How To Know If You Have Faith
We can locate and identify our faith
"According to your faith let it be done to you.”
Matthew 9: 27-29 NIV
Jesus taught that our faith is critical in how God is able to work in our lives. If our faith is a determining factor in receiving from God, then it would be a good idea to answer the questions; “what is faith and do I have it?”. The first step to identifying anything is to get a clear description of what it is. If you don't know what faith is, you won't know if you have it.
Years ago I was doing some renovations on our house, and a friend of mine said to me: "What you need is a thingy." I didn't know what a 'thingy' was. He proceeded to describe it; "you push it and it separates things". You can imagine the amusement at our local hardware store when I asked them if they had "a ‘thingy’ that you push and it separates things”.
Many of us don't have a clear understanding of what our faith is. Consequently, when we are under tests and trials, we aren't confident in our faith. If you don't know what faith is, you won’t know how to identify it. On the other hand, if you can identify your faith, you will know if you have the faith to deal with your situation.
Vines Dictionary of New Testament Words defines 'faith' as being a 'firm persuasion', an 'assurance' or the 'contents of our beliefs'. Put simply: your faith is what you believe. Your faith is that of which you are fully persuaded. This sounds simple, and it is. There’s no need to overcomplicate it.
Your faith is not what you are feeling; it is what you believe. Your faith is not what your Church teaches; it is what you believe. Your faith is not what you know the Bible says. Your faith is simply what YOU are convinced of as being true.
As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!" When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?” "Yes, Lord," they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, "According to your faith let it be done to you.” Matthew 9: 27-29 NIV
Jesus asked the blind men if they believed that he was able to heal them. Then he said: "It shall be done according to your faith." Jesus knew that what the blind men believed was their faith. If they believed Jesus could heal them, they had faith that Jesus could heal them. If you believe Jesus can heal you and you believe He wants to heal you, then you too, have faith for healing.
And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. Truly I say to you; whoever … believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, … believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Mark 11:22-24 NASB
Jesus told his disciples to have 'faith' in God. Then Jesus proceeded to talk about 'beliefs’. 'Whoever … believes, … therefore I say to you, believe'. In Mark 11, as with Matthew 9, Jesus considered our faith to be the sum of what we believe.
The word “faith” is a noun. It is the name given to a belief or a set of beliefs. The Christian faith is the core set of beliefs that all Christians hold in common. Then there are other beliefs we can have, that are not essential to Christianity but, nevertheless, are still important. We can get faith for healing, or faith concerning relationships or faith regarding prosperity. Getting faith is the first step in receiving from God.
Faith is a noun and ‘doing’ words are called verbs. Your faith isn’t what you do. Your faith is what you believe. Sadly though, some people have faith but don’t use it, or worse they act against their faith. Trust is a verb. Trusting God is an action, it is one of the things that you are supposed to do with your faith. Trusting God is faith in action.
The ‘thingy’ tool could sit in my toolbox and not get used. Just because I’m not using it, doesn’t mean I don’t have it. It just means that it’s not doing me any good. However, if I ever needed to use it, I’d need to be able to find it. And to find it I need to know where it is and what it looks like.
To answer the question, “Do I have faith?”, we’re not to look to 'What Our Church Teaches'. We can't look at 'What My Pastor Believes' and we definitely can't consider 'How I Feel About The Situation Today'. What your Church teaches, and how you feel about the situation, is not going to get your prayers answered. Only your faith will get your prayers answered.
Before we pray, we need to look in the right place to see if we have faith. To find out if we have faith, we need to ask ourselves, “What is it, that I am fully persuaded about?”- what is it that you believe to be absolutely true.