by Dr. Larry Ollison, Ph.D. 

        
A few weeks ago I heard a man who claimed to be a born again believer make a wild statement.  He said that he was sick and tired of hearing about faith.  He said he was tired of what he called the “faith message” and thought that many ministers were just making too much about faith.  He said that Christians had more to think about and more to do than to be concerned about faith.  How sad that this man didn’t truly know the heart of God.

Hebrews 11:6 says, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.”  Isn’t that interesting?  Without faith it is impossible to please God.  If we as Christians want to please Him, we must have faith.  That is not a doctrine of a denomination.  It’s not written in the by-laws of a church or ministry.  It’s written in God’s Holy Word, the Bible.  That makes it undebatable.  Without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Since we have established, by God’s own Word, that faith is required to please Him, then I propose this thought.  We need to do everything possible to make our faith grow and be strong.

In Hebrews chapter 4, verse 2 the Bible says, “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.”

This verse tells us that the gospel, the good news, was preached to two groups of people.  But the gospel did not profit one group because it was not mixed with faith.  Now to me that makes faith an important item.  We should all want the gospel to profit us in our lives. From this biblical example I would say it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that faith is required.  After all without it we cannot please God.  Right?

In the book of Luke, chapter 8, a woman followed Jesus.  She had been sick for twelve years.  She had given her entire livelihood to doctors and was not healed by any of them.  As she followed Jesus, she decided that if she could just touch Him, she would be healed.  She moved through the crowd of people and pressed forward until she was able to touch the border of Jesus robe.  Jesus felt the power go from Him and he turned and asked, “Who touched Me?”  In front of everyone, the woman fell before Jesus and declared the reason she had touched Him and how she was immediately healed.

Jesus then made a statement often overlooked.  He said to her, “Daughter, be of good cheer. Your faith has made you well. Go in peace.”  Did you get that?  Jesus said her faith had made her well.  Is faith important?  Well it sure seems so, doesn’t it?

When Jesus was in Capernaum, four men brought a paralytic to Him.  Because of the crowd, they took off part of the roof and these four men let down the bed with the paralytic on it.  When Jesus saw what they were doing, the Bible tells us that the first thing Jesus saw was their faith.  Later the man was healed.

Faith is not a movement. Faith is not a denomination. Faith is a substance in the spirit realm and is required to please God.

God is moved by faith. All through history God has been looking for men and women of faith in order to perform His Word. He is never moved by doubt and unbelief.

According to the Bible, faith is required to receive salvation, healing, the Holy Spirit and holiness.

Without faith we cannot please God or get Him to respond to any request. Without faith the Word will not profit us and everything not of faith is sin.

The victory that overcomes the world is our faith and as a Christian we are to live by faith.

Is faith really important?  Faith is really important!