“Now Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen, for by it the elders obtain a good report” [Hebrews 11:1].
Now faith, right now faith, not someday faith. Someday faith is always off in the future. It never receives anything. It’s the right now faith that takes what it goes after. The right now faith is the substance of things hoped for. Substance is tangible, the element which makes it what it is.[Webster’s Dictionary].
This substance is applied to the hope. Hope is the plan, the vision, the dream, even our desire. It is the will of God for our lives. The bible says God gives us the desire of our heart. That doesn’t mean a Mercedes. That can be included if that is the plan of God. But God loves us so much, He plants His will down in our heart as a desire, as we have a heart for Him. Then as we wake up to that desire, we release faith, and God can then bring it to pass. Wow!
When faith is released and the substance applies it to the hope, then it brings evidence of the work of faith. “Faith without works is dead”[James 2:17].In a court case the evidence is proof of an action, or it wouldn’t stand up in court. In this case, it was the evidence of things not seen. It wasn’t seen until the substance of faith was applied to the hope. Now look at verse 3. “For by it [this process] the elders obtained a good report.” The good report was the evidence that was manifest when substance, faith, was put to what was hoped for.
The Substance, is believing. “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.”[V.6]. Now there are many, many promises in the word of God. They are all, for all of us. “God is not a respecter of person.”[Rom.2;11]. As we see in verse six, there are requirements to receiving the promises. We pray, and when we don’t get what we pray for, we back off and say “God didn’t answer my prayer”, or “I guess God didn’t want me to have it”, then “I guess God is trying to teach me something.” No, He couldn’t answer the prayer. He is not a liar. The missing link is “Diligent Seeking Him.” Sometimes I think He is saying “Who Are You??? , You Haven’t had anything to do with Me for Months, except to use My Name as a curse word.”
Every promise, He gave to us, because He loves us so much, He wants to bless us with every one of them. He Said “If Thou canst believe, all things are possible to those who believe”[Mark 9:23]. God has a rule Book, the bible. The bible is “His last will and testament” It came into effect, like all wills, when He died. It is unchangeable. If we want the inheritance, then we have to abide by the Will. In the case of any death, the only way the heirs know what their inheritance is, is to read the will. The will is true whether we believe it or not. When we hear the will, believe it and have faith in what it says and abide by the rules, then that, is when we get the inheritance. “Now Faith”– is the substance of things hoped for; the evidence of things not seen.”
