What Is Faith and Why Is It Our Core Element?

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". This verse seems to be just a definition of faith, but it more so is a description of how faith is applied. Practically, faith, or our belief, is the key that activates our spiritual engine. Many times in scripture, we are told that the effective power of the gospel is only made manifest to those who believe. In Romans 1:16 Paul says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes...". In 1 Thessalonians 2:13 Paul also says, "...as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe". Notice how each of these scriptures end with the words, "who believe". These are the most important parts of these scriptures, as our belief is what activates the power of God to be effective in our lives. Even our Lord says in John 11:40, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” This is because in eternal principles, faith, or belief, is what initiates the process of manifesting whatever God has spoken into our lives. God is a spirit, so whatever He speaks into our lives must begin in the spirit before it takes place in the natural. As a result, our enemy tries to take the eternal principles our Father created and do the opposite with them. This is why you may have heard of the phrase, "Seeing is believing". Rest assured, this is a lie from satan himself. Did not our Lord Jesus just tell us that in order to see the glory of God, we must first believe?

I write of this concept not to be elementary or redundant, but to express how vital of a component it is to our spiritual lives. In eternal principles, faith is the foundation upon which anything else can be elevated. As much as we are elevated will always be determined by how stable how our foundation of faith is. As in architecture, the height of a building can only be structured if the foundation is able to support its mass. Likewise, faith will always be required of God to do anything in your life, especially as He takes you through a spiritual journey of revelations and unveiling esoteric truths. In spiritually simple terms, "Faith is just acting like God is telling the truth"

How Do All the Bible Verses about Faith Relate to Each Other?

There are more than 200 verses that mention faith throughout the bible, and all of them are interconnected. This post won't include all 200+ scriptures, but it will provide a small example of how they correlate. Seeing their correlation will broaden your understanding of how faith operates and why it is so critical to our spiritual development. When I think of faith, the first scripture that comes to mind is Romans 10:17, where Paul says, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God". In Romans 10, Paul is explaining the necessity to hear the word of God through the preaching of His messengers, that the peoples' faith might be developed and established. We then connect this with what Paul also says in 2 Corinthians 5:7: "For we walk by faith not by sight". Notice the correlation: "Faith comes by hearing"..."we walk by FAITH and not by SIGHT". These two verses express that our walk, or process, is a steady pace where we journey with the Lord through development. We don't force it. We don't rush it. The outcome of it is strictly determined by what we heard God say, and NOT by what we see. This is critical, but each of our journeys will reach a point where things do not look like what we heard God say. It's in this that faith MUST be activated. Just as God is a spirit, we also have a spiritual enemy who desires to distract us from our walk with God. One of the ways he does this is by getting our focus on what we see, instead of what we heard God say. Hearken back to what was stated in the introduction: "Seeing is believing". The enemy knows that if he can successfully get our attention on what we see instead of what we heard God tell us, then we will begin to doubt what we once clearly heard God speak. To be honest, we have all been there. You may have had the thought, "Things don't look like what I thought God said, so maybe God didn't actually say that". If the enemy can get us to the point of truly believing this, then he has successfully sabotaged our faith. Why do I say this? The Hebrews writer states, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him". Satan knows that if God said something, then there is nothing he can do to stop Him. Consequently, because God lives within us, then there is nothing he can do to stop us. What he will try to do then is to get US to stop US. He will try to get us to give in. To concede defeat. The main way he will try to do so is by attacking our faith. If we give up on faith, we automatically forfeit what God has promised us. 

How Do I Renew My Faith While in Spiritual Elevation? 

Paul describes faith as a shield, in Ephesians 6:16. This description is fitting, because we are not left defenseless when the enemy tries to attack us. Amongst the whole armor of God, we have the shield of faith that will "quench the fiery darts of the wicked one". The imagery is that of arrows being shot at you that are designed not just to pierce you, but also to burn you. A successful attack with such weaponry can cause severe bodily harm, making one unable to continue in battle. Paul says we have a shield of faith to protect us from these attacks.

James 4:7 and 1 Peter 5:9 both say to resist the devil. "Resist" in Greek is the word, "anthistémi", which means to 'stand against'. Our shield of faith gives us the weaponry to stand against the lies, strategies, and attacks of the enemy. Moreover, a shield can also act as an offensive weapon. In older days of combat, Greek/Roman soldiers would not just use shields to guard against attacks but also would use them to push back against opposing forces. They would use them to launch complex offensive strategies against their enemy, making the most out of their shields instead of limiting them to one tactic of defense. How does this apply to you? USE YOUR FAITH! Stand firmly against the attacks of the enemy. Push back against his lies with the TRUTH of what God said. RESIST the devil, and he WILL flee.(James 4:7). This is a promise we have from God, as he would never tell us something without equipping us with the ability to stand strongly against the spiritual opposition.