Believing is Seeing—Not the Other Way Around

Now Faith Means Now

I wanted to expound from the last post, on the area of “Now Faith” and I hope this is an encouraging word for you today.

Hebrews 11:1 states, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen”.

What We Believe Will Come Out

Let’s face it, when we’re in the middle of a crisis, what we believe will manifest. It is unimportant whether the crisis is financial, medical, or involving any other life circumstance; what we really believe can’t help but manifest itself in our words, actions, and attitudes as the pressure of a crisis grips us.

Past-Tense, Future-Tense or Present-Tense Faith?

One universal crisis is the death of someone we love. Let’s just take a look at the death of Lazarus in John 11 as an example. Lazarus had died and his sisters, Martha and Mary, had sent for Jesus. When Jesus arrived after Lazarus had been already dead four days, his sister Martha said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21 NIV). She was voicing past-tense faith. When Jesus said, “Lazarus will…live again” (John 11:23 NCV), she replied, “I know that he will…live…in the resurrection” (John 11:24 NKJV), which was future-tense faith. And when she said, “Even now God will give you anything you ask” (John 11:22 NKJV), she was demonstrating now-faith, which is present-tense. As New Testament believers, the Bible tells us not to “look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen” (2 Corinthians 4:18 NKJV).

Faith Versus Sight

Plus now-faith declares it’s certainty of “something…even if we do not see it, and that it is real” (Hebrews 11:1 NCV). Paul says, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7 NKJV). Too often we believe based on our feelings and our five senses, instead of what God says in His Word.

Being Present With A Present God

Did you know that believing with now-faith is something that you can practice? Begin by identifying something that you are walking through right now and that you are depending on God to do. Next, ask Him for a Scripture that applies to your situation. Then ask Him to show you how He sees you and ask Him to show you who He is for you in this present situation. It’s about being present with an ever-present God!

Declare “Now Faith”

Once you have God’s present mind and focus on your situation, go on the offensive with the enemy: Shout at the devil—You may have attacked my health, my family, my finances, but now-faith says…

Declare to your troubles—You may have come for a season, but the season will end! Now-faith says….

Speak to your storms, and say—You have blown some fierce winds and tried to rain on my parade; It’s my now-faith that says….

Tell your mountain—You may have delayed my progress and created an uphill battle. But my now-faith declares….

Reality goes far beyond what you can see…the things we do not see are eternal, where time, events, and occurrence can not dwindle or change them. (2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV).”

Fix Your Eyes On The Unseen

Now-faith is anchored to the truth that even though things may appear to be bad or somewhat different to our own thoughts and expectations, God is working things out for our good (Romans 8:28 NKJV). Brothers and sisters, remember that He knows how the story ends, so this week’s encouraging word is—fix your eyes on the unseen and not on what you see!