Faith is a direct interface of the human spirit with the Spirit of God, and with the voice of God, and the ensueing capacity to believe, and act upon what God has spoken to the inner man. Just as faith without works is dead, so works without faith are dead works. The voice of His Word produces faith. Faith produces belief.  Belief produces works. The working of that Word produces  the manifestation of that invisible Word of God into the visible realm of experience. 

Since faith is a direct interface with the voice of God, information and guidance received by faith is communicated intuitively, instantly, and through no mental gyrations, nor reasoning processes.  It is received more in the "gut" of feeling, rather than in the head of reasoning.  Faith knows.  It requires no evidence but its own knowing, because it recognizes the voice, and gentle nudge of the Sprit saying, "This is the way.  Walk ye in it."  

Biblical "faith", as I understand, it is not obtained through a process of reasoning your way to it.  Coming to a conclusion about direction, or whether or not to take action,  merely by sitting down to figure out all the pro's and con's,  and run the numbers to hopefully minimize the risk is not necessarily being led by the Spirit, though it has its proper place.  Sometimes all the numbers look right to the reasoning faculties, but it is a wrong way to go.  Sometimes they look all wrong, but it is a right way to go.  So, the power of reason is only one tool, although a valuable tool, in our arsenal, aiding us in making right decisions. We need another plumbline in addition to reason. . .  one that can reveal information, and conclusions  that reason can never obtain.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God spoken within you.  Of course, if we do not know how to hear, or reject what is spoken, then we are on our own, living by our wits.  If that be the case, then it would be advisable to be smarter than the average bear, because that person is  on their own, left to their own schemes and devices.  If one is a person who is not smarter than the average bear, and one who does  not know how to hear the inner man’s voice, or rejects it, then you are at a great disadvantage in the world.   One ends up trying to match wits with the smart bear.  The smart bear will take advantage of you every time, and leave you with the short end of the stick. 

But we have the mind of Christ, and full access to its knowing. The Christ mind knows infinitely more than the most brilliant natural minds. God can instantly reveal things to your spirit that the reasoning mind could never reason its way to knowing. There is no risk in taking obedient action on the word out of this Christ mind, if you know how to recognize the voice.   For God is faithful, who promised that His word would not return unto Him void.  

Many times we step out on “faith”, and we sink, because we have heeded a deceiving voice, thinking it was God’s voice.  God is not bound to honor this lying voice.  We must discern the spirits.  Many times we fail to recognize His voice, because we have not spent quiet time, practicing the presence, and listening to Him speak. Or, we have not exposed ourselves consistently to His written voice to familiarize ourselves with what His voice sounds like.  Or, we hear correctly, stepping out  boldly in faith  But then we sink,  like Simon Peter, who for a moment walked on water by faith in Jesus spoken word, sunk when his faith turned to fear, as the waves of contrary circumstances crashed in upon his wavering faith.  Whereupon, he returned to the comfort zone of  reasonableness in the boat.  When this kind of failure happens, we blame God, and decide that this “faith stuff” doesn’t work.  But real faith does work. . .every time, if it is real faith.

The power of reason is a marvelous gift in following the revealed word after it is received, but it must be subservient, and take a back seat to the voice of the Spirit. The intuitive power to hear the inner voice, and the power of reason work in tandem. Faith is the tri-fecta of receiving, believing, and acting. Intuition is the ability to receive the guidance.  Reason is the wisdom  to implement what is received.  Those who are led by the Spirit, these are the Sons of God.  Faith is one’s capacity to believe what it hears the Spirit saying,  and acts accordingly, engaging the reasoning power in light of the revelation, rather than the testimony of outer circumstances.

Every Christian has this ability, though it is latent in many, leaving faith’s power to manifest our good untapped.  That is why so many of God’s people live defeated lives.  Jesus said  that John the Baptist was the greatest of all the prophets, yet even the least of those in the Kingdom of God are greater than John. This means that John’s ability  to hear God through a direct interface with the Spirit of God  is surpassed by even the least Spirit-filled Christian. That is a staggering realization, and good news for most of us less smart than the average bear.

You cannot please God without faith.  Faith believes, and acts according to the word spoken, even in the face of contrary evidence.  Faith is its own evidence, and needs no other.  It knows, because faith is the ability to believe, and act on what God has inwardly prompted, even though the natural mind and eye can see no evidence of its possibility, or even its probability.  

God always demands an element of trust. As a result, the reasoning mind must, many times, act out of its comfort zone by not knowing all the facts, which it can never know any way.   Faith has the ability to step out on what seems to be nothing, but trusts God to form substance under one’s feet upon which to land.  Faith does this,  because it trusts the word it has heard, and trusts God, "who calls the things that be not (yet appearing), as though they (already) were (appearing). God's omniscience guides us  to avoid pitfalls, or to encounter  blessings that reason can never know or predict beforehand.  God always keeps us in a place where we must trust His still small voice.  So it is not “blind faith” of which we speak.  Real faith is a capacity to know the end from the beginning, and is based solely on what God has said in one’s spirit, and not on any outward circumstances. As the old time preacher said, “God said it.  I believe it. That settles it.”  

JBM