinion; even our own. God said, speaking of his word, in Isaiah 55:11, “11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
We can have confidence or faith and be persuaded that God does not lie. He is not mistaken and he never fails. Paul said in Romans 8:38-39 that he was persuaded, nothing would be able to separate us from God’s love.

It is by reading, hearing and accepting God’s word that we grow to have faith. While a measure of faith is sown in our spirit in the new birth, we have to nurture that faith. God has also deposited his love in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. We have to develop in that love, learning to walk in faith.
There is nothing more important than finding God’s purpose. It takes faith to trust God. It takes faith to hear God. Whether a human sees instruction in the bible that pertains to their situation or Holy Spirit speaks to the human spirit, it takes faith to act on and do the word.