1 Corinthians 12:9, “… to another faith by the same Spirit.”

The next gift that Paul mentions is the “gift of faith.”  The gift of faith is, “a supernatural infilling of faith to accomplish the divine will of God.”  This is a gift to do things that would normally be impossible, but God gives a person the faith needed to respond to the situation and see the miracle manifested.

A modern example of this gift would be the time when our new church was looking for a building to meet in and I was told by God to walk into a neighborhood church and ask to use the building without any money. Within two days we had the keys and were able to start holding services because God had given me the gift of faith to act on to receive His blessing.

A Biblical example of the gift of faith would be when Peter got up and began to preach in the same city that Jesus was crucified in- Jerusalem. Peter had doubts and fears beforehand and even had denied Jesus three times the previous month. But when the Holy Spirit came and gave him a supernatural faith, he stood up and preached the Gospel to the large crowd and thousands of people were born again, Acts 2:14-41.

The common or normal act of faith is based on hearing and believing God’s Word, Romans 10:17.  This kind of faith is essential to the everyday life of the disciple and without it its impossible to please God, Hebrews 11:6. However, the “gift of faith” is a spontaneous infusion of boldness to do what one would normally have to pray and get direction for beforehand. Another example of this gift would be when Peter walked on water with Jesus.  The moment He heard Jesus say, “Come,” he instantly jumped out of the boat and started walking on water.

On one hand, normal faith is common and should be built up by God’s Word and prayer everyday, Jude 1:20.  On the other hand, we should always be ready for those rare instantaneous moments when God gives us the gift of faith to do something extra-ordinary!

Reflection

Are you willing to let God use you in extra-ordinary ways?

Action

  1. Ask God for the gift of faith.
  2. Be sensitive to hear and obey God’s voice.
  3. Remember God will never ask you to do something that will harm you, others, or break his word.  The gift of faith always results in God’s miraculous powers.  In other words, don’t be weird and try dangerous things and say, “God told me…”