A Life of Faith

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Hebrews 11:1

Faith is intangible. You can’t touch it. You can’t see it. Sometimes you can’t even feel it. But faith holds to something. And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three. Faith holds on to hope. You hope for something because you love it, because you want it and desire it. The three are intertwined and cannot be separated. Love holds the three together, but faith cannot be faith without something to hope in.

Abraham went out from his homeland, not knowing where he went, but he hoped in the One who had guided him that far and Who had promised him descendants as numerous as the sand and stars. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:10)

Sarah, the wife of Abraham--though one who laughed at the thought of bearing a child when she was past age--she hoped in God because she judged him faithful who had promised. (Hebrews 11:11) And from her son came the nation of Israel, and later the promised Messiah.

Noah "moved with fear" built an ark because He had faith in the God who said He would flood the entire earth.

These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)

Faith is believing in the existence and presence of something you want. Something that is not yet here, but you see it in the future and you press towards it with all your might. You believe that it available even if that something isn’t yours, yet. Faith is grasping at what you don’t have, but clinging to each little piece of evidence, even if you can’t have the whole of it. Abraham never saw all the descendants that the Lord promised him, though he did see some. He was considered righteous for having faith in that which seemed impossible. He didn't give way to unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he [God] had promised, he was able also to perform.  (Romans 4:20b-21) Sometimes that kind of faith means against hope yet still believing in hope.

Faith is the sheer determination to believe in what you hope for, what you love. The Lord gives the righteous their desires of their heart, and those are the desires you hold fiercely to and love. They are desires you would loathe to give up and that you wrestle in prayer for, yet He does not grant them immediately. Some desires are never fulfilled, yet we know what it is to have faith in them. David's heart's desire was to build a temple for God, but it was not his hope that would be fulfilled, for Solomon would build it. Moses never entered the Promised Land. Faith doesn’t seek out just what is tangible, for then it would never be satisfied. Faith hopes in the unseen and invisible—the future. While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:18) It clings to promises, desires, and hopes, and does not easily let go. And our hope is ultimately in an unseen victory, and unseen God, and unseen Paradise, all of which show themselves in part, but will only be manifest completely in glory.

In the words of James MacDonald:

God is at work. He assures me of His presence till the promises are fulfilled. I know you may be painfully waiting on God for some promises He's made....Listen, He's working....Stop looking at what you see, and walk by faith in God. He is at work, even when I'm not seeing it.

For it is by faith that you stand. A faith that's yielded in its hope in God. A courageous faith that is on its knees with lifted hands.

Allow your trials, sufferings, and challenges to strengthen your faith and increase your hope in the Lord. Do not grow weary in well doing, even if you don’t see your faith fulfilled, for His sanctification is for your good and His glory, and He will never withhold that which is best for you.