BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT
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
Jesus Christ made two statements that gives us the foundational representation of defining faith:
The first, we have Jesus telling us “With God all things are possible.” in Mathew 19:26 and the second, Jesus said “All things are possible to him who believes” in Mark 9:23.
These statements sum up what faith’s focus is and the expressions of faith according to the scriptures.
In the first one, we see faith applied to God. We see God as the object of faith. Knowing who God is, most Christians would easily believe this saying wholeheartedly that truly, with God all things are possible. And in the second one, faith is applied to the one who believes. This is the part that is difficult for most of us Christians because it is about us; we see our own frailties and weaknesses; we see all that is happening around us and it seems like things aren’t going to be fine and God’s Word hasn’t been fulfilled in our lives. Nonetheless, God’s WORD is true and if we can believe, all things are possible to us too, just as it is with God.
The contrast of faith and sight is explained by Paul the Apostle in 2 Corinthians 5:7
“For we walk by faith, not by sight” – implying that if we walk by sight, we need no faith and vice versa, we do not need sight if we walk by faith.
Like mentioned earlier, our natural thinking as men goes contrary to this. In many secular cultures, we have the saying that “seeing is believing” and we would want to rather see a thing before we believe it. This is also because we have grown with a mentality that the physical realm is more real than the unseen and we usually would want to verify anything first by what is visible to our physical senses, this includes our sight.
Yet on the contrary, the WORD of God teaches us a new order or culture, that believing is seeing. This means that whatever we believe, we will see. Believing comes first, and then we will see what we have believed.
A horse with its jockey (horse race rider) symbolizes this manner of walk; So far as that horse has its jockey on it, it keeps moving, only listening to what it’s master tells it to do. Even for horses that were used in wars, no matter the loud noises, fires and chaos happening around them, so far as the jockey remains on the horse, the horse keeps forging its way forward among the troops. This is the kind of walk the Holy Spirit wants to have with us, that we would be apt to hear and listen to His voice even as we close our natural eyes (which limits us).
Scriptural examples to this are Psalm 27:13, Hebrews 11:27, John 11:39-40
“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.”
Psalm 27:13
In this scripture, we see David saying that he would have lost heart, unless he believed: believing preceded seeing. David said if it hadn’t been that he had believed, he would have despaired or lost heart, then he continues to say that he would SEE the goodness of God.
By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:27
In this scripture, Moses had faith and endured though he was in a very tough time and the physical situation left him without hope, yet when he exercised faith, he was able to see the unseen and endured. After believing, our eyes are opened to the unseen.
Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”
John 11:39-40
Here, we see again from scripture, Jesus asked that the stone to the tomb of Lazarus be taken away. The physical situation was morning because Lazarus was dead but Jesus saw the unseen and had told the people that Lazarus was just sleeping. Martha is like us, Martha was still speaking from the physical point of view, by sight. So what did Jesus do? Jesus emphasized a truth HE had previously shared with them “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”
God has delivered us from our old nature (which is used to the natural order of seeing before believing) and calls us to that place of the supernatural (believing first and then seeing) ; And this is the manner in which we shall see and experience the glory of God, the excellency of our KING.
Thanks for reading, kindly like and follow my blog for more. Also, share with me in the comment section what you know about faith and how you have exercised faith in recent times.
God bless you!
HAPPY PASSOVER AND RESURRECTION!!!
Inspired by the book Faith To Live By, written by Derek Prince
Nesher Ophel 