What is Faith?

It took me a while to come up with the subject of my first real blog, but after a conversation with a friend of mine the other day, an idea for a whole series of postings emerged. As my friend and I talked about various things related to Christianity, she asked a simple question: What is faith? It made me realize that we as Christians a lot of times speak a "different" language than those around us, but we just assume that they understand what we mean.
So let's begin at the beginning. The only definition of faith that matters is the one that God himself supplies in the Scriptures. Turning to the book of Hebrews and chapter 11, we find what is commonly referred to as the Faith Hall of Fame. In the very first verse we read, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Faith is all about trust and action based on that trust. We have confidence that despite the fact that we may not visibly perceive His movements, God will do what He said He will do. Because of that, we act accordingly.
It is not blind, because it recognizes what He has done in the past.
It is absolutely essential. In verse 6, the writer to the Hebrews says, "But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
It makes hope possible. In verse 13 it states, "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." It says that these all died without having received the promise, and yet they were persuaded of it.
To me it boils down to letting go. I am able to relinquish control and allow God to work, because I believe Him when he says, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11)
For the foreseeable future, I plan to take Hebrews 11 and go story by story and discover what faith meant in the lives of these believers who God took the time to honor before us.