What I’ve Discovered About Faith That I Never Knew Growing Up In Church

I’ve been studying faith this past week and I feel like had a mini revelation.

Growing up in church, I’ve heard the word “faith” all my life. You probably have too.  But for me, I had a hard time putting my finger on the concept of having faith.

Was faith an emotion?  A feeling?  Something I needed to grit my teeth and strain my neck to achieve?  

What is this intangible thing that allows us to truly wait on the Lord without nervously tapping our heels and glancing over our shoulders?

Know that I’ve been on both sides of the equation. At times I’ve struggled to have faith and at other times, I’ve experienced such faith that there was no question in my soul about God’s promise.

So what have I discovered about faith? 

First, know that…

1. Faith is not a feeling or emotion. 

We can’t “feel” our way into great faith.

2.  Faith is not works.

We don’t have to pull a muscle trying to trust God in our own strength through works. Works are a by-product of the faith that’s already inside.

3.  Hope alone is not faith. 

“Well, I hope God comes through.”  

said all of us at one point or another

4. And it’s not a formula. 🙂

Dear Father, What is the exact formula for faith so that I can rinse and repeat the process for breakthrough?”  

said my heart

I discovered that I had been analyzing God, trying to find a pattern to how faith works. 

I thank God He is so much bigger than our little minds can comprehend!

Because this past year,

I had been struggling with my sleep, trying to figure out how to effectively take authority over the enemy and the terrors of the night.

So before bed, I would plead the blood of Jesus, take communion, bind fear, loose peace, take authority in Jesus name, and then pray to God for sound sleep.  

But soon I learned that even though I turned this into a “routine,” I still had wildly different sleep experiences.

Lord, what was the missing ingredient during those terrible nights of sleep?

Was it faith?

Faith, I’ve found, is the force and power behind the actions we take.  

Saying a prayer, reading the Word, praying for the sick, etc.

You can lay hands on a person all day long, but if it’s not backed by faith, it produces little.

We were designed to live by faith from our Creator.  When we live a lifestyle in the Word of God, faith flows in naturally and effortlessly, like second nature….

Now faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.

Romans 10:17

When I’m delighting myself in the Bible, I notice a difference. I praise differently, I’m less distracted, and am secure in my walk with God.

When we take communion, we’re taking it in FAITH.

When we pray for the sick, we’re praying in FAITH.

When we plead the blood and intercede for our family, we’re doing it in FAITH.

All these things are ACTIONS, but they are backed, fueled and accomplished by faith.

Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.

Mark 5:34

I’ve discovered that it was faith all along that made the difference.

So how do we get to that place of great faith?

I remember in 2020, when the pandemic was new, I got sick about three times that year.  

Each time I would wake up with a sore throat and fatigue.   At the time I had been taking elderberry tablets for my immune system.

So when I first got sick, I cursed the sickness (like Jesus cursed the fig tree), bound it away from me, loosed the healing power of God, and proclaimed Psalm 91 over myself.  Then I went on about my day.  

Well the next day my sore throat and fatigue were completely gone.  

The second time I woke up with a sore throat that year, I did the same thing. 

I placed my hand around my throat, cursed the sickness, bound it and loosed healing, then proclaimed Psalm 91 over my body.  I went to sleep, and again woke up fine the next day.

So by the third time I got sick that year, I had been out of the elderberry tablets for at least two months.

And when I woke up with a sore throat and fatigue again one day…

I followed my formula.  

I placed my hand around my throat, cursed and bound the sickness, loosed healing and proclaimed Psalm 91 over my body.  

Can I tell you I went to sleep and woke up just fine?

No Vitamin C, no elderberry, no pills or medicinal help of any kind.  

Wow, what a great formula, right?

Nope. Through my little process of proclaiming and praying, faith snuck in and began to grow in my heart like a wildfire.

I had stumbled upon faith in action.  I saw a pattern of seeking God when I was sick and then getting healed. 

And with that pattern, my faith began to come alive.  So much so, that even without the vitamins I was healed.

Faith without works is dead.

James 14-26

Through praying, reading the Word, trusting God and seeing my body healed each time, my faith began to grow. Effortlessly.

Faith truly is that substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.  It’s a substance. It’s real and tangible.

God desires for us to walk in faith. 

When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

Luke 18:8b

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24

Faith is such a beautiful thing. 

Because it requires no human effort.  Its not on our own merit; our own ability to produce faith. It’s through God.  It’s through trusting and believing. 

God set it up in a way that He gets the glory from it.  The only effort required on our end is to let go and trust Him.

Sis, He wants to show you He is trustworthy.  He wants to bring you back to a place of trusting and relying on Him.  Why?

For. His. Glory.

For His good name.  His renown.  Because when you’re on board…when you’re team Jesus all the way…  You forsake your own desires in order to bring about His desires. 

Which are souls.  People.  Your coworker.  Your sister, mother, father, uncle, or best friend that doesn’t know Him.  They are His desires.

And when your faith grows, so does your witness to God’s goodness and then you can’t wait to share what God has done in your life.

These things just multiply.  

God is so wise… let me take a moment and marvel at how wise our God is.

Because anytime we try to work these things out on our own…in our own strength…boy is it tiring. 

We’ll wind up giving up, turning our backs on God and going back out into the world if we’re not watchful. When God is like, daughter, that wasn’t your job in the first place.

The Lord says growing your faith is MY job. 

Through my Holy Spirit.  You just stay dedicated to reading, studying and meditating on what I’ve already told you.  My Word.

So He said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.

Zechariah 4:6

So walk in faith, sis.

Immerse yourself in the truth of God so that your faith will grow naturally. Am I saying I’ve arrived and have all the faith in the world? Of course not!

But….I know that as long as I abide in Him, I will see His Will come to pass in my life and the lives of those around me.

Love you. Be blessed and encouraged.