“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for , the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:1-3). It’s very important that we have a clear understanding of what faith is before we proceed any further. In one of the most popular portions of Scripture, faith is defined as the substance of things hoped for. If you have hope for anything, faith is what gives it substance. Faith gives you every reason to affirm something is yours before you see it with your physical eyes. Why? Faith is the substance of things hoped for; it calls real those things that are not physically observable. It calls them done NOW! Faith is also defined as the evidence of things not seen, that is, the evidence of unseen realities. I do not see those things with my optical eyes but they’re real to me. They’re so real you can’t take them away from me. Faith is the evidence of unseen realities. That means it is proof of the existence of something that is not tangible to the senses. The Amplified Bible says, “…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]” Faith is the title-deed. If you bought a piece of land, you wouldn’t carry the land with you everywhere, telling everybody, “See the land I bought.” You would have documents to that land called “a title-deed.” According to the Oxford English Dictionary, a title-deed is ‘a document containing or constituting evidence of ownership.’ If somebody requests for a proof of ownership, you can simply pull out your title-deed to the land and show them as proof of ownership. That’s the evidence of unseen realities. The land is real, but because you can’t carry it around with you, they may
not see it in your office. However, you have your proof of ownership – the title-deed; – something they can look at and say, “Yeah, you’ve really got that land.” Faith is not in the realm of the five physical senses, since it is the proof of things we do not see and perceive by our senses. It also transcends the realm of reasoning and the mind. It’s a spiritual force, an attribute of the human spirit. That’s why I always like to define faith as the response of the human spirit to the Word of God. Today’s English Version of Hebrews 11:1 says, “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.” Faith makes a certainty of things we don’t see with our optical eyes. Therefore, faith is not an irrational leap in the dark but a leap on God’s Word. It is believing what God’s Word has said concerning anything and acting that way. Now let me quickly point out here that there’s a difference between faith and believing. Many people don’t understand that difference. I have written a book titled “Working on Your Believing.” You need to get a copy of that book because there, I explained in details the difference between faith and believing. Someone who’s suffering from a form of sickness might cry, “Oh God, I believe! Oh God, I really know You can do it. Do it for me today! Heal me Lord!” He doesn’t realize it but that’s not faith. All he’s doing is expressing his believing. That fellow might be discouraged and unhappy if he doesn’t receive healing, because he’ll think to himself, “If I’ve ever had faith in my life, that was one time I had faith!” He’ll be wondering, “Oh God, why didn’t I receive?” not knowing that what he had was not faith at all. Faith is the corresponding action to what you believe. I said earlier that faith is the response of the human spirit to the Word of God. For the one who is sick, when he hears the Word that says “By whose stripes ye were healed” and believes it, his response or corresponding action to that Word will be to begin to declare “By the stripes of Jesus, I was healed!” He should start acting as one who’s been healed and as a result, begin to do the things he couldn’t do hitherto, due to that sickness. Now, when he declares that he is ‘the healed’ by the stripes of Jesus Christ, his declaration is not going to be based on his feelings, but on the Word of God that says he was healed.