So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! 36 Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised. Hebrews 10:35-36
For many people, “faith” is a means of getting something they want. That is, if you “really believe” or if you “believe hard enough” you will get what you wanted. But, at bottom, faith in God is trust in him. That may be trust that he will supply your needs. You are in a situation where you need something and do not have the resources to meet that need. So, as we are instructed to do, you ask God to supply it. You then trust him to do it; you have faith.
But the idea that faith is the means to get is very dangerous. We can, all unintentionally, get to thinking that we can manipulate God, that if we pray enough, or fast enough, or ? enough, we can make God do what we want him to do. But that is simply not true. When we have faith we are trusting God to do what is right for us in whatever way he chooses. Ultimately, we are trusting him with our eternal destiny.
In fact, this is what the great faith book, the book of Hebrews, is all about. The readers of the book were Jews who had put their faith in Christ. Now, since Christ had not come back, and since the external kingdom had not arrived, they were tempted to give up their faith and slide back into the externals of Judaism. The writer is saying, “Don’t stop believing that Jesus is the way, the only way, to eternal life. Don’t give up your faith!”
So, what is it to “live by faith”? Is it to live without any external means of support? It might be, if God directs you to live that way. But that is not normal. Normally, living by faith is a life that is shaped by seeking to do his will as we depend on his ordinary provisions for life, all the while believing that Jesus is the key to everything,
Called To Be Transformed 