Avis WooleyI want to share my understanding of Hebrews 11. The author of this book is not clear, but its’ content uniformly addresses the Body of Christ: salvation, morality, and Jesus as Christ. As we delve into this chapter, please feel free to share your understanding of God’s holy Word. I trust that you will find these scriptures revelational and relatable.
- “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
- Let’s define faith: “Faith is the assurance that the things revealed and promised in the Word are true, even though unseen, and gives the believer a conviction that what he expects in faith, will come to pass.”; according to WIKIBOOKS, Hebrew Roots/The original foundation/Faith, https://en.wikibooks.org.
- First, let’s define substance: According to the Oxford Language, whose roots branch from the Oxford English Dictionary. This noun states, “the real physical matter of which a person or thing consists and which has a tangible, solid presence.”
Now that we have defined faith and substance, here is my understanding of the verse. Faith believes in something unseen, but with confidence in our Lord, the unseen can be made tangible. Sometimes Christians make faith out to be something very hard, that we have to squint our eyes, frown upon our faces, and moan and groan for the Lord to hear us. Faith is the mechanism that the Lord looks at and moves upon. His eyes are always on us; his ears always listen to our requests. I Peter 3:12 “For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” What an assurance that the Lord is looking and listening to you!
How do I make faith work for me? Happy that you asked. The Word of the Lord says in St. Matthew 18:3, “Verily I say unto you, except ye be converted (changed, turned-around), and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Children are innocent in all their thinking, moving, talking, and walking. All the things that we are as an adult. Their guardian angels watch over them. Their actions, though immature, are heartfelt, but because of that immaturity, they are covered and guided. The Lord watches over them and keeps them: he hears their inner and outer words. The pureness of their thoughts touches heaven, and he comes to their rescue. Child-like faith is how faith works for you, from the pureness of your heart and total reliance that what you ask of the Lord will become tangible; it simply will become. You stand firm on what you ask, that it will materialize. It is your confidence in the Almighty that makes the difference.
Substance is the thing(s) that you believe in becoming a reality. One key factor about substance is that what we ask for is within the Will of the Lord. Now please don’t get discouraged by this statement. By no means are you not to ask in faith the thing(s) you want from the Lord, but to make sure that you listen to the voice of the Lord as the process becomes tangible. We always want to be within the divine will of the Lord and not his permissive will. There is a vast difference. Divine Will are those things that will be for our completeness, the something that will make us whole. Jesus asked the man who sat at the pool of Bethesda for thirty-eight years, “Wilt thou be made whole?” St. John 5:6. This is an example of the Lord’s divine will; this man’s deliverance was aligned with the purpose of Jesus’ will. Though it was thirty-eight years in the making, the answer came in the form of the infirm healed. Permissive Will are those things that, because you asked the Father in faith, it is not in your best interest to receive them now or at all. The Lord knows the timing and how situations will impact you. He has a will for your life; if you ask outside of the timing or divine purpose, he will allow it. See the example in the next paragraph.
I Samuel 8:19-22, the Lord allowed Israel to choose a king; however, it was not in his Divine Will. The prophet Samuel speaks: “19 Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us; 20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles. 21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the Lord. 22 And the Lord said to Samuel, hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.” As for those who have read or studied the Bible, timing is everything. Look at what the Lord said to Samuel regarding permissive will: “7 And the Lord said unto Samuel, hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 8 According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 9 Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them.” Our Lord is not without compassion, empathy, or feelings. He knows the plans he has for us, plans to sow into our lives, enlarge us, and make us his showcase.
As you enter the Now Faith journey of your life, remember that whatever you ask the Father, he is willing and able to perform.
Avis D. Brownlee-Wooley