Hebrews 11:1; Romans 4:17–20
There’s a common proverb that says, “Seeing is believing.” And indeed, it makes sense to believe what is visibly evident. Humans are deeply visual beings, driven by a curiosity that craves confirmation. We tend to trust what we can see with our own eyes and only then do we feel confident enough to profess belief. While understandable in our fallen state, this mindset has led many to anchor their doubts in the absence of visible proof of God’s existence. Yet when it comes to spiritual matters, the opposite is true: we are called to believe without seeing. That is the essence of faith.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 Paul uses tangible language to describe an intangible reality. He calls faith a substance something real, with a consistent and unchanging nature. It is not imaginary. It is hoped for, but it does not end in hope. Faith produces evidence and real outcome of what was once unseen. Faith is taking God at His word, trusting that what He has promised, He will fulfill in His time and in His way. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17
Scripture is filled with divine promises. But the key to receiving answers to our prayers is belief. “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” Mark 11:24 (NIV) Abraham, the father of faith, believed God’s promise and was counted worthy of that title. He trusted that God would do the impossible give him and Sarah a child despite her barrenness and their old age. In Genesis 15:3–6, Abraham questions how the promise could be fulfilled while he remained childless. God responds not with logic, but with a vision of the stars and a declaration:
“If thou be able to number them, so shall thy seed be.” And he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness.” v6
Abraham trusted the One who made the promise. He believed in the Creator, whose power is infinite and unbound by human limitations. Even nature itself answers to His command. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed…” Romans 4:18
“And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith…And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.” Romans 4:19–21
Abraham’s faith aligned with God’s perspective. He saw not through the lens of nature, but through the eyes of divine power. He believed that Sarah’s womb was not dead, and that his own body was not beyond use because the God of nature had spoken. That is genuine faith: believing you have what you ask for, trusting that the impossible becomes possible when God is involved.
Reflection:
May I believe that I receive whatever I ask for in prayer.
May I stop limiting God by my own understanding.
May I trust that with God, nothing is impossible.
I see the need to exercise my faith daily and live as a recipient of His promises.
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, I am of little faith, but I long to have the faith of Jesus Christ. Help me to believe in the great and wonderful things You will do for me. Oh Lord, increase my faith and help my unbelief. Today, help me to believe that I have received all that I ask for, and to wait patiently on Your providence— in hope that the unseen will soon become evident. In the name of Jesus, I pray. Amen. “Faith is simple in its operation and powerful in its results.”