What Faith Really Is.
What have you been told about faith?
For the Christian folks, we know it to be what Hebrews 11:1 says – “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
What many people understand this to be is hope. We know faith but our understanding of faith is hope; and even when we pray in faith, we do not really expect the result that we see.
I would be explaining faith from Hebrews 11:1 emphasizing on three words, substance, hope and evidence.
1 of faith -Substance
When you hear or read about substance, it refers to something tangible, and that you can lay hold of. Substance is defined as the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists and which has a tangible, solid presence. In faith being the substance of things hoped for, it means there is a tangible thing to what is being hoped for. For instance, if your goal is to get into college by November or get a Job by December; then that is what you hope to get by that time.
For Faith to be in the pipeline, there must be a substance to that thing you are hoping for. Substance here now refers to what is tangible along the line of what you are hoping for. For getting a job, what could be tangible here would be drafting an application letter for the role you want to apply, and sending it out to the places you are interested in. The substance is the effort, the work, you are putting into making faith what it actually is. So, faith without substance is dead.
2 of faith -Hope
Hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen. This means there is a possibility of that thing happening but you do not know how it is going to happen. There is often no capacity- that is substance, to ensure that that thing works out so you just hope that it will work out. Hence hope deferred always makes the heart sick.
3 of faith -Evidence
Even though what you want has not come yet, there is a proof that the thing is on its way. When a woman wants to have a baby, there’s a process involved. A process of sexual intercourse with her husband, which is the work, and there’s a moment of trusting that the sexual intercourse is going to result into pregnancy because not all sexual intercourse result in pregnancy. If it does, the pregnancy is a proof that she is most likely going to have that baby.
When the bible talks about faith, it is actually referring to the 3 ingredients that makes faith what it is – Substance(which is the action), Hope and Evidence (proof). As we pray and have faith, the 3 ingredients must be present for there to be a manifestation of faith.
Do you really believe?
You may be interested in this: How strong is my CONVICTION?
There are times when we pray and we want to see a change happen in us or around us but we really do not believe that it can happen. So we just pray and hope that it happens just like the case of Rhoda and the group of Christians who were praying for the release of Peter from the prison in Acts 12: 13. These guys literally were praying that God should release Peter from the prison. When God did and Peter knocked on the door, Rhoda went to tell the other guys praying that the person they were praying for his release was already at the door of their house. They told her that she was “out of her mind”.
How were these people wanting Peter to be released from the prison? (you can let me know in the comment section) because. They are the real definition of unbelieving believers and some of us are guilty of it too. We pray to God for something but then, we are not sure if that thing can even happen.
Don’t be an unbelieving believer, let your faith be what faith really is.
Faith = Substance + Hope + Evidence.
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Total truth..
Total truth. welcome back.
Thank you very much
Hmmn! This is inspiring!
I’m glad you found it so.
Thank you for reading through.