If faith is important to God, then ideally it would be important to us. But first, how do we know that faith actually is important to the Lord? Because of the scads of scriptures that mention the word faith, faithful, faithfulness, and faithless. (Other ways of referring to faith in the scripture also use words like "assurance," "belief" or "believe," "confidence," "obedience," and "trust" or "trust in God.")

To look up all scriptures using these words could take well nigh unto a year! For example, just for the category of “Faith,” one could spend a great time studying these verses in just the Old Testament and New Testament alone: Deuteronomy 32:20; Habakkuk 2:4; Matthew 6:30; Matthew 8:10; Matthew 9:22; Matthew 9:29; Matthew 14:31; Matthew 15:28; Matthew 17:20; Matthew 21:21; Matthew 23:23; Mark 4:40; Mark 11:22; Luke 8:25; Luke 17:5; Luke 18:8; Luke 22:32; Acts 3:16; Acts 14:27; Romans 3:3; Romans 3:25; Romans 3:27; Romans 3:28; Romans 4:16; Romans 10:17; Romans 12:3; Romans 12:6; Romans 14:1; and Romans 14:23.

Then there are these scriptures: 1 Corinthians 2:5; 1 Corinthians12:9; 1 Corinthians13:13; 1 Corinthians 15:14; 1 Corinthians 15:17; 1 Corinthians 16:13; 2 Corinthians 5:7; 2 Corinthians10:15; Galatians 2:20; Galatians 3:2; Galatians 3:14; Galatians 3:26; Galatians 5:5; Galatians 5:6; Galatians 5:22; Ephesians 2:8; Ephesians 3:12; Ephesians 3:17; Ephesians 4:5; Ephesians 4:13; Ephesians 6:16; 1 Thessalonians 3:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; and 2 Thessalonians 3:2.

But wait there’s more! And these are only some of the ones that mention faith. There are actually far more. 1 Timothy 1:5; 1 Timothy 2:15; 1 Timothy 4:1; 1 Timothy 5:8; 1 Timothy 6:10; 1 Timothy 6:12; 1 Timothy 6:21; 2 Timothy 8:8; 2 Timothy 4:7; Titus 1:13; Titus 2:2; Hebrews 4:2; Hebrews 6:1; Hebrews 6:12; Hebrews 10:22; Hebrews 10:23; Hebrews 11:1; Hebrews 11:4; Hebrews 11:6; Hebrews 11:17; Hebrews 11:33; Hebrews 11:39; Hebrews 12:2; James 1:3; James 1:6; James 2:5; James 2:14; James 2:17-20; James 2:22; James 5:15; 1 Peter 1:7; 2 Peter 1:5; Jude 1:3; and Revelations 13:10.

Again, these are just a sampling of verses that mention faith. They would make for a beautiful study. Stories from the lives of valiant men and women are contained in these myriad verses.

As the Apostle Paul taught, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). But most importantly, in what are we to have faith? The Lord Jesus Christ. For faith to yield fruits from God, we must have faith in His Son.

To learn more about the power of faith, here is an excellent resource for study. May this year be a year of great and beautiful faith for you in the Savior and what he offers.