How to Have Genuine Faith

11/30/2018 25 Comments


Many people know that they must have faith yet they do not know how to acquire it; they do not know what they need to do in order to have genuine faith. Others ask if reading the Bible could help them gain faith.

Reading the Bible can lead us to the genuine faith, however, not all people are destined to understand the Bible. Of course, anybody may read the Bible but not all people may understand the Bible because understanding of what you are reading is a gift from God. Acts 8:29-35 says,

29 Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
30 And Philip ran thither to him and heard him read the prophet Isaiah, and said, understandest thou what thou readest?
31 And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
32 The place of the Scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; And like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
33 In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

The eunuch, who happened to be the caretaker of all the wealth of the queen of the Ethiopians, went to Jerusalem to worship. On his way back to Ethiopia, the Holy Spirit urged Philip to join the eunuch in his chariot. And when he ran to be with him, he heard him reading the book of the prophet Isaiah. Obviously, he was reading aloud; he was not doing a silent reading. We may perceive that the eunuch had the intention of letting the other people in the chariot hear what he was reading from the book of the prophet Isaiah. When Philip came close to the eunuch he asked him, “Do you understand what you read?” The eunuch replied, “How can I, except some man should guide me?”

What the eunuch said was right. He was just reading but he didn’t understand what he was reading, not until Philip, the evangelist, came and explained to him that the sheep being referred to was Jesus.

Yes, the Bible can guide one to the true faith IF the one reading it understands what he reads. Unfortunately, not all who read the Bible understand what they read. Mark 4:11-12 says,

11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

Therefore, not everybody that will read the Bible would understand it; and not everyone that will hear the word of God would understand it either. Acts 16:14 says,

And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.

Lydia, who was listening to the words of God being preached by the Apostle Paul, needed the divine intervention of the Lord to open her heart for her to understand what the Apostle Paul was saying. If in listening personally to Apostle Paul you need divine intervention to understand what he was saying (like what happened to Lydia), the more that you will need divine intervention when you are simply reading his gospel all by yourself. In other words, understanding the words of God written in the Bible is possible if there is a divine intervention.

The ability to understand the Scriptures is a gift from God. We must realize that the depth of God’s thinking and intelligence is something that cannot be readily fathomed by men. Isaiah 55:8-9 says,

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God’s thinking is something beyond measure. It is compared to the distance between the heavens and the earth. No human mind and understanding can penetrate deep into the understanding of God.

The Bible is the embodiment of God’s thoughts, which cannot be fathomed by human mind. To understand the Bible, we need divine intervention, or the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Actually, even a person of authority has to admit that he does not know everything when it comes to religious belief.

What I am trying to point out is, genuine and true faith is revealed by God; it is taught by God; it is given by God. Jude 1:3 says,

Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

True faith or genuine faith is delivered by God unto the saints. What is the reason why it should be given? Because it cannot be obtained by reading alone; and neither can it be obtained through human efforts. It is given by God; it is a gift from God. And to have faith you need to have understanding first. You will not have faith without the necessary understanding of the word of God in the Bible. Understanding comes first. When you understand, then you can have faith. Faith is developed through understanding. Ephesians 1:13 says,

In whom ye also trusted, after ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,

So belief, or faith, comes after hearing and understanding the word of truth. Without understanding or comprehension of the word of God, faith will not be developed. If there is a faith in you without understanding the word of God, then, that is not true faith but a false faith. It is just like the faith of those outside the true Church of God; their faith is not a genuine faith because it is not based on understanding the word of God. Instead, it is a mere fanaticism because, even if they already understand that they are wrong, they continue to cling to it.

The gift of understanding could be given even to illiterates, like Peter and John. Acts 4:13 says,

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.

People who listened to them marveled at the firmness of their faith and at their understanding despite their being unlearned. And they knew that it was because they had been in the company of Jesus, our Lord. In other words, it is never a shame to be led by somebody who is without a college degree or a professional title because when it comes to faith, educational attainment does not count at all. 1 Corinthians 1:19-21 says,

19 For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
20 Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.

In fact, wisdom of the world, or earthly wisdom, is even a hindrance in understanding the word of God. As written in 1 Corinthians 2:6-8,

6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to naught:
7 But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Both the Romans and the Greeks were regarded as people of wisdom in the early times. They were the most educated people during the time of Christ and the apostles, but none of them had known the wisdom of God. Not even the highest of authorities in the Roman Empire had known the wisdom of God, not even King Herod and Pontius Pilate – both of whom had high educational attainment, because had they known it, they should not have crucified the Lord of glory. So, the wisdom of God is something which cannot be achieved even by the most learned man, all by himself. It is something that is given by God.

25 comments:

  1. Very true! That's why there are those educated in universities and they come out as scientists, university professors, judges of the Land, and yet they cannot understand what the Bible is talking about. We can readily see from what they write about or talk about. They cannot even discern that they have entered a false church - one that teaches things unbiblical.

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  2. I learned a lot 💓 Thanks be to God!

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  3. Salamat sa Dios!, Sa Dios ang lahat ng karangalan at kapurihan!

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  4. A million Thanks to God for the knoledge He Gave us through His Servant Bro. Eli F Soriano... To GOD Be The GLORY..

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  5. I say Amen to this blog. May God continue o use bro. Eli for our enlightenment in his word!

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  6. Amen ! Napakagandang blog!

    #TrueFaithIsAGift

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  7. #TrueFaithIsAGift
    To God be the Glory ❤

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  8. Glory be to God. I am always amazed by how simple and beautiful the Truth can be presented by Bro. Eli, Salamat sa Dios.

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  9. How true that faith is a gift from God and we can start by accepting the biblical truth, be a doer of the biblical truth and be able to share the biblical truth when asked. If not asked why be volatile. Be silent for God has HIS own way to announce the biblical truth that we cannot comprehend...Bro. Eli and this blog is God's will to introduce the biblical truth with maximum effort and technologyy...

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  10. Its more complicated. As simple as when you have true faith, you become a good person.
    You dont do good for you to receive Jesus. You do good because Jesus is in you, and you cant control yourself for doing good things.

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  11. I Think From My Own Point Of View That One Must Obey All The Rules Of God
    For Us To Be Considered A True Disciple Of Christ Even For The One to suffer Can BE considered To have A Geinuine Faith!!

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  12. Amen. This blog is very straight to the point, we need to have understanding first before gaining our faith, and it is given by God. So I thank God a million thanks because he gave that to me, and now I have faith. To God be all the glory forever and ever!

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  13. I believe in what Bro. Eli says that we can have the genuine faith through the bible. This is a great read!

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  14. salamat sa Dios. totoong totoo na hindi po talaga lahat nakakaunawa kc yung simpling sinasabi sa hebrew-5:9 na kung saan malinawanag na sinasabi na yung walang hanggang kalgtasan na ginawa ng panginoong jesucristo ay para po yun sa lahat ng mga nagsisitalima sa kaniya.pero ang ating nakikita at naririnig ngayon hindi daw kailangan ang sumunod sa utos para maligtas. yang paniniwala nayan na ikinakalat ng mga pastor ng baptist church mali po talaga at bunga ng kawalan ng unawa sa biblia. kc kung totoo na hindi kailangan sumunod sa utos bakit sasampalataya kc ang pagsampalataya isa lang sa mga utos ng panginoong jesucristo sabi sa juan-14:1 kaya talagang masasabi ko po na yang paniniwala nayan ng mga born again at ng mga baptist ay bunga ng kawalan ng unawa sa bibliang binabasa nila. salamat sa Dios at isang panahon napakinggan ko ang kapatid na Eli Soriano sa loob ng kulungan ng mga tao. sya po ang totoong binigyan ng Dios ng Espiritu santo kc sya po ang totoong nakakaunawa sa biblia sa awa at tulong ng Dios. salamat sa Dios to God be the glory.

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  15. Sometimes, we tend to read something but does not really understand it at all. Many are claiming that they have a faith in God but how true their claiming for? Do we really have true faith because of an deep understanding or do we have it because we said so?

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  16. Sometimes, we tend to read something but does not really understand it at all. Many are claiming that they have a faith in God but how true their claiming for? Do we really have true faith because of a deep understanding or do we have it because we only said so?

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  17. This is absolutely important because without understanding we could not receive the intended message as set in motion by God.

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  18. The said in the story is about our faith and the question is reading Bible is the way to have faith. But for me the answer is the reading of Bible is faith if you read it with heart and you believe in God, yes some people reading Bible but they not understand this. There is no way also to escape God's comprehesion because he is most beneficial to all.

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  19. This is the reality. As you read or hear Bible Verses we should apply the lesson that the Bible has-in our lives. If we can apply it in our daily lives ,reflect on it & saves in our heart, we can understand what is in the Bible.

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  20. its true some people cant understand the word of god because they have no faith. If you have faith to god you will understand what you read in bible.

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  21. It is very obvious now, that in our times brother Eli and brother Daniel are sent by God to preach His words to us. Thanks be to God!

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