Believe

Belief is something that we all start out with. We all tend to believe in something whether it be God or evolution. Belief is just something that is engrained in us. We have to believe in something and for me that something is God, God of the Bible, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, God's whole Holy Trinity. Here is a study of the word believe as it comes up in the bible. There are way more verses than the ones I am listing, but this is just a general study on it. Red lettering is my comments.

1 John 3:23
And this is His commandment that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.

Believing in His Son Jesus Christ should cause us to love one another and help one another. We should always be willing to help those we see in need. If we shut up our hearts to them, how does God's love abide in us? (1 John 3:17)

James 2:19
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe - and they tremble.

Most anyone you will meet will claim to believe in God. I know of 1 person who is directly honest with me, that since he doesn't have the faith or that change in his heart that proves believing in God, he chooses to say that he doesn't believe. I respect the honesty. See, even Satan and his demons believe in God. Anyone can believe. That is why there is more to this than just believing. A life changing attitude must occur as a sign on true faith. Anyone can believe, but not everyone has the faith.

1 Cor. 1:21
For since in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.

The world bases belief on wisdom, but God bases belief on foolishness. It appears to be foolishness to the wise people of the world, but to those who believe it's what saves us, it's the very word of God. I can tell you that when I talk to a person that is a non-believer in Christ, they think my reasoning for doing this or doing that is foolish. Of course it will look foolish to them, it did to me once before too. But when you truly believe, you are no longer blinded by your own wisdom. God shows you His wisdom, for He is greater than us and He knows better. I like to think of people as the rebellious teenager who refuses to listen to Mom or Dad. They think they know better and Mom and Dad don't have a clue. Only to find out that the older they get the more they realize, Hey, Mom and Dad did know what they were talking about. Isn't that something!?

Romans 10:14
How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in HIm of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

How can people pray to God if they don't believe in Jesus? Jesus is God, so if you don't believe in Jesus then "How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?"
People hear references of Jesus, but how much have they really heard of Him? And I am not talking about reading articles, watching documentaries, or having conversations with others about Him, but actually studying His word and studying Him. you cannot believe in something you have not heard.

And how shall they hear without a preacher? This is probably one of the reasons I get accused of preaching to others a lot. I just get so frustrated when people who don't know the real Jesus, they go off of some word-of-mouth image of Him, instead of just looking and seeking the true Him. Don't let anyone tell you their version of Jesus unless they have scripture to back it up. Every faith needs a foundation to look back to, to make sure someone isn't feeding you a line. Scripture should be that foundation if you are a Christian, or hope to be one. There are many false images of Jesus out today. Make sure you are looking after the true one, but reading the Bible. That's is where you will find the real one. Not the one people talk about on TV or the one your friend told you about, or the one you even made up yourselve, but the one in the Bible.

Romans 10:9-10
That if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession ismade unto salvation.

You have to believe without a shadow of a doubt that Christ was crucified for you sins, raised from the dead. This is the core of saving faith. If you do not believe that Christ died for your sins, then how else can your sins be forgiven or atoned for? There are no works you can do. It's by his wounds we are healed.