“Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen,” Hebrews 11:1. If we examine this verse under the microscope, as it were, we may discover some marvelous truths. The Word of God is many faceted, many sided; it is like a superbly cut diamond that sparkles as the light reflects from each facet. Let us examine the different facets of this verse and trust that God’s light and revelation will reflect from each facet.
Notice first of all the phrase Now faith is. This indicates a time factor. Even though the word now typically indicates a time factor; in this verse it is merely a conjunction: a connecting word. We can still learn from this phrase that there is a time factor with faith. Notice that it says faith is. It does not say faith was nor does it say faith will be. It says faith is. We understand that to be present tense. We could say faith was yesterday (past tense), or faith will be tomorrow (future tense), or faith is now (present tense). Thus, now faith is. You see, there is a time when faith is faith and a time when it ain’t.
Faith is always present tense. If you believe God is going to do something for you, going to heal you, going to bless you, going to save you, thinking you are in faith; you are mistaken. So long as you put it off into the future, you are not in faith. Until you get your faith in the present, you will not see the manifestation of it.
The next facet of this verse is substance. Notice Now faith is the substance…. It is important to realize that faith is something; it has substance or materiality. It’s not just an idea or an emotion. It’s not just a thought or a belief. Faith is a force of the recreated human spirit. It is real and tangible.
The next facet is things. This is a very important word in this verse. We will discuss it more in detail in a moment. You will see that it acts like a link in a chain. It will connect several verses together and shed light on some powerful truths.
The next word is hoped. This word for hope is not the wishful kind of hope. It’s not the kind based on the wisdom of men. That kind of hope can be questioned or challenged. Human hope is not absolute; it is not certain. This word hope in Hebrews 11 is the same word that is used in Titus 2:13, Looking for the blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our savior Jesus Christ. This refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ. Is there any doubt or question regarding Christ’s return? That’s the kind of hope we must have in order for our faith to give substance to it. Our hope must be rooted and grounded in God’s word and his promises. Then our hope can have the certainty and surety that only God can give it.
Faith is…the evidence…. Here again we see that faith is that which can be grasped with our senses: like substance, it is the evidence. It is the proof, the title deed of things we hope for.
Faith is…the evidence of things not seen. Not seen means not perceived with our physical senses. Things that cannot be perceived by our senses do not exist in this physical realm. However, they must exist because faith is the evidence that they do.
Let’s talk about that word: t-h-i-n-g-s. The Bible speaks a lot about things: like things hoped for, things not seen. I think some people get the wrong idea about God when it comes to things. They would have us believe that God is too spiritual to be interested in things and yet he created all things. The real truth is that God is very much interested in us having things, just not things having us.
According as his divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that has called us to glory and virtue, II Peter 1:3. Notice that he has given: that is present tense completed action. Here we find things that pertain to life and godliness. Peter tells us here that we have been given all these things; they already belong to us. When I look at my life I realize that I actually possess some of these things, but I can’t truly say that I have them all. Now if they have been given to me, they must exist. Though I don’t have them, they still exist somewhere; but where?
The apostle Paul helps us understand this in II Corinthians 4:18, While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. Here we see two kinds of things and two different places where they exist: we have seen things and not seen things and we have a temporal realm and an eternal realm.
Our goal as believers is to get these things that pertain to life and godliness out of the eternal realm and into this temporal realm where we live and breathe. With this in mind we can more fully understand Hebrews 11:1, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is through faith that we lay hold of these things in the eternal realm and bring them into this realm.
In Mark 11:24 Jesus is speaking, Therefore I say unto you, what things so ever you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them.
This verse bears out the truths we have just discussed. There are those things again. They are things that pertain to life and godliness that we desire or hope for. They are things not seen; we don’t have them yet, if we shall have them.
Remember there’s a time factor with faith; it’s always present tense. Notice the phrase ‘when you pray, believe that you receive them.’ When is that? When do you “believe that you receive them?” When you pray at the time you are actually praying will always be now. That’s when you believe you receive: when you pray, right now. You don’t believe you are going to receive; you believe you receive them.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Friday, August 21, 2009
Faith is Important
Few people today realize the importance of faith. Most would simply characterize faith as the belief in God; thereby minimizing the true nature of what faith is. I suppose this is the reason it is seldom talked about or taught. It is, however, interesting to note that the person who taught about faith in the Bible more than anyone else was Jesus. We might gather from this that Jesus at the least thought faith somewhat important.
The real truth is that faith is much more than simply a belief in God. It is certainly one of the primary teachings of the Bible, and perhaps the most important. I heard one minister once describe faith as “the thread out of which the fabric of the Word of God is woven.” It is fundamentally part of everything that is the Word of God. Faith is indeed an eternal truth as Paul noted in I Corinthians 13:13.
We are saved by faith. We are to live by faith. Faith is our victory over the world. And without faith we cannot please God. Hmm…sounds pretty important to me.
Ephesians 2:8 declares, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” We are saved through faith! We cannot even get to God without faith. Our relationship with Almighty God begins with faith.
Once we get to God and we have a relationship with him, we are to live by faith. Romans 1:17 tells us, “therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” We are the just, the righteous ones and how shall we live? By faith! Faith is not a rip cord that we pull to bail us out when we find ourselves in a dire situation. It must be something that is part of our daily life if we are to live by it.
How many want to go through life defeated and barely getting along? I don’t know about you, but I would much rather live victorious over the circumstances of life than constantly defeated and under the circumstances. I John 5:4 tells us that “whoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” Did you get that? Our faith is the victory! God wants us to be overcomers. He planned on us overcoming the trials of life through our faith.
According to Hebrews 11:6 “without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” If we want to please God we must have faith. Imagine that: ‘we can please God.’ But in order to do it we must have faith. I do find it interesting that what really pleases God is not the do’s and don’t’s we hear about from religious people but rather our faith. It was Abraham’s faith that pleased God. When Abraham believed God, he accounted it to him for righteousness. Wow! Think about that: as we believe God it will be accounted to us for righteousness.
As we understand the importance of faith, we ought to apply ourselves to understand what it is and how to put it to work in our lives. How can we expect to live by faith much less live victoriously unless we know what faith is and how it works? Let us therefore study to show ourselves approved unto God a workman that need not be ashamed, II Timothy 2:15.
The real truth is that faith is much more than simply a belief in God. It is certainly one of the primary teachings of the Bible, and perhaps the most important. I heard one minister once describe faith as “the thread out of which the fabric of the Word of God is woven.” It is fundamentally part of everything that is the Word of God. Faith is indeed an eternal truth as Paul noted in I Corinthians 13:13.
We are saved by faith. We are to live by faith. Faith is our victory over the world. And without faith we cannot please God. Hmm…sounds pretty important to me.
Ephesians 2:8 declares, “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” We are saved through faith! We cannot even get to God without faith. Our relationship with Almighty God begins with faith.
Once we get to God and we have a relationship with him, we are to live by faith. Romans 1:17 tells us, “therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.” We are the just, the righteous ones and how shall we live? By faith! Faith is not a rip cord that we pull to bail us out when we find ourselves in a dire situation. It must be something that is part of our daily life if we are to live by it.
How many want to go through life defeated and barely getting along? I don’t know about you, but I would much rather live victorious over the circumstances of life than constantly defeated and under the circumstances. I John 5:4 tells us that “whoever is born of God overcomes the world: and this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.” Did you get that? Our faith is the victory! God wants us to be overcomers. He planned on us overcoming the trials of life through our faith.
According to Hebrews 11:6 “without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” If we want to please God we must have faith. Imagine that: ‘we can please God.’ But in order to do it we must have faith. I do find it interesting that what really pleases God is not the do’s and don’t’s we hear about from religious people but rather our faith. It was Abraham’s faith that pleased God. When Abraham believed God, he accounted it to him for righteousness. Wow! Think about that: as we believe God it will be accounted to us for righteousness.
As we understand the importance of faith, we ought to apply ourselves to understand what it is and how to put it to work in our lives. How can we expect to live by faith much less live victoriously unless we know what faith is and how it works? Let us therefore study to show ourselves approved unto God a workman that need not be ashamed, II Timothy 2:15.
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Quickening
Quicken is an old english term which means enliven or to make alive, to make whole, complete. When I was a child I would occasionally get a splinter underneath a fingernail. My mother asked if it went into the quick. Interesting, the quick is the living tissue. If you get a splinter under your fingernail and it gets into the quick, you'll know it immediately!
Romans 8:11 is one of my favorite passages of scriptures regarding healing: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you."
To those of us who know the abiding presence of that Spirit, the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead--that is, the Spirit that quickened the dead body of Jesus; that made the dead body of Jesus alive--we ought to experience the quickening of that Spirit in our own mortal body, our own physical, death-doomed body!
This promise belongs to every born-again Spirit-filled Christian. The abiding presence of his Spirit is working in us constantly and continuously quickening our mortal bodies so that every disease germ and every virous that comes in contact with our bodies dies instantly. He is at work in us quickening our bodies: mending every injury, curing every infirmity, and healing every illness.
I will trust in his abiding presence and the quickening of his Spirit!
Romans 8:11 is one of my favorite passages of scriptures regarding healing: "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you."
To those of us who know the abiding presence of that Spirit, the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead--that is, the Spirit that quickened the dead body of Jesus; that made the dead body of Jesus alive--we ought to experience the quickening of that Spirit in our own mortal body, our own physical, death-doomed body!
This promise belongs to every born-again Spirit-filled Christian. The abiding presence of his Spirit is working in us constantly and continuously quickening our mortal bodies so that every disease germ and every virous that comes in contact with our bodies dies instantly. He is at work in us quickening our bodies: mending every injury, curing every infirmity, and healing every illness.
I will trust in his abiding presence and the quickening of his Spirit!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Ready for the Storm
God never promised to make things easy for us, nor to give us a life without hardships. It is the trying of our faith that strengthens us.
Jesus told the crowds in Matthew 7:24-27, "Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings of mine and doesn't do them shall be likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
It is interesting to note that 'the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon both houses.' The storm came to both houses, both the wise and the foolish. Some religious people would have us believe that the storms of life come because we are doing something wrong; others would have us believe that the storms come because we are doing something right. Jesus, however, indicated that the storms of life come . . . to everyone.
Our focus then is to be ready for the storm before it comes!
Jesus told the crowds in Matthew 7:24-27, "Therefore whosoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that hears these sayings of mine and doesn't do them shall be likened to a foolish man which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it."
It is interesting to note that 'the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon both houses.' The storm came to both houses, both the wise and the foolish. Some religious people would have us believe that the storms of life come because we are doing something wrong; others would have us believe that the storms come because we are doing something right. Jesus, however, indicated that the storms of life come . . . to everyone.
Our focus then is to be ready for the storm before it comes!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
God's Grace
God's grace is not simply his unmerited favor toward us. It is much more. His grace toward us is his willingness to get involved with us, to use his power and his ability in our behalf.
He is able and willing to help us and not only that He wants to. He wants to get involved in our lives to lift us out of the ordinary into abundant life.
Thank God for his grace!
Think about it: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32
He is able and willing to help us and not only that He wants to. He wants to get involved in our lives to lift us out of the ordinary into abundant life.
Thank God for his grace!
Think about it: "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32
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