In laymen's terms, faith is believing in something you can not see. It is easy to believe something you can see or touch, but not so easy to believe something you don't see. I think that is why verse 6 of that same Book and Chapter tells us "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." God most certainly knows how hard it is for us to have faith. As our Creator, He understands that in our human-ness we have difficulty with this.
There is a little book called What Is Faith? It is a children's book published by Standard Publishing in a series called Happy Day Books. In my classroom, I would read this book many times throughout the year to help the children understand about believing in God whom we can not see. Each time I would read it I would see in more children, that proverbial light bulb of understanding go off. It is easier for children to have faith because they have not had all the life experiences that cloud an adults ability to just trust. One line in the book states "Faith is seeing eggs in a nest and trusting that they will hatch." A child sees eggs in a nest and believes by faith that nothing will happen to them. They will all hatch and be happy little birds. An adult sees the eggs and often times thinks of the cat next door or the predicted windstorm coming. Our mind has been jaded by those times when things did not go as we believed they would, jaded by those times we prayed and feel God did not answer and so it is more difficult for us to have faith.
By faith, however, we can trust - we can believe - we can seek and find - we can pray. The job of the prayer of faith is to turn God's promises into our realities. God does not promise that we will all win the lottery. He promises that He will meet our needs. The prayer of faith has the power to convert God's promises into performance. By faith, Noah built a boat. By faith, Abraham packed up and moved. By faith, Moses stretched out his hand to part the Red Sea. By faith, Joshua walked around a city and the walls of Jericho fell. The same God that spurred these ancients to action is the same God that by faith, we can trust when we feel God's nudge to act. Whether it is quit a job, move to a new location, start a charity...if God is leading you to do something...by faith, you can do it! By faith, you can be sure of what you hope for and certain of what is yet unseen. God does not lead us to failure, He leads to success. (Proverbs 16:3)
By faith, you can look for God and you will find Him. By faith, you can know that God is with you even though you do not see Him. By faith, you can see God's love in the beauty of nature around you. By faith, you can believe that God will work all things together for your good. By faith, you can trust that God will keep His promises, because, He always does.
"Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep His promise."
Hebrews 10: 23
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