Page 33 - July 2014 Catalyst

WHat is FaitH?
Jed n. snyder, d. Min.
Founder/President
Jesus Every Day Ministries, Inc. | www.jedministries.com
Mark 11:22; HebreWs 11:1, 6
We use words in the English language assuming that we know what they mean. However, the precise meaning of a word may be lost to misuse or cultural changes. With regard to faith, it seems that a clear understanding no longer is common in popular language.
Faith is a concept that implicitly needs an object. When we sit down, we place our faith in the chair. Below are some brief helpful clari cations. Wishful thinking or making presumptions are not the same as having faith.
Vincent said,I “Faith apprehends as a real fact what is not revealed to the senses. It rests on that fact, acts upon it, and is up- held by it in the face of all that seems to contradict it. Faith is real seeing.” Wil- liam R. Newell says it this way, II”Faith is a conviction of things when they are not
seen! A giving-substance-to things hoped for.” Westcott well says, “Faith essentially deals with the future and with the unseen; the regions not entered by direct physical experience.” III
For Christians, faith is always focused on what God has promised, what he has re- vealed in his Word.
And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.” Mark 11:22
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen...
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he re- wards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:1, 6
Basically, faith is trusting in God. Happy living in faith. You won’t be sorry.
I.Wuest,KennethS.,Wuest’sWordStudies,Vol.2,WmB.EerdmansPublishingCompany,GrandRapids, Michigan49052,1973,p.193. II.Newell,WilliamR., HebrewsVersebyVerse,MoodyPress,Chicago,Il.,1947,p.372.
III. IBID. p. 373.
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