Understanding Faith (1)

Call to Prayer

Title: Understanding Faith (1)

By: Simon Maina Nuhu

Date: 14.03.2025

¹⁷ For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,^[a] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)

Going through the scriptures, faith has been demonstrated since the old testament starting from Abel. And we are told that without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Again, it is written that the just (righteous) shall live by faith. What then is faith? It’s crucial one understands faith before even professing it, more so, before attempting to convert another person. Faith for us means; God says it, we believe and obey it. So, just like a coin has two sides, so does faith. These two sides are Believing and obedience. If one only knows one side of a coin, that person doesn’t know a whole of the coin. There is need to understand that except we live in the two realities of faith, we are only one sided, thus deficient in righteousness.

The first part of faith is believing. Generally, belief is an acceptable conviction about something or someone. All humans believe in something, this could be God, gods, certain deities, spirits or physical objects. Origin of belief dates back in the garden of Eden. Whatever people choose to believe, it is what God Himself approves that is ultimately right! Scripturally, people who walked with God were persuaded by belief that He is the creator, thus were saved. God always beckons on people since the fall of Adam, and had prepared a path for redemption. The first requirement to entering the kingdom of God is by believing. In the Old Testament, starting from Abel to Malachi, who are the heroes of Faith (Hebrews 11:1-40), believed in God’s word. When God called Noah, He first believed (Genesis 6:1-22).

Also, Abraham, the father of Faith was called by God. He responded by believing in the word of God (Genesis 12:1-10, 15:6). It was his belief in God’s word that earned him the righteousness. Likewise Moses at the burning bush, (Exodus 3:1-22), Samuel (1 Samuel 3:1-15) and all the prophets. In the new covenant, we see that it is through believing in the Lord Jesus that we enter into the Kingdom of God (John 3:16-18). It is noteworthy, that the word became flesh and dwelled among men as the Messiah (John 1:14) appointed by God the Father as His final offer for salvation (2 Corinthians 5:19, Ephesians 1:3-8, 1 Timothy 3:16). To be born again (spiritual birth), one must believe absolutely in the finished work of Christ, who is the Word of God in flesh.

Signs, wonders, great miracles and many manifestations happen because we believe, and we ultimately see and enter God´s kingdom also by only believing (John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9). Therefore, believing is a powerful influence to receiving the righteousness of God.  We will continue with the second part next time.

Prayer point:

Let´s thank God for the word, and also ask Him to help us believe in Christ