Normal Faith

"So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." (Rom. 10:17)

I heard someone define faith as simply taking God at His word and acting on it. Stop and think for just a moment. God is completely outside of time. He is the Everlasting God, the Beginning and the End, and all that the Bible says of Him. Time is simply an accomodation for us. The past and the future are pretty much the same to God. God can see all of time like you and I look at a picture or a photograph. That means from God's perspective, past history and future prophecy are pretty much the same. They are all reality. Whatever God says will be, is.

So it is not particularly extraordinary to exercise faith, although it may be uncommon. Normal faith is taking God at His Word and living on the basis of that. Trusting that God is going to do exactly as He says that He will do. In that sense, Simon Peter did not so much walk on the water, as He walked on the platform of the Word of Christ, who said, "Come".

I once heard someone say, "Faith is believing something to be so, when it isn't so, in order for it to be so." I disagree. We cannot will something to happen just because we believe it hard enough.
That statement needs a qualifier. "Faith is believing something to be so, when it isn't so, in order for it to be so, when God has said it is so."

Faith is cultivated by living in the Word of God and then choosing to believe what God has said. God always keeps His promises, and He is always right on time, everytime. Believing God is normal faith, not extraordinary. It may not be average or common, but it is the normal reality for a believer walking with God.