There is a difference in understanding, belief, and faith.
Understanding is getting facts and information lined up so that you "see" it in your mind. It is rational to you. It makes good sense.
Belief is agreeing with the facts or information set before you. It is agreeing with a scientific fact, or spiritual idea, or physical facts, or any other kind of facts. When you don't believe it, you don't accept the information given to you. Believing God and believing the Bible sounds good, but it is not nearly enough. You need to put your faith in God, his word, and his commands.
Faith is much more than believing. The demons believe in God and they shudder, it says in James 2:19. They believe, but they don't have faith. They believe more than most so-called Christians do today. They have seen God do much more than we have. But they don't have faith.
What is faith? It is believing enough that you do something about it. Faith is movement forward or into something of God. When the Bible says, "to believe on Christ" or "in Christ" the usual word is not "on" or "in" Christ, but literally "into" Christ. There is a big difference between "in" and "into." The word "into" shows a change of position, from this "into" that. You can stand on the bank of the flooded Jordan River (like the Israelites going into the Promised Land) and shout that you believe God can part the River, but that is not faith. Faith is putting your feet into the water and start walking across. When the people's feet touched the water, that is when God parted it and they walked across on DRY GROUND.
If you have faith in God's word that he wants to heal you, then start thanking him and receiving it. If you pray for rain, go get your umbrella. Faith is action. Everyone who came to Jesus and asked for healing, was healed. But they had to ask. Jesus didn't seek them out and beg them to believe in him. Often Jesus told them that it was their faith that healed them. Faith is more than learning a set of doctrines, even good doctrines, but is trusting God and his word and experiencing the results.
Faith is like a muscle; it needs to be used in order to grow.
There is no limit to the things that God wants to give us, but we must all find the ways that we personally can deepen our love for God and others and be able to climb this beautiful mountain called faith.
Don (Used with permission from Thrive Ministries by Kent Ross)