Five Bible Verses on Faith

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

So what is faith? Where does it come from? How do we keep it? Let's start in Romans 10:17. Faith comes from hearing. This may seem simple but in these modern times most people are conditioned so it's very hard for them to hear. Attention spans are extremely short. Anything that doesn't offer instant gratification is thrown out as useless. On top of all of that there is a huge stigma about God and the Bible. People instantly shut off when approached about it. Hearing or being able to perceive the word of God is getting very difficult for non-believers. This is due to the media and popular opinions about Christians being hypocrites. The best way to show is by example. People can warm up to hearing very quickly. In this verse we learn that we hear through the word of Christ. We learn from the life of Christ!

2. Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

In Ephesians we are told that by grace only are we saved. We are given the gift of faith in Christ, but naturally we can accept or refuse it. It is only by the grace and love of God that we are even offered this gift. By taking the gift of faith and wearing it, we are saved. There is no amount of works we can do to atone for our sins! We could do all the great works in the world and it wouldn't be enough. There is no one that may boast about their works. They do not repay the sin of our lives. We should still do good works for this pleases God, but it does not exonerate us from our sins. Christ's death on the cross paid for our sins. They are all washed away once we accept Christ.

3. Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

We all know the incredible story of Noah's ark. But do we really understand the message? Noah was told by God to build the ark. Did Noah say, "Well.. I'm gonna need to see some hard evidence." No! He trusted that God was telling him the truth and went to the work of building the ark. This shows complete faith in God. We see that in reverent fear Noah obeyed God. This is a wonderful thing! Today we are all so muddy minded. We weigh the pros and cons, we make charts and graphs and all kinds of nonsense to decide what to do next. Noah didn't check the sky for clouds, he just started building! And we are told Noah by obeying God condemned the world. We often see in the New Testament that those who take on Christ no longer belong to the world. In the Old Testament as well when one obeyed God in faith they were then of God and not of the world.

4. Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

This is a great message in Hebrews. Without faith there is nothing we can do to please God. Faith in the very beginning of our spiritual relationship. And it prevails through the whole journey. It's so obvious yet how many Christians sometimes question if God even really exists? I know I did often early in my journey. The more we seek out God the more apparent he becomes in the world. We must believe that God exists! We must also believe that he does reward those who seek him out. I have personally seen this in my life during the beginning of my true awakening to Christ. Within weeks everything in my life changed from negative, with few positive results to so many gifts being showered down on me. God was answering me saying "Yes, this is right Justin!"

5. John 20:31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

In this passage from John we see one of the many times we are reminded that belief in Jesus the Christ is our way to salvation. The New Testament gospels were very much written to constantly remind us of that fact. We as humans often fail to remember these things, and get distracted with worldly endeavors. So not only should we believe in God and his good works, we must also believe in Christ. We must believe that Christ paid the debt for our sins. And that this was done for all time. We then have salvation through Christ.