Faith is acting on the belief that God rewards those who diligently seek Him (Heb. 11:6). Faith then on man’s part is responding to the will of God with the right attitude. One must have knowledge from God to know how to please God by obeying Him (Rom. 10:17). Whatever is done, if it is not done in faith cannot please God (Rom. 14:23). The Christian through constant study of the Word of God should reach the conclusion that whatever we do in word or deed must be done by His authority (Col. 3:17). How then would one get knowledge from God? Either God speaks directly or through the means of His written word.
If God speaks directly, then one must wait until they hear from God to decide if something is right or wrong. If that is the method one believes in then the second part becomes even more difficult. What I mean is, if you say that God spoke to you, I am bound to ask how can you prove it? The Bereans upon hearing and obeying the truth, met together daily to verify that what they heard from Paul was right (Acts 17:11). It was not the voice of God speaking in their head rather it was words from an inspired man that could be verified by the Old Testament.
The written word has the power to save our souls (James 1:21). How would any of us know what that word teaches? The Bible shows that we as Christians are to study the Word (2 Tim. 2:15). The purpose of said study is to show ourselves approved unto God. If God gives me special help as I read the Bible, I am hard pressed to understand how I would be approved unto God. If I bring the right attitude to the study of God’s Word and use good rules of interpretation then I or anyone else can come to know the will of God for our lives. God does not speak to us directly but took inspired men used by the Holy Spirit to give us His inspired Word (2 Tim. 3:16). Using that Word we can determine if something is right or wrong by handling the Word of God in a right way.
The religious world around us have strange ideas about faith. Consider the case of Paul found in Acts 27 about his sea voyage to Rome. Paul was an inspired man who got his truth from God directly. He warns the centurion in charge of the trip to not go any further at this time because there will danger to the ship and to their lives as well (Acts 27:10). He is not speaking about having some “bad feeling” about the trip rather he is giving them information from God. His warning are not heeded and they began to sail. We shorten the event by saying they were caught in a storm from the northeast and were in danger.
Paul, days later, would tell them there would be destruction of the ship but not one of them would die. He explains that this knowledge came from an angel. Later there were some of the shipmen who thought to lower a smaller boat and head for land, deserting all those on the ship. Paul tells the centurion that if any of these men leave the ship all will die (verse 31). Once more, a direct message from God. The ship runs aground and breaks in half. Those who could swim headed for shore. Others on boards or broken parts of the ship floated to shore.
Of the two hundred seventy six men aboard that ship none lost their life. What is faith? Two hundred and seventy six men made it to shore, by swimming or floating but they all made it. This is what God revealed to Paul and it came to pass (verse 22). If they believed Paul what would they have done when the ship broke up? When they swam or floating on boards were they trying to save themselves? By swimming and floating did they in any way infringe on the mercy and grace of God? Faith is KNOWING what God wants us to do and having the courage to so act. The principle from God is that faith without works is dead (James 2:24).