WHAT IS FAITH? (2)

Many Christians are not seeing the manifestations of the breakthrough they desire in their lives today because they are ignorant of the only way to receive anything from God – FAITH!  

To receive the breakthrough you desire, you MUST have faith in God (Mk. 11:12-14, 19-22). Faith in God is faith in His Word.

So, today we want consider another aspect of – “WHAT IS FAITH?” In Hebrews 11:1, God describes what Bible faith really does. Here the Bible says, “Now faith is (1) the substance [reality, assurance] of things hoped for, (2) the evidence [proof; title deed] of things not seen.”

Moffatt’s translation of this verse reads, “Now faith means that we are confident of what we hope for, convinced of what we do not see.”

Faith is (1) the assurance of things hoped for, (2) the conviction of things not seen. Faith is trusting in something that you cannot fully express or prove.

Another translation says, “Faith is giving substance…to things hoped for.”

You can’t have faith without knowing it because it is “a substance.”

What is a substance? A substance is a particular kind of matter.

What is matter? Matter is the substance of which a physical thing is made. It (1) has mass, (2) occupies space, and (3) is convertible to energy.

It is a particular kind of material having uniform properties. For instance, water, ice and snow are not different substances because they are made up of a particular kind of matter – Hydrogen [H] and Oxygen [O].

Hope does not have any substance. It is faith that gives substance to those things that you are hoping for. Faith will eventually bring into reality what you have been hoping for.

But for your faith to work, you MUST act on the Word that God has spoken concerning your situation. For instance, when the children of Israel came up against the city of Jericho, God told them exactly what to do (He gave them an instruction to obey). But in order to enjoy the victory God had promised them:

(1) They had to receive God’s Word to them, (2) they had to believe God’s Word to them, and (3) they had to act upon that Word God gave to them.

Their acting on the Word from the LORD was their faith in action. Their obedience to the instructions God gave to them was their faith in action.

What is God really telling us in Hebrews 11:1? He is saying that faith is taking hold of the unseen realm of hope, and bringing it into the realm of reality (Rom. 4:17). Faith is grasping the unrealities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality.

For instance:

1. You hope for God’s continued protection. FAITH in His promises concerning protection gives you the assurance that you are protected. His promise is the substance to that which you are hoping for (Ps. 91:1-16; Isa. 43:2; Col. 3:3; Zech. 2:5; Isa. 59:19; Ps. 23:4-5; Deut. 28:7; Isa. 54:15).

Therefore, in Isaiah 54:17 God promised saying, “No weapon formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue which rises against you in judgment you shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and your righteousness is from Him."

2. You hope for a raise in your finances so as to meet up with a certain obligation. FAITH in His Word concerning finances gives you the assurance that you’ll have the money when you need it. Check through the Bible to see if there is anywhere God made any promises to us concerning prosperity. If there is any such promise, then that is your legal tender; that is the substance of the thing you are hoping for. The Bible says that:

a)       God has pleasure in the prosperity of His children (Ps. 35:27).

b)       God wants His children to prosper (3 Jn. 2)

c)       God wants the righteous to flourish (Ps. 72:7).

d)       God wants His children to live in abundance (Jn. 10:10; Gen. 2:8-17).

e)       The Scriptures say that Christ became poor so that we through His poverty might become rich (2 Cor. 8:9).

f)         Prosperity is the reward of the righteous (Prov. 13:21).

g)       Christ has redeemed us from the curse of poverty (Gal. 3:13-14, 29).

In Philippians 4:19 Apostle Paul said, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”

Again, faith is the EVIDENCE of the things not seen. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is…, the evidence of things not seen.” In order words, now faith is......., the evidence of things you cannot pick up with your physical senses.

Since the Word of God equals faith, Hebrews 11:1 can read, “Now the Word of God (the promise God made in His Word concerning your situation) is…, the evidence of things not seen.”

You can’t have faith without showing (expressing) it because it is the EVIDENCE. Faith itself proves that what is unseen is real.

Faith is the evidence that the things in the spirit realm which we cannot see with our physical eyes do really exist. For instance, you are not seeing the third Heaven from where you are right now because it exists in the spirit realm, but faith in His Word is the evidence that the third Heaven exists.

That implies that the Word of God (the promise of God concerning your situation) proves that what is unseen is real.

For instance, the evidence that your sickness is gone is His Word which says, “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed” (1 Pet. 2:24).

If you happen to be plagued by sickness and disease, since God’s Word says that by His stripes you’ve been made whole, the evidence of your faith is that you forget about the drugs that the doctor has prescribed for you and thank God for a perfect healing.

Also, the evidence that God the Father loves us is that He gave the unspeakable gift, Jesus Christ, to us. Here God demonstrated (expressed) that He loves the world by giving His only begotten Son to become our substitute.

In John 3:16 Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

What is evidence? Evidence is something that gives a proof of the existence of something. It is that which helps you to come to a particular conclusion.

In 2 Corinthians 4:18 the Bible says, “While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Faith means that though you may not see the outcome now but you are sure of the end result.

The evidence of your faith is called corresponding action. Acting on what God has said in His Word is the evidence of your faith.

For instance, suppose you are experiencing some symptoms like barrenness, and God has said in His Word that none shall be known to be barren in the land, then that settles it because that promise is the evidence that you shall not continue to be barren.

In Exodus 23:25-26 God said, “And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. 26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.”

The evidence that you believe God is that you go and start buying baby things even when you have not had any carnal relationship with your spouse.

Are you in a wheel chair, and you have been prayed for, the evidence of your faith is that you stand up from that wheel chair immediately and walk whether you feel like it or not.

Examples of people that had an evidence for their faith abound in the Scriptures:

1. In John 5:8 Jesus said to the man that has been paralysed for 38 years, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” The evidence of the man’s faith was that immediately he took up his bed, and walked (Jn. 5:9).

2. A good example of faith as an evidence of things not seen is the case of the birth of our second son, KK. We believed God for two sons long before we went to the altar. So, way back in Germany, we bought the things that a male child would need. We did not buy any unisex material because unisex speaks of doubt [second thought]. When we came back to Nigeria, within the next one year, God gave us a male child – KK.

3. Another good example is the case of our beloved brother, Pastor Henry Akporeha. When the wife was heavy with the second child, they went for a scan so as to know the gender of the baby. In spite of the fact that they have believed God for a male child, the scan said that the baby was a female. The wife looked down cast when that result was pronounced. But the husband said in his mind, “Though the scan result read a female child, I believe God for a male child. To prove that I mean what I believe, I will go and buy the materials for a male child because God does not fail.” So he went and bought things for a male child, not unisex. When the child was born, he was a male. If you take a close look at the place where the sex organs are usually located, you will discover for yourself that heaven carried out a surgical operation on that child to agree with the faith of Pastor Henry who, in spite of the scan result, believed God for a male child. If you take the step of faith to act on God’s Word, God will reach out to you and do what you cannot do. When you do the natural, God will do the supernatural. When you do the ordinary, God will do the extraordinary.

4. Peter walked on water. The evidence that Peter believed the Word of Jesus is that he came out of the ship to walk to Jesus. Matthew 14:27-29 says, “But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid. 28 And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. 29 And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.”

Therefore, if you want that reproach in your life to be permanently rolled away right now, you must choose to put action behind what you believe by acting on God’s Word. Act on His promises and then rest in His power and faithfulness. Until you act on God’s Word, it will never become a reality and there will be no change in your situation. It is not praying or crying, but it is acting on what God has spoken that brings results. Rise up and receive your breakthrough by faith today!

Watch out for the next edition of Good news from the Pulpit!

• Your friend: I. I. MADUBUNYI (Senior Pastor)                               June 25^th, 2017!

Promise of God: “God will undo all that afflict you and give you fame instead of shame” (Zeph. 3:19-20).