FAITH IS THE EVIDENCE

I have a quiz for you. See if you can answer this question. Why is it that you must already have any blessing or anything received by faith BEFORE it is manifested, that is before you can see it in the natural? It seems like an easy question, but I watched a teacher ask this same question to his congregation for a week and no one came up with the right answer. If you are perceptive you might have guessed the answer; it is the title of this article. The answer is that faith is the evidence. Belief, or faith, is the evidence of what we hope for. Mark 11:23-24, in the Amplified bible, reads,

"Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, Be lifted up and thrown into the sea! and does not doubt at all in his heart but believes that what he says will take place, it will be done for him. For this reason I am telling you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe (trust and be confident) that it is granted to you and you will [get it]" The bible also gives us a definition of faith. Hebrews 11:1 says.

"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]."(AMP)

Now how do we believe we have something before we see it? Some would say that makes no sense. They’re right, it doesn’t make sense, it makes faith. Faith goes cross-wise to what your 5 physical senses tell you. The only way you can believe you have something before you see it is because God said it. Do you believe God?

Let me give you an example from the natural world. I received a wedding present from my parents. It was the first 6 months of my rent. Now, I did not get the money all at once, but at the end of every month I got a cheque from my father. I did not see all the money, but I believed I would get it and I acted and thought as if my rent was already paid. I simply believed my parents, because I knew I could trust them and that their word is good.

Now, do you believe God’s word is good and trustworthy? God said His Word is above ALL His names. Psalm 138:2 says,

"I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." Gods Word is what God is. Now when you see in God’s Word that He said ,

"I am the lord which healeth thee" (Exodus 15:26), these are the words of God Himself. God gave His word that he would heal you, and once this is revealed to you, to doubt that is sin. If you doubt it you are essentially saying you do not believe what God said. If you can believe what God said as much as I believed what my parents said, then you already have what you ask for. What you ask God for, based on what He promised you in the bible, already exists. Your healing already exists, your food you need to live already exists, your happiness, your peace, your forgiveness of sin already exists. Everything God promised already exists. God created this physical world so God existed before this world. This world is dependent on God, God is not dependent on this world. There exists in the spirit world all the things necessary for life and godliness, so what you ask God for, you have to see with faith before you see it here. Let’s look at an example of a man walking by faith. The story is in 2Kings 6 starting at verse 8, but I will give a paraphrased version. At this time the Syrian army was fighting with Israel, and every time the Syrians would set up an ambush for Israel, Elisha the prophet would receive word from God about where the ambush was and Israel would go ambush the ambushees. This happened on such a regular basis that the Syrian army commander thought there must be a spy in his midst. But one of his soldiers said no, but there is a prophet in Israel that knows all these things by the power of the God of the Israelites, and he tells them everything that we are going to do. Well, the leader of the Syrian army asked where this prophet was, and when he found out Elisha was living in the city of Dothan, he decided to go down and put an end to this security breach. Now Elisha had a servant named Gehazi. When the servant goes out one morning, and looks, there were Syrian army troops as far as his eyes could see. Well, he goes flying back to Elisha ye lling we're surrounded, we're surrounded. Now after Elisha gets the man calmed down, he asked what all the fuss was about. So Gehazi takes Elisha go out and shows him the Syrian army surrounding them. Then Elisha tells him,

"... Fear not: for they that [be] with us [are] more than they that [be] with them." (2 Kings 6:16) Now I am sure that Elisha’s servant could count. He looks out and sees the Syrian army troops. Then he looks at himself and Elisha and counts 2. Let see, the whole Syrian army, 2 of us. Well, by this time I’m sure he is thinking that Elisha had a stroke or something and his brains not working very good. And then Elisha prays,

"... LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see." (2 Kings 6:17)

Now, that seems like a really stupid prayer, considering what the poor man saw is what frightened him so badly in the first place. Right? Well, not so stupid. After Elisha prayed, what the man sees is this,

"...and he saw: and, behold, the mountain [was] full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." (2 Kings 6:17) He sees that there are indeed more with them that were against them.

Now my point is this. Elisha’s prayer DID NOT create the horses and chariots of fire, but only revealed them to his servant. The horses and chariots of fire ALREADY existed before he prayed. This man was walking in faith. It is the same with us. Everything we ask God for already exists, but we have to see it by faith and not by our physical senses. Every single one of us has an angel standing beside them right now. Just because you can’t see them with your physical eyes doesn’t mean they aren’t there. The bible tells us that they are there, and the bible is God’s Word.

There are people, including some Christians, who’s word is no good. They say one thing, but don’t go through with it. They say they will tithe, and then don’t. They say they’ll be somewhere to meet you, then don’t show up. I think one of the problems is that we are so used to going back on our word that we just expect God to do the same thing. There are even some Christian teachers out there that try to tell you that faith is not a sure thing, that you can’t always expect God to answer your prayers. To have faith means you believe it, not that you doubt it. If you doubt that God will answer your prayer, you don’t believe it. It means you are considering you circumstances more than the Word of the Living God. Look at what was said about Abraham, the father of our faith. Romans 4:18-21 says,

" Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform."

This is our example. We have to be fully persuaded that what God said to us through the bible He is also able to do it. We must not stagger at the promises of God through unbelief, for 2 Corinthians 1:20 tells us ,

" For all the promises of God in him [are] yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."

All the promises of God are YES in Christ Jesus our Lord. When God promises something to you, in Jesus name it is YES. People are always praying, "if it be thy will..." when the whole time we have the bible, to tell us what God’s will is for us. I am sorry to say this is not a prayer of faith. By saying "if it be thy will" you are saying you are not sure what you are praying for is God’s will. If you are not sure it is God’s will, you cannot pray according to Mark 11:23-24, the way Jesus Himself told us to pray. If you are not sure what God’s will is on a matter, then read your bible and pray that God’s will be revealed to you. You can be sure that it is God’s will to reveal His will to you for the bible declares,

" Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord [is]." ( Ephesians 5:17 ) God, through the apostle Paul, is literally commanding us to know what His will is, so you can be sure that He wants you to know. That is a prayer you can believe you receive when you pray it. Then God can do for you what the apostle Paul prayed he would do for every believer, which is this,

"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, And what [is] the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set [him] at his own right hand in the heavenly [places], Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:" (Ephesians 1:17-21)