As a faith teacher, for years I've taught faith with the following definition: "Faith is believing God will do what He said He would do." As the years passed I realized that faith is not believing (present tense), but faith has believed (past tense).
So, I revised my definition to be: "Faith is believing that God has done what He said He would do and everything you say and do is based upon that belief."
Teaching something difficult is made easier with a simple definition. Likewise, I discovered that something simple can be complicated by making the definition too complicated. Even though my definition was accurate, I decided to make it easier to understand.
So here it is. Faith is: Hear the Word, Believe the Word, Speak the Word, and Do the Word.
Hear the Word
Romans 10:17 says that faith comes by hearing. Hearing is the first step. We perish because without knowledge; we do not know what to believe. Hearing the Word brings it into the realm of the soul (the mind) so that we can decide what to do with it.
Believe the Word
Once the Word is in our minds, we must decide what to do with it. Believing is the result of a decision. You decide what you are going to believe and what you are going to reject. The choice is yours. What you decide to believe sets the pattern of what you say.
Speak the Word
Second Timothy 1:13 says, "Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus."
You will develop a pattern of words determined by what you have decided you believe and what has developed in your heart as a result of that belief. Jesus said that out of the abundance of your heart, your mouth will speak.
Do the Word
Faith without action is not living faith. James 2:26 says, "For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
We must act on what we believe and we must daily reinforce that belief by renewing our minds with the Word. Through the daily hearing and believing of the Word, our words and actions will be more accurate.
Summary
Faith is important. Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Through faith we are saved (Eph. 2:8). Anything that is not from faith is sin (Rom. 14:23).
Faith moves mountains and activates our prayers. Faith is vitally important in our lives. All that we do must be based on the God kind of faith.
Hear the Word, believe the Word, speak the Word, and do the Word—you will please God.
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