What is faith?

I can illustrate faith by a simple example. Say for instance we meet each other when I pay you a visit. I take a R10,00 note out of my pocket and say: “I give you this R10,00 note as a gift” and stretch out to give it to you. When you take it, you exercise faith. You believe my word, you act on my word. So faith is taking God at his word, believing his promises and acting upon it. In Christian circles we say: Faith is the assent of the mind to the truth of God’s revealed will. There are two kinds of faith:

1. Historical. That means to believe the Gospel’s record of the life and works of Jesus and the apostles as historical truths. We believe that they really lived and acted as the Bible tells us. But that is not enough to change your life. Therefore we speak about another kind of faith:

2. Evangelical or saving faith. This means to trust and believe the message that Christ wants you to surrender your whole life to Him personally. You then receive Jesus Christ as Saviour in your heart. You commit yourself to Him for time and eternity (for example Matthew 11:28 or John 3:16).

We exercise faith in other ways too. When you get into a bus, you exercise faith when you trust in the skill of the driver. When you are ill, you go to a doctor and exercise faith in his scientific knowledge of illnesses and medicine, etc.
You are therefor already able to believe, to trust. Channel this faith in the right direction. If you trust people, you will always be disappointed. But God is faithful. You can trust His Word and believe what He says in the Bible. Then act upon your belief.

If you need further help, do not hesitate to ask for it.