Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see. [Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)]

Paul tells us that faith and hope go hand in hand. We can’t see into heaven and we can’t see into the future, so we have to have faith that what we hope for actually will occur. We must have faith in the reality of God’s promises. Yet, what exactly is faith? Faith isn’t just belief in our Triune God; faith is loving that God, following him, and accepting His will for our lives. Faith encompasses our minds and bodies, our hearts and souls, our thoughts, words, and actions. For me, clearly defining faith poses the same problem Supreme Court Justice Stewart had when defining obscenity: “faced with the task of trying to define what may be indefinable … I shall not today attempt further to define [it]… But I know it when I see it.”

Dear Lord, I may not be able to define or explain faith, but I know it when I see it! Let me filled with your Spirit and strong in my faith.

Faith is a work of God in us, which changes us and brings us to birth anew from God. It…makes us completely different people in heart, mind, senses, and all our powers, and brings the Holy Spirit with it. What a living, creative, active powerful thing is faith! … Faith is a living, unshakeable confidence in God’s grace; it is so certain, that someone would die a thousand times for it. This kind of trust in and knowledge of God’s grace makes a person joyful, confident, and happy with regard to God and all creatures. This is what the Holy Spirit does by faith. Through faith, a person will do good to everyone without coercion, willingly and happily; he will serve everyone, suffer everything for the love and praise of God, who has shown him such grace. [From “Preface to the Letter of St. Paul to the Romans,” by Martin Luther, translation by Bro. Andrew Thornton]