The Irresistible Power of Faith

Volumes have been written, more volumes have been spoken regarding that indefinable something called “faith”. Yet in the final analysis, we actually know as little of the subject.

Faith is that quality or power by which the things desired become the things possessed. That is the nearest to a definition of faith attempted by the Word of God. You cannot weigh faith or confine it to a container. It is not something you can take out, look at and analyze. You cannot definitely put your finger on it and say, “Now, this is faith.” You can no more explain faith than you can describe time or define energy.

In the realm of physics we are told the atom is a world within itself. The potential energy contained within this tiny world bewilders the mind of the average person. If you attempt to define it, you run into difficulties. And so it is with the things of the Spirit—especially faith.

We do, however, know what it is not. One of the most common errors is to confuse faith with presumption. We must be constantly alert to the danger of mistaking one for the other, for there is a vast difference between the two.

There are many who mix the ingredients of their own mental attitude with a little confidence, a little pinch of trust, a generous handful of religious egotism, quote some scripture, add some desire—then mix it all together and label it “faith.”

Not so.

Faith is more than belief. It is more than confidence. It is more than trust. It is more than the sum total of all these things—and none of them in particular. Above all, it is never boastful. If it is pure, Holy Ghost faith, it will never work contrary to the will of God.

The Word of God teaches that faith is a gift. And Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. One of the chief difficulties is the failure to see that faith can be received only as it is imparted to our hearts by God Himself. You cannot manufacture it. You cannot work it up. You can believe a promise and at the same time not have the faith to appropriate that promise. But we have formed the habit of trying to appropriate by belief, forgetting that belief is a mental quality. Trying to conjure up faith through belief puts us into the metaphysical realm.

Faith, as God Himself imparts to the heart, is spiritual. It’s warm. It’s vital. It lives. It throbs. Its power is absolutely irresistible when it is imparted to the heart by the Lord.    ~Kathryn Kuhlman