Your spirit never produces the work of God, but rather responds to what God says He will do. The way the spirit of man responds to God is generally through trust, belief and faith (There is also abide, rest, yield, surrender, etc.). The meaning of all three of these words stems from a common Greek root word which means “assure.” Have you ever thought about how you really know anything for sure? Eventually mind, emotions and will break down or hit a wall and the spirit must break forth. Ultimately, it’s through faith, believing, and trusting that we know anything. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen…By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God” (Hebrews 11:1,3). Who on earth today was there at the beginning of the world to know for sure? No one! The assurance of what we know comes through faith, believing and trusting God and His word, who God is and what He has said. But how are these three words different? Why do we have three different words for assurance? Although believe, faith and trust are intimately intertwined, they may differ in some of these subtle ways: We believe God because of what we know He has done in the past. We have faith in who God is in the present, and that God is able and can do what He has promised or commanded, even when we cannot see it yet. We trust God, that He will in the future accomplish His promises by His power alone .
Believe
Believe is used 259 Times in the NASB Bible (39 OT, 220 NT). To believe God is to find assurance in who He is and what He has done in the past. “So when He was raised from the dead, His disciples remembered that He said this; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus has spoken” (John 2:22). The disciples were asked to believe in what they heard and saw and touched and witnessed. Their beliefs were rooted in historical facts and revealed prophecy.God has made Himself known and never asks us to believe in the unknown or unseen. Rather than our coming up with our own works for God, God desires that we simply believe in the work that He has done for us. “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him who He has sent” (John 6:29). “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). We believe in the facts of what God has done for us.
Faith
Faith is used 228 Times in the NASB Bible (4 OT, 224 NT). Faith is finding confidence in God’s presence by acting on what God has said through obedience and choice. Faith is present tense, in the NOW, yet relies on the past performance of God. Faith is only good for the moment and it only benefits the one who exercises it. “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). In view of God’s demonstration of faithfulness, faith acts in the assurance that the “not yet” will become, that the unseen will one day be. Faith is “the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). In the gospels, Jesus often said, “Your faith has made you well!” He’s looking for those who are confident that He is and that He is able to move mountains by a mere mustard seed-sized faith; it’s the object of faith, not the faith itself, that moves the mountains. There is no such thing as “blind faith.” God never asked anyone to have faith in nothing, or in something or in just anything. He asks us to believe in Him. He speaks, He promises, He commands, He reveals who He is and what He intends to do, then He says, “Now act on what I’ve said to you.” We walk by faith and not by sight.
Trust
Trust (or trustworthy) is used 149 times in the NASB Bible (134 OT, 15 NT). Trust finds hope in that God will do what He has promised. Isn’t it interesting that trust is used more in the OT? Trust looks forward to the fulfillment of the promises of God in Christ. It is possible to believe in God and yet not trust Him. James 2:19-20 says, “You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?” You can believe a chair can hold you up without resting in it or trusting it completely. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
