Faith, whats that all about?

What is faith?

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."2 Corinthians 2:4-5

"This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us–whatever we ask–we know that we have what we asked of him." 1 John 5:14-15

Faith is the believing in what we do not see, it is putting trust in a higher power than ourselves, more or less giving God total and complete control. Also, faith without action is DEAD. We need to put action to our faith or it is completely useless.

What faith is NOT.

Faith is NOT mere human hope, wishful thinking or the thought that we can control what will happen. So instead of saying 'I'm hoping and I'm praying' we should be saying 'I have prayed and I am believing.'
Faith is NOT mere human faith.
We practice faith in everyday situations throughout our lives. For example, when we walk out the door in the morning we have faith that we wont just float away into the abyss of space because we believe that our friend gravity will be the same today is it was yesterday. Or when we hop in our brand new 2012 Lamborghini, we have faith that when we insert the cars key into the ignition that there will be some kind of reaction and the car will start. One more example is that our lights will turn on and off at the flip of a switch, faith right? Yes, but this is NOT the faith we need to follow Christ. 
Faith is NOT mental.
Simply agreeing that God is who He says He is isn't enough, James 2:19 says that "even the demons believe that and shudder." Its not a state of MIND that we have is a state of HEART. 
Faith is NOT sight.
"Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight." 2 Corinthians 5:5-7. If we needed to see everything that God does and for what reason, it would require no faith at all, faith would be pointless. Its kind of like a blind man and his seeing eye dog, the man has faith that his furry companion will lead him away from danger and to where he needs to be. Now if the man was not blind, what need would he have for a specially trained dog to lead him? This is what believing WITHOUT seeing is. FAITH

How do we practice faith?

Honestly the strengthening of our faith comes when we are put into situations where if God does not come through for us, we're in trouble. Its when we are tested by troubles and hardships. The strengthening of faith is usually not a fun or easy process, In fact it might be some of the toughest times in our lives, but the result of the perseverance of our faith is so much more. Its weather or not we trust that our Father will lead us through these times that determine the outcome and to constantly be in communication with the King through community, prayer, and His word.

What are some enemies of faith?

Ignorance– Not knowing what God promises, or choosing to ignore what he has promised because of fear or selfishness.
Selfishness– Putting our own desires ahead of Gods perfect will for our lives. Do our desires aligned with our Creators desires?
Fear– A negative emotion based on the real expectations of bad things to come. Lack of trust in Gods fatherly protection and love. 1 John 4:18 says "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."
Doubt–  Matthew 14:28-31"Lord, if it's you," Peter replied, "tell me to come to you on the water."  "Come," he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. "You of little faith,"he said, "why did you doubt?" Doubt is the evidence of an unconcentrated heart and mind. Notice that Peter had faith as he looked to Christ and stepped out of the boat during the storm, but as soon as he took his eyes off of the messiah and focused on the insignificant power of the storm, he began to doubt and he began to sink. How often does this happen to us? We living a life of faith and all is going well, but as soon as hardships occur we begin to become overwhelmed, we focus on everything that is happening around us, we start to sink instead of looking to and focusing on Christ. The oh so comforting fact is that our savior will ALWAYS be besides us ready to reach out and save us when we fall. What a mighty God, what a loving King, what a faithful Father.
 
When we have faith.

"Because you have so little faith. I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. " Mathew 17:20