(by pastor Norman)

As Christians we are to live by faith, “The just shall live by faith” (Gal 3:11b; NKJV). This isn’t natural faith that everyone has such as believing the sun will rise every day, my car will start or someone will do what they promised. We are called to have faith in God (Mark 11:22) or the God-kind of faith. The Bible is full of directions, commands and promises and we can only walk in them by using our God-given faith (Heb 4:2). What is this God-given faith? Well for me I love the definition in 2 Timothy 3:15 b in the Amplified Bible, “Through the leaning of the entire human personality on God in Christ Jesus in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom and goodness.” Faith is not just head knowledge but a knowing that we know, that we know, that we know deep down in our inner being, our spirit. God has given all of us faith (Rom 12:3b) but we need to grow that faith. The bible shows us that we can grow our faith by hearing the word, “Consequently faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ” (Rom 10:17; NIV). Our natural and spiritual ears need to hear God’s word preached and our spirit also receives the word as we study and meditate in our Bibles. Our faith is also increased as we pray in the Holy Spirit (tongues) (Jude 20). God desires to bless us and use us all mightily in our Christian lives (John 10:10b, Rom 8:28). We must approach God in faith, with no doubting (James 1:6a; NKJV).