Phases of Biblical Faith (The Victor's Mentality 36)

It’s a pleasure and a privilege to share God’s Word with you here, and I believe the Lord will meet with you deeply through this article.

In the previous article, I started laying the foundation of what faith is, and one of the things I said is that faith is confidence in the character and nature of God as revealed in Christ. When we know who Jesus is, then faith will lean on the person of Christ and His finished work—that He is our Savior, Redeemer, Sanctifier, Provider, Healer, Lord, King, and more.

So that tells you that the shield of faith will never be activated in us without revelation knowledge of who Christ is. Because it is Christ that we know we can lean on. That’s why the Bible says in Romans 10:17:
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

In today's article, we’ll be looking at phases of biblical faith.

I’m a bit skeptical about using the word “type,” because I’m not presenting faith as though it’s fragmented. But there are phases in which the Bible describes faith to show the richness and beauty of the faith we’ve received in Christ.

The faith we’ve received from the Lord is a wholesome faith, and as I share, you’ll discover there’s a progressiveness in our revelation and manifestation of these different phases of faith as we grow in the Spirit.

So, I’ll be sharing six phases of biblical faith:
1.  Saving Faith
2.  Justifying Faith
3.  Living (Daily) Faith
4.  Overcoming (Victorious) Faith
5.  Protective (Defensive) Faith
6.  Special Application of Faith (Gift of Faith)

Even though we’ll consider them one after the other, it’s very important to note that all these phases of faith do not stand alone but lean on the nature and character of Christ and the graces that flow from Him.

Today, we’ll look at saving faith.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,” (Ephesians 2:8 NKJV)

As we can see from this verse that it’s the grace of God that saves a man, not his faith. Salvation lies in Christ’s grace. However, this grace cannot save a man without the impartation of saving faith. It is this saving faith that comes as a gift from the Spirit (after we’ve heard the gospel) that enables us to plunge into the grace that saves. So it’s clear that a natural man cannot have saving faith. The Bible says it’s a gift.

Faith supernaturally comes when a sinner has heard and received the gospel as true.

When we talk about saving faith, we’re not talking about an intellectual kind of faith. That’s why when you ask people if they’re saved, they may start telling you about Scriptures they’ve known, Christian doctrines they’ve understood over time, or even give an accurate biblical report of Christ—but that doesn’t mean they’re saved. Saving faith comes with an encounter—a total change of heart—because through this supernatural gift of saving faith, you become a new creation.

This new life gives birth to new desires, new affections, new pursuits.

At times, because of exposure and knowledge, you may not immediately feel your new thirst and hunger. But if you’ve truly been saved, you’ll know there’s a new desire that wasn’t there before—a desire for fellowship with Christ. Perhaps before you were born again, you didn’t care about Christ or treasuring Him, but when you come in contact with saving faith, your heart begins to treasure Christ above everything. Because when you receive someone as Lord, it means you’ve put Him above everything else.

You may say, “But when I received Christ, it wasn’t that deep.” It’s very possible, as I’ve said. It’s often due to the type of knowledge you’ve received and the exposure you’ve had. Nonetheless, you’ll agree with me that if you’re truly born again, there was a hunger and thirst—not because you haven’t been filled, but after tasting salvation, you discovered nothing else can fill your soul apart from Christ. So you sincerely want fellowship and communion with Him.

It’s not that when you’re saved, you become perfect in your disposition, but you know there’s a change of direction. The path you’re now walking shines with light, and it keeps shining brighter as we continue to behold Christ.

Brethren, prayerfully meditate on these things.

Written by Peter Ayoola Fakeye—PAF

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