Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Faith is the most critical of all those spiritual concepts any new believer in Christ must understand. Let us look at how the world defines faith and then compare it to the spiritual concepts.

1a allegiance to duty or a person;1b fidelity to one’s promises or sincerity of intentions 2a belief and trust in and loyalty to God or belief in the traditional doctrines of a religion 2b firm belief in something for which there is no proof or complete trust 3 something that is believed especially with strong conviction especially : a system of religious beliefs

In the second sense as a verb faith is defined as archaic, outdated and we are asked to use the definitions of belief and trust.

What I see first within the worldly definitions is an impersonal appeal where it comes to spiritual matters. The implication there is that any religious system is faith and there need not be any personal involvement aside from what you chose to believe and trust. To them it does not matter and they would feel more comfortable if you entreated it as an archaic concept and ignored it all together.

Now let us look to the bible to explain faith within the context of spiritual concepts. I will explore the first use of the word faith in the KJV because its use there is clearer than first uses in the ESV, NIV and NASB. You would have to do a deep bible search to understand that, and you might not be ready for that.

Numbers 12:6-8a And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold:

John 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

Being born again in the spirit is a whole new experience and the first touches of the Holy Spirit trying to communicate with you will be just like this verse. You can feel it but cannot see it. You hear the sound of it but those first few moment of contact might very well be filled with doubt. What was that?

It is all new to you and this Holy Spirit is God and how Jesus Christ and God the Father have chosen to communicate with us. He is that still small voice from 1 Kings 19:12 which is an excellent reminder about how and where we look for God. Having been given spiritual eyes and ears takes some training to ignore our old ones in favor of the new.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Spiritual training is discipleship. It is one mature Christian helping a new Christian figure out how this all works together. There are many different discipleship classes out there but they all have the same goal, spiritual training. That covers a vast array of disciplines, subjects, and developmental techniques. I have my own personal discipleship method based on my prophetic gift. Not all Christians have that gift and a standard has to be set that works for everyone.

Hopefully every disciple will come to understand how to use those spiritual eyes and ears. No one can predict how long that will take but the goal is to discover the Holy Spirit that resides in you and leads you in all truth.