Offered By: Jeff Rowland
Four times in the scripture the bible says, “The just shall live by faith.” This is an imperative declaration. It doesn’t say that we might live by faith, but it says the just SHALL live by faith. This implies many things. Faith is the ultimate key to the victorious Christian walk. It doesn’t matter what you are facing in life, if you are walking in faith you are setting yourself up to see miracles in your life.
It is possible to go into an unhealthy extreme in this area as well. If faith becomes the object of our goal instead of the object of faith, which is Christ, then you will fall into extremes that will lead you into misapplying scripture. The power that becomes manifest in the believers life is as a result of who we have faith in and not faith itself.
I want us to consider a key element associated with faith in this article and let it encourage us to begin a lifestyle of faith that will bring us into fullness in our relationship with Christ.
Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hope for.”
Faith can be viewed in a two-fold manner. It is an action as well as an attitude. James says that faith without works is dead. Therefore there must be action to faith or it is a dead faith. Paul lists faith as a spiritual gift in his writings to the Corinthian Church.
People who have the gift of faith walk around in an attitude of faith most all of the time. Going back now to the first line of verse 1 of Hebrews 11, we could say that our actions or attitude of faith, then we have the verb is. This makes faith a present tense action or attitude.
Next we have the word, substance. Substance defines faith as the reality of the object of faith. So then, actions and attitudes of faith are the present tense reality of things hoped for.
Hope can be defined as the future tense of faith becoming sight. I have the hope of heaven because I have been redeemed by Christ’s blood. My hope is yet future. However, in this verse we can say that the actions of faith are the present tense reality of things that are yet future in our lives.
Speaking from a spiritual perspective we can say that faith takes what is yet our future hope and places it into our present day. I can enjoy the joys of heaven while on earth through faith.
This verse goes on to say that faith is the evidence of things not seen. That is it is the proof of what is invisible. Through the eyes of faith we can see things that before we could not see. This being the case we could say that unless our faith is strong we will not see the things that God wants us to see. We will be blinded to it. I wonder how many are walking around in darkness now even though they have been saved but their faith is weak and they are blinded to spiritual realities that could be right in front of them.
This truth from verse 1 would bring us to a question that should be asked. How do we strengthen our faith? Verse 3 says, “Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” Verse 3 gives us the basis for faith building.
Romans 10:17, “So then, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”
It is a relationship with the Word of God that builds our faith. Most believers have little or no relationship with the Word of God. Time in the Word is the key element to building faith in our lives. The Word produces faith. Therefore to see more clearly the things that are not seen we must spend time, valuable quality time in the Word of God.
Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”
Again we see the connection between faith and spiritual vision. If we have ever lived in a time where our spiritual vision needs to be increased it is today. Churches and individuals need desperately to increase our spiritual vision. Most are living below the standards in which God intended for us. He has equipped us with the person of the Holy Spirit and enabled us with power to walk out our faith as believers. However, we give little credence to the validity of the power that is ours through faith. Most believe that major accomplishments can only be achieved by someone else. Most believe that God has saved the special blessings for someone else.
The truth of the matter is that everyone is given by our blessed Father the power to accomplish whatever our faith says. If you can see it you can accomplish it. This is the key that opens up spiritual victory for the believer. With the connection between faith and spiritual vision we can unlock many things to us that before was hidden in the shadows of our imagination.
Consider now verse 27, concerning Moses, “By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the King: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” Using this text as a backdrop for some questions we could ask; have you ever felt as though you were all alone to face insurmountable problems that there are no answers for?
Have you ever been forsaken by a friend and wondered if you were going to make through the difficulties you were facing? How many are going through relationship problems with a wife or husband and don’t know which way to turn? Maybe financial problems that leave you with nothing but a soul full of stress and worry. How are you going to initiate faith for these times? It seems that at these times our enthusiasm is depleted and there is nothing left.
If we were to ask Moses; Moses how did you face the desert for 40 years? Moses how did you lead an entire Nation out of bondage, facing Pharaoh and his army? How did you stand up under the constant murmuring of the people while leading them to the Promised Land? I believe Moses would say; I saw a bush on fire that was not being consumed by the fire and heard His voice. Moses saw Him who is invisible. As a result of what he saw he had the strength to move on. We need to see into the invisible realm in order to have strength in times of adversity. There are some things that we must understand concerning seeing the invisible.
- There will be times when no one else will see him but you.
Moses was alone when he saw the burning bush. When Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus there were others with him but no one else heard his voice. Our relationship with Christ is a personal relationship; therefore the things that are shared between us are intimate and personal. If you have ever had an encounter with God and tried to explain it to someone else you know that it is hard to put into words what you experience. The reason for this is that what you experience is yours and yours alone most of the time.
- You must be willing to get into position to see Him.
Moses had to go to the backside of the desert in order to see Him who is invisible. Getting into position to see him sometimes includes heartbreak, loneliness, hardship, problems of every kind. These things are in our lives to get us into position to see into the invisible realm and catch a glimpse of the glory of God.
- You must believe that it’s possible to see the invisible.
This could be the most important element concerning our faith and our spiritual vision. Jesus said in the Gospel of Mark, “with God, all things are possible.” We must believe that there are things we haven’t seen, and that we can see them through the eyes of faith.
Conclusion: Faith will one day turn to sight when we see Him face to face. However until that day approaches we must believe that through the eyes of faith we can see into the invisible realm and see things that is only prepared for people of faith. In our darkest hours is when we need more spiritual sight. May God strengthen our faith together.
