ABCs of Faith

ABCs of Faith:
Types of Faith

If we think about it, no matter what arena we function in there are always ABCs. We have to be taught the ABCs first, in order to later walk in the LMNOPs. There are many people today creating confusion in the Body of Christ because they are caught up in the LMNOPs, but still lack understanding of the ABCs. Jumping over the ABCs and getting right into the LMNOPs can get people into difficulties.

Then the question becomes, what do we need to understand when it comes to the subject of faith?

There are ______________ types of faith mentioned in the Word of God.


We need to understand this because if we read our Scriptures and begin to treat the word “faith” the same way every time we see it, we’re going to get into difficulty. In no particular order, the three types of faith are:

1. The gift of faith
2. The faith (the Christian faith)
3. Personal faith


1. The Gift of Faith


The first type of faith, the gift of faith, is mentioned one time in the New Testament:

"But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills" 1 Corinthians 12:7-11

This type of faith is given by Whom? ________________________

The gift of faith is simply God-given ability to believe for things that are not promised in God’s Word. That’s why we often hear that it’s going to take the gift of faith when it comes to the raising of the dead. That’s not something that is promised to us within the Word of God. There are manifestations of the Spirit of God that He gives as He wills. The gift of faith is one of them.



2. The Faith (the Christian Faith)

The second type of faith is the most prominent one, and it’s called the faith. When we see the phrase “the faith,” it is referring to the whole of Christian truth— the Christian faith. This context is similar to when we talk about "other faiths" such as the Hindu faith or the Muslim faith etc.. This refers to the whole Christian faith. The belief in the Trinity of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.


"Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1).


This Scripture prophesies that, in the last days, there is going to be a falling away from the faith. This is not talking about departing from the faith to believe God for healing or to believe God for financial needs. This is talking about a departure from the Christian faith— people who used to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior who no longer acknowledge His presence within their lives. Let’s look at some additional Scriptures that refer to the Christian faith.


"Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Savior and the Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, to Timothy, a true son in the faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord" 1 Timothy 1:1-2


"Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith" Acts 6:7



3. Personal Faith

The third type of faith is personal faith.
"And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction‟ (Mark 5:34).


What made her well? ___________________

Jesus said, “Daughter your faith . . .” He didn’t say my faith. He didn’t say our faith. He said your faith, referring to personal faith.


Let’s look at another Scripture:


"As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they replied. Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be done to you,” (Matthew 9:27-29).


It was done to them according to what? ________________

Jesus said according to your faith. It’s clear He’s talking about personal faith. Let’s look at one more Scripture— the story of blind Bartimaeus. In the story, blind Bartimaeus was sitting, begging on the side of the highway when Jesus walked by. Bartimaeus cried out to Him and asked for his sight to be restored. Then Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road (Mark 10:52).


What made Bartimaeus well? _______________________

Too many of us have too small of a view as to what the faith issue is all about. We’ve narrowed it down to the hand of God that reaches into the unseen and pulls things into the seen. We’ve narrowed it down to obtaining things from God. It is possible to use our faith to obtain promises, and that’s how most people think about faith—if we have a need, then we use our faith. If we don’t have any needs, then we don’t need to use our faith because faith is to be used to obtain things from God—finances, wisdom, healing, etc.

Who through faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions (Hebrews 11:33).

1) What is obtained through faith? __________________________

"Above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one" (Ephesians 6:16).



2) What does the shield of faith enable us to do? ____________________

"Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him" (Hebrews 10:38).



3) What do the just do? ___________________


There’s a difference between living by faith and protecting ourselves with faith. There’s a difference between living by faith and obtaining promises with faith. Let’s look at another Scripture:
"For we walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).



4) What are we to walk by?___________________



The Scriptures tell us we obtain promises with our faith; we walk and live by our faith; and we protect ourselves with our faith. When most people think about faith, they only think about obtaining promises. Living and walking by faith is more of a 24/7 issue. We might come into contact with a need for finances or healing once in a while, but the need to live and walk by faith is a 24/7 issue. Our view of faith is too narrow. If all we do with faith is just obtain promises, then we’ve got a problem when we read verses like Hebrews, chapter eleven.

"And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated" (Hebrews 11:32-37).

If faith is only used to obtain promises and reach into the unseen to pull things into the seen—if that’s all it is— then it’s easy to see how we can believe we receive the things in the first part of the Scripture. However, the second part of the Scripture is also talking about faith. Verse 36 says for some people, through their faith, things were brought into their lives like cruel mockings, floggings, chains, and imprisonment. Did they believe for those things? No. Others, through their faith, were sawed in half. This verse says their faith got them that. We know that we don’t believe God to be sawed in half. So, if faith is only believing that we receive to obtain promises, then there’s a problem here. The person who was sawed in half is a faith person. That means our definition of faith might need some adjustment.


Let’s look at Ephesians, chapter six.

"Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" (Ephesians 6:13-17).



5) What do we have to do to get the shield of faith?____________________



This Scripture says, “TAKE UP the shield of faith…” Each one of us has been given the responsibility to reach down and TAKE the shield of faith. There will never come a time in our lives when all of a sudden we walk out of church, look in our hands, and the shield of faith will be there. In order for the shield of faith to be in our hands, we’re going to have to decisively choose to reach down and TAKE it. It’s a personal choice. In order to reach down and take the shield of faith, we’ve got to be able to recognize it when we see it. In order to recognize it, we have to know what it is and be able to define it properly. Faith is recognizable. Recognizing faith is done because we know what it is.


Let’s look at Luke, chapter five.

"One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven,” (Luke 5:17-20).


6) When did Jesus tell the man his sins were forgiven? _________________________________________


Before we can begin anything, we have to define faith. Strong’s Concordance defines faith as a persuasion. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says faith is a firm persuasion. Faith is a persuasion—a firm persuasion. This is illustrated in the following Scripture speaking about Abraham:


"And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform" (Romans 4:19-21).


7) Abraham was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and what? ____________________



How Faith Comes
Now we need to discuss how faith comes.

For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.” How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? (Romans 10:13-14).

Then read it backwards so it looks like this:
Without a preacher how shall they hear? Without hearing how shall they believe? Without believing how shall they call? Without calling how shall they be saved?


1) What we believe will be the result of what?______________________



The Woman with the Issue of Blood
"And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction,” (Mark 5:34).


2) What made the woman well?________________________



How did the woman get this faith? ______________________



Let’s look at an earlier verse in this same chapter.

"Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment" (Mark 5:25-27).



3) When did she come behind Him to touch His garment? ____________________________________________



The Crippled Man at Lystra
"And they were preaching the gospel there. And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked" (Acts 14: 7-10).


4) This crippled man who had never walked did what?_______________________



5) Paul observed what about the man? __________________________________


Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God; however, there’s another ingredient that needs to be in place in order for faith to come.

Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, “We have seen the Lord.” So he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!” Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing,” (John 20:24-27).



6) Jesus told Thomas to not be what?___________________________

Thomas heard eight days ago from his friends that Jesus was alive. However, he rejected the truth. Faith comes because we hear, and we accept what we hear as truth. Unbelief comes because we hear and reject it as truth. We can’t be in unbelief about something we’ve never heard about. That’s called ignorance.

Let’s look at Mark, chapter five.

"Now a certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years, and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she had and was no better, but rather grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched His garment. For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.” Immediately the fountain of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction. And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that power had gone out of Him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched My clothes?”. . . And He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction,” (Mark 5:25-30; 34).



7) What did the woman do when she heard about Jesus?
___________________________________________



This woman got faith because she heard. How do we know she accepted what she heard as truth and didn’t reject what she heard as truth? She went in the crowd. If we don’t accept what we hear as truth, we don’t act on it, and we don’t put it to use. Faith comes by hearing and by acceptance of truth.


Let’s look at Luke, chapter eight.


"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the wayside are the ones who hear; then the devil comes and takes away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. But the ones on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, who believe for a while and in time of temptation fall away" (Luke 8:11-13).



8) Those on the rock are those who hear and receive the Word how? _______________



9) Those on the rock do what for a while?__________________________________


We know those on the rock accept the Word as truth because they receive it with joy and for a while believe. Faith comes by the hearing and acceptance of truth. Many times people look at the wrong “gauge” to determine whether they have faith in their lives.


The only true “gauge” that we can go by is to ask ourselves two questions:


1. Have I heard?

2. Have I accepted what I heard as truth?


If I have heard and accepted it as truth, then I have faith in that area.


To sum it all up; Faith is the absolute sure belief in something with absolutely no proof of it's existance. In order to live a balanced Christian life then we must operate in the three types of faith at all times. Get into the Word and see what else it says about faith and then gird yourself up with it.