Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Yesterday, we saw that faith affects healing. What, though, is faith? We talk about it a lot, but do we assume too much, that everyone understands, truly, what faith is? It is a nebulous term in the mouth of many, but the Bible has a definitive explanation of what it is.
Here is another reading of today’s verse, “Now faith is the certainty of things hoped for, a proof of things not seen.” It is the certainty of the things we pray for. It is the proof. The Amplified has this language, “Faith is . . . the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.” It is a fact, not to be argued. Let me give you an example.
Do you believe in Jesus, that he is the Christ, that he came from the Father, that he is alive? Prove it to me. What if I try to talk you out of it? Is there anything I can say to dissuade you? Even though you have no tangible facts, no verifiable evidence, you believe with all your heart that he is alive and that he is the Christ. There is nothing I can do or say to talk you out of it. That is faith. Jesus is unseen but you are 100% convinced. What if you felt the same way about your healing?
Your healing is assured by the blessing of Abraham. It is every bit as certain as your salvation. It was made absolute at the cross. It is real and it is done. So, why is our healing less sure in our hearts than our salvation? Do you have any doubt about your salvation? Do you feel just as strongly about healing?
The point I am trying to make is that most of us are not absolutely convinced that God will heal us. Frankly, most people are a little afraid even as they pray. We are afraid Father won’t heal us and look, there is some legitimacy to that. How many people do you know who are living testimonies of God’s healing? More of our Christian buddies are hurting than healed. We have, as a body, fallen into a place where it is harder to believe that God still heals. If we ask people to answer, intellectually, about what they think, most will say they think God still heals people today. If, however, we were able to dig down in their hearts, we would find that few have experience with God’s healing power, so they don’t have much belief. The people at church are not experiencing healing; the pastor has stopped talking about much less preaching about healing so as a body, we have descended into this place of doubt. It’s not that we are bad people. It’s just that the actuality of God’s healing is not being manifested in our near environment and that is a problem. It is harder for each of us to believe because we don’t have any nearby examples. So, what do we do?
I am attempting to raise your belief by showing you what God’s word says. The thing is, though, that you have to rehearse it over and over before your heart believes it. Your mind will accept God’s word on the surface, at least most people will. Getting the belief built up so that our faith can call that healing into manifestation is different and for most people, more challenging.
Faith is that ability and the substance down in our hearts that knows that it knows. You do have some experience with that kind of faith as I have shown you. There are other things that you know beyond doubt. My goal here is to get your faith for healing to that point. So, think about it for a moment. What do you believe about healing? Is this a doctrine for past times or does Jesus still heal today? I can give you the scriptural answer, but the answer of your heart is the one that matters. Your healing may be very close at hand. Please go back to these verses and continue to meditate on them. Our Father is faithful and wants to do many great and wonderful things for each of us. Let’s agree with him for great things! Do you want to?