"Faith is the substance of things hoped for..." Hebrews 11:1. Faith is real. It is some actual stuff. Faith is a noun - that is, faith is a real thing. It is some-thing not no-thing. It does exist as a concrete thing. It is the substance. If faith was nothing then it could not be the substance of things hoped for. You cannot have what you are hoping for if you don't have the substance or stuff from which it can come. There are amounts of faith and there are types of faith:
Amounts of Faith
None - Mark 4:40 Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?
Little - Matthew 6:30 If God so clothes the grass of the field, will He not much more cloth you? You of little faith!
Regular - Mark 5:34 Daughter your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.
Great - Matthew 8:10 Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.
Full - Acts 6:5 They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.
Types of Faith
Dead - James 2:17,26 Faith without works is dead.
Shipwrecked - I Timothy 1:19 Keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.
Hidden - Luke 8:25 Where is your faith?
Weak - Romans 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith.
Growing - II Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as is right because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each one of you toward one another abounds.
Genuine - II Timothy 1:5 I am reminded of the genuine faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.
Strong - Romans 4:20 Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.
Your goal should be to be full of faith and that it should be strong.
Just recently as I was painting a house another Christian was there laying tile. He seemed somewhat down and discouraged and tired. So I called him over and said, "How would you like to have the faith of Jesus; to be able to do what Jesus did; to heal the sick and raise the dead, would you like that?" He hung his head down and said, "That would be great, but I just don’t see how I could have that kind of faith." I said, "Look at me. Are you a Christian; do you have the Holy Spirit living inside you?" He said he is and does. Then I said, "The fact is you already have the faith of Jesus. Everything Jesus has is yours including His faith." Then I began telling him how to strengthen the faith of Jesus that is inside him by saying what God says, and teaching him many of the things found here on this website.
And that's the truth concerning you too! You have been given the faith of Jesus! Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) This verse and in several other verses the text actually says "faith of Christ" not "faith in Christ" as so many translations wrongly record. That is, you are to live or you will truly live when you are living by the same faith that Jesus has, but it is up to you to grow in it, strengthen it and use it! As you do, the faith of Jesus that is in you will increase until you are full and strong and it will make its way out, into and through your life!
I said in the beginning that faith is a noun, it is actual stuff. And now we see that you actually do possess the same faith that Jesus has - you've got the right stuff! Now use it to believe. Believing is a verb. It is action or activity. Believing is what you do with your faith. You take your stuff (faith) and use it to believe in your heart first then in your life. "Faith without works is dead" so make your faith come alive by believing what God says and saying what God says.
Amounts of Faith
None - Mark 4:40 Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?
Little - Matthew 6:30 If God so clothes the grass of the field, will He not much more cloth you? You of little faith!
Regular - Mark 5:34 Daughter your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your affliction.
Great - Matthew 8:10 Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.
Full - Acts 6:5 They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.
Types of Faith
Dead - James 2:17,26 Faith without works is dead.
Shipwrecked - I Timothy 1:19 Keeping faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith.
Hidden - Luke 8:25 Where is your faith?
Weak - Romans 14:1 Now accept the one who is weak in faith.
Growing - II Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as is right because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of each one of you toward one another abounds.
Genuine - II Timothy 1:5 I am reminded of the genuine faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.
Strong - Romans 4:20 Yet with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.
Your goal should be to be full of faith and that it should be strong.
Just recently as I was painting a house another Christian was there laying tile. He seemed somewhat down and discouraged and tired. So I called him over and said, "How would you like to have the faith of Jesus; to be able to do what Jesus did; to heal the sick and raise the dead, would you like that?" He hung his head down and said, "That would be great, but I just don’t see how I could have that kind of faith." I said, "Look at me. Are you a Christian; do you have the Holy Spirit living inside you?" He said he is and does. Then I said, "The fact is you already have the faith of Jesus. Everything Jesus has is yours including His faith." Then I began telling him how to strengthen the faith of Jesus that is inside him by saying what God says, and teaching him many of the things found here on this website.
And that's the truth concerning you too! You have been given the faith of Jesus! Paul says, "I have been crucified with Christ nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me and the life I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20) This verse and in several other verses the text actually says "faith of Christ" not "faith in Christ" as so many translations wrongly record. That is, you are to live or you will truly live when you are living by the same faith that Jesus has, but it is up to you to grow in it, strengthen it and use it! As you do, the faith of Jesus that is in you will increase until you are full and strong and it will make its way out, into and through your life!
I said in the beginning that faith is a noun, it is actual stuff. And now we see that you actually do possess the same faith that Jesus has - you've got the right stuff! Now use it to believe. Believing is a verb. It is action or activity. Believing is what you do with your faith. You take your stuff (faith) and use it to believe in your heart first then in your life. "Faith without works is dead" so make your faith come alive by believing what God says and saying what God says.