Foundations of Faith
What is faith?
Faith is grasping the unrealities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality now.
A key verse in the study of faith is the familiar one found in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Moffat’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.”
There are a number of kinds of faith. Everyone, saved and unsaved alike, has a natural human faith. The above scripture, however, is talking about a supernatural faith-- a faith that believes with the heart rather than believing with our physical senses may tell us. Faith, in other words, is grasping the unrealities of hope and bringing them into the realm of reality. And faith grows out of the Word of God. Our text describes faith as "the evidence of things not seen." You have the physical strength to do the work that you must do. Faith says, "The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall i be afraid?" (Psalm 27:1). Faith will say about itself everything that the Word says, for faith in God is simply faith in His Word. Our lives consist not only of physical strength but of spiritual strength, and the Lord is the strength of my life, both physical and spiritual. Strength starts from spiritual first then to physical. Same with the healing of any pain or sickness in our bodies. The Bible says, we are spirit, soul and body (1 Thes. 5:23). Spirit and new heart are used interchangeably as one.
FAITH vs. HOPE
When Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Cor. 13:13) he was not inferring that hope and faith are not important.
Each has its place, and one cannot be substituted for another. We cannot substitute love for hope. Neither can we substitute hope for faith. Yet so many people try to receive things from God on the basis of hope rather than faith.
FAITH IS NOW!
Hope looks to the future. It is always future tense. Faith is now. Faith says, "I'll receive the answer right now. I have it now." It is not hoping that gets the job done; it is believing.
Someone said, "Well, I believe i will receive my healing sometime." That's not faith, that's hope, because it is looking to some indefinite, future time. Faith says, "I receive my healing --- now!" If you need healing, you don't want it in the future, you want it right now, especially if you're in pain. If you are seeking the baptism of the Holy Spirit, you want to receive now, not at some indefinite future time. If you need salvation, you cannot put it off to the future, for that may be too late. People who hope to be saved will never be saved. Some of them are now dead. They left the world unsaved, because salvation that is based on hope never comes to fruition.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. - Ephesians 2:8-9
"...that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”
- Romans 10:9-10, 13
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| Armando P. Mariano |
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Pastor
El Chayil Intl. Missions
El Chayil Intl. Missions
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