Faith Cometh

Last time we began the series “The Victory That Overcomes the World,” and the heart of it was one line: Christianity is about believing so deeply that it changes completely how you live and love. It is not first about what you do. It is about what you believed that led you to do it.

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith.

1 John 5:4 (NKJV)

Let me show you with a picture. Two people go to pray. One prays believing God will answer him because he has been a good Christian — a faithful tither, a servant who has earned it. The other prays believing God will answer because God is a faithful God, full of grace, who stays faithful even to a faithless servant. Both did the right thing; both prayed. But one will live defeated and the other victorious. The difference is not in the doing. It is in what they believed that moved them to act.

That is why many of us live defeated lives while doing all the right things. We do the right things from the wrong beliefs. And we said the faith that actually overcomes the world takes hold of a few specific things and holds them so deeply that they reshape a life.

• You must believe that you need a Savior like everyone else — and believe it so deeply it changes how you see yourself and others.
• You must believe that you are not your own savior — and believe it so deeply that you give up every futile attempt to save yourself.
• You must believe that you have been completely and powerfully saved by your Savior — and believe it so deeply that it moves you to live out that salvation before a watching world.

That last one has teeth. The writer of Hebrews says to pursue holiness, “without which no one will see the Lord,” which really means no one will see God unless we live out the holiness we already received at salvation. But all of that leaves a careful listener with one honest question: so how do I get this faith? Where does it even come from?

So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17 (KJV)

What faith actually is

Before we ask where faith comes from, we have to know what it is. Hebrews gives us the definition.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)

Faith is the ability to hold something as true — something that does not yet appear true in the natural — until it becomes true in the natural, because it was always true in the supernatural. It is living in the visible world as though an invisible truth were real, until at last you see that truth show up where everyone can see it.

Think about what Hebrews goes on to say: the things that are seen were not made from things that are visible. That means the seen came out of the unseen. The unseen things already exist — just not in the natural realm. Where do they exist? In God. And God is a Spirit; He is physically present here, yet you cannot perceive Him with natural eyes. So what is the one physical evidence of His presence? Your faith. Begin to act on that faith, and suddenly you start to see the physical manifestation of God. Faith is saying it is so even when it is not so, until it becomes so — because it was always so.

Why faith must come

Notice the verse does not say faith is worked up. It says faith cometh. It comes. It is impossible to have faith unless something in the supernatural is already true — that is the grace part, the part where God has already done something. So faith must arrive as an impartation, a revelation. Faith is not taught; it is caught.

This is why it is not fully accurate to say faith simply comes from studying the Bible — if that were the whole story, theologians would be the most faith-filled people alive, and often they are not. It is impossible to truly believe until your spiritual eyes are opened to what God has already done. Real faith is not head knowledge. It is a knowing that sinks down deep into your soul, something that happens in the heart — a deep, deep, deep knowing.

And this is where the grace comes in. It is impossible to have faith unless something in the supernatural is already true — unless God has already done something. Faith is not you reaching up to move God; it is you waking up to what God has already settled. That is why it must come to you. You cannot argue yourself into it, and you cannot drum it up by sheer effort. Your spiritual eyes have to be opened to see what He has done, and when they are, believing is no longer a strain. It is the most natural thing in the world.

For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

2 Timothy 1:12 (NKJV)

Job could say, “I know that my Redeemer lives.” Paul could say, “I know whom I have believed.” Against all hope, Abraham believed God and called the things that were not as though they were — not because he worked up positive feelings, but because he knew the One he had believed. Notice the pattern: it is never “I have figured it out.” It is always “I know Him.” This kind of faith is a gift of God; it is imparted to you. So when Jesus says, “Have faith in God,” He is not commanding you to manufacture it out of nothing. He is telling you to possess it, to hold on to it and not let it go. Every time He spoke that way, He was speaking to people who had already come to Him, and when their faith looked ready to be shaken, He urged them to keep it alive.

Hearing comes by the word

So faith comes by hearing — and hearing, or seeing in the spirit, comes by the word of God. We have to let the word do its work in us. And here is the warning Scripture attaches: when you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.

Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

Hebrews 3:7–8 (NKJV)

Do you know what word Israel hardened their hearts against in the wilderness? It was the word of His grace — that He loved them, that He had saved them for Himself, that He wanted to dwell among them. They refused to believe He could simply be their God no matter what. Instead they chose to believe they had to work their way into His heart. And because of that, the Bible says the word stopped profiting them. They let unbelief creep in.

Understand this carefully, because it changes everything: unbelief is not the same as doubt. Unbelief is believing the wrong things about God. It is choosing to believe something other than what God has actually said about Himself to you. Israel’s problem was not that they doubted God existed — they had seen His works for forty years. Their problem was that they believed a lie: that they had to earn a place in His heart rather than simply receive Him as their God no matter what. That lie is what hardened them, and it is what the psalmist meant when he called us to stop and see: “Behold what great things the Lord has done.” Faith is what happens when your eyes are opened to that. So faith comes as you hear and see in the Spirit; and what you hear and see in the Spirit comes by receiving, holding on to, and accepting as true what God has said about who He is.

Where to begin

So if you have been striving to muster up faith, stop striving and start receiving. Go back to the word of God — not to earn anything, but to hear what He has already done and who He already is. Let the word tell you that He loves you, that He has saved you by grace, that He is faithful even when you are faltering. Do not harden your heart against that news; let it sink past your head and into your heart until it becomes that deep, unshakable knowing.

That is where the victory lives. Not in trying harder to believe, but in letting God open your eyes to what is already true in the unseen — and then daring to live as though it is so, until you watch it become so in front of you. Faith cometh. Position yourself to receive it, and hold on.