Healthy Faith

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

There are all kinds of faith. When we begin our faith is much like what we see expressed by Gideon. When God spoke he asked for a sign. He wanted to feel the fleece and see if it was wet. Immature faith requires some physical evidence of personal feeling to confirm its reality.

But then there is faith to endure when God is silent. Jesus had settled the matter in the garden of Gethsemane. He went to the cross and endured because of His incredible faith in the Father, even when He was absolutely silent. In that moment Jesus felt forsaken, but He endured.

There is also faith when the external evidence appears contrary to what you heard from God. After the encounter with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, Elijah told Ahab that it was going to rain. He immediately went into his prayer closet. Seven different times Elijah sent a servant to survey the sky, and for the first 6 he returned to say, "The sky is clear." And yet Elijah persevered and believed what God had promised.

Faith is not blind hope in something we want to happen. Faith is always built on the promises of God's word. What has God said is so? Can you believe God when every bit of the evidence externally is contrary to the promise?