Question and Answer: The Nature of Faith

A recent insightful question was posed to me and I thought the conversation was worth posting.

Q: Hi Pastor Bob, I was reading Hebrews 11 and was wondering what it means when it says "Each one of these people of faith died not yet having in hand what was promised, but still believing." Hebrews 11:13 and it says it again in 11:39 "Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised." He gave the examples of Abraham and Sarah, but they were promised a child and they had Isaac. Is he just referring to Heaven and being there? What does this mean? Thanks! Have a great day!

Answer:
Hi, great question! This really speaks to the true nature of faith. Faith is being so convinced of the truth of the Gospel that even death cannot separate you from that truth. Once you get hold of any promise of God, that truth becomes more certain than the laws of nature.

Jesus spent His entire earthly ministry trying to convince His disciples to increase their faith regarding, not just the promise of eternal life, but the reality of the unseen Kingdom of God invading the time-space dimension. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen"(Hebrews 11:1).

Therefore, your question accurately identifies the real point of contention between many evangelicals and Spirit-filled Christians. Evangelicals tend to only believe that faith is for our eternal salvation and not for issues of the present age. Many feel that fighting the fight of faith is standing for Jesus in the face of persecution. They do not typically believe actively for the promises of God to be manifested in the here and now.

Spirit-filled believers agree with all of the above and also include the segments of the Bible where we are instructed to have faith for God's manifested glory in our present lives. We believe in the importance of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5) as well as the gifts of the Spirit (1Corinthians 12-14).

We believe that the fight of faith includes finding all of the promises of God revealed in His Word and exercising our faith to reveal the full range of God's power. We believe that God is pleased with this more aggressive fight of faith. Mark 11: 23-24... Jesus commanded His disciples to "Have faith in God. "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. Mark 11:22-24 (NKJV)

I hope this sheds a little perspective on this. When you fight the fight of faith for salvation or any other promise, you believe until...
Blessings, Pastor Bob