Faith Pt. 2 - Giving Evidence to the Unseen

On Tuesday we took a look at faith. We called the blog post, Faith Pt. 1 - The Substance of Hope I highly recommend reading that before jumping into this one. That being said, let's get started.

Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Yesterday, we went fairly deep into the first half of that verse. Faith is now. And there has to be substance to your hope for your faith to work. But let's look at the second part of that verse. The evidence of things not seen. What does that mean? Well, let's look at the Amplified translation. "NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, (the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]."

Faith is the title deed to what we are believing for! I really like that, but let's break apart the second part of that verse. "Faith...being the proof of things [we] do not see,". So, when we are in faith for something, we have it. If someone asks you for proof-your faith is your proof! Glory to God, that means, if I'm taking God at His Word, that I don't need any other proof! I have all my proof right there in my faith, and the example for that is in Hebrews 11:1.

I graduated from tech school in April of this past year, and began searching for a job. I stood on Philippians 4:19 for almost four months, and had no results. Finally, a verse that I had heard, came alive on the inside of me, and saturated my thinking, and became so real to me that real faith, I'm talking Bible faith, the faith that gets results, rose on the inside of me, and I began to confess that scripture over and over again. For two weeks, I spoke the Word, and spoke the Word, and believed the Word! Whenever someone asked me how the job hunt went, my answer was, "I have a job in Jesus' name!" or, even if I hadn't heard anything from any companies, "It's going great!" After two weeks, I had more responses than I had in 4 months of searching (6 vs. 0) and in 3 and 1/2 weeks, I had a job paying almost twice as much as my previous job, and many more benefits than I had before! I had the proof before I saw the end result, and like God, I spoke the end result from the beginning! That is faith!

Praise God! So, not only is faith the proof of something happening, but it is the conviction of it's reality before it has been revealed to the senses! That's the God kind of faith! Let's look at the number one example of this.

Genesis 1. One of the most famous passages of scripture. When the earth was without form and void, what did God say? He didn't look at Jesus and say, "What are we gonna do Jesus? The earth is void! We got trouble here! Holy Ghost, you got any ideas?" No, He used His faith, (remember, Hebrews 11:3 shows us that God create the world through faith filled words!) and spoke the end from the beginning! Faith was His conviction of that reality. When He said, "Light be!" light was. He expected to happen, because in the faith realm, it already had happened. It didn't surprise Him when it manifested in our natural realm! When you speak faith filled words like God does, you need to do the same thing! You speak the end result from the beginning, like it has already occurred.

That means, if you are believing for healing, don't pray, "God, if it be Your will, heal me." Pray like this, "Lord, you said in Your Word that, 'by Your stripes, I was healed.' So Lord, I take Your Word above this sickness, I choose to believe what You say, and according to Your Word, I am healed! I believe that, and I know that I will see it come to pass, in Jesus' name! Amen!"

That is a prayer of faith! That's the kind of prayer that gets results, that gets you an answer! That kind of prayer will cause you to see the Spirit move. Someone once said, "There's something about faith that will cause God to pass over a million people to get to you!" That's because that is how God is pleased-by our faith! (Hebrews 11:6)

Well, that went a different way than I expected, but it was good! God definitely brought this where He wanted it. We're going to continue this series this weekend, Lord willing. Stay tuned for Faith Pt. 3 - Move Your Mountain

Faith Pt. 1 - The Substance of Hope

Habakkuk 2:4 says, "Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith."

Romans 1:17 "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith."

Galatians 3:11 "But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith."

Hebrews 10:38 "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."

Anytime the Bible says something, it is important. I don't believe God wastes words like some of us do. So, if there is something that is repeated four times in the Bible, it is of vital importance.

God keeps bringing various writers back to this phrase, "The just shall live by faith." So, we can readily see that faith isn't just a concept, or a belief, it is a way of life. For the believer, faith is the way we are to live!

We have gotten too loose with what faith means in our modern society. People often will say something like, "I have faith in God," or interchange that with, "I believe in God." Well, that's great. What about Him gives you faith? What about Him causes you to believe? The Word says that even the devil's believe and tremble (James 2:19), so there has to be a piece that we're missing. I believe we have mixed up "faith", and "belief", and when you are done with this series, not only will you be able to tell the difference between the two, you will know how to use your faith to get results.

I looked up the word "live", and I came across this definition, "To conduct one's life in a particular manner; to pursue a positive, satisfying experience; enjoy life." So, we could say it this way, "The just (that's you if you're born again) shall conduct their life in a particular manner, (that is a positive, satisfying and enjoyable manner) by faith."

That means that our lives, as believer's, are meant to be enjoyable! How do we get to enjoy life? We live by faith. Doesn't that fit with what Jesus said in John 10:10, "I am come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly,"? An abundant life is a good life. An abundant life means, I'm prospering in every area of my life, in my spiritual life, in my finances, in my family, in my physical body, in my mind. Total prosperity then, is the same thing as the Hebrew word "shalom", which means, "nothing missing, nothing broken."

So, if enjoying total prosperity (shalom), is the way believer's are to live (and an evangelistic tool to reach the world), how do we get there? How do i enjoy prosperity in my body, in my finances, in my marriage? By faith!

You see, we live in a faith controlled system. What you say, you will have. God didn't set out to create the heavens and the earth, and say, "Man, it sure is dark out. I hope we can light this place up somehow. What are we gonna do Jesus? Holy Ghost, you got any ideas?" No, He spoke the end result before He could see it. He said, "Light, be!" and light was. He was putting into practice the faith principles that Jesus taught us in Mark 11:23-24. But, before we get there, we have to understand what faith is.

Since this universe is a faith controlled system, God created the universe by faith (Hebrews 11 talks about God creating the seen things of the World by things which can not be seen, referring to faith.) So then, it stands to reason that we must learn what exactly faith is.

Well, the number one rule of Bible interpretation is to interpret the Bible in light of the Bible. So, let's look to the Word for a definition of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Don't let that word "hope" throw you off there. Bible hope isn't like our modern usage of the word hope. It doesn't mean, "Well, I hope it will happen." The word hope means, "a confident expectation." So, faith is the substance of things confidently expected. We could also say that hope is the goal-setter to faith.

What do I mean by that? Well, look at the thermostat in your house. By itself, that little old unit wont do anything, just like hope wont, but, when it's tied to a heating or cooling system, it tells the system the goal temperature, and doesn't release your heat or air conditioning until it reaches it's goal! That's what real, Bible hope does. It finds out what God has said about your situation, and it stands on it, and it refuses to back to down, and it refuses to quit! (Remember, we have to find what God said about the situation, because faith begins where the will of God is known!)

We find that scripture the the Lord has revealed to us, and then our hope holds fast to it, like the thermostat holds fast to the temperature it was set to, and no matter what happens, hope refuses to quit. We find in Romans, it tells us that Abraham, against all (natural) hope, believed in hope. He refused to quit, even though it was impossible in the natural.

That's how we have to be, Bless God! We refuse to quit, no matter what comes against us. Your thermostat doesn't care if it's -30 degrees outside! As long as it has power, it will hold to it's setting of 68, and it will fight, and keep working, and keep working, and not give up, and not quit until it reaches the goal it has established for itself. That's how your hope is designed to work! Your hope, based and established on the Word of the Living God, will give substance to what it you have been believing for!

Tomorrow or Thursday, we will take a look at Pt 2 - Giving evidence to the unseen