We can increase our knowledge of the truth apart from God’s help, but only God can increase our faith.
Faith is a heart belief that we believe to be true with absolute certainty. It is only established with God.
We will “see” whatever we believe. When we know the truth in our hearts, we can “walk by faith and not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
When we know the truth in our hearts, our emotions will match the truth we believe, and we will live out this truth spontaneously.
It will require no more effort to live out the truth than it did to live out any lie we may have believed.
God gives faith to each believer. Paul alluded to this faith when he admonished the church saying,
“For I say through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; as God has apportioned to each person z measure of faith” -Romans 12:3
Unless God illuminated our understanding of the truth we can never know it by faith. Paul prayed May” “the God of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.” (Ephesians 1:17-18).
Unless God does what these scriptures declare, we will never know the truth with out hearts. This is the essence of pure faith.
I always pray Ephesians 1:17-18 before opening the Bible. Without the spirit of wisdom and revelation, we will not hear God speak to us through His Word.
We all have faith, but not all of our faith is pure. God is in the process of purifying
Once our heart belief becomes established, it becomes the source of our emotional state, but it also becomes the lens through which we interpret life. We will begin to see the way God views things from a heavenly perspective.
The same holds true when we believe a lie in our hearts. We will walk by this lie even if we are provided with a logical and rational explanation as to why it is a lie. This is because heart belief will always overcome intellectual belief no matter how compelling or convincing the latter may be.
Some people react negatively to the notion that not all faith is based on the truth. If this were not the case, there would be no need for our faith to be refined. 1 Peter 1:7 says,
“That the proof of your faith, which is more precious than gold that perishes even though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah.”
When we believe something with our hearts, it becomes our faith.
For example, when I was a child, I had faith in my heart that my abuse was my fault and everything she said to me was true. I didn’t cause the abuse to happen, I knew the truth, but my heart believed the contrary.
It depends on what we believe in our hearts. God designed it to be this way. He created us to feel whatever we believe in our hearts. When we know the truth on our hearts, our emotions will match the truth we believe, and we will live out this truth spontaneously. It will require no more effort to live out the truth than it did to lie out the lie we may have believed.
From Pity to Praise 