April 25th, 2023
“Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” – Hebrews 11:1
This well-known verse is one of the most common on faith. Most of us could quote it with ease, but how many of us believe our faith carries that much power? If we have faith, that faith is the evidence or proof of the things we’re hoping for and don’t yet have. Jesus actually told many people that it was their faith that made them well.
Last week, we talked about the woman with the issue of blood who pushed through the crowds to get to Jesus. When she touched Him and was immediately healed, He said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22). In Luke 18, we read the story of the blind beggar who cried out to Jesus. When Jesus heard the man’s desperation, He stopped and commanded the people to bring him. The Bible says in Luke 18:40-43,
‘…When he came near, [Jesus] asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.’
It is actually very interesting how often blindness is referenced in a spiritual sense in the Word of God. When we are dead in our sin, we are actually blind! 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 says,
‘And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’
The Gospel is the light that shines in our hearts and allows us to see, by faith. Faith is our spiritual vision, and the Bible confirms this truth in 2 Corinthians 5:5-6 which says,
“He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So, we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Think about that verse a moment. It doesn’t say that we walk by faith and sight. It says we walk by faith and not sight. So often, we try to have faith along with our natural sight. We try to believe God but use our reasoning as well. There’s nothing wrong with using the brains God gave us unless our reasoning contradicts the truth of His Word. God’s promises are the highest reality. That means that regardless of what we see with our natural eyes, His Word is the higher truth. Abraham is a Biblical example of this. Romans 4:19-22 says,
“He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”’
Abraham didn’t view the situation with his natural sight. Instead, with his spiritual eyes fixed on God’s Word, he walked by faith into God’s promise.
The problem for many of us is a spiritual case of double vision. Double vision in the natural can occur for many different reasons, but most commonly, it’s due to your eyes being misaligned, even slightly. It will cause confusion and disorientation as your brain tries to process multiple images and determine which is real. This is exactly what happens in the spiritual when we try to walk by faith and sight. We can’t move forward with one spiritual eye fixed on God’s Word by faith, and the other spiritual eye fixed on a situation in doubt. That kind of misalignment may be called “balance” or “wisdom,” but the truth is that it's spiritual double vision and it will cause confusion. James 1:5-8 says,
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Spiritual double vision will cause instability. We cannot walk by faith and sight. If you are believing God, believe Him only. His Word is the highest truth, and it supersedes how you perceive the situation and what any expert has to say on the subject. A doctor would have told Sarah it was impossible to conceive a son. Anyone would have told Sarah it was impossible to conceive a son, but God’s promise always makes the impossible possible!
The truth is that if it were all up to God, we would never go without anything. There would be no sickness or pain. There would be no poverty or sorrow. There would be no war or discord of any kind. Did God create any of those things in the garden? Of course not! All the works of the enemy flowed into creation by man’s own choice. Sin brought sickness, disease, and poverty into the world, but the Bible tells us that’s exactly what Jesus came to destroy (1 John 3:8).
Would God have sent Jesus to suffer and die just to withhold the very things Jesus died to give you? Would a loving Father withhold any good things from His children? That may seem obvious, but if we doubt that God wants us to be cared for, healed, or free, then we’re doubting His character. God isn’t doubleminded. He doesn’t tell us He loves us and then afflict us. If there’s a lack in our lives, it is not by God’s choice! The Father has made provision for everything we need by the sacrifice of His son and the indwelling of His Spirit. Romans 8:31-32 says,
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
The question then becomes whether or not we believe with our whole hearts that God both can and will do what He says He will. You’ll be unstable if you try to believe God’s word and the world’s report at the same time. We must walk by faith alone, but we can’t resolve to have faith by sheer will. It is born in our hearts by encounter with Him through His Word and His presence. You can’t be in the presence of the Father and doubt His goodness. Encounter with Him will eradicate unbelief and heal your spiritual eyes. God’s word is true and it’s for you. Even now, ask God to heal your double vision and walk forward in clarity and faith into what He’s set before you!
This well-known verse is one of the most common on faith. Most of us could quote it with ease, but how many of us believe our faith carries that much power? If we have faith, that faith is the evidence or proof of the things we’re hoping for and don’t yet have. Jesus actually told many people that it was their faith that made them well.
Last week, we talked about the woman with the issue of blood who pushed through the crowds to get to Jesus. When she touched Him and was immediately healed, He said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well” (Matthew 9:22). In Luke 18, we read the story of the blind beggar who cried out to Jesus. When Jesus heard the man’s desperation, He stopped and commanded the people to bring him. The Bible says in Luke 18:40-43,
‘…When he came near, [Jesus] asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; your faith has made you well.” And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, glorifying God. And all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.’
It is actually very interesting how often blindness is referenced in a spiritual sense in the Word of God. When we are dead in our sin, we are actually blind! 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 says,
‘And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’
The Gospel is the light that shines in our hearts and allows us to see, by faith. Faith is our spiritual vision, and the Bible confirms this truth in 2 Corinthians 5:5-6 which says,
“He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So, we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight.”
Think about that verse a moment. It doesn’t say that we walk by faith and sight. It says we walk by faith and not sight. So often, we try to have faith along with our natural sight. We try to believe God but use our reasoning as well. There’s nothing wrong with using the brains God gave us unless our reasoning contradicts the truth of His Word. God’s promises are the highest reality. That means that regardless of what we see with our natural eyes, His Word is the higher truth. Abraham is a Biblical example of this. Romans 4:19-22 says,
“He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.”’
Abraham didn’t view the situation with his natural sight. Instead, with his spiritual eyes fixed on God’s Word, he walked by faith into God’s promise.
The problem for many of us is a spiritual case of double vision. Double vision in the natural can occur for many different reasons, but most commonly, it’s due to your eyes being misaligned, even slightly. It will cause confusion and disorientation as your brain tries to process multiple images and determine which is real. This is exactly what happens in the spiritual when we try to walk by faith and sight. We can’t move forward with one spiritual eye fixed on God’s Word by faith, and the other spiritual eye fixed on a situation in doubt. That kind of misalignment may be called “balance” or “wisdom,” but the truth is that it's spiritual double vision and it will cause confusion. James 1:5-8 says,
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
Spiritual double vision will cause instability. We cannot walk by faith and sight. If you are believing God, believe Him only. His Word is the highest truth, and it supersedes how you perceive the situation and what any expert has to say on the subject. A doctor would have told Sarah it was impossible to conceive a son. Anyone would have told Sarah it was impossible to conceive a son, but God’s promise always makes the impossible possible!
The truth is that if it were all up to God, we would never go without anything. There would be no sickness or pain. There would be no poverty or sorrow. There would be no war or discord of any kind. Did God create any of those things in the garden? Of course not! All the works of the enemy flowed into creation by man’s own choice. Sin brought sickness, disease, and poverty into the world, but the Bible tells us that’s exactly what Jesus came to destroy (1 John 3:8).
Would God have sent Jesus to suffer and die just to withhold the very things Jesus died to give you? Would a loving Father withhold any good things from His children? That may seem obvious, but if we doubt that God wants us to be cared for, healed, or free, then we’re doubting His character. God isn’t doubleminded. He doesn’t tell us He loves us and then afflict us. If there’s a lack in our lives, it is not by God’s choice! The Father has made provision for everything we need by the sacrifice of His son and the indwelling of His Spirit. Romans 8:31-32 says,
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”
The question then becomes whether or not we believe with our whole hearts that God both can and will do what He says He will. You’ll be unstable if you try to believe God’s word and the world’s report at the same time. We must walk by faith alone, but we can’t resolve to have faith by sheer will. It is born in our hearts by encounter with Him through His Word and His presence. You can’t be in the presence of the Father and doubt His goodness. Encounter with Him will eradicate unbelief and heal your spiritual eyes. God’s word is true and it’s for you. Even now, ask God to heal your double vision and walk forward in clarity and faith into what He’s set before you!
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