The Shield of Faith

Faith ! What a topic ! I guess if every aspect of the Christian's Armor could be put in a book, probably faith would take the longest to write. There is just so much to say about faith.

For those of you who are just joining in the discussion, I have been writing about how each aspect of the Armor of a Christian as the Apostle Paul described in Ephesians 6:10-18 relates to the finished work of Jesus Christ. Because faith is so extensive and because I am still learning much of it myself, I think this post will be divided over a few blogs and I invite you to discover faith with me !

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,the evidence of things not seen.- Hebrews 11:1

Let's look at Hebrews 11:1 for today. It declares that "faith is the substance of things hoped for" and "the evidence of things not seen". What does this mean ? Here is what it means : the things that require faith have no tangible physical manifestation. Yep that's right. The things require faith are things that look like they are nowhere near our address.

Let me share a little story with you. When I was in college, there were times when I was not sure if I would be able to go back to school the following semester because I never knew where I would get tuition from. I did not qualify for loans or scholarships because I was pursuing an American education in the US but I was not a US citizen or permanent resident (the typical requirement for getting any kind of financial aid).Every time the bill came from school, I did not open it because I did not want to see the extra charges that had been placed on the school fees and tuition I had not already paid. There was one thing I would do ; I would take the bill and I would pray over it and believe God for provision for the following semester. Guess what ? Yes, every semester, just before classes would begin, I would receive money to pay for school. And it continued to happen until I got my bachelor's degree in nursing. Praise God ! Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I truly never knew where money would come from. I could not see how I would pay my tuition and school fees but I know that by faith and by the grace of God, I made it through school without dropping a single semester.Praise God !

We live in a culture, where "seeing is believing" and even in the Body of Christ many of us cannot seem to believe God for certain needs. It's almost as if we bring the "difficult" cases to God after we've been told by the so-called "experts" that it is humanly impossible. A lot us believe doctors, talk show hosts, brothers, sisters, family members and our experiences more than we believe in God. This is not a criticism of others at all; I am also examining myself. We have to believe that God is able. We have to stop giving in to fear and discouragement. You have to believe that God is able to save you from that seemingly "hopeless" situation. But He cannot do it if you do not believe that He can. Sometimes, out of His gracious mercy, God works miracles in our lives anyway. However, His best for you and I would be that we believe in Him.

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 said to Thomas after His resurrection : "...Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed" (John 20:29, NIV).

It is God's delight when we believe inspite of the physical circumstances.