I would like to share with you some mind-blowing, mind-food. I want you to understand how to use your mind more effectively and work at your optimum potential. So, in this blog, we will take a look at a well-known Bible verse and examine it from a different perspective. If you asked many churchgoers and non-churchgoers to define faith, many would respond, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen.” It is not a big deal if you have never heard it before, and if you have, you know where to find that verse in the Bible. It can be found in the book of Hebrews 11:1, and the whole chapter is also known as the Great Hall of Faith. Let us look at “The Now Faith.”
It is a chapter that delves deep into the concept of faith; there are around forty verses in the chapter that are all about faith. About people who had faith and people who demonstrated faith. So, today I am going to talk to you about faith and how it works in your lives. And in your thoughts and how you can use it to accomplish the things Yahweh has put you here to do. So, it is written in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Faith is Now.
And the first thing I want you to notice as you read this verse is the word “now.” Most people do not place much emphasis on the word “now” for meaning, comprehension, or direction. You would not consider the word “now” to be of any real value. You may think of it as a placeholder, a word that serves as a starting point for a sentence. However, the reality is that the word “now” is essential to understanding faith and how to operate in faith. Because it tells you when you get to have faith. For example, when you have faith, it is only because you have allowed yourself to enter the “now” that requires faith.
And if you spend your entire life seeking the easy way out and ways to get things done without risking anything, you will never find yourself in the “now” when faith is required. “Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for,” it reads. Often in my teachings. I will quote the verse without the word now and say, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen.” Then I will ask what the first word is in that passage. And the vast majority of the people will respond with “faith.” So, I will say it was a trick question because that is not the first word; the first word is “now.” And the “now” is so important because you can only have faith when you allow yourself to enter the “now,” which requires faith.
Faith Is All It Takes.
Yahweh told Noah, “I want you to build a big boat in the wilderness, three storeys high, that will hold seven of every clean animal and two of every unclean animal.” You, your wife, your sons, and their wives, and enough food for all of you. And Noah replied, “All right, but why am I building this boat when there is no river nearby?” Yahweh says it is because it is going to rain. You must understand that Noah was already four hundred and eighty years old, and he had never seen a drop of rain. So, when Yahweh told him it was going to rain, Noah had no means of understanding what that might mean. Why?
Noah had never seen rain. And now he is supposed to spend the next one hundred and twenty years building a boat in the wilderness. Because of something Yahweh told him would happen that he had never seen before,. Having faith, Noah, his wife, and his sons and sons’ wives spent the next one hundred and twenty years in the wilderness building an ark. They had faith. Which gave them the ability, desire, and willingness to work on a project for a long period based on something they had never seen before.
That is “now” faith. Faith is what drove David to run towards Goliath while the rest of the Israeli army fled. His brothers fled from Goliath, Saul fled from Goliath, and every man in Israel fled from Goliath, but David’s faith caused him to run towards Goliath rather than away from him. Faith is what motivated Noah and his family to build an ark for one hundred and twenty years because Yahweh said it would rain. Even though Noah had never seen rain in his four hundred and eighty years on Earth.
Now Faith Produces Action
My point is that when you have faith, it propels you to act on what you believe. So, it says, “Now faith” is the substance of things hoped for, the proof of things not seen. And from now on, I do not want you to think of “now” as just a word when you think about this passage. I would like you to consider “now” as a verb that describes the type of faith we are discussing. We are talking about “now” faith, the kind of faith that can only be obtained by allowing yourself to enter the “now” that indicates faith. And when you do that, you will find that doors will begin to open for you that have never opened for you in the past.
Simply put, you have learned to act on what you believe. And on the outcomes you desire rather than not acting due to doubt or unbelief. But I would like you to pay attention to the next line, which reads, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for.” Hope does not imply a wish, but rather a well-founded and well-grounded expectation for the future. To put it another way, you have a very good reason to believe that this result will occur. And then it says “evidence,” the evidence of things, and the word “evidence” is the same as the word “proof.” So, I would like you to consider this: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Using The Faith Formula.
You are going to say the same verse differently, allowing you to act on what you hear. “Now faith is where I stand on the things I expect while I prove the things I cannot see.” And what is even more intriguing is that this is a formula. What do you mean when you say this is a formula? So, you will remain firm on the things you expect while confirming the things you cannot see. So, this entire teaching is progressive in the fact that you first start by understanding what faith is; then, secondly, it shows you what faith can produce; and third, it gives you examples of all the people who exhibited faith.
Last but not least, you learn how to act on your faith. So, I want you to think about this formula: What kind of faith is now faith? What is now faith? Now faith is when you are stepping out in faith; it requires that ‘Now’ moment where there is no hesitation. Where you are prepared and positioned to step out in boldness, the next verse says, For by it, that is, by faith, the elders obtained a good report. The only way you can obtain a good report, a good testimony, a good witness, or a good reputation is by faith. See, the people that you look at and think Oh, my goodness, they are so amazing.
Faith in Action.
The reason you think they are amazing is that they stood on something they expected while proving something they could not see. And it does not matter if you are talking about someone in the world of sports, like Tiger Woods or Jordan Spaeth. They make a ninety-foot putt look easy. It does not matter if you are talking about someone who expects to generate a result based on their belief in the outcome. Or you are talking about someone who expects to act now to produce a result they could not have produced if they were doubtful. like Michael Jordan in basketball or Larry Bird believing that they are going to score these two free throws.
Michael Jordan believed that he could win all those championships. Faith is so crucial to every aspect of your life. One of the things you have to understand is that doubt and faith are both beliefs. I want you to think about what I just said: doubt and faith are both beliefs.
The Belief System.
Doubt is believing in results you do not desire more than you believe in the results you do desire. Faith is believing in the results you desire more than you believe in the results you do not desire. I mean, think about it; that is the difference between having faith and having doubt. See, someone says, Well, I have faith; do you believe that? Guess what? Someone who has doubt also has faith, except for the opposite thing. You believe more in the failure of the result than you believe in the success of the outcome. You need to wrap your head around how to allow yourself to believe in, focus on, and engage in life based on the results you want. Rather than the outcomes you do not want.
It is also a discipline and not about having a positive attitude. Or is it about speaking things into reality? So what is it about? It is about understanding how to use your mind to focus on the results you want. And to perceive the things that are already there because, when you have doubts, those doubts act as blinkers. Thereby preventing you from acting on the things that are already there. So first and foremost, we see faith, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for”. So, what exactly is “now” faith? It is the substance of things hoped for.
Focus On Faith.
It is where you believe in the things you are expecting and the evidence of things not seen. It is where you manifest things from the spiritual realm into the physical realm—things you have not seen and cannot see. So, now faith is you believing and standing by your expectations while proving things you have never seen before. Now faith is where you are believing and standing by your expectations while you prove things your family has never seen before. Now faith is you believing and standing on the things you expect, while you prove things the world has never seen before. And then, by faith, the elders obtained a good name.
The only way anyone can obtain a good reputation is by faith, by believing in the results that are desirable so strongly that belief gives you the impetus. It gives you the power and the energy to act on that result. And, when you do that, you can produce results that you could not produce if you doubted. This concept, this passage is showing you how to use your mind to activate your faith.