faith cometh by hearing

Our Bible says that faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  If you take this Scripture at face value, you would conclude that if you hear the Word you would have faith.  You would be partially correct!
 
Romans 10:2 I can assure you that the  Jews are deeply devoted to God; but their devotion is not based on true knowledge.
 
Faith will only work in proportion to what you believe concerning God’s Word.  Having faith for the sake of having faith will gain you nothing.  True Bible faith is based on what you believe concerning what God says in His Word.  Knowledge must come first and then you have something to put your faith in.  Let’s use something in the natural to better understand the principle of faith.  You know full well that if someone hit your finger with a hammer it will hurt and throb for hours.  You have knowledge of what misusing a hammer will do and now you have the faith to keep your finger away from the business end of a hammer.
 
Faith comes from what you know, so you must know what God says before you can begin to believe Him.  Some folks have a zeal for God based on what He has done for others.  But testimonies don’t produce faith, they create hope.  As a child you can live off of the faith of your parents, but when you become an adult you must gain your own supply of knowledge.  This can be difficult for some folks because people love to have others do things for them.
 
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
 
Sitting and hearing the Word will not produce faith! Hearing and hearing the Word will give you the information you need to put your faith into action.  You can have faith without knowledge and you can have knowledge without faith, but when you mix the two you have miracles.
 
Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.
 
God spoke through Moses to Israel that He would deliver them out of Egypt and lead them to their own land flowing with milk and honey.  They all heard God’s will and they all knew God’s will, but they did not have the faith to believe God could give them the land.  God’s Word means nothing if you don’t mix faith with it.  Two men, Joshua and Caleb, heard the Word and they believed God would give them dominion over all the unauthorized people in their land.  The rest of the Jews, about two million, did not believe God could give them such a victory.  They watched God split the red sea and bring water out of a rock but faith doesn’t come from seeing, it comes from believing the Word.  Joshua and Caleb believed what God said, so the opposition meant nothing to them.  One day the disciples asked the Lord to increase their faith, but He put it right back on them.  It’s our responsibility to have faith in our knowledge of His Word, He simply tells us what we can do if we do it right.