Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. –Hebrews 11:1
Over the last two or so weeks I’ve been asking God to stretch and strengthen my faith even the more. I believe my prayer went something like, “Lord, please stretch my faith to being far beyond what I can even imagine. I want the kind of faith that moves mountains; the kind of faith that is absolutely crazy, just don’t make no sense, Naima you’re crazy, how in the world that happened, kind of faith.” My reason for this, foremost, is because without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). Secondly, nothing moves God quite like faith. I believe God for some great and mighty things and that is because I serve a Great and Mighty God. It is our faith that moves God to act mightily on our behalf; not our whining, whimpering, bargaining, or faithless prayers. How many times in the Gospels have you read Jesus saying to those He healed, “Thy faith has made thee whole”? (A few Scripture references -Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:34, Mark 10:52, Luke 17:19). On the flip side, lack of faith and unbelief limits God from performing mightily on your behalf. A perfect example of this is illustrated in Matthew 13:58 when Jesus was rejected by His people in His own hometown. After a teaching He did in the synagogue, the people therein began questioning His wisdom and power. They figured there was nothing special about Him or that He wasn’t “allowed” to have any kind of authority or power since they knew His family. As a result, Jesus couldn’t do many mighty works there because they refuse to believe.
They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil; and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. - Psalm 37:19 (AMP)
As you may very well know, I stopped working in the “world’s” system as of August 2008. This wasn’t pre-planned by me but rather it was done out of obedience to God. It was just 2 months prior to my resignation that the Lord began telling me some of the upcoming events in my life, one of which was leaving my job. I remember the day all too well, as I was 8 minutes into a 45-day consecration I was doing along with my church. At 12:08 AM one Sunday morning in June, I was sitting on my bed writing in into my prayer journal what the Lord had shared with me. He told me that I will be leaving my job, and I automatically assumed that He’d show me my next job prior to resigning; for I was a single mom of 4 (3 at home at that time). A few moments later He followed that by saying, “You will not feel the pinch of the famine that is in the land”. At the time, I didn’t know the above Scripture (in brown text) existed; I just knew that I was comforted by His words to me. Nonetheless, I certainly didn’t think that in 2 months I would’ve resigned from my place of employment but that is exactly what happened. In August 2008 I left my job not knowing my next move; all I knew is that this is where He was leading me.
So here I am, a little over 10 months has passed since I’ve worked in the “world’s” system. I admit that on the day I resigned, I was absolutely panic-stricken, and it took me a few months to realize that I wouldn’t be returning to the workforce, at least not in the way I knew it before. Prior to me learning this, I’d wake up almost every day asking God to tell me the next step He wanted me to take; for I thought it’d be unwise if I tried to finish what He started. I don’t know how many times in a day that I’d ask Him this question; however, His response to me was pretty consistent. He told me to rest and be faithful. My response: huh? Being very ignorant at that time, I thought He wanted me to rest before returning to the workforce; however, my thoughts were, “Lord, I’ll rest better if You’d tell me when I’d be working so I know how I’m going to pay these bills!” As a single mom of 4 and a homeowner, I had a lot of bills and it was difficult for me to see past this at that time. It took a few months before I finally realized that God was indeed developing my faith, setting me up in ministry and teaching me how to trust in and depend on only Him.
OK, now today. You already know that yesterday the Lord had done an awesome thing by providing me with the funds I needed to stop repossession of my SUV (click here for details). The funds He provided also included enough to pay the auto insurance, which also due that day. Well, today I was in my kitchen cooking dinner while listening to today’s podcast by Joel Osteen, in which he preached a sermon titled “Uncommon Faith.” This aligned with what I had been asking God for, so I was very much into the sermon. All of a sudden my doorbell rang and I’m thinking to myself it was probably for one of the kids because I wasn’t expecting anyone. To my surprise, it was a representative from my mortgage company who gave me a slip to contact my mortgage company immediately.
When I closed the door my heart rate skyrocketed and I began shaking like a leaf. Once I returned to the kitchen, however, discernment began to kick in and the Holy Spirit began to bring clarity to this situation. You see, early yesterday morning (well before the funds came in for the SUV), the Lord told me to fear not for He is with me and He also reminded me that He will sustain and restore me. Additionally, He told to me to not be concerned with what my eyes see, but rather what my eyes cannot see; for what I cannot see is far greater. He had me to write these things down along with the other things He was telling me, and this was done early yesterday morning before I started my day. Fast forward to the moment at hand, I was still shaking like a leaf, but I began gaining more awareness of my surroundings. I realized that I was in my kitchen listening to a sermon titled Uncommon Faith (my 1st time hearing it) at the time this had happened. Additionally, it was brought back to my remembrance what God had me write the previous day: to fear not for He is with me; He will sustain and restore me; and to not be concerned with what my eyes see, but rather what my eyes cannot see; for what I cannot see is far greater. At that point I realized that God had prepared me for this; for if He hadn’t, I could’ve easily got swept away by a whirlwind of doubt, confusion and absolute fear. But God… (don’t you love those ‘but God’ moments?) BUT GOD wanted me to have full confidence in Him and to not get frazzled by the notice I received.
NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. – Hebrews 11:1
I would love to tell you that at that point I was filled with joy, but that would be far from the truth. My mind, heart and soul was determined to trust God and my spirit knew that my God shall supply all of my need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19). However, my body didn’t seem to get that memo, as I was physically shaking and close to hyperventilating. YET, I’ve resolved that if I must command my body, “Peace be still” every minute in order to get through this, then so be it! I love the Lord and I refuse to let fear rob Him of any glory in my life, plus, I prayed for my faith to be stretched (for ridiculous faith) and I believe this a situation that will surely cause that to happen. I cannot say that the process will be as a walk in the park; nevertheless, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (Phil 3f:14).
Faith without works is dead -James 2:20
There’s an old saying that goes, “put your money where your mouth is”, which basically means to prove what you’re saying by backing up your words with money. This was usually followed by an invitation to make a bet. Well, I don’t gamble but I did have this saying in mind when I titled this message: Put Your Faith Where Your Mouth Is. We know that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen (Heb. 11:1). I’d like to quote the Amplified translation to this verse:
NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].
This makes it clear to see that there should be something we see (confirmation/title deed) that illustrate what we believe even though what we believe has yet to manifest in the natural realm. That substance (or title deed) doesn’t necessarily mean tangibility as in a piece of furniture but rather some kind of action as a result of your belief. Hebrews 11 gives several examples of this truth. Let’s look at a few of them and highlight the actions that went along with what they believed (verses 7-8, 11-12, 17-19, 23-31):
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
By faith Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned.”Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.
By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the people had marched around them for seven days.
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
James 2:15-20 (AMP) also brings clarity on this truth:
If a brother or sister is poorly clad and lacks food for each day,
And one of you says to him, Good-bye! Keep [yourself] warm and well fed, without giving him the necessities for the body, what good does that do?
So also faith, if it does not have works (deeds and actions of obedience to back it up), by itself is destitute of power (inoperative, dead).
But someone will say [to you then], You [say you] have faith, and I have [good] works. Now you show me your [alleged] faith apart from any [good] works [if you can], and I by [good] works [of obedience] will show you my faith.
You believe that God is one; you do well. So do the demons believe and shudder [in terror and horror such as [a]make a man’s hair stand on end and contract the surface of his skin]!
Are you willing to be shown [proof], you foolish (unproductive, spiritually deficient) fellow, that faith apart from [good] works is inactive and ineffective and worthless?
Since we’re all unique along with our circumstances, our substance (or title deed) will vary from person to person; however, our commonality should be that there is some form of action substantiating our belief. The above Scripture makes it plainly clear that just saying “I have faith” means nothing without action. With that said, I’d like to leave you with a question to ponder: Since faith without works is dead, what are you believing for and what works have you done to support your belief?
Thank you for reading and may God bless you!
© 2009, Naima Williams. All rights reserved.
