Faith

Greetings and welcome to this month’s Bible study! Once again, this month's Bible study is going to be a bit different than what you may have grown accustomed to. So sit back, relax, and let God speak. Ready? Ok!

In this Bible study, I would like to show you: What faith is with a brief overlook, give you good examples of faith and what they endured, and then give you examples of bad faith and what they put their faith in; and finally, letting you dig deeper into God's word with some more information. Confused? Don't be!

What is Faith?

What is faith? That's a great question. So to start off, let's look at what faith is. The Bible says in Hebrews 11:1:

“Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, (and) the conviction of things not seen."

In this verse, faith is defined as:

1. The assurance of things hoped for
2. The conviction of things not seen

Now, what does 'assurance of things hoped for' exactly mean? Well, basically this: When you ask your mom or dad to buy you something to eat at the store, and they say that they will, you have to have 'faith in the thing (Food) hoped for’. There’s no telling if your parents will buy what you asked them. I mean, what's to say that they go to the store and forget, or don't have enough money, or, even worse, they don't make it to the store due to some unforeseen reason? Therefore, all you can have is faith that your mom or dad will come through for you and that God will give them safe passage to the store. The same is true in the Christian walk. We have no physical proof that heaven exists. No one has seen heaven that's alive now, you can't touch heaven, and you can't smell it. All you can do is place your faith in God's word that it's there and waiting for those who follow Him. Also, no one has seen, heard, or touched God that's alive. So we have to have faith that He's there. But how do we know He and heaven are there? Well, because God has told us in His Holy Word, the Bible that's how. Just look outside, God is so prevalent in nature. There's no possible way anything else could have made us or this earth except God!

Now faith is also 'the conviction of things not seen'. What's that mean? Well, conviction means 'strong belief'. So faith is a 'strong belief' in things not seen. For example, you can't touch your brain, you can't feel your brain, and you can't see your brain under normal circumstances. But I bet you have 'strong belief' that your brain is there and working semi-normal (at least I hope). And so is true with God. We can't touch, see, or feel God in normal circumstances, but yet we can see His handy work all around us, and know that He's there. So there’s a brief explanation of what faith is. It's the ‘assurance of things hoped for’ and ‘the 'strong belief' of things not seen’.

What Good is Faith?

Now, what in the world is the good of faith? To answer that, let's see what the Bible says.
The Bible says in Hebrews 11:6:

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him(God), for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarded of those who seek Him."

Faith is simply the only way we can please God, that's the good of it. Think about it. What other way is there to please God that doesn't involve faith? Although, it is true that you can do a lot of good things in this world like build a million churches, get a million people saved, save the world as we know it, and so on, but without putting your faith in God, to Him it means nothing. Therefore, the only way we can please God is by putting our faith and trust in Him, no matter how hard it may be at times.

Ok then, so that's a brief look at what faith is. Now it's time to look at some people of faith: people who put their faith in God and people who didn't. But this is where this Bible study gets different. You see, I'm going to show you one example of good faith, and then one of bad faith. And after that, what I would like you to do is dig deeper in your Bible and find more people who had good and bad faith. How? Well, I've made it easy for you. All you have to do is scroll down and print out the little 'Bible Study' that's there. Then, ask God to open your heart and mind, whip out your Bible, and go at it. Yep, it's that easy. Ready? Here we go again!

An Example of Bad Faith

A good example of bad faith would be the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18:20-38. You see, Elijah, the prophet from God, challenged the prophets of Baal to find out whose God was real and whose was false (V.21). So Elijah, divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit, put forth a challenge:

“'Now let them give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. Then you all on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.' And all the people said, 'That is a good idea.'"(V.23-24)

As you can see, Elijah put everything on the line here to truly find out which God was the true one. The prophets of Baal accepted the challenge. The Prophets of Baal then began to cry out in loud voices to their god, cut themselves, and did many more things to get the attention of their god (V.28-29)... Well, this insanity went on for a long time and still nothing from their god. What was wrong? I mean, they were doing what the Bible says about having faith. They weren't doubting or thinking that their god wouldn't provide. In fact, they had immense faith. So what was wrong? Simple: They put their faith in the wrong thing. Sure, they were obeying God, ignorantly, but they were obeying Him in the faith aspect... But instead of putting their faith in the One and true God, Lord Jehovah, they put their faith in a deaf, mute, and un-moveable idol. The same is true today. So many of us put our faith in 'idols'. We put our faith in money, friends, our job, and 'religion'. And we even have sincere faith in these things. In fact, we wouldn't even begin to doubt that these things will be able to save us. But, when you begin to think that, that's when you begin to lose everything. Therefore, you can have awesome faith, but without putting that faith in Jesus Christ, it's worthless and will lead you to destruction.

So... the first example of faith is: The Prophets of Baal
What did they put their faith in?: Idols and not God.
Conclusions: Faith in the wrong thing won't save you and will eventually lead to destruction (V.40).

An Example of Good Faith

A great example of good faith can be found in the same passage of Scripture with the prophet Elijah. You see, Elijah, unlike the Prophets of Baal, put his faith in the right thing: God. In fact, he had such faith that he was willing to put on the line his reputation to prove that God was the one and true God. But this did not come without a price. During the time that the Prophets of Baal were doing their shindig, Elijah was probably harassed by the false prophets and by the people around him. In fact, after God had displayed His awesome power, Elijah fled for his life for fear of losing it (1 Kings 19:13). So therefore, Elijah had to endure trials for putting his faith in God and doing His will.

The same is true today. Many Christians believe that if they have faith in God and follow Him, that their life will be easy. This is not true. It is true that we can put our faith in God that He will provide for us, which He will. But this doesn’t mean He won’t permit something ‘bad’ to come our way. In fact, the Apostles Paul even tells us in 1 Thessalonians 3:4-5 that we should expect trials and afflictions. Jesus even had to endure constant mocking and persecution from people. So don’t assume that if you put your faith in God and follow Him that it will be easy. But we can have faith in that God has promised us in His word that He will provide for us.

So a good example of faith is: Elijah
What did he put his faith in?: In God and not idols
Conclusions: Expect trials and afflictions even if you have faith in God and are following Him.

Ok then, there are two good examples of people who put their faith in the right and wrong things. So now it’s your turn! Like I said, I’ve prepared a little extra study for you personally to do. All you have to do is scroll down, print it out, ask God to speak, whip out your Bible, and fill in the blanks. Yes, it’s that easy. But before you do, it you have any questions or comments about this study, feel free to e-mail me. Also, if God’s shown you that you need to put your faith and trust in Him and you want to accept Him as your personal Savior, e-mail me or call this number: 1-888-Need-Him. And now, enjoy digging deeper into God’s Word!