Where does faith come from? How do people go from having no faith at all to eventually having a great faith that moves mountains?
To answer these questions I'd like to take you on a journey through the many scriptures on faith found in the Bible.
To start let's look at one of the theme verses for having great faith.
Matthew 17:20
So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,'' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."
The full context of this verse is really interesting. Jesus has given his disciples authority over unclean spirits but they hit a brick wall and were not able to case out the demon in this passage.
For now though I want to just focus on the fact that Jesus says that faith starts as a mustard seed.
I believe this seed is a combination of God's word and belief that is planted in our hearts.
Romans 10:7
"Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ."
This is a well known scripture that is quoted often. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. So faith ultimately comes from the Word. It is important to note however that this hearing must also be combined with belief. The surrounding verses in Romans 10 point out that the Israelites certainly heard the word but it was not always effective because of their stubborn hearts.
Hebrews 4:2 expands on this idea.
"For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed."
This scripture indicates that just hearing alone, without having a least a kernel of belief as the Israelites did who obeyed God (Joshua and Caleb for example) when scouting out the land of Canaan does not produce faith. This makes sense because just the sound of the Bible being read while you are driving in your car does not automatically result in faith.
But we are starting to get a picture of how faith starts with the Word but also requires some level of belief. While the word faith isn't' included in the parable of the sower in Matthew 13, that passage does help us to see how the word of God must be sown into an honest heart to produce a life of fruit.
Next let's consider some discussion of what faith is and why it is important.
Hebrews 11:1 provide us with the canonical biblical definition of faith.
"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see."
So faith is confidence and assurance in our hope even when we can't see the outcome. It deals with the idea of full trust event in the midst of uncertainty. See "What is Faith?" for a more through treatment of this verse.
While we are here in Hebrews 11, let's also note Hebrews 11:6.
"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."
This verse expands on the definition of Hebrews 11:1 with the idea that faith is required to please God and it includes the idea of belief. It is more than just believing, but that is still a central component of faith. The difference is that faith also leads to action and obedience.
The rest of Hebrews 11 is a list of the heroes of faith throughout the old testament. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Ruth etc. Each of these believed in God and were moved to act in faith with confidence even though they faced uncertainty.
So let's review where we are. Faith starts as a seed that is the germination of the word of God in a honest heart that believes. It gives the believer the ability to trust when the future outcome is not know and the ability to see spiritual things that are invisible. And it is required to please God.
Let's dig a bit deeper with a few more verses on faith.
As we further understand what faith is we see that it is connected with sight. But in contrast to physical sight it deals with seeing the unseen.
II Corinthians 5:7 further supports this idea in describing how we walk.
"We walk by faith and not by sight."
This scripture is within the context of our present condition of living in the body and our future hope of a heavenly dwelling. So instead of living life only focusing on what we can see, we, through the lens of faith, walk in harmony with Jesus and long to be home with Him even while living in our physical body. But... as long as we are living here on earth we have a focus to please Him!
This is a way of life for the believer. We walk by faith. Another classic scripture on faith from the Old Testament is Habakkuk 2:4 -
"Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith."
This verse from Habakkuk is quoted three times in the New Testament in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. Each of these verses has a different context but the core truth is the same. The one who follows God will live by faith by trusting in Him when they can't see the full picture God see and there is some level of uncertainty about the next step to a casual bystander who can't see what they see.
The last few scriptures on faith I'd like to mention related to how a believer can grow their faith. Remember, faith starts as a mustard seed that is tiny, but Jesus wants it to grow into a great faith that can move mountains!
James 1:1-4
"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything"
Our faith will eventually be tested by trials. This can be painful but these tests are what proves that are faith is genuine and it helps us to grow in maturity. So James says to have joy even in the midst of difficulties because of growth our faith will experience. Who doesn't want to be complete and lacking nothing? Overcoming trials with faith is how we get there.
I Peter 1:6,7 expands on the connection between joy and trials and genuine faith.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Note here how genuine faith is worth more than gold! This is because gives us peace and a spiritual wealth that cannot be destroyed like carnal wealth.
To close I'd like to return to the story from Matthew 17. The disciples could not cast out a particular unclean spirit and Jesus ended up having to do it himself. He makes the great statement of Matthew 17:20 within this context.
So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,'' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you."
In the parallel passage in Mark 9 he concludes with an interesting statement. Mark 9:29 -
He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting.”
The disciples of Jesus had been given the power to cast out unclean spirits but somehow got stuck on this one! There are times when we need to lean into God more with prayer and fasting to grow our faith. This requires us to be intentional with our faith.
My belief based on this passages is that in order to consistently grow our faith over time we must continue to push the boundaries of our walk with Christ to experience opportunities to trust him. We must make decisions based on faith and not on just the facts we see around us. We must step out of our comfort zone to have an opportunity for God to support us as we live out the gospel in our daily lives.
If we aren't actually in situations that require us to trust God our faith will stop growing and we won't experience all the fullness that God has for us.
This is the path I am seeking to take and would love for you to join me!