“For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”

Faith exists in God. It is implanted in the children of God when they are born again by virtue of them receiving the seed of God which remains. It proceeds from their born-again spirits to their minds as conviction of truth as conversion to the truth of the gospel. Thus, I believe faith, which begins with God, travels from the heart to the mind in those who have already been born again, and not from the mind to the heart to get born again as follows:

Faith is an attribute of God: God is faithful (Deuteronomy 7:9, 1 Corinthians 1:9). At its core faith is a moral virtue of God's being concerning truth (reality) of self. It is His fidelity of perfect moral constancy of self according to His holy and righteous being as utter satisfaction with all the attributes of his eternal, self-existent, immutable self (See Deuteronomy 32:4, Psalms 86:15, 2 Corinthians 1:20). Moreover, He is satisfied and therein true to His purposes and judgments regarding all He created (See Genesis 1:31, Deuteronomy 32:4, Proverbs 16:4, Isaiah 43:7, Psalms 19:1, 97:6, Malachi 3:6, I Corinthians 15:28, Hebrews 1:3, 2 Peter 3:9).

God's loyalty of truth to his holy and righteous self is why He cannot lie and neither can he deny Himself (1 Titus 1:2, 2 Timothy 2:13). For to do so would alter the truth (reality) of His God-being, which is impossible inasmuch as immutability (perfect moral resolve of loyalty to truth) is a basic attribute of God. Deuteronomy 32:4 expresses the substantive quality of God's unshakable moral virtue of loyalty to truth of self as follows: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.”

Faith begins in the elect with a sovereign act of fidelity by God according to covenant designated grace in which with life giving power He lovingly quickens those whom he foreknows, translating them from death in trespasses and sins to life in and with God, and toward a lively hope (of which faith is the substance) in the promises of God (See Genesis 17:4-8, Galatians 3:16, Jeremiah 31:3, 33-34, John 3:3-8, Ephesians 2:1-7, Colossians 2:10-14, 1 Peter 1:3).

God passes His quality of faith (recognition and loyalty to truth) to those He quickens, when they are born again of the Spirit of God inasmuch as: 1. the seed of God remains in them, in their spirits born of God (1 John 3:9). and 2. faith is a quality of the fruit of the Spirit of God (Gal 5:22). Moreover, at the very instant of new birth the Holy Spirit begins to tenderly bear witness to God's newly born-again children that they are loved by their heavenly Father. Just so, with assuring murmurs the Holy Spirit testifies to their spirits they are born of God, that they are His beloved children, His family, His heirs and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus, who is their older brother. These newly born-again miracles of grace join the testimony. From their souls, the hearts of their spirits, they with conviction and in assurance do joyously and lovingly bear witness with the Holy Spirit it is so.

Thus, they cry Abba Father according to God’s truth which now reigns in their born-again hearts/souls by love. Moreover, God sourced love in them empowers their faith to reach beyond their hearts into their minds.

Romans 8:15-17 indicates faith as desire toward and recognition and acknowledgment of truth is present in the spirits of those who are born again in that, as previously mentioned, the Spirit of God and the born-again spirit jointly bear witness to truth. Their conjoint testimony affirms what is true in consequence of one's spirit being quickened by the Holy Spirit, that the new creature: 1. is God's child, 2. is an heir of God, 3. is a joint-heir with Christ, and 3. that suffering with Christ (as to suffer for righteousness sake) is evidence of future glory with Christ.

Moreover, born again spirits crying to God Abba, father implies love and desire for the God of truth. That our born again spirits love truth is deduced from 2 Thessalonians 2:10 in which Paul asserts “them that perish” do not receive love of the truth, by which we can infer those who are born again do receive love of truth. Also, David repeatedly expresses his desire and love for God's truth throughout the Psalms (See Psalms 25:5, 40:10-11, 43:3, 57:10, 71:22).

Presence of Spirit/spirit proactive faith is why those who are born gain are able to believe Jesus is Christ their Savior. Mental conviction that this is true occurs in response to a proclamation of truth as the gospel, that Christ is their Savior. They're born again. Spirits are already witnessing it is true, and upon hearing the truth of the gospel, their conscience also bears witness and convicts heir minds, it is true. (Romans 2:14-15).

And so, faith begins with God, who having love, who having lovingly planted it in us when we were born again, and who faithfully witnesses. Truth in our souls, that we are his children so we may join in witnessing with him through the same. It is this faith, as core love and truth pertaining to the reality of God and our relationship with Him, that resides in our souls and convicts our minds through conscience to believe and trust in God. As such, believing faith. Proceeds from the Heart (soul), to the mind and not from the mind to the heart.

Think on these things....