Faith is the word Christianity uses more than almost any other — and means less by it than almost any other. Ask most believers what faith is and they'll say 'believing in God' or 'trusting things will work out.' But that's not the biblical definition. Biblical faith is not a mood, not an optimistic attitude, not a spiritual feel-good state. It's a specific faculty with a specific object and a specific mechanism — and Hebrews 11:1 defines it precisely.

Last time we established the nature of the Trinity — one God in three distinct Persons. Now we turn to the instrument by which believers access everything God has provided: faith — what it actually is, how it works, and how to develop it.

So what do these words actually mean? They carry the idea of confiding in someone so completely that you feel secure without fear. They mean fleeing to someone for refuge, taking shelter in them, staying and resting on them, relying on them completely. It's about believing someone — taking them at their word — and putting absolute trust in a person without any questioning or doubts about their faithfulness.

The Bible gives us its own definition in Hebrews 11:1: "The substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Various translations help us see the richness of this verse:

"Now faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see" (Weymouth)

"Now faith means we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see" (Moffatt)

"Now faith is the title-deed of things hoped for; the putting to proof of things not seen" (Centenary Translation)

"Now faith is an assumption of what is being expected, a conviction concerning matters which are not being observed" (Concordant Version)

"Now faith is the persuasion of the things that are in hope, as if they were in act; and it is the manifestness of the things not seen" (The Syriac)

"Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen" (Revised Version)

Paul describes true faith as an attribute of God Himself in Romans 4:17 — God "quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were." Think of it like this: faith is a union of assurance and conviction, counting something done as if it were already accomplished.

Faith doesn't need to see before it believes. It laughs at impossibilities! It laughs at circumstances that seem to contradict it! Faith counts the thing done the moment you ask God for it.

Here's what's remarkable about faith: it's not swayed to believe God only when things seem possible. And it doesn't waver or question when things seem to go contrary to what you've asked. Faith doggedly keeps going — counting the impossible as possible, counting as done what isn't yet seen, and counting things that don't exist yet as though they already do.