Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)
Faith is defined as carrying two forms in God, that is as a “substance”: It means faith should be able to be described, the properties and components of one’s faith should be able to be tested and result in a consistent output of characteristics and features. It is also called “evidence”: Faith should be able to be understood when brought into the prospect of judgment by another, and it should come out from that judgment as something true.
The words of our Lord Jesus give us an understanding of faith as a substance when he said “…If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.” (Luke 17:6 KJV)
This was the Lord defining faith as a substance and defining the size of faith which should have definite impact on the earth. The context of our Lord’s speech clearly states, our authority upon the earth depends entirely on the substance of our faith. We can recreate the earth by our words, simply to say things based the substance of our faith.
The “evidence” of our faith, is more thoroughly established when we relate with God, the great and mighty Judge. “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.” (Hebrews 11:6 KJV)
Fact that makes up the “evidence” of our faith towards God is called to “diligently seek”. Diligence is careful consistency. This means the scale with which God measures our faith for reward, is called Careful consistency
We have thus established:
Towards the earth and things over which we have authority our faith is hinged upon a substance. In searching for God our faith is hinged upon careful consistency.
The origin of faith is the word of God, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17 KJV). This infers that faith can only exist in the context where it relates to God and his crystallized will. For there to be a requirement for faith, God has made the first move. He gives his word.
Therefore, the foundation for faith is to believe and in many cases we find that to believe is enough but upon careful study it becomes a lot more clearer that believing is only potent on the back of pre-existing faith actions, either by you or someone else.
Here are examples where we find belief to be enough:
“But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” (Romans 10:8-10 KJV)
Here, we find that to believe is enough for righteousness and confession is all the substance we need for salvation simply because all the works of faith have been fulfilled in Jesus.
In the bible we find so many examples of healing by both the Disciples of Jesus and Jesus Christ himself where he asked the receiver to only believe, and that was sufficient for them to receive the desires of their heart because they (Jesus/Disciples) had done the pre-requisite works of faith and that result was assured.
Peter in healing the crippled man at the beautiful gate was recorded to have stated “such as I have give I thee”, at that point all the man had to do was believe.
Using Abraham as a case study, we find the model of faith established:
Faith = belief + works.
“Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.” (James 2:21-23 KJV)
Abraham believed God was counted as a prophecy which was fulfilled when his works proved it. In doing so, Abraham who was the father of Faith displayed a model that is consistent with all profession faith.
Salvation represents the most obvious display of the model when it says “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” (Philippians 2:12-13 KJV). So, for salvation, to believe is enough unto righteousness as it was for Abraham, but works are important to prove it, just as it was for Abraham: then we become the friends of God. However, the importance of belief coming first is best outlined when it said “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure”. This clearly means, believe unto righteousness gives God the necessary space in your heart to work in you the ability “to will and to do”.
Therefore, of yourself you are incapable of producing any form of faith by works, but when you believe first, then are you empowered to have the will and to do, just as it happened to Abraham. When we believe, our belief which at that point is the entirety of our faith is often tested in order for it to produce the substance of our faith, the first characteristics of the substance of faith is patience. “Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” (James 1:3-4 KJV)
SUBSTANCE OF FAITH
The substance of faith may take any of the various forms or actions but it must have three components as outline below vis-à-vis how water is Hydrogen and Oxygen but when crystallized as a solid it take the shape of the container.
“But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:25-27 KJV)
· Patience
· Spiritual Groanings by the Spirit (actions that go to God as prayers)
· Must have been the will of God (hence the need for the word of God)
All these must be bonded by the heart posture (or continual disposition) of intercession. You are standing actively in the gap between the words of God and its manifestation. This is because the pathway to manifest God’s word is called Honour. “Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said … for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” (1 Samuel 2:30 KJV)
The Israelites as a people were those most subjected to these processes
“And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.” (Exodus 2:24-25 KJV)
They, yet suffering held on to the God waiting patiently for his promise to them and made groanings by the Spirit of God, and the King saw this as honour for he had given them his words and he honoured them with such a great deliverance that until today, such might of God has its own cadre in the manifestations of God’s power, as Micah heard the Lord say “According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.” (Micah 7:15 KJV)
This is the substance of faith.
EVIDENCE OF FAITH
“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.” (Hebrews 11:3 KJV)
The evidence of faith is bequeathed to you as understanding of the “worlds” as framed by the word of God. It follows a work of careful consistency in seeking after God. This faith is akin to having a research work bearing fruit after many years with the backlog of research being the evidence of effort.
The bible tells us that understanding is to depart from evil and that is the evidence of faith. We carefully and consistently order our lives to eschew evil.
An example of such faith is found in Job.
“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.” (Job 1:1 KJV) He obtained a good report by this, but the evidence that he lived by this faith is outlined in this statement by Job “Oh that I were as in months past, as in the days when God preserved me; When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness; As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;” (Job 29:2-4 KJV)
This is how the understanding comes upon you – the evidence of what you cannot see:
· God preserves you, that is, he works in you will to persist in search of him
· His understanding rests upon you and it shines as light in darkness causing you to know the pathway of truth
· God bequeaths you the secret that sets you apart
The working of this faith is ably described in James as it teaches us how to effectively seek after God:
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?” (James 4:8-12 KJV)
The facts behind this evidence of faith are called your lifestyle. The Judge scrutinizes your lifestyle as evidence to decide whether you can receive “things not seen”. If there is no careful consistency in your lifestyle – you know the decision of the righteous Judge from now.
Lifestyle of:
1. Consistently approaching unto God to learn of him, by sanctification, a contrite heart and single mind (we see Job practice this in Job 1:5)
2. Fasting: To carry a burden unto God
3. Humility
4. A bridled tongue as one in a courtroom providing evidence – you are not the judge.
APPLYING BOTH TYPES FAITH TO OUR SITUATION
The substance of faith may take different forms but it must be ably described as “actions which are clear and activities in honour of God”, the evidence of faith takes the form of continuing communion with God. As a case study, we would look into how our fathers practiced faith by actions in honour of God or continuing communion with God.
Hebrews 11:4-10
Abel (Genesis 4:2-7): Abel’s faith was actions taken to produce honour towards God. Abel clearly had discerned the will of God and was careful to follow it. Long before God instructed Moses on how he wants his gifts offered, Abel brought the First fruits and fat out of his flocks.
In Abel substance of faith, we find A heart posture of intercession (evidenced by the cry of his blood), we find the will of God (type of sacrifice offered) and we find patience and groanings (he selected the first and the fat).
Enoch (Genesis 5:24): Enoch diligently sought after God, and we find that he was described as one who walked with God, therefore, his faith had the required lifestyle to support it. He was bestowed the secret of God to the degree that Jude 1:14-15 enlists a prophecy. He unlocked the prophetic and became the first man to be translated. He sought God so diligently that the evidence he produced compelled into reality something which had never been seen – God took him.
Noah (Genesis 6:8-22): Noah towed the line of Enoch and walked with God, he also accessed the prophetic and found the secret of God to circumvent a nasty event which was to happen in future. His faith by diligent search and walk with God gave him the secrets of salvation in a time condemnation.
Abraham: Abraham clearly hoped for a city which builder and maker is GOD and upon receiving knowledge of the will of God, acted in patience for he dwelt in that land unto his Grandson and with groanings (dwelling in tabernacles – not houses), He so honoured God that he made this statement: “…I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,” (Genesis 14:22 KJV)
LITTLE FAITH AND MUSTARD SEED FAITH
A faith describe as little has either one or more of these components:
1. Matthew 8:26, fear
2. Matthew 14:31 Doubt
3. Matthew 16:8 Limitations of the mind.
4. Luke 12:28 Not discerning the power of God.
Where any of the above exist, a faith is reduced to “little” and may be unable to produce results if not helped (Mark 9:24).
Mustard seed faith is to be planted so all others can enjoy the fruits thereof and beautify the earth. (Matthew 13:31-32, Mark 4:30-32, Luke 13:18-19). Mustard seed faith carries the power to alter deep aspects of the earth as created (Matthew 17:20).
The disciples in Acts 6:2-4 shows how to plant the word of faith (the mustard seed). Having received the word of God and seen the initial results of its substance, they said “it is not reason that we should leave the word of God…” and we see them plant this word in continual prayer and the ministry of the word. Even to today we still enjoy their fruits. When the substance of your faith starts to supply that which we hope for, it is wisdom to plant it by continually giving yourself to prayers and ministry of the word (to water it).
“BY FAITH” and “THROUGH FAITH”
When we are actively working out our faith we are building a structure through which others can receive from God, and that faith obtains for us a good report (Hebrews 11:2), becomes a model on how we have lived our lives (Habakkuk 2:4), our hearts is purified (Acts 15:9), we are sanctified (Acts 26:18), we are justified and gain access to God as His children (Romans 5:1-2, Galatians 3:26). It essentially becomes entirety of our lives (Galatians 2:20).
The working out of our faith not only benefits us but becomes a conduit for the flow of the power of God to everyone who judges Him faithful.
“Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11:11 KJV)
It was the faith walk of Abraham and Sarah over many years that was the conduit of the power that birthed Isaac. At the point when Sarah was to receive what she had hoped for, she did not believe (Genesis 18:9-15), but power was conducted through faith because she judged him faithful. We can infer that their faith walk was so strong that roles temporarily reversed, God brought his evidence and Sarah became the judge.
Another operation “through faith” is recorded in Acts 3, it was recorded that the lame man had Judged Peter faithful when “…he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them” (Acts 3:5)
But Peter proceeds to explain when he said “And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.” (Acts 3:16 KJV)
It is the faith walk of Jesus that gave him soundness because the faith walk of Jesus has been invested into his name and as thus, it conducts the power of God to make the man strong. Your faith walk never goes to waste; it is a permanent fixture if you understand how to conduct the power of God. This also means that to receive of God through faith, you must judge God faithful. Hebrews 11:31-38 shows that everyone who received “through faith” have themselves judged God faithful.
It is my own thought to postulate that it is possible to have faith and yet not receive through faith unless you judge God faithful.
HOW TO JUDGE GOD FAITHFUL
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; (Deuteronomy 7:9 KJV)
· By consciously feeding yourself knowledge of his faithfulness.
· Be conscious of the covenant of faith and mercy which you connect to.
· Genuinely Love the Lord by compelling obedience.
CONCLUSION
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days. For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land. (Jeremiah 32:14-15 KJV)
Today, you have learnt the full concept of faith put them in your heart and mind (earthen vessel) and try to practice them that it may be renewed and live within you. For when the prosperity of God shall come, this will help you possess that which is yours.