Written by Bethany Loux Fatahian

Read: Matthew 8:5-13

My 16-month-old daughter has a new obsession with climbing on the table and just waltzing over and walking off into my arms, whether I am ready or not. Lucky for her, I always manage to catch her in time, and she has faith that I will. She trusts me and acts accordingly. This is one illustration of the gift of faith in our lives as it relates to our Heavenly Father.

What if we read the Bible and just believed it? Believed when Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12) What if we believed when Jesus said, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” (John 15:16) Would how we live our life now look different? Likely.

All believers must have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. But the gift of faith is a beautiful trust to take what God says and live that way. It means we trust in the character of a good God who wants to reveal Himself to the world. There are many examples of the gift of faith in scripture (check out Hebrews 11 for a wonderful list), but one of my favorites is Jesus healing the Roman soldier’s servant in Matthew 8:5-13. This centurion had to have heard the stories about Jesus healing crowds. His response wasn’t to be skeptical or suspicious, but to think, “If he can do it for them, he can do it for me.” He approached Jesus to tell him about his servant who was paralyzed and suffering greatly. And when Jesus asked if He should come and heal him, the soldier gave such a faith-filled answer that it astounded Jesus. He essentially said that he trusted Jesus to heal even from a distance as a man with authority.

The gift of faith boils down to a supernatural trust that God really is good, really does love us, and really does want good things for His children. When the storms of life come, it is the unwavering knowledge that God is close and somehow working everything for good. It can be hard to pinpoint this exact gift, but you just know, in your “knower,” that God is going to move. It is truly an encouragement to the Body because it can be faith on behalf of another, or it can stir others’ faith to believe God for the situation.