God's Dictionary: Love

If God had written a dictionary, the entry for Love would look like this:

(NOTE: Roll your mouse over the scriptures to read them!)

Origin:

Comes from God - 1 John 4:7-10

Is who God is - 1 John 4:7-10

Quantifiers:

Abounding - Exodus 34:6

Abundantly poured out - 1 Timothy 1:14

As strong as death - Song of Solomon 8:6

Better than life - Psalm 63:3

As great as the distance between the heavens and the earth - Psalm 103:11

Reaching to the heavens - Psalm 57:10

Enduring Forever - Psalm 100:5

Eternal - 1 Kings 10:9

Ever before me - Psalm 26:3

Everlasting - Jeremiah 31:3

Goodness - Psalm 69:16

Great toward us - Psalm 117:2

Greater than faith and hope - 1 Corinthians 13:13

More delightful than wine - Song of Solomon 1:2

Priceless - Psalm 36:7

Rich - Psalm 145:8

Surrounding - Psalm 32:10

Unfailing - Psalm 51:1

Unquenchable, of great wealth - Song of Solomon 8:7

Wonderful - Psalm 31:21

Described:

Faithful - Psalm 89:24

Life-giving - Ephesians 2:4-6

Gracious - Ephesians 2:4-6

Forgiving - Ephesians 2:4-6

Comforting - Psalm 119:76

Covenantial - Deuteronomy 7:9

Patient - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Kind - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Rejoicing with the truth - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Protecting - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Trusting - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Hoping - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Persevering - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Conquering - Romans 8:37-40

Preserving - Psalm 119:88

Protecting - Psalm 40:11

Our breastplate (protecting the vital organs of who we are spiritually speaking) - 1 Thessalonians 5:8

Quieting - Zephaniah 3:17

Restful - Deuteronomy 33:12

Satisfying - Psalm 90:14

Sincere - Romans 12:9

Supporting - Psalm 94:18

Fruitful - Hosea 10:12

Hearing - Psalm 119:149

Higher than the Heavens - Psalm 108:4

Clinging to good - Romans 12:9

Binds all virtues together in perfect unity (Love is the root cause of all virtue see Gal 5:22 fruit of the Spirit is Love.  See also I Cor 13:4-8) - Colossians 3:12-14

Fruit of the Spirit - Galatians 5:22-23

Fearless:

Has no fear - Colossians 3:12-14

Drives out fear - Colossians 3:12-14 

Living in fear is NOT living in love - Colossians 3:12-14 

Fearless - I John 4:13-19

What it is not:

Hating evil - Romans 12:9

Never fails - I Corinthians 13:4-8 

Not envious - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not boastful - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not proud - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not rude - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not self-seeking - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not easily angered - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Not forsaking - Psalm 37:28

Not withheld - Psalm 66:20

Not Hidden - (See Rev 3:19) Proverbs 27:5

Keeps no record of wrong - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Does not delight in evil - I Corinthians 13:4-8

Knowability:

Knowable and reliable - Colossians 3:12-14

Surpasses knowledge - Ephesians 3:16-21

Roots us (to strengthen with roots, to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded,  to become stable) - Ephesians 3:16-21

Establishes a foundation in us (to lay the foundation, to found) - Ephesians 3:16-21

A three-dimensional tangible yet immeasurable object (profundity, that is, [by implication] extent; [figuratively] mystery, [metaphorically] deep, extreme, poverty, of the deep things of God) - Ephesians 3:16-21

Our Possession:

Maintained toward us - Exodus 34:7

Nothing can separate us from His love - Romans 8:35

Our possession - Romans 8:38-39

With us from everlasting to everlasting - Psalm 103:17

Redeeming Nature of:

Sacrificial - 1 John 4:7-10

Sacrificial - John 15:13

Christ laid down His life to explain to us what love is - 1 John 3:16

Compelling- Compelled God to send His Son to die so we might live through His Son - 1 John 4:7-10

Covering all wrongs - Proverbs 10:12

Covers a multitude of sins - 1 Peter 4:8

Delivering - Psalm 60:5

Saving - Psalm 109:26

Keeps us from the pit of destruction - Isaiah 38:17

Redeeming - Isaiah 63:9

Rescuing - Psalm 91:14

Appointed to protect - Psalm 61:7

Made us alive with Christ while we were dead in sin and seated us with Christ in the heavenly realms - Ephesians 2:4-6

Giving of eternal life - John 3:16

Demonstrated; while we were His enemies, He loved us and died for us - Romans 5:8

Appeared as a Savior - Titus 3:4

Proof we are God’s:

Proof we are born of God and know God - 1 John 4:7-10

How God sees me because of:

Calls us His children - 1 John 3:1

A banner over me - Song of Solomon 2:4

Crowning - Psalm 103:4

Directed toward me - Psalm 42:8

He finds me pleasing - Song of Solomon 7:6

He loves us as much as He loves Jesus - John 17:23

He is pleased with us - Matthew 3:17

His desire is for me - Song of Solomon 7:10

Betrothing - Hosea 2:19

Loved by God the Father - Jude 1:1

Extent of worth without:

Without love, I am nothing - I Corinthians 13:1-3

Without love, my giftings do not matter - I Corinthians 13:1-3

Great sacrifice without love is worth nothing - I Corinthians 13:1-3

Motivational:

Our motivation to love Him in return - Colossians 3:12-14

Motivation for all we do - 1 Corinthians 16:14

Commanded:

New Commandment - John 13:34

Greatest Commandment - Matthew 22:37

Chief aim of mankind - Deuteronomy 6:5

He expects us to live our lives in love - Ephesians 5:2

Test of if we live in God - Colossians 3:12-14

Disciplining:

Desire to love is 250 times stronger than His desire to punish - Exodus 20:5-6

Disciplining - Proverbs 3:12

Disciplining, accepts us as a Son - Hebrews 12:6

Rebuking and disciplining - Revelation 3:19

Effects of:

God gives us a spirit of love - 2 Timothy 1:7

Promises us a crown of life if we love him - James 1:12 See also PS 103:4

Predestines us to adoption as sons - Ephesians 1:4-5

Helps His saints grow and build each other - Ephesians 4:16

The only way faith can really express itself - Galatians 5:6

Leads us to find life, prosperity, and honor - Proverbs 21:21

God's Love - Part 3

This is part three about why we worship God.  We mentioned that we worship God for who He is and what He has done.  One of the best things He is is LOVE and one of the best things He has done is LOVE US.  We answered several questions about HIS love in the last two segments:

How do we know God loves us? (John 3:16; 1John 3:16; 1John 4:9-10; 1John 4:19).

How much does God love us? (Rom 8:31-32;  John 17:23; Ephesians 3:16-21)

What can separate us from God's love? (Rom 8:35, 37-39)

When did God start loving us? (Eph 2:4-6)

This time let’s look at a couple more:

What about when we sin, does God still love us?

Eph 2:4 God sent His Son while we were still sinners.  Sin cannot separate us from His love.  He loves us the same always, even when we sin.  It makes Him sad when we sin, but He still loves us the same.  We try not to sin because He loves us and we love Him too.  He is glad when we make the choice not to sin.  He loves as a function of His nature – that is – it is not ever a question He asks “Am I going to love them today?”  It is a foregone conclusion because of who He is.  He cannot be otherwise or He would cease to be God.  There is no shadow of turning in Him.  Discipline and punishment He doles out as needed but love is always a constant (Ps 32:7, Jer 31:3, Zeph 3:17; Heb 12:5-11)

Remember God’s desire to love is 250 times stronger than His desire to punish –

Exodus 20:5-6  5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

No matter what you do He ALWAYS loves you.  Sure, He can be disappointed with what you do (Do not greave the Holy Spirit Eph 4:30), but His love is constant.  You are always loved.  There is a place of security, safety, rest, peace and well being in your Father's love.

What does God do with our confessed sin?

Jer 31:34  "No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD.  "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more."

Mic 7:19  You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea

Act 3:19  Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,

Psa 51:1 and (  Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions…Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.

Isa 43:25  I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

Isa 44:22  I have swept away your offenses like a cloud, your sins like the morning mist. Return to me, for I have redeemed you.

Ps 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.

There are others as well: Col 1:12 the forgiveness of sins. 1John 1:9  will forgive us our sins.

Are you rooted?  Do you know and believe in how much He loves you?  Do you believe He loves you as much as He loves Jesus? Do you believe nothing can separate you from His love?  Do you see His love as your possession?  Do you believe your sins have been trampled underfoot, thrown into the see of forgetfulness, remembered no more, blotted out and fully forgiven?  Do you believe He has always loved you?  That there has never been a time when He did not love you? 

God wants us to be secure in His love and know it as our foundation the thing that roots us to Him.  He wants us to know He has always loved us and nothing can take that away from us.  He wants us to experience His love in a tangible way.  He desires to quiet us with His love, to rejoice over us with His love.  His love is our exclusive possession.  He has made a way to always thing positively of us by wiping out our sin and remembering it no more.  God love you infinitely and he is pleased with you as His child!  Walk tall brothers and sisters.  Rest in Him, YOU are the beloved of God!

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

God's Love - Part 2

Last time we talked about why we worship God.  We mentioned that we worship God for who He is and what He has done.  One of the best things He is is LOVE and one of the best things He has done is LOVE US.  We answered several questions about HIS love

How do we know God loves us?

He sent His Son to die for us, in our place so that we could know and love Him.  He knew before He created the world it would cost His Son, yet He created it anyway (John 3:16; 1John 3:16; 1John 4:9-10; 1John 4:19).

How much does God love us?

As much as He loves Jesus!  He sacrificed Jesus for us (Rom 8:31-32;  John 17:23)! Ephesians 3:16-21 taught us God wants His love to be our stable, fixed and firm cause of grounding in who we are and why we are important. God wants His love to be our foundation upon which we lay the basis for who we are as a person, to erect a stable view of our intrinsic value based on His love for us. Paul is describing a three-dimensional love, an experiential love, a love far beyond knowledge,  infinite love.  Love that God wants us to build our foundation upon, keep on growing in, and resting upon.

Now for answers to some more questions:

What can separate us from God's love?

Rom 8:35, 37-39 ^“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

WOW!  There is quite a list here of things that cannot separate us from His love; trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, sword, death, life, angels, rulers, things present, things to come, any powers, anything above, anything below, anything else in all creation.  Paul purposely belabors the point to make it crystal clear: NOTHING CAN SEPARATE US FROM HIS LOVE!

When did God start loving us?

Before He created time and the universe, He loved us.  Before we knew Him, while we were still sinners, He loved us. There has never been a time when we were not loved(!); not in the worst moments of our existence, not in our greatest achievement when we were not sure we needed Him or His love, not in our deepest sin, our worst pain, our exceeding loneliness,... our every moment of existence and even before we existed we were loved!!  Remember God knew the cost before He created the world and yet He created it.

Eph 2:4-6   But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Jer 1:5  "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."

It is time to be rooted in His love.  It is time to build upon the foundation of His love.  It is time to believe we cannot be separated from His love. It is time to remember the timelessness of His love.  It is time to believe we are loved as He says we are loved; with an infinite, abounding, gracious, forgiving love.  Come into the arms of the Father and let Him love on you!



References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

God's Love - Part 1

Why do we worship God?  There is the simple answer: the Bible tells us we should.  The complex answer is: we worship God for who He is and what He has done.  One of the best things He is is LOVE and one of the best things He has done is LOVE US.  God describes Himself as “the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands [of generations] and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin...” Ex 34:6.   Because of His love He created us, redeemed us, and gave us the Holy-Spirit (power to live according to His covenant of love).    So what about God's love...How do we know God loves us?  How much does God love us?  What can separate us from God's love?  When did God start loving us?   What about when we sin, does God still love us?  What does God do with our confessed sin?  How important is it that we love him?  We will endeavor to answer these questions from the scripture itself this month and next.

How do we know God loves us?

He sent His Son to die for us, in our place so that we could know and love Him.  He knew before He created the world it would cost His Son, yet He created it anyway.

John 3:16  "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

1John 3:16  This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.

1John 4:9-10  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.  This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins

1John 4:19  We love because he first loved us.

How much does God love us?

As much as He loves Jesus!  He sacrificed Jesus for us (Rom 8:31-32)!  John 17:23  I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me..

Eph 3:16-21  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

The word rooted in verse 17 means “become stable,  to render firm, to fix, establish, cause a person or a thing to be thoroughly grounded.”  God wants His love to be our stable, fixed and firm cause of grounding in who we are and why we are important.  The word grounded in the same verse means “to lay a basis for, that is, (literally) erect, or (figuratively) consolidate, to lay the foundation, to found, to make stable, establish.”  God wants His love to be our foundation upon which we lay the basis for who we are as a person, to erect a stable view of our intrinsic value based on His love for us.

Paul uses four words here to quantify a three dimensional object.  He describes the width, length and height of  God's  love but then adds the word deep.  Why?  The word deep is defined as “ profundity, that is, (by implication) extent; (figuratively) mystery” or the “deep things of God.”  Paul is describing a three-dimensional love, an experiential love, a love far beyond knowledge,  infinite love.  Love that God wants us to build our foundation upon, keep on growing in, and resting upon.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.



Live by Faith

We have been studying faith and this month is more of the same.   Our key verse is Heb 11:1 (ALT)  “Now faith is [the] assurance [or, substance] of [things] being hoped for [or, being confidently expected], [the] confident assurance [or, proof] of things not seen.”  Our working definition is: “Faith chooses to see and believe in what is not seen.  It chooses to possess a moral conviction that its subject is true.  Faith chooses to believe in, to substantiate, to have confident assurance in, to count as the evidence, demonstration, and convincing proof of what God has promised.” 

Now let’s look at New Testament heroes of the faith.  Of course, you can find a great list of O.T. heroes in Heb 11, but let’s look at N.T. examples.  Acts 6:8 describes Stephen as “full of faith and power” doing great wonders and miracles.  Acts 11:24 describes Barnabas as “full of the Holy Spirit and faith.”  In 1 Tim4:12, Paul admonishes Timothy to be an example in faith.  2 Tim 4:7 has Paul proclaiming he has “fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”  2 Pe 1:1 Opens “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:”  More generic examples are 1Tim 6:11; 2:22 which shows the man of God being led by faith,  1 4:6  shows the good minister of Jesus Christ is nourished up in the words of faith and Heb 11 shows us heroes of the faith, Heb12 the great cloud of witnesses, and Jesus as author and finisher of the faith.  Wicked men are perceived as men who have not faith (2 Th 3:2,8).  1 Tim 5:8 portrays those who do not provide for their own as having denied the faith. 1Tim 6:10 shows the love of money as having erred from the faith. 

Next let’s look at what faith does for us.  What happens to us if we are people of faith?  God counts as just, righteous, and forgives all those whose faith is in Jesus (Rom 3:26; Rom 5:1-2; Gal 2:16).  “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God” Eph 2:8.  We have confidence in God.  “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.  Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)” Heb 10:22-23.  He is the source of our faith.  “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God" 1 Cor 2:5.  The we learn that “whatsoever is not of faith is sin” Rom 14:23.  We put our faith in God, “In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” Eph 3:12  and He lives in us “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith” Eph 3:17.  We become His children, “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” Gal 3:26.  We learn we must “…walk by faith, not by sight” 2 Cor 5:7.  Then we come to understand “faith works by love” Gal 5:6 and “if I have absolute faith so as to move mountains but have no love, I am nothing” 1 Cor 13:2.  Rom 12:5 tells us to use our spiritual gifts in proportion with our faith because “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” Jam 2:17-18.  So let us “ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed”  Jam 1:6 and “Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked”  Eph 6:16.  Finally, “…let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” 1 Thes 5:8. 

Let’s appropriate by faith what God has purchased for us at the cross.  Let’s find the promises of God in the Scripture and claim them as our treasures.  Let’s call things as not as though they were.  Let’s be people of faith.  Remember “…without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” Heb 11:6.



Oh Author and Finisher of our faith help us in our unbelief.  Help Your love in us to activate our faith and focus our minds on You and having faith for Your Kingdom.  Help us to live by faith.  Help us to trust in Your awesome character.  Help us to call things that are not as though they were and things that are as though they were not - though faith.  Reward our diligent seeking of You.  Amen!

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.



What To Do With Our Faith

Last month we delved into the meaning of the word faith.  Now we need to look at what to do with our faith.  First we should review what faith is.  Here is the meaning we came to, word for word, from last month.

Faith chooses to see and believe in what is not seen.  It chooses to possess a moral conviction that its subject is true.  Faith chooses to believe in, to substantiate, to have confident assurance in, to count as the evidence, demonstration, and convincing proof of what God has promised.  It means we count things as true because He who said them is true.  In fact, He is the truth.  We must choose to see His Kingdom and its promises as real fact even though they are not revealed to our senses.  We must act upon these truths and count them as absolute fact though they remain unproved to our physical senses.

That done, let's take a tour through the New Testament to see how faith was used

Heb 11:1 (ALT)  Now faith is [the] assurance [or, substance] of [things] being hoped for [or, being confidently expected], [the] confident assurance [or, proof] of things not seen.

Heb 11:6 Tells us we cannot be successful in our Christian walk without faith. This is echoed in Rom 1:17  "The just shall live by faith." Romans 10:17  Shows us hearing the Word of God helps us have confident assurance and convincing proof in God and therefore in all He says.  Our faith is in His character and ability.  1Co 2:5  “That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.”  Heb 12:1-3 Shows us Jesus as the author and perfecter (or finisher) of our faith.  It encourages us to follow in His example.

There is miracle faith, saving faith, faith for walking day to day with Him, and inheriting faith.  Here is how we see faith in the gospels:

Mat 17:20 reminds us that only a little faith (mustard seed size) is needed for great things.  God meets our little faith with His HUGE ability

Mat 8:8-10 reveals the authority of faith.  God commands in faith and it must be done.  We need to understand the authority He has invested in us through faith.  We can call things as naught as though they are through faith.

Mat 9:2 States “Jesus, seeing their faith” --the faith of friends bringing their paralyzed friend to Him. Do you have friends paralyzed in their emotions, finances, relationships? You should bring them to God in faith.

Jesus many times uses the phrase Let it be done unto you according to your faith Mat 9:29

Mat 14:28-31 gives us the record of Peter walking on the water and letting fear drown out his faith. Jesus calls him “Little faith.” It is easy to be hard on Peter, but is is the only one with enough “little faith” to even get out of the boat.

Mat 17:1521 show us the reason why the disciples could not cast a demon out of a man because of their unbelief. Further it suggests that prayer and fasting bolster our faith.

Mat 21:19-21 and Mar 11:20-22 gives us the account of Jesus cursing the fig tree and it withers. Jesus here points out again we must have faith and not doubt.

Luk 22:32  shows Jesus praying for Peter's faith not to fail.

Oh Faithful God help us to have faith in Your character and ability. Faith in your power and not that of men. You are the author and the finisher of our faith. Meet our "little faith" with Your huge ability. Help us have faith for our friends. Help us to have faith and not doubt. Thank You that you do not change and we can count on Your faithfulness.

Next month we’ll look at heroes of the faith and the inheritance of the faith.

Worship is Having Faith God is Who He Says He Is

If you are like me, you have heard Hebrews 11:1 quoted, preached on and you probably have it memorized.  You have thought, “This is the only place in the Bible I know of where faith is defined.”  You have tried to understand it, but alas, you still feel like you don’t really understand what it is to “have faith.”  You have marveled at Jesus’ statement with the faith of a mustard seed you can command a mountain to be moved into the sea(Matt 17:20).  So what is faith?  We know faith is essential to the Christian walk.  In fact, you cannot, by definition, be a Christian without it (Romans 10:9).  We know also the Christian’s walk is referred to as “the faith” in many passages of Scripture as well.  So again, just what is faith?  Let’s find out.

Heb 11:1

(ALT)  Now faith is [the] assurance [or, substance] of [things] being hoped for [or, being confidently expected], [the] confident assurance [or, proof] of things not seen.

(ASV)  Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen.

(CEV)  Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see.

(KJV)  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Faith is the assurance and substance which makes us sure of things we hope for, the conviction of evidence that gives us proof of things not seen.

Heb 11:6

(KJV)  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.

Romans 10:17 (KJV)  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

The word assurance is defined by Strong's as “persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself.” 

Thayer's Definition is:

1) conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it

1a) relating to God

1a1) the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ

1b) relating to Christ

1b1) a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God

1c) the religious beliefs of Christians

1d) belief with the predominate idea of trust (or confidence) whether in God or in Christ, springing from faith in the same

2) fidelity, faithfulness

2a) the character of one who can be relied on

Webster's Dictionary defines faith as “to trust; Gr. to persuade, to draw towards any thing, to conciliate; to believe, to obey. In the Greek Lexicon of Hederic it is said, the primitive signification of the verb is to bind and draw or lead, as signifies a rope or cable. But this remark is a little incorrect. The sense of the verb, from which that of rope and binding is derived, is to strain, to draw, and thus to bind or make fast. A rope or cable is that which makes fast. “

Easton points out there is a unique difference between knowledge and faith.  “....faith includes in it assent, which is an act of the will in addition to the act of the understanding.  Assent to the truth is of the essence of faith, and the ultimate ground on which our assent to any revealed truth rests is the veracity of God.”

Fausset comments on Hebrews 11:1, "the substance of things hoped for (i.e., it substantiates God's promises, the fulfillment of which we hope, it makes them present realities), the evidence (elengchos, the 'convincing proof' or 'demonstration') of things not seen." Faith accepts the truths revealed on the testimony of God (not merely on their intrinsic reasonableness), that testimony being to us given in Holy Scripture.”  He goes on to comment, “But faith, apart from the spirit of faith, which is LOVE (whose evidence is works), is dead.” as evidenced in I Cor 13:1-3

Vincent's Word Studies gives us the following comments: “Faith apprehends as a real fact what is not revealed to the senses. It rests on that fact, acts upon it, and is upheld by it in the face of all that seems to contradict it. Faith is a real seeing.”

Jamieson, Fausset and Brown comment that faith “... substantiates promises of God which we hope for, as future in fulfilment, making them present realities to us.”

So faith chooses to see and believe in what is not seen.  It chooses to possess a moral conviction that its subject is true.  Faith chooses to believe in, to substantiate, to have confident assurance in, to count as the evidence, demonstration, and convincing proof of what God has promised.  This takes a renewing of the mind.  It means we count things as true because He who said them is true.  In fact, He is the truth.  We must choose to see His Kingdom and its promises as real fact even though they are not revealed to our senses.  We must act upon these truths and count them as absolute fact though they remain unproved to our physical senses.  We must, as I Cor 2:9-16 points out, choose to understand these promises with our spirit and the mind of Christ, which has been given to us.  We cannot and should not expect to fully understand them in our natural mind.  Who can comprehend God?  However this should not lead us to toss all reason aside.  Our faith is logical and it makes considerable sense once one looks at the body of evidence that suggests the existence of God and counts this fact as true.  When one looks at the order of creation, the different species of plants and animals and their complexity, the exact distance we are from the sun, the moon which orbits the earth and controls the  tides and reflects the light of the sun at night, the vastness of space and all the stars, the moral absolutes all successful civilizations live by, the source for truth, the source of  original origins etc one makes a small logical leap of faith that God does indeed exist.  Given this proposition, our faith is in His Faithfulness.  He is the Truth so His Word is truth.  It cannot be other than the truth.  He is the source of life, creation, truth, absolute principles.  He does not change so we can count all He says as absolute truth!  His character (omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence) should lead us to count as truth and fact all He has promised.

Neufeldt, Victoria, and David Bernard Guralnik. "Faith." Webster's New World Dictionary of American English. Cleveland: Webster's New World, 1988. 1436. Print.

References

All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.

ALT, KJV, ASV, CEV Scriptures;  Jamieson, Fausset and Brown commentary; Fausset's Word Studies, Easton's Bible Dictionary, Vincent's Word Studies, Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries and Thayer’s Greek Definitions from Meyers, Rick. E-Sword. Computer software. E-SWORD the Sword of the LORD with an Electronic Edge. Vers. 9.0.3. Web. http://www.e-sword.net/.