When asked to share a scripture about faith, the one most often quoted is Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” This scripture is a great definition of faith. Most often the scriptures quoted about hope are Romans 15:13, “Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” and Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, the word “faith” means something that is believed especially with strong conviction, without question. The word “hope” means to cherish a desire with anticipation, to want something to happen or be true, to desire with expectation of obtainment or fulfillment. Faith is now, while hope is future.
Faith is real. The book of Hebrews defines faith as a substance and evidence that we can’t see but that does exist. I’ve heard and seen examples of people misunderstanding faith to mean that if they believe hard enough and long enough, it will become real; that isn’t what this scripture is saying or how faith works. Faith already exists if we believe. We can’t see the wind, but we know it exists. Electricity, television, and radio signals exist but we can’t see them. We know they exist in the unseen realm by flying a kite and plugging in a television or radio. These things don’t become real when we see or hear them, they already exist in a realm that we didn’t see, hear, feel, taste, or touch.
At the cross, Jesus provided everything we need to live an abundant, healthy, fruitful life here on earth. Everything He provided exists in a spiritual form that we can’t see, hear, feel, taste, or touch. Our faith is what helps us to believe in what we can’t perceive with our five senses. Faith is what enables us to believe and receive what is already true in the spiritual realm and makes it manifest in the natural realm.
Hope is confidence in a future event. You can hope for something but if it isn’t mixed with faith, it may never come to pass. Faith is what gives you the victory right now. Hope is a first step toward walking in faith. Once you have hope to believe for what you are expecting, then faith will bring it into existence. Remember, faith already knows what exists in the spiritual realm based on the promises of God and what Jesus paid for at the cross.
Faith can overturn a bad report. Hebrews 11:2 says, by faith the elders obtained a good report (testimony) and more than a dozen times in Hebrews 11 it says, “By faith.” Hebrews 11 is called, “The Hall of Faith.” There are numerous accounts of men and women who by faith did what they did. From Noah preparing an ark to save his household to Sarah receiving strength to conceive and give birth to a son way past her child-bearing age, each Biblical figure overcame adversity, negative reports, fear, and sickness by faith.
Build your faith muscles by reading Hebrews 11 and meditating on what each of these men and woman did. Read their stories in the Old and New Testaments to understand how their own faith muscles were strengthened. You will see they are no different from us. God is not a respecter of persons and what He did for them, He will do for us (Acts 10:34).
Find scriptures relating to any situation or an area where you might be struggling. Read, write them down, study, meditate, and speak them out loud. Faith comes by hearing God’s Word and His promises (Romans 10:17).
Faith is now! Don’t wait for your healing or your situation to change down the road. Believe and receive it now!
~Donna Jones