What does it mean to walk by faith?

For you to experience the very change you desire in your life, you MUST walk (live) by faith. So today, I want to show us - “WHAT IT MEANS TO WALK BY FAITH!” 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we (Christians) walk by faith, not by sight.” 

When you believe the promise of God concerning your situation, you enter the rest of God (Heb. 4). We can then do everything we need to do having entered the rest of God (Eph. 2:6, 1:21). So, no matter what you are going through right now, the only way you can stay in the REST of God is by believing and acting on what God has said concerning your situation. 

As Christians, we are to walk by faith and not by sight. Our faith level is increased by the amount of time we spend in the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). What does it mean to walk by faith?

1. To walk (live) by faith, means that you keep moving, even if you don't know where you are going. In this way, “Walking by faith” means, even though you might not be able to see where you're going to, you just keep moving! 

Walking by faith requires you to go to a place you do not know, one that God will reveal to you as you walk in obedience.

For instance, in Exodus 13:1, God was leading the Israelites out of Egypt. Even when they did not know where they were going to, they kept moving.

“And Abram went up out of Egypt, he, and his wife, and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the south” (Gen. 13:1). 

2. Walking by faith is believing when you don’t see it.

“Now faith is the assurance (substance) of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1, RSV).

You have to believe the promise of God before you can see its manifestation. Do you believe that your latter end shall be very colourful (Job 8:7)? Do you believe that though you may be experiencing some health challenges right now, but by the stripes of Jesus you have been made whole?

The world says, "Seeing is believing." But God says, "Believing is seeing." 

Faith is visualizing the future in advance. It is seeing the future in the present (Jer. 1:11-12).

Every great achievement began when somebody saw it in advance. We never put a man on the moon until one day John F. Kennedy stood up and said, “Let’s put a man on the moon.”  At the time he said that, the technology for such a venture had not even been invented.

3. Walking by faith is obeying When you don’t understand it. “By faith (Moses) left Egypt, not being afraid of the king” (Heb. 11:27, RSV; Ex. 10:28-29).

In Exodus 14, Moses and the children of Israel were trapped at the Red Sea. And God instructed them to cross the Red Sea.

Abraham is a classic example of obeying when he didn’t understand. Abraham went out, not knowing where he was going.

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went” (Heb. 11:8)

He was about 75 years old when God asked him to give up all his security, right at an age when Abraham should have been getting Social Security! (Gen. 12:1-3).

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all (the) families of the earth be blessed. 4 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him…” (Gen. 12:1-4).

Look at it this way: God said to Abraham, “I want you to leave. Pick up everything and get ready for the greatest adventure of your life” (Gen. 12:1). The scary part of it is that God gave Abraham no details. 

Abraham asked God, "Where are we going? “God said to him, “You’ve never heard of it.” Again, Abraham asked God, "How long is it going to take? God replied saying, “You’ll find out.” Abraham asked God, "How will I know when I get there?” And God said to him, “I’ll let you know! Sometimes God will tell you to do something, and you’ll think, "There’s no way this is going to work!" Yet, God says, Do it! And guess what? It works!"

4. Walking by faith requires a strong determination to follow God’s plan regardless of what life throws your way.

Look at Daniel to discover how to have the resolve not to sin. “…Daniel purposed (determined) in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore, he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself” (Dan. 1:8). 

5. Walking by faith means that you continue to cling to the dreams God has planted in your heart, even when you’ve been thrown away, taken to prison for crimes you didn’t commit. Just take a look at all Joseph endured in Genesis 37-50. 

6. Walking by faith means you have the courage to stand up for the hurting, broken, and down-trodden, to face death yourself for the good of others. Look at Esther and how she risked the death penalty to save the Jews (Esther).

To walk by faith, you just have to play the part of a fool. Think about Noah building an ark for a flood when it had never even rained on earth. Think about Abraham clinging to the promise that he would be the father of many nations even though he was childless at the age of 100. Think about Moses standing before the Israelites in the wilderness telling them they would eat meat until it disgusted them but having no idea where that meat would come from. Think about Joshua marching round the walls of Jericho as God had instructed him to, and wondering what good it was going to do.

7. Walking by Faith means giving when you don’t have it. “By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did.” 

By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings.

“By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts” (Heb. 11:4, KJV).

Giving and faith go together. God uses money to test your faithfulness, and He watches the giving of every Christian. 

Jesus said, “If you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?” (Lk. 16:11, NLT).

In Luke 6:38 Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your bosom. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back" (RSV).

I, therefore, personally challenge you to stop considering the magnitude of your problem, rather consider the magnitude of your God. Stop considering your condition, but consider what God has promised you in His Word concerning that situation you are facing right now, and then rest in His power and faithfulness. Rise and be healed, in Jesus’ name! Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!

• Your friend, I. I Madubunyi (Senior Pastor, HOG)