Where does faith come from?

Matthew 8:5-13
When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a centurion came up to him and begged him repeatedly, "Sir, my servant is lying at home paralyzed and in terrible pain."
Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."
The centurion replied, "Sir, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed, because I, too, am a man under authority and I have soldiers under me. I say to one of them 'Go' and he goes, to another 'Come' and he comes, and to my servant 'Do this' and he does it."
When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those who were following him, "I tell you with certainty, not even in Israel have I found this kind of faith! I tell you, many will come from east and west and will feast with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the unfaithful heirs of that kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go, and it will be done for you just as you have believed." And his servant was healed that very hour.

I have found interesting lately that I hear the phrase, "You just have to have faith!", but every time, the question stirs in my mind, "But where do I get that faith?"
It's so common to hear the word Faith. There's a Faith movement, people of the faith, and faith healers, but what is the definition of that word? It seems that if you gather 20 believers together, you could get 25 answers. Even if you get a consensus of the definition, you still get even more answers about where it comes from and how it works.
I have found an answer to the definition I think in studying the Greek. I know I have lost half of you by mentioning Greek, but it's important to see the full context of the language of that time. In the Greek, the word faith is defined as:

The religious beliefs of Christians
belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ.

I keep coming to this idea that it's all about trust. All we are asked of by the creator of the universe is trust. The failure of Adam and Eve.....trust. The failure of Abraham in bearing a son not of Sarah.....trust. The failure of Johan....trust. Through out the history of this world, we find the greatest failure of human kind isn't our consent desire to do evil, although that is a symptom of the greater problem. It's that we don't truly trust God or have "Faith" His word is true and what He has for us is better than anything we can devise on our own.
The story of the centurion is a great story of understanding authority and many other things, but I believe the greatest lesson Jesus is teaching us is that this man trusted God (had faith) to do what only God could do. This man knew he had no right to the healing from a God he wasn't in covenant with, but he trusted the word of Jesus. "YOU SAY THE WORD AND MY SERVANT WILL BE HEALED!"

He came to the source and looked for a Word. Scripture says that the patriarchs were accredited righteousness by faith. What do we find in common about these people of faith? They received a Word and that Word empowered them to trust God or have faith. Abraham left his home. He went to sacrifice his son of promise. Noah built an ark while being mocked by every person passing by him. Joseph spoke of taking his bones to a promised land. Moses took a unequipped people through a wilderness of wild beasts and enemies. All by a Word supernaturally spoken to them.
Maybe the greatest failure of the modern church isn't style, format, music, dress, or presentation, but that we lost the desire to wait and listen for a Word from God? We are so busy in trying to "Do the will of God", we have forgot to listen for the will of God.
Maybe Abel's sacrifice was accepted, not because it fit some prescribed sacrificial acceptability, but instead while Cain gave what he thought was right in his own mind and expected it to be pleasing to God........ Abel gave in faith trusting God.

Hebrews 11:4
By faith (trusting God and not himself) Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did, and by faith he was declared to be righteous, since God himself accepted his offerings. And by faith he continues to speak, even though he is dead.

Hebrews 11:6
Now without faith (trusting God) it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently search for him.

- Posted in the moment

Location:Coffee shop

Leveling the marriage field

Romans 3:22-23
For there is no distinction among people, since all have sinned and continue to fall short of God's glory.

This scripture has been sitting in my mind lately as My wife and I have been going through the growing experience of cultivating a better scripture based marriage. So often we find ourselves at different "levels" of faith in and devotion to God, His Word, and life in general, but how easily we are tricked to genuinely believe that on our lives. We can find ourselves portraying an image of perfection to those we love by our actions and words. Nothing new under the sun right? Satan fell to this and then fell to earth apart from God's presence.
We can, in the desire to be so "Holy and Righteous", find ourselves forgetting neither come from us or our works, but instead from Jesus - the only perfect man.

Isaiah 64:6
"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."

Galatians 2:20
I no longer live, but the Messiah lives in me, and the life that I am now living in this body I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

We forget that we are all sinners saved by grace through faith, not by our own works, because we are prone to boasting, positioning, and ranking in a Kingdom that isn't a democracy or capitalist system of greater or lesser than, but a Kingdom with a King on the throne and all His children co-laboring as equals pressing for the same goal.
We have a life based not on how much we do, but how much Jesus did! When My wife and I realized, we both are not perfect and are struggling no different than any believer that is on this side of The veil, freedom came. Breakthrough came in knowing we are and have been side by side this whole time even though our eyes weren't open to it.

Romans 12:3
For by the grace given to me I ask every one of you not to think of yourself more highly than you should think, rather to think of yourself with sober judgment on the measure of faith that God has assigned each of you.

This scripture is still my central theme of this season,

Hebrews 3:1
"Therefore, holy brothers, partners in a heavenly calling, keep your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession."

Learning more and more it's never about looking at ourselves or others, but to keep focus on Jesus as our perfecter of Faith through grace and love.
- Posted in the moment

Location:Coffee shop

I done positioning so maybe I might be positioned....

I have for awhile been in conflict about what it is that God is doing. A God that never changes, but always is doing a new thing. Our ability to become comfortable in how we see God work as a constant in our lives, but recognizing growth doesn't come from setting up camp permanently. We struggle within the ranks because we love to camp in the Glory moments, but not recognizing there are new glory moments happening everyday.
God has made every generation to seek Him and know Him. Every generation has a call to continue the work of the Kingdom. Every generation has been made to grow older and disciple the next in following Jesus. Every generation as it gets older has a call to pass on the work of the Kingdom by transitioning from doing the work to discipling and living it out with next. I have, at times, been fixed on certain scripture and this is the scripture for my season I'm in:

Hebrews 3:1

"Therefore, holy brothers, partners in a heavenly calling, keep your focus on Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession."

We get so focused on methodology, mediums used, style, and so many other things, we lose sight of the only thing we are called to do. Keep your focus on Jesus!
What if for one Sunday we stopped looking for our favorite song, speaker, coffee, or seat, and entered focused on Jesus? I'm not saying we aren't doing that in some respect, but we come bustling in with the world nipping at our heels, fitting in a church service, and watching the clock because time is valuable and in short supply.
Maybe I'm in the minority or even a single voice, but I don't feel satisfied in the seeker sensitive, time sensitive, culturally sensitive church services I see or am apart of! This isn't a slap in the face of the church I attend, but a realization from many churches I have attended, seen on TV, and listened to via podcast.
We are called to gather together to place unwavering focus on Jesus. The music we play, the conversations we share, the message that is preached, the gathering to pray for one another. All centered on Jesus. We have produced a church service that is the primary vehicle for evangelism and therefore produce a gathering sensitive to the needs of the lost and not a gathering sensitive to what the Holy Spirit desires to instill in us for the work of evangelism.
Don't get me wrong. At times, the lost will enter our gatherings, but will they be impressed by our gift of candy and pleasant conversation, or by a group of people so sold out that every action is an action of worshipping a living, active God who has the answer to the question of their heart, "Why do I feel lost in a world, so set on pleasing my every desire?"
Our gatherings prepare us to answer the call of every generation young and old! Hebrews tells us to focus on Jesus as partners of the great calling:

Matthew 28:18-20

Then Jesus came up and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, as you go, disciple people in all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you. And remember, I am with you each and every day until the end of the age."

So here is my mathematical picture I have for all of us:

(Gathering together with a total focus on Jesus - the cares of what needs to be done next) + the work of the Holy Spirit = the ability to carry on the calling of evangelizing, discipling, teaching, and loving the lost.

Or

Hebrews 3:1 + 1 Peter 5:6-7=Matthew 28:18-20


- Posted in the moment

Location:Coffee time