Faith, or Pistis, form the Greek, is always received from God, and never generated by us. Remember it is defined in the Greek as “divine persuasion.”
Ro 12:3: “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
Eph 2:8,9: ” For by grace you have been saved through faith (divine persuasion); and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
Gal 5:22,23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith (divine persuasion), gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
Faith is only, exclusively, given to the redeemed. It is not a virtue that can be worked up by human effort. Faith enables the believer to know God’s preferred-will. Faith and “God’s preferred-will ” are directly connected in Scripture.
Ro 12:2,3: ” And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.”
Faith is a persuasion from God that we receive as He grants impulse or a “divine spark”. Faith is always the work of God and involves hearing His voice – whereby the believer lays hold of His preferred-will.
Hab 2:1: ” I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak in me.”
Hab 2:4: “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live in his faith.”
In Scripture, faith and belief are not exactly the same. Faith always comes from God and involves His revelation therefore faith is beyond belief! Faith is God’s work; faith is never the work of people. We cannot produce faith ourselves, nor can we “drum it up at will.” Rather, faith comes as Christ speaks His rhema-word within.
In all of Scripture, only the term faith is ever used in the following way: Ro 14:23: Whatever is not of faith (pistis) is sin.” Heb 11:6: “And without faith (pistis) 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 seek Him.”
Nothing quite like this two-fold witness appears elsewhere in the Bible. These sweeping statements sober the heart and inspire the soul! The Lord offers to birth faith in each scene of life – so that each matters equally, in eternity . . . no matter how insignificant they seem.