As children of God, we cannot abide under the same standards as the world when it comes to faith. We have to learn how to trust God. This will require a lot of patience and endurance, something we must all work on daily.

Without patience and endurance, we become easily frustrated, aggravated, and confused. Because of our lack of faith, many people have given up on their dreams and goals. They gave up because things didn’t happened when they wanted it to or how they envisioned it to happen.

I want to address three primary points about faith:

(1) what Is Faith?

(2) Why do we need faith,

(3) How do you strengthen your faith.

1. What is Faith?In Hebrews 11:1, we find the definition of what faith it; “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This is such a profound definition because it lets us know that having faith should not be based on what you can see, but what you hope to see. There are so many things that God has promised us. If you look in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, you will find promises that God made to all of those who put their trust in Him. So many people have missed out and some are still missing out on their miracles because they don’t have a clear understanding of what Faith is. Faith declares a thing before that thing comes to pass. A. What Faith IsWith faith, you have the power to, “call those things which be not as though they were” (Rom.4:17). I believe that many people’s lives will change when they realize that they have the power and authority to ‘call forth’ their miracle. Instead of winning and crying about all the things that are going wrong with your life, just call them forth. If you don’t know how your rent is going to be paid, call it forth. If your are broke and need some money, call it forth. If you are sick in your body, call forth your miracle. If you need the presence of God to change you, call it forth. You have to learn how to use one of your greatest weapons against Satan—your tongue!By faith, “…you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt. 17:20). By faith, “…whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith” (Matt. 11:23).

One thing that most people don’t understand about is that Faith is a verb and it requires an action on our part. “Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:17-18 Emphasis added).

Faith is knowing that you have the power to heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out demons and using it. Not only do you have to know that you have the authority, but you also have to exercise it.

Faith is when you can look at a dead thing and call it back to life. We see a perfect example of this when Jesus found out that Lazarus was dead. The Bible said that after hearing the news, Jesus waited two days more. This is significant because Lazarus lived in Bethany and Jesus was in Jerusalem when He received the news. Bethany was less than two miles which meant that Jesus could have walk there in a matter of minutes, but He didn’t and there was a reason for that. Why? Because He wanted to let us know that it doesn’t matter how long your situation may have been dead, all you need is one touch from Him and everything will be rejuvenated. In fact, not only will everything be restored, but it will be better than it was before. Jesus was teaching His disciples how to have what I call ‘Absolute’ faith—faith without borders or boundaries.

When Jesus finally arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for Four Days already. Everyone was saying that if Jesus had been there, Lazarus would not have died. Jesus quickly assured them that everything was going to be just fine. Let’s pick up the story from John 11:41-44:

“So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, "Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me."When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go" (Emphasis added).Regardless of how long your situation may have been dead, when you begin to speak life to it, it too, like Lazarus, must come forth from the grave.Faith doesn’t doubt but believes. When you allow doubt to control your faith level, you are “…like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind” (James 1:6). Even though it can be a challenging thing to do sometimes, but you must not allow even a grain out doubt to posses your mind because it strip you from what God promised you.Faith makes God smile. When God see that we trust Him, it puts a big smile on His face. It lets Him know that there are still some people out there who will trust Him. Did you know that the level of your faith will determine the level of your miracle or blessings? The reason why some people get more blessed than others is because others believe God for bigger and better things, while some believe Him for just enough to get by. The reason why some people believe God for just enough to get by is because the more you believe God for, the more trials and tribulations you will face and the less you believe Him for, the less trials and tribulations for you. Faith is a sibling of patience. In order to get what God has promised you, you will need to acquire a high proclivity for patience. If you have ever believe God for anything, you will find out that most of the times, our blessings doesn’t always come instantly. Having patience is an area that we all can improve in. I get scared sometimes to ask God to give me patience because I know that in order to have patience, something or someone will be assigned personally to teach you how to have patience. These people will make you want to pull out every hair in your body.

B. What Faith Is Not Faith is not based on how you feel. If you base your faith on your feelings, it will lead you wrong. Why? Because your feelings are like a roller coaster, one minute it’s up and the next minute it’s down. You cannot base the promise that God has given you on how you feel on any particular day, especially the days that you feel down.

Faith is not what you can always clearly see. There are times that God will promise you something, but because of your circumstances, the vision or word of God what has already showed you will become blurred. There will be countless number of times when you will ask God to confirm one thing over and over and over because you are having a hard time seeing it.

Faith is not getting a job and then trusting God to provide. Even though there is nothing wrong with getting a job, I do understand that there are times when you have to do what you have to do to take care of your business. But there comes a point and time in your life and walk with God that you need to trust God for greater things. I know about people who are working at a job that God told them to quit years ago. They disobeyed God because of the fear of the unknown—how are my bills going to get paid? What if I get evicted from my house? Who is going to pay for my kid’s college? Etc.

Faith doesn’t ask Who, Where, When! When you step out in faith, you cannot allow yourself to constantly worry about who God is going to use to bless you; when it’s going to happen, and where it’s going to happen. When you constantly meditate on those things, you become stressed, depressed, and overwhelmed. You need to let go and let God.

Stepping out in faith is very uncomfortable. When you step out in faith it’s not suppose to be comfortable because God is stretching (it feels more like stressing you) you to expand your views and perspective about Him and life. When you decide to step out in faith, you better get ready to become extremely uncomfortable.

Faith cannot be bough it had to be earned. Sometimes I wish Wal-Mart sold extra faith. I don’t know about you but I would be at Wal-Mart every chance I get. I had to use Wal-Mart as an example because Wal-Mart sells everything. If you can’t find a particular product in other stores, you can definitely find it on Wal-Mart, or EBay. It’s amazing what people sell on EBay. I think that it’s only a matter of time before these stores start selling babies. I can see them having the ‘Black isle’ the ‘White isle’ the ‘almost white isle’ the ‘Asian isle’ and the ‘Chinese isle.’