Several years ago, I was in a car wreck. It was my fault. I turned too quickly and the car behind me had little warning, and almost no opportunity to stop. Behind me I heard screeching tires and felt a powerful impact. No one was hurt seriously. There were only bruises and scrapes, and a few days of sore muscles.

For months afterward, every time I heard screeching tires, I startled and braced for an impact. My nervous system seemed to have a mind of its own. I reacted without consciously choosing to do so.

This response was the substance of something unseen.

Here is what I have come to know: Faith Comes by Hearing.

If you are someone who knows the Bible, you may recognize that this phrase comes from the New Testament––the book of Romans in particular. You might even know that the next verse says, “…and hearing comes by the Word of Christ.”

But I think the first part can stand alone: Faith Comes by Hearing.

I heard screeching tires and my heart deeply received. For months my faith, my deep, deep belief, was in the sound I heard, and in an event that was no longer happening. Everything about me responded as if the event was still real, present and active.

I have a friend, who for years heard these words. “You are stupid.”

She heard.

The words had power over her, her heart had received, and she believed. She did not have to see herself acting stupid. Her faith was the substance of something she initially did not see. The more she believed, the more she DID see. Her grades in school, her life choices…became the experience of what she believed, and she believed because she had heard.

Faith comes by hearing. Choose carefully who and what you listen to. Listen to those things that you want to experience as real, present and active in your life.

(Bob Hamp, whose writing can be found at http://bobhamp.com, is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is the Executive Pastor over Freedom Ministries at Gateway Church, in Southlake, Texas.)