Faith is not trying to believe something regardless of the evidence; faith is daring something regardless of the consequences. — Sherwood Eddy

It may help us understand what faith is by occasionally “breaking down” who we are. This will help us avoid being taken captive through deception, as Paul warns.

Our spiritual anatomy, you may recall, consists of a body, a soul, and a spirit. In the soul, we have our minds, our emotions, and our will. In our spirit, which is our true inner being, we have our life in Christ.

So we receive life in the spirit, we experience life in the soul, and we express life in the body. Unfortunately, we also have flesh—the desire to do things in our own strength, ingenuity, and skill. Indwelling sin dwells in us too and encourages us to make poor choices.

What, then, is faith? It’s a decision of the will to act on what the mind believes is true. The mind reads something in Scripture, and in our spirit the Holy Spirit says, “Yes, that’s true,” and we say, “Yes, that’s true,” and then in our will we make a choice to step out in that truth. That step is faith. There is no power in faith itself. The power is found in the object of faith: Jesus Christ.

See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ. (Colossians 2:8)