Thanks again to Bud for another thought and Faith provoking article. You are appreciated Down Under.

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

The Monkey’s Disgrace

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree
Discussing things as they’re said to be.
Said one to the others: “Now listen you two,
There’s a certain rumour that can’t be true
That man descended from our noble race –
Why, the very idea’s a disgrace!

Faith – the True Foundation of Our House
By Bud Hancock

Hebrews 11:1 “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen”.

For many Christians, this scripture has been a mystery of sorts, even though it sounds so straightforward. We are told in God’s word that we are to seek wisdom above all things (Proverbs 4:7). We are also told that God’s word was made flesh and dwelt in the person of Jesus Christ; Jesus declared that He and the Father are one, so therefore, Jesus IS the word and Jesus IS wisdom. So how does one go about getting the wisdom that God spoke of?

Since God’s word IS wisdom, one must begin there to find and access true wisdom. But, does just reading the word mean that wisdom will automatically be yours, forever? Well, the short answer is: NO. Everything we receive from God is through faith, our faith in his promises; that what He has promised, He will do. Believing what God has said, the promises He has given to us, means we understand that it’s His will for us to receive whatever He promised, including wisdom.

Wait a minute, are you saying that we can actually have the wisdom of God, simply by asking for it? Let’s read what James, the half-brother of Jesus, said in his letter:

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” (James 1:5). So, there you go, ask and receive, as simple as that, right? Not quite. Read the next three verses:
“But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” (James 1:6-8)
Even though it is God’s will for us to receive and have everything He has promised, has there yet lived one person, other than Jesus, who received everything God promised? Not one, that I am aware of. It is God’s will for every person to accept Jesus and be saved, have all people done that and, are all people saved?

No, of course not, so there must be more to receiving than simply knowing that God said something about it.

We MUST ask in faith, but exactly what does that mean?

What is Faith?

The writer of the Book of Hebrews tells us, “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 (Gr. aions, the ages) were framed (perfected, made complete, restored) by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear” (Hebrews 11:1 KJV).
Who framed the worlds? God did. How did He do that? BY FAITH! But, faith in what? Faith (confidence) in His own word and the power of that word to accomplish whatever He says.
Interestingly, the word ‘substance’ in this passage is the English translation of the Greek word, ‘hupostasis’, (Strong’s 5287, pronounced hoop-os’-tas-is); it means the ‘setting under’, support (as in a foundation), the ‘essence’. In its use as a ‘foundation’, it assures us that faith is ‘the foundation’, the spiritual support on which our hope rests.

Enter the ‘Evidence’

The evidence mentioned in Hebrews 11:1 is the English translation of the Greek word elegchos (Strong’s 1650, pronounced el’-eng-khos) and is generally defined as a ‘title deed’, or a ‘proof’, a ‘conviction’ that brings confidence. Even though every man has been ‘dealt the measure of faith’, faith alone will accomplish nothing. A person’s ‘hope’ must be reinforced with a foundation (support for things hoped for) that will make evident (bring into sight) those things which ‘are hoped for’, but cannot yet be seen. The first verse in chapter 11 of Hebrews tells us that by this action, the combination of support and the ‘title deed’, God the Creator made everything that can be seen from that which is unseen.
Greek scholar Marvin R. Vincent explained this action very well: the foundation, Gr. ‘Hupostasis’, and the evidence, Gr. ‘elegchos’ are not to be considered as totally separate conceptions in this case, but must be taken together for faith to work. The foundation and the evidence cannot be separated or faith will fail.
So, now, back to the idea of asking for, and receiving, God’s wisdom, based on asking in faith. Your own faith (in God and His power) MUST be the foundation (hupostasis) of asking for anything from God, but you must also have the spiritual evidence (elegchos) giving your spirit the ability to see what you have asked for BEFORE it actually appears. Sounds easy, but you must be prepared to stand, in faith, until you receive the wisdom asked for. But you may ask, “how long must I stand?” AS LONG AS IT TAKES. How badly do you want to receive what you are asking God for?

This is where the words of James 1:6 become so very important: “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed”.
Kenneth Wuest, author of Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, The New Testament, An Expanded Translation, pp 539, provides an excellent translation of the original Greek for the words of James 1:6: “But let him ask in a trusting attitude, not in an expression of that hesitation which vacillates [between faith and unbelief] and inclines toward unbelief, for the person who vacillates [between faith and unbelief] is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for let not that individual be supposing that he shall receive anything from the presence of the Lord, being a dubious, undecided man, vacillating in all his ways”.

So, now, once again, let’s look into the idea of asking for, and receiving, God’s wisdom, based on asking in faith. As can be seen in the translation by Kenneth Wuest, when one asks for something from God, he should, actually MUST, already have made up his mind that, no matter how long he must wait for the manifestation of his request, he will wait with constancy and will not allow any person or any circumstance to cause any deviation from the expectancy of that manifestation. God, who is true and just, righteous and holy and is no respecter of persons, will reward the person who asks with that attitude , and he shall receive his request.

The status of asking in a “trusting attitude”, meaning asking “in faith”, places the seeker of wisdom in a position where God, who gives liberally to all, and upbraideth not (doesn’t taunt, chide or rail at or reproach), provides that which is requested of Him as He honors the kind of faith that is steady and doesn’t “vacillate”.

I have seen requests for something from God manifest almost immediately, and I have seen other requests that seemed as though they would never appear. All faith comes from God; it is, essentially, His faith and He allows us to use it, to live as He wants us to live, as the Apostle John stated in 3 John 2:
“Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth”.
Since all scripture is inspired by the Holy Spirit, should we not be able to receive that word as the will of God and, asking in faith, be prosperous and healthy?

What happens if you believe your faith is too weak for you to stand as long as it takes to receive your request from God? You must examine all possible reasons for your “weak faith”, and it requires total honesty with yourself. Why does your faith appear to be weak? Have you put it to work and seen it fail? Did you decide when using it that you would stand, as James states, in constancy, “nothing wavering”, until the manifestation of what you were using your faith for “appeared”? Have you worked on building up your faith? Paul stated that:

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God”.

The premise here is that, the more you study (read, listen to and absorb) the word of God, the more it will permeate your spirit and build up your faith. The idea is that you should approach the study of the word with the foreknowledge that, what you are reading is TRUTH, it is the eternal, unchangeable word, the same word with which God created the universe and everything in it, and, since God does not change, neither does His word. Just as it accomplished what He intended when He spoke the universe into existence, it still the has power in it to accomplish what God intends for it to accomplish today. Studying in faith means that you confess that it is what He says it is, and it will do what He says it will do.
The more you “hear”, and the more you believe, the stronger your faith will become. But the real test is when you decide to put it into action and make request of God, always according to His word, for the promises He has made in His word. You must believe that God actually DOES want to answer your prayers and provide what He has promised in His word. If you do that, and refuse to allow anything or anyone to interfere with your decision, you will see the manifestation of your faith, and you will have what you ask for.

Keep in mind that the decision to work on building up your faith will be met with resistance from Satan. He knows that a faith-filled believer is a serious danger to him and his kingdom. He will place every obstacle in your way that could hinder the strengthening of your faith. The Apostle Paul fully understood what resistance to your faith is. He was buffeted on every side by demonic forces that tried to kill him and get him to abandon his faith in Jesus Christ. He plainly stated in his letter to Jude what must be done to defeat the enemy in his efforts to stop you:

“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3).

Living by faith is not a constant pleasure trip; instead, it is a fight, hence Paul’s exhortation to “contend” for the faith, and he told his disciple, Timothy, to “fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses (1 Timothy 6:12).
If you truly want to live by faith, and experience all the goodness God has prepared for us all, then gird up your loins and get ready for the fight of your life. Every battle will NOT be pleasing, but when the crowns of life are awarded to the saints, all the battles will be forgotten and only the victory gained through the exercise of your faith will be remembered, producing the eternal joy of having learned what faith is and how you lived by it.

Maranatha and Blessings!

Bud Hancock