I have been active in a church most of my life. The Bible says we have a responsibility to not believe everyone who claims to be called by or to have a special revelation from God. We do, however, have a responsibility to always search the scriptures and to use those as our guide. Christian faith is not our intellectual resolve and commitment to something, this is just religious belief. Faith is not our hope in a promise.
Faith has to do with our experiencing the object of our faith in our heart.
God has never spoken to me, or anyone I've ever known, verbally, or through any means of direct revelation. I believe God speaks to us spiritually with a still small voice deep in our inner being which is also called our heart. This definition of faith is consistent with scripture and clarifies how faith should work in our life. So, not only is faith without works dead, but works without faith are sin. Think about this.