To have faith is to be absolutely sure that something is going to happen before it actually happens. The classic Biblical definition is found in Hebrews 11:1. "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." If you are assured of something it means that you are certain about it. It means that you are absolutely confident about it. It means that you have no doubt about it. Faith is absolute confidence without any doubts.
Jesus taught us to "have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him." (Mark 11:22, 23) You can see from this that my definition of faith is taken almost word for word from the words of Jesus. Faith is being absolutely sure that something is going to happen before it actually happens. Jesus said that the person must believe "that what he says is going to happen."
Jesus then goes on to violate good grammar. "All things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you." (Mark 11:24) "Believe that you have received them" is past tense. "And they will be granted you" is future tense. Jesus is saying, "Once you believe with absolute conviction that you are going to receive what you have asked for, it's as good as yours. From that point on, consider your prayer to have been answered, even though the answer is not visible yet."
Jesus said that the man "who does not doubt in his heart" will see his prayer answered. His younger brother James says virtually the same thing. "But he must ask in faith, without any doubting." (James 1:6) "The one who doubts … ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord." (James 1:6, 7)
One of the real keys to understanding Biblical faith is to see that faith is a heart (spiritual) thing, not a purely mental (intellectual) process. Jesus said that he "must not doubt in his heart." You may (or may not) have nagging doubts in your mind, but if in your heart, in the core of your being, you believe without any doubting, then what you are believing will come to pass.
A story is told about a woman who sat in church and heard a sermon on Luke 17:6 where Jesus said, "If you had faith as a mustard seed, you would say to the mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea'; and it would obey you." This woman had a mature oak tree on the left side of her back yard that provided a beautiful patch of shade -- to her neighbor's back yard! For many years she had wished that the tree could be replanted on the right side of her yard so that the shade would fall on her yard instead of her neighbor's, but you can't really move a mature oak tree. Or so the woman thought until she heard the sermon on Luke 17:6!
So one day, as the woman was doing the dishes and looking out the kitchen window at her back yard, she decided to use faith to move the tree from one side of the yard to the other! If you could use faith to transplant a mulberry tree from the ground to the sea, why not an oak tree from one side of the yard to the other? So she closed her eyes and began speaking to the tree. "Oak tree, move to the other side of the yard!" Over and over again she said it. Doubt tried to enter her mind but she blocked it out. "Oak tree, move to the other side of the yard." Over and over again. Using will power she was blocking all doubt from her mind. Once she was sure that she had blocked all doubt, she said one last time, "Oak tree, move to the other side of the yard!" and opened her eyes.
And there was the oak tree, still stuck in the ground on the wrong side of the yard. The woman stared at the tree and muttered something under her breath. What she muttered under her breath came out of her heart. Everything else that had come out of her mouth had come directly from her brain, but this comment came straight from her heart. "I knew it wouldn't work!" she muttered.
Faith isn't something in your head; it's a conviction in your heart. Let me put it to you this way. To have the kind of faith that would enable you to move a mountain, or even a tree, would require a miracle. I call it the pre-miracle miracle. Unless the Spirit of God does a miracle in your heart you can't believe without any doubting that your mountain will actually move. More on that next week.
Some concluding observations.
It is possible to "move mountains" by faith. Jesus wouldn't have told us to do it if it wasn't possible.
It's not as simple as you might think the first time you read Mark 11:22-24 or else everyone would be doing it.
Understanding the difference between believing with your head and believing with your heart is absolutely vital.
Exercising this kind of faith is itself a supernatural thing that can't be done apart from the operation of the Spirit of God.
And last but not least, since it all has to be done in harmony with God, no miracles get done, or mountains moved, apart from His will.
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