Introduction: A Four-part Series on Building up your faith.

In the next few weeks I will be studying faith,what it is,why we want it,and how do we increase it.Please join me.Building up your faith.  Part One:  What is faith?Faith, according to the dictionary, is having confidence in something, or believing in something for which you do not have proof.  This is similar to what the Book of Hebrews says about faith:  “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”If I were to ask you whether you have faith or not, some might hesitate to answer “yes”.  But let me assure you that if I asked:  Do you have faith in your toothpaste?  Or do you have faith in that chair you are sitting on? you would all smile, and say, “of course”.  You wouldn’t be brushing daily and sitting down in that chair,  if you did not believe that the toothpaste was going to be effective to prevent tooth decay, and  that the chair would not keep you off the ground.The issue regarding faith, is not whether you have faith, but what is the object of your faith.So let us focus on “having faith in God.”  Many of the people I talk to hesitate to confirm that they believe in God.  Even those who do believe in God, don’t exercise their faith.  They don’t trust God in the little things.  They don’t pray for God for help.  They know God says “I love you” but,  when the rubber meets the road, they don’t really believe that God truly does love them. So what is the problem?I propose it is because we don’t have faith in the right thing.  Jesus said in Mark 11:22 “Have faith in God.”  This is also translated, “Have the faith of God.”  You just need the right kind of faith.Consider this:  Don’t use a man-made faith, but carry within you the faith that is the same as God’s faith.If you have the right kind of faith, even if that is a tiny amount (faith as tiny as a mustard seed), you can move mountains (Mat. 17:20).  Why?  Because you would have the Faith Of God.   Notice this is not Faith IN God. We are talking about your having the same type of faith that our Creator has.What type of faith does God have?Genesis 1:1 -2 says, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.  Now that earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.  And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”The Almighty God saw the emptiness, the nothingness, a huge void.  And He did something.  He breathed his energy into that emptiness.The Hebrew word for empty and void is “Boo Who!”  (Spelled bohuw).  Our Heavenly Father didn’t just kiss our “owwy” away, and wipe off our tears, our boo who.  He breathed His breath, His Spirit, into that emptiness and created light and life.  That is what the faith of God is all about.The FAITH OF GOD calls into existence that which does not exist.The FAITH OF GOD brings health out of sickness, light out of darkness,  life out of decay.THE FAITH OF GOD sees death and moves into a resurrection existence. This is the type of faith you want to have. In Christ,