SEEING WITH FAITH

THE ASPECTS OF FAITH

Faith is the substance of the things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen (I had defined faith on my blog post about “FAITH REWARDED “) So with due respect beloved, I won’t go into much detail about the definition but allow me to tackle today’s message, “Seeing with faith” and I will begin by the “Aspects of the faith,” Please don’t hesitate to check ,”THE TEST OF FAITH” as well among the first posts on my blog, and kindly comment, share and subscribe to be the first one to receive the inspiration message of the day as I post them.

Faith has two main aspects; (a) It is true knowledge about God and Christ, with an unshakable conviction that what God has revealed about Him and about us is the very truth.  Beloved, such faith is necessary, but not sufficient, for salvation (Gen. 15:16) “And he believed in the Lord and, and He accounted it to him for righteousness,” for even devils too belief truths about God. (b) Faith also involves trusting in God (Exod. 14:31) “Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses,” and being assured deep down that by His grace we are made right with God because of Christ (Matt. 16:15-16) “He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” that what Christ has accomplished applies to us. Because faith is centered in Jesus Christ and in what He has done, as each one of us is called to make a personal confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord (Matt. 7:24-27) “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken Him to a wise man who built His house on the rock; and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; but it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be liken to a foolish man who build his house on the sand; and the rain descended, the floods came , and the wind blew and beat that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”  And true faith brethren comes as a gift from God when we hear His word, and that word naturally leads to a life of loving service to Him, by giving Him all our very best with body, soul and mind and with ones might (Rom. 5:1-5) “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Thus Paul’s teaching about being saved through faith apart from works corresponds with James’s teaching about being saved through a faith that produces good works (Gal. 2:16) “Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.” And the epistle of James says (James 2:23-26) “And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness,” And he was called the friend of God. You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

HOW DO WE SEE WITH FAITH?

Seeing with faith. The book of Hebrews chapter 11 talks about what faith is, and by that same faith the elders obtained a good testimony (Heb. 11:1-2) “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony.” The writer begins by, now, meaning in the present; it is that value of a thing which we hope to receive either today or tomorrow, or in the near future but not in the past. We believe to have receive it in the spiritual but not yet been evidence, or seen manifesting in the physical. By faith, the elders obtained good testimonies, for they had believed the word of God to performance because the Promisor Himself was faithful not to fail them nor His word returning to Him empty without performing that which He sent it forth for. (V. 3) “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” Verse 3 three is a little bit skeptical, but the Holy Spirit will help us; this is a present revelation of the things that took place before the existence of the creation, but being revealed to us by the Holy Spirit through the Word as a now thing. How God made what now exist just by the word and it came to be real, what we now have the evidence and the existence of. The next chapters we will be seeing men who manifested greatly by faith, received testimonies, and through that faith we do believe that their testimony is real though we did not experience it, but we believe and see with faith through the Word of God which cannot lie. As there is a vital difference between knowledge and faith:  Knowledge is based on experience; faith on the other hand is based on testimony. Faith is a very common commodity exercised daily in everyday affairs (I had included this passage on “Faith Rewarded” but allow me to add is here as well as it will help us with rich the understanding) A check is accepted, for example because of the issuer of the check says he has money in the bank and the one who accepts the check trusts in his veracity. Another example, we do retire to bed at night with the hope of seeing the next day yet we are in the dark and the dawn of the day has not yet been experienced.  And that is why we ought to be grateful to God every morning as we experience the dawn of the day before us. Can we imagine all of us do have the hope of seeing the new dawn, but not all who make it; and that is a testimony of its own, “the gift of life to see the dawn of the day.

Gospel faith however, rises above this everyday type of faith in one major essential; belief in the divine testimony. We have never seen God, or heaven, or angels or the crown of victory. The divine Word however, testifies to their existence. Faith takes this divine testimony and acts upon it. Faith appropriates all the promises of God and proceeds on the basis of those promises. Faith gives substance to things that are not yet seen. By faith there is an apprehension of the invisible that gives assurance of its reality. The heroes of faith took the promises relating to a future state of affairs and acted as if they were present. The believer of today must do the same. Prophet Isaiah wrote in is epistle, “I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them” (Isa. 42:16). Now in this Scripture, in reality blind men are usually led on paths and ways that they do not know; because in real sense they don’t see.  And in a situation where by, one meets a blind man who does not need guidance nor leading because God is leading him or her, and because we are in the physical we don’t see what happens in the spiritual. We will definitely stop and think maybe they are pretending or making fun. But by faith, the revelation of the Holy Spirit and the word that has gone forth, we will belief that it is real because the invisible has said so.  Beloved, this indeed cannot happen in the natural but only in the divine existence for them that see with faith.

THE HEROES OF FAITH

Let’s now see the heroes of faith from (V.  4) ‘By faith, Abel offered to God , a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks.” When I was growing up, one day I came across a Bible picture, showing how Cain and Abel presented their sacrifices before God, and I used to wonder what criteria did God use to select the best sacrifice? As one could see Abel; with a young beautiful lamb before him, and Cain as well with different beautiful fruits mixed together to blend well. So by outer appearance or me personally I would chose fruits because I love fruits and that is based on the physical now.  But now, come to the spiritual; Abel gave it from his pure heart deep down, while Cain, though his sacrifice was more attractive yet he did not give it whole heartedly but was skeptical and arrogant in the inside. And that is how Satan and his agents are initiating many to his kingdom because as human beings, we like the bling, bling things thinking that all that glitters is gold; whereas it is not but a simple trap. And that reminds me of another thing that use to leave me with many questions. AI grew up in a catholic family and every Sunday we would attend mass; it was a long distance but we used to attend the masses anyway. And in church I used to see a big cross with a stature of Jesus on it. As I was not eloquent in speech just as Moses, I could not ask anyone though my grandpa was a lay person, I used to ask myself that, “Jesus died, was buried on the third day rose again, and ascended into heaven, sited at the right hand of God the Father. And why did they crucified Him again the second time? Where did they find Him and crucified Him again the second time?  Because of His statue which was still on the cross.  Consider this beloved! I don’t really know why the Holy Spirit has led me to this; something which happened may years and I personally wore a chain with the cross and a statue of Jesus for many years as an aspiring nun. I now understand how Ezekiel used to be carried away with the Holy Spirit in visions.

“By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Heb. 11:5).  This is one of the heroes that always give me that zeal to serve God with all might and strength. Enoch lived three hundred and sixty five years and for three hundred years he walked with God and God took him and he never saw death because he pleased God. This were three hundred years mark you! And in those days years were not flying as in our time now. O Lord gives us the grace to serve You and walk with You as Enoch did. In our generation today, we walk with God for months if not years, and if God doesn’t do speedily according to our heart desires, “We tell Him, “To hell with You God” and we follow our own ways and heart desires leading to doom. (V. 7-10) By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  

Righteous Father, May You have mercy on us and grant us the grace so that we may be able to see with faith and not by sight.

“Grace to You and Favor from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with us now and forevermore. Amen and Amen and Amen.”