Faith is defined as a trust or reliance in God that all he has said to us is true. Going back to Hebrews 11:1, you could interpret it as faith is the reliance in things hoped for and the trust in things not seen. You see, we as Christians put our faith in the promise of eternal life and salvation which was given to us by Christ's death on the cross and his bodily resurrection from the grave, and through his ascension into Heaven. As Christians we understand that without God we can do nothing and we rely, or put our faith in, the fact that he will take upon himself, day to day, all our concerns, troubles and tasks, no matter how big or small they are, no matter how trivial they may seem to us or others is a great comfort and hope! As Christians our faith could also be defined as "the trust in God that his promises to us will come to pass and that he is trustworthy, even if his promises don't come to pass in our lifetime". Let me expand on this. Paul said that Abraham received the promise of the gift without having seen the fulfillment of it in his life (Christ Jesus). Moses too saw the promise (the Promised Land) without having ever entered into the fulfillment of it during his life (that followers of Christ will one day enter into true rest). This was their promise, and they believed that God was not lazy concerning his promises, rather they held on even till death to that promise in the belief that God's Word is true. We see from the historical accounts in Scripture that these promises were fulfilled just as God had promised, if not with them then through their heirs and descendants. 

Let me express what I believe is the essential "faith" to have. Romans 3:23 says " All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.". That means we are all sinners, even me, and we are destined by our sin to eternal punishment in hell. We have transgressed God's Laws and we continually seek evil. We do not search after God, but rather the lusts of our own hearts. We are like that dog that returns to his own vomit, or the fool who cannot help himself and commits the same stupid act repeatedly. Ever been trapped inside of a sin that you could not get out of? Sexual immorality, lying, hatred, senseless anger or violence, loving yourself too much, not paying our due respect towards God, and honoring Him as King, in short, breaking His commandments. These all are abominations to God. God requires atonement, or payment for our sins. Just one sin is enough to invoke God's wrath, and sin is part of our nature. He requires satisfaction. Do not get me wrong. God loves His children, but we are not at this point yet. Let me continue.... There is a way to escape this requirement. Hebrews 11:6 says " Without faith it is impossible to please God." Scripture tells us that Jesus came to earth as the Son of God; that is 100% God and 100% man and took away the sins of the world. ALL of the penitent man's (or woman's) sin was laid upon HIS account and He paid the ultimate price, out of love for His children, and gave us eternal hope and salvation. How do we get this "faith"? Well, God inspired this in John 3:16 : "that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that whosoever believes (has faith) in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.", and in the next verse says " For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world might be saved.". 

Now I want to be consistent. I noted earlier, above, that man is trapped in His sin. He cannot remove himself from it because it is his master, and he it's slave. Let's look at the verse in John 3 more closely.. "Whosoever believes".. Who is whosoever? Let's take a small rabbit trail (it really is necessary at this point) and go to John 6. In verse 44 we see that Jesus says that "no man may come unto me except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.". The "whosoever" in John 3 is answered later on in the book in chapter 6. "Whosoever" are those that the Father draws. It is interesting to note here that the word used for draw has a very narrow meaning in the Greek. Literally to "drag off". Let me ask at this time, can a dead man raise himself from his coffin, or rise from his tomb under his own power? No. He cannot. Neither can man who is spiritually dead in his sin do anything to quicken his own soul to salvation. In fact, neither can he cooperate. He, being dead, is totally helpless. Do you see our plight as men and women who have sinned against a Holy God? There is not one thing we can do on our own to make amends for the things we have done. See the desperation of our situation? There is a God who requires that amends be made one way or another. How can we then escape this horrible plight we are in? Hope is not lost! Read on!!  

So, because God loved you and me so much He sent his only Son to pay for our sins. All  we have to do is trust or have faith that Jesus is God and He died so we could live and that on the third day he arose again and is seated at the right hand of God the Father and that when He comes back for us as He promised that He will come in power and we will dwell with him forever. As we trust or put our faith in Him for all things, He then becomes Lord and Savior of our lives (true salvation does not separate these two) and this is our hope. How do we get faith? Well Romans 10:17 says " faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God". Hebrews 12:2 says " Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our faith". Jesus Christ, being fully God has satisfied the divine justice required by the Father to make atonement for our sin. He lived a perfect and sinless life. Not only did He set an example for us to live by, but He was very God, and as such was able to pay in full the full debt that we incurred for transgressing God's law.  Jesus is the Word (see John 1:1) and By praying and studying the Word we can learn more about God and build our faith. Psalm 119:11 says: " Your Word have I hid in my heart, so I might not sin against thee." It is all very simple.. Do you desire to your sins removed from you? Do you see the depth of your situation and how hopeless it is? If you understand this, and truly truly desire to have this removed from you (this stain of sin) and to be in communion and fellowship with God, then it is a very very safe bet that God is drawing you to Himself by the power of the Holy Spirit. God is not slack concerning His promises. Jesus will cleanse you from your sin and bring into right standing with the Father. We call it regeneration. The bringing to life of our dead spirit. See, God reaches out to us first and draws us to Him. He gives us a measure of faith to come to Him and accept Him. It's called saving faith. We can pray and ask God for this. He will take that little faith and make it grow as you study the Word and pray and fellowship with other Christians, and in this there is true freedom. How do I do this you ask? It's as simple as recognizing your sinfulness and trusting that Christ died for sinners. Scripture affirms the promise that if you not only confess with your mouth, but believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is God and died for your sins, you will be saved.