What are you talking about?....
Just 2 verses of what faith
IS, though there are many more.
Heb 11:1 Now
faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.
Luk 8:18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for
whosoever hath, to him
shall be given; and
whosoever hath not,
from him shall be taken even that which he
seemeth to have.
Faith IS the very thing you have or do not have in your heart.
And Jesus tells you
HOW it works, in the same verse.
I got healed by REJECTING OR NOT HAVING something that made me very sick, years back.
It works the same way for getting thing, such as healing.
You can
reject or believe you do not have a sickness and/or disease and at the same time,
believe you have received your healing, after you asked for it.
Rejecting is the same as NOT HAVING something.
But if you
don't really believe you
don't have a sickness and that you
do have your healing
WHEN YOU SPOKE OR PRAYED, WHILE STILL FEELING YUK, OR BEFORE YOU SEE ANY CHANGE IN YOUR HEALTH OR THAT OF ANOTHER, then you didn't have the faith in the first place.
By the way,
hoping, wishing, and wondering what God's will is or what He will do, is
NOT, I repeat emphatically,
NOT FAITH.
And a few verses on
HOW faith works, though there are many many more.
Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy
mouth, and in thy
heart: that is, the
word of faith, which we preach;
Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt
confess with thy mouth... , and shalt believe in thine heart... , thou shalt be...
Rom 10:10 For with the
heart man believeth unto..., and with the mouth confession is made unto...
Mar 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall
say unto... ; and
shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
Mar 11:24 Therefore I say unto you,
What things soever ye desire,, believe ye have received when ye pray, and then ye shall have.
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without a corresponding work is dead also.
I have deleted and altered some of the verses for clarity sake, without changing the meaning.
Many people think faith is the same as believing, or it is having confidence assurance of something, but it is NOT.
Faith is the very thing you envision from within.
For example, faith is the very though and image of- "If I believe and confess Jesus as my personal savior, I will be saved".
That very though and image IS faith.
But until you act on that thought and mental image, it will lie dormant, even as James says, "Thou believest [only] that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe [only], and tremble.
And how does faith work?
It should be known that there is only one kind of God like faith, so it has to work the same way in EVERY situation.
So what is the difference between the faith of casting out a spirit and one receiving Christ as their Lord and Savior?
Doesn't it require same kind or type of faith for both?
Now show me in the bible where someone cast out a spirit from a person, by believing ONLY, without speaking one word verbally.
God will not and does not cast out spirits without you first commanding the thing to leave, in the name of Jesus.
God will NOT remove the thing, by you simply believing it to go or be gone, without you
first saying or commanding the thing to go with words spoken in faith.
The
commanding word spoken in faith, based on the authority of God's promise of- "Luk 10:17 And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord,
even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. ",
IS THE VERY WORK JAMES 2 is talking about.
It is not the same work Paul is talking about.
That simple work or act of speaking VERVALLY to a spirit, commanding it to leave in the name of Jesus,
IS THE WORK or ACT OF FAITH, that will cause God's hand to move in the situation,
through the words you spoke.
First you believed the promise of God, then you acted on said promise,
AND THEN GOD PERFORMED THE VERY THING YOU COMMANDED TO BE DONE,
because He watches over and hastens to perform His SPOKEN word.
That is what James was getting at, and that is why I say no one can be saved by simply believing without first acting on the gospel of salvation.
The works Paul was speaking of in Ephesians has to do with good or moral works (plural), that don't require God's hand to move.
If we can do something without God's help, then how is that a work done with the God kind of faith.
It is not.
It is faith, but it is the lowest form of faith, because it is faith based in the knowledge of the natural, or knowing how things work.
Giving money you know you already have, is faith in the natural.
Again, the lowest for of faith, for it is based on knowledge of REALITY, and human reasonings.
But giving what you don't have, if you did believe that, based on a promise of God, then that would be a God kind of faith.
Speaking what one believes, is
NOT a work of the law, but a work of faith, and it is
NECESSARY for God to work in the very situation you apply your faith to.
Hopefully, that should give you a little better understanding of what I was talking about.
Let me know, if you would please, if you still don't see it or understand.