What does faith feel like? How do you know when you have it? As I was praying about my faith, several aspects of my faith over the years came to mind. I had demonstrated faith in different ways, but they all had one thing in common: they all moved me to action or to making decisions that honored God and His word.
Faith’s definition in the Bible does not mean to believe without proof. It means to have a conviction that something is so. So make sure you don’t apply modern definitions to this book written thousands of year ago.
Why is it important to examine our faith life? Because Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. Also, the Holy Spirit in the believer teaches us that salvation is played out in a life of faith, as Roman 1:17 tells us, “the just shall live by faith.” This means that we are living unrighteously if we live according to our five senses and feelings, as though the unseen world does not exist. Living by faith means that we live our lives with the unseen God in view.
Let’s look at several ways I expressed my faith. Perhaps you’ll get a better idea of the status of your own faith.
1. Faith with power
Paul prayed for God’s power to accompany our faith: “To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power” (2 Thessalonians 1:11).
There were times when I had a sense of a passage that God would be with me, and great power accompanied it. I could run and not grow weary: I could effortlessly do all my chores at work and home. I had great endurance to keep going until the anointing wore off and I was back to being myself.
Through it all, I possessed a sense of great confidence in what I was doing and who I was doing it for. I was uncompromising in my decisions, and nothing sidetracked me. I knew moment by moment that this power was of God, not me, and I felt tremendous responsibility to do my best in everything I did. I hardly ever have a faith with this power. It was thrilling while it lasted.
2. Faith with simplicity
This is simple faith looking to God for help with a task to do. The scriptures say in Psalm 46:1, “God is a very present help in trouble.” Knowing this, and faced with a difficult task, I have simply prayed for help, did the work, then thanked Him after it was finished. No fireworks, no feelings, no complicated routines or prerequisites. I simply did it. Paul was afraid that the Galatian church was moving away from this simplicity of faith. They were complicating it by adding rules, and it turned them away from simple faith to instead analyze how well they were doing. But no special good deeds or religious duties are needed — just trust God and thank Him.
This is the simple faith where you talk to God about your doings all day long. It is an easy-going conversation, as natural as talking to a person next to you.
3. Faith with desperation
The disciples were in a heap of trouble. The waves were so crazy against their boat that it was sinking. In great fear they awoke Jesus, saying, “Lord, save us, we are perishing!” (Matthew 8:25.) This was sudden prayer without thinking. Just throwing it up there because you are at your wit’s end. This prayer of faith sometimes gets immediate results, as Jesus calmed the sea. Not always; but with it you’re reminded that there is an option, that there is a God bigger than the problem, however impossible it seems. God acknowledges this helpless faith.
4. Faith with obedience
Psalm 119:60 says, “I made haste, and did not delay to keep Your commandments.” This is when you read a command or promise in the word, relate it to yourself, take it as though the Holy Spirit is telling you to do something, and you act on it. In your obedience, you are assuming the book’s authority over you is real, the consequences of your behavior are real, and you follow through. You are taking God at His word.
If you are afraid, a promise comforts you. If you are confused, a passage clears your mind. If you are unhappy, a scripture smooths that out and points you back to contentment. In all these ways we are turning our eyes away from the visible to Him who sits on the throne over all.
5. Faith with humility
One important attitude of faith comes when we realize that we were living wrongly in sin, and ask for forgiveness from the heart. Perhaps we heard a Bible teaching or read a Bible passage that pointed out how we should be living, and we’ve wandered from that. We come to God believing we were wrong, ask for forgiveness, and God forgives us with mercy and strengthens us to live right. If you are in the word of God a lot, this would be a frequent expression of faith. You can read a heartful expression of this attitude of faith in Psalm 51.
These are just five ways of expressing faith. There is no one set feeling associated with faith, only a genuineness of believing. This faith life of the Christian becomes real when the Spirit comes in and starts making the Bible messages come alive to you. The connection of faith and the Bible is important. If you don’t know the Bible, then you will tend to believe your own thoughts. That’s faith in yourself, not in God. Keep the Bible before you, get it in your memory, apply it, then you can walk in faith — and please God.
