Faith comes Through Revelation

I’ve been thinking about what faith really is for over 20 years now. The other night, just being in bed, I received a revelation that furthered my understanding on this topic.

We have been told that faith is so many things. We have been told that it is a spiritual force. We have been told that it is a spiritual law, and that it works much like any physical, natural law. But I’ve never felt that those ideas were quite right. I fear they treat God as a kind of push-button God, who reflexively responds to faith on demand. Somehow, I don’t think that God is like a computer program, where if you punch in the right code, He does what you want Him to do. It reduces God to the status of a tool, and that just can’t be right.

Immediately, a few verses came to mind.

In Ephesians 2:8, the bible states that we are saved by faith, and that it is the “gift of God.” And in Romans 12:3, Paul indicates that a “measure” of faith is assigned to all believers. And in 1 Corinthians 12:9, faith is said to be a spiritual gifting.

Finally, we find that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

So, why? Why does faith come from hearing the bible?

I realized that faith comes by revelation, through an epiphany, that comes by meditating on the gospel or God’s ways.

Of course. Because the christian walk itself starts with a realization, that we need God and His ways in our lives, or that we are sinful, or that Christ is the messiah.

So, I realized that faith is not some ethereal force or some mechanical spiritual law or principle, but just a gifting of revealed knowledge. It comes through revelation.

And revelation is just a windfall of understanding. It is that “aha” moment of sudden and impactful realization. And it is always personal, always a moment of awakening.

That is why it is critical to hear the Word, to speak the Word, to be around the Word, to think on and meditate on the Word. The Word is your source of personal revelation, which really are just gifts of faith.

When God speaks to you, or reveals something to you, in His own voice and through His own Words, you come to recognize God. You come to develop faith in His voice and in His word by constantly encountering Him over and over. This is how relationships are built. This is how trust and confidence are gained. This is how faith works.