S – Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. ² For by this our ancestors were approved. 

Hebrews 11:1–2 CSB

O – In the Greek,faith is pistis,  persuasion, i.e. credence; mor. conviction (of relig. truth, or the truthfulness of God or a relig. teacher), espec. reliance upon Christ for salvation.   After the fall of man in the garden, faith became the foundational part of a relationship with God.  Again, a relationship with God is counterintuitive.  Counting on something hoped for as a reality, evidence that is intangible.  Yet, all the OT characters mentioned in Hebrews 11 are “approved” by looking at what wasn’t there and finding God in it.

A – “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.”

Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 4.  If I am growing in my relationship with God, I must grow in my faith.  

R – Lord, help me to do this.