Faith is one of the Seven Spirits of God, and consequently, is part of the very nature of God Himself. It is absolutely impossible for God to operate apart from faith. Everything the Lord God endeavors to accomplish is done through faith, beginning with the initial creation of the universe, continuing with the call of Abraham, then Moses, then David, and culminating in the call and birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.



Just imagine the Lord God at the beginning of creation. He was staring into a vast empty black void called space. Nothing existed, nor had anything ever existed; it was absolutely without form and void. Then God made an unimaginable prophetic statement: “let there be light,” and it was so (Genesis 1:3). Light in the physical realm had never existed before in any form, and God called it out as if it had already existed. This is supreme example of faith itself:

God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did (Romans 4:17, NKJV)

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible. (Hebrews 11:1,3, NKJV)

Or consider the whole plan of salvation from God's point of view as an extreme act of faith on His part. He paid the penalty for the sins of the entire Earth, and yet only a portion of those would actually receive any benefit from His actions. In fact, it was entirely possible that He would pay the entire price for the sins of the whole world and not a single person would repent and turn to receive salvation.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2, NKJV)

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13, NKJV)

No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

"He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:13-18, NKJV)

the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." (Luke 19:10, NKJV)

God's commitment to his plan of salvation gives a whole new perspective of what faith is: Faith is acting in complete assurance that what has been proclaimed will actually happen! The Lord acted in such faith that He was willing to gamble everything on the outcome of His proclamation, even though there was no actual guarantee that His plan would actually succeed, even for a single individual. God acted in complete faith, in total disregard of everything that was readily apparent that time, while we are far more likely to act by sight, than by faith.

By faith, the Lord God initiated and executed His plan for the salvation of anyone willing to accept it, and by faith, salvation is received. It is available to everyone, but only effective for those who desire to receive it by faith.

Copyright (c) 2007 Jon Straumfjord