Hallelujah, we can live a life of hope by faith, for faith is the substantiation of things not seen – the conviction of things hoped for! Amen!
Faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen – faith is the evidence, the proof, of things unseen, and our life is a life of hope, which accompanies and abides with faith.
Our Christian life is a life of faith, a life of exercising our spirit of faith to live by faith and walk by faith.
When we heard the gospel and believed into the Lord, we were infused with Christ to believe; He became our believing ability, the faith within us.
Now our spirit is a spirit of faith, and we can exercise our spirit of faith to substantiate the things of God.
When we exercise our spirit of faith to read the Bible, we receive spirit and life from the word of God.
When the word of God comes to us and we open to the Lord with the exercise of our spirit, we are infused with the element of God.
This element of God becomes our very faith by which we believe into God.
To have faith doesn’t mean that we make a definite decision with a strong will; faith in the Bible is not of ourselves but something of God.
God has allotted us equally precious faith; the quality of faith is the same for all the saints, but the quantity of faith differs based on our enjoyment and experience of Christ as our faith.
The more we spend time with the Lord in His word with the exercise of our spirit, the more we are infused with God as our faith.
God’s Spirit goes along with His word; the Spirit and the word cannot be separated (John 6:63; Eph. 6:17).
The Spirit not only unveils us to see a revelation of God in His word; the Spirit also imparts God’s essence into us.
As we spend time with the Lord in His word, as we contact Him by means of His word with the exercise of our spirit of faith, there’s a divine infusion taking place.
God is infusing Himself into us to become our believing ability; He infuses all that He is into our being to become our faith and believe for us and in us.
As a result of this infusion of Christ, as a result of Christ infusing Himself into us, something spontaneously rises up in us, and we believe – this is faith!
Such faith is like a sixth sense by which we substantiate or give substance to the things unseen or hoped for.
In other words, the divine and mystical things of God and the Word of God are unseen and hoped for, and we substantiate them by means of our spirit of faith.
When we exercise our spirit of faith, we substantiate the things hoped for, the things unseen, and faith is the conviction of things not seen.
Our Christian life is life of hope by faith.
Faith is the Conviction of Things Hoped For – We Live a Life of Hope by Faith
As believers in Christ, we all have faith; we realize faith in our being, but it is not easy to define what faith is.
Heb. 11:1 says that faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Faith is the action of substantiating of the things we hope for according to the word of God.
Faith is the assurance, confidence, confirmation, reality, essence, and supporting ground of things hoped for.
Faith is the foundation that supports the things hoped for. Faith is not a thing but an action, a substantiating action.
![For we were saved in hope. But a hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly await [it] through endurance. Rom. 8:24-25](https://i0.wp.com/www.agodman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/For-we-were-saved-in-hope.jpg?resize=450%2C675&ssl=1 "For we were saved in hope. But a hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly await [it] through endurance. Rom. 8:24-25")
To have faith, therefore, is to have a substantiating ability.
When we heard the gospel for the first time, the Lord Jesus infused Himself into us to become our believing ability, our substantiating ability.
There are many things around us, but they may not be real to us unless we have a substantiating ability.
For example, there are many sounds around us, but without our ears, we cannot make these sounds real to us.
There are many delicious dishes of food in front of us, but unless we taste them, we cannot substantiate the food.
Similarly, God and the divine things are very real, a divine reality, but unless we exercise our spirit of faith to substantiate them, He is not real to us.
Faith is the conviction of things we hope for, and our life is a life of hope by faith.
Through the sense of faith, we can substantiate what the Bible tells us; the divine realities in the Bible are made real to us by faith.
As believers in Christ, our life is a life of things hoped for, a life of hope that goes together with faith and abides with faith (1 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 13:13; Rom. 4:18).
When we were in the world, unsaved, and without God, we had no hope; unbelievers are without hope, for they do not have Christ as their believing ability to substantiate the things of God (Eph. 2:12; 1 Thes. 4:13).
But after we were saved, after we believe into the Lord and have Him as our faith, we are people of hope. We received a calling from God, and this calling brings us hope (Eph. 1:18; 4:4).
We are regenerated unto a living hope (1 Pet. 1:3), and Christ is in us to be the hope of glory (Col. 1:27; 1 Tim. 1:1).
This hope will issue in the redemption, the transfiguration of our body in glory (Rom. 8:23-25).
Praise the Lord, we have the hope of salvation (1 Thes. 5:8), the blessed hope (Titus 2:13), the good hope (2 Thes. 2:16), the hope of eternal life (Titus 1:2; 3:7), and the hope of the glory of God (Rom. 5:2)! this is the hope of the gospel (Col. 1:23), the hope laid up for us in the heavens (Col. 1:5).
We should always keep this hope (1 John 3:3) and boast in this hope (Rom. 5:2).
Our God is the God of hope (Rom. 15:13) and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we have hope (Rom. 15:4) all the time in God (1 Pet. 1:21) and even rejoice in hope (Rom. 12:13). Hallelujah!
May we hold fast to the boast of the hope firm to the end (Heb. 3:6), show diligence unto the full assurance of hope until the end (6:11), and lay hold of the hope set before us (6:18)!
As new covenant people, we have a better hope, through which we draw near to God (7:19). We believers in Christ have a life of hope, which goes together with faith and abides with faith (1 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 13:13).
And Abraham is our father in faith, while we are those who follow Abraham who beyond hope believed in hope (Rom. 4:18).
How can we substantiate all the things hoped for, all the things revealed to us and promised by God in His word? It is by faith; without faith, we cannot substantiate these things.
Without faith, the things of God seem vain, but when we contact God and are infused with Christ as our faith, we substantiate all the things which He has promised us. Our Christian life is a life of hope by faith, and faith is the conviction of things not seen.
Faith is the evidence, the conviction, the proof of the things not seen, of the things hoped for. Faith is not the substance but the conviction, the action, the evidence, and the proof of things not seen.
Praise the Lord, our spirit is of faith, and we can exercise our spirit of faith to substantiate what God promises to us in His word so that all these things would become our reality in our experience.
Thank You, Lord, for coming into us to be our very faith, our ability to believe. Hallelujah, we believers in Christ have a sixth sense, the sense of faith, to substantiate God, the things of God, and all the divine things. Amen, Lord, we want to live a life in hope by faith, a life in which we substantiate all that God promises to us by faith. Praise You Lord for regenerating us to a living hope and for coming into us as the hope of glory! Hallelujah for the hope of salvation, the blessed hope, the hope of eternal life! Praise the Lord, there’s a hope laid up for us in the heavens, and we can boast in this hope! We exercise our spirit, Lord, to substantiate all that You are and all You promised to us in Your word! We say Amen to Your word and we apply all You are and all You have promised to us in hope by faith!
We Exercise our Spirit of Faith to Walk by Faith and Not by what we See
Since we are those who have a living hope and our spirit is a spirit of faith, we need to exercise our spirit of faith in order to walk by faith and not by appearance.
We believers in Christ are those who do not walk by what we see or by how we feel but by faith.
Day by day things happen around us and even to us, but we exercise to contact the Lord and are infused with faith.
By this faith, by the Christ who is infused into us to believe in us and for us, we substantiate the things of God and we live our Christian life.
There’s a sense in us, an ability to substantiate the things of God; this is faith, which is the conviction of things not seen.
Our Christian life is in hope by faith, and we aim our life not at the things that are seen but the things that are not seen.
The things which are seen are temporary, so we don’t live according to what we see; the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Cor. 4:18), so we hope in the eternal things and we live and walk by faith.
This is why sometimes we are able to pay the price to do certain things, go certain places, and not do certain things according to the Lord within us, because we live not by what we see but walk by faith.
This should be our reality day by day. We should not walk by appearance, by what we see, but by faith (2 Cor. 5:7).
We walk by what we believe and according to the things we hope for, because faith substantiates the things we hope for and makes them real to us.
We are aiming at the Holy of Holies and the New Jerusalem; we cannot see the Holy of Holies nor can we see the New Jerusalem, but we believe and substantiate the things we do not see.
We have the full conviction of the unseen things, for faith assures us of the things we don’t see.
Hallelujah for faith, the substantiating ability that assures us of the things we do not see, convincing us of what we do not see!
It is by this faith that we live our daily life, not by sight or by our feelings.
Day by day we need to exercise our spirit of faith in order to walk by faith and not by what we see.
Every day we need to exercise our spirit of faith to not regard the things which are seen but the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
In the Lord’s recovery, He is recovering us from the things seen to the things not seen.
We are being recovered from the things we see, things such as the situation around us, our condition, and even the things that happen to us, to the things that are not seen, which are the things that the Bible promises us.
Faith assures us of the things not seen and convinces us of what we do not see; faith is the evidence, the proof, of things not seen.
May we live a life of hope by faith and daily exercise our spirit of faith to live by faith and not by sight!
Lord Jesus, we exercise our spirit of faith to walk by faith and not by sight! We do not focus on the things that we see but on the things we don’t see, the things hoped for, the things that the Bible promises us! Hallelujah, we have the full conviction of the unseen things by faith, for faith assures us of all the promises of God! Amen, Lord, we stand on Your word, we say Amen to Your promises, and we exercise our spirit of faith to substantiate what You are in our experience! Our aim is the Holy of Holies and the New Jerusalem, and we exercise our spirit of faith to enter into the reality of all the divine things!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers, and portions from, Life-study of Hebrews, msg. 47 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, God’s Economy in Faith (2022 spring ITERO), week 4, entitled, Running the Christian Race So That We May Obtain the Prize by Looking Away unto Jesus, the Author and Perfecter of Our Faith.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Look away from all the past—Hallelujah, / Look away from both the good and sin; / To the living One hold fast—Hallelujah, / Look away from everything to Him. / Look away! O look away! / Look to Jesus now today! / Look away from everything unto Jesus, / Look away from everything to Him! (Hymns #1206)
– Mystery hid from ancient ages! / But at length to faith made plain: / Christ in me the Hope of Glory, / Tell it o’er and o’er again. / Oh! it is so sweet to die with Christ, / To the world, and self, and sin; / Oh! it is so sweet to live with Christ, / As He lives and reigns within. (Hymns #482)
– Christ is the hope of glory, redemption full is He: / Redemption to my body, from death to set it free, / He comes to make my body a glorious one to be / And swallow death forever in victory. (Hymns #949)
About aGodMan
The believer’s life is a life of things hoped for, a life of hope which goes together and abides with faith (1 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 13:13; Rom. 4:18). The unbelievers, being without Christ, have no hope (Eph. 2:12; 1 Thes. 4:13). But we, the believers in Christ, are a people of hope. The calling which we received from God brings us hope (Eph. 1:18; 4:4). We are regenerated to “a living hope” (1 Pet. 1:3). Our Christ, who is in us, is “the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27; 1 Tim. 1:1), which will issue in the redemption, the transfiguration of our body in glory (Rom. 8:23-25). This is “the hope of salvation” (1 Thes. 5:8), a “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13), a “good hope” (2 Thes. 2:16), “the hope of eternal life” (Titus 1:2; 3:7), which is the “hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2), “the hope of the gospel” (Col. 1:23), “the hope laid up for [us] in the heavens” (Col. 1:5). We should always keep “this hope” (1 John 3:3), and “boast” in it (Rom. 5:2). Our God is “the God of hope” (Rom. 15:13), and “through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope” (Rom. 15:4) all the time “in God” (1 Pet. 1:21) and “rejoice” in it (Rom. 12:12). This book of Hebrews charges us to “hold fast… the boast of hope firm to the end” (3:6), show “diligence unto the full assurance of… hope until the end” (6:11), and “lay hold of the hope set before us” (6:18). It also tells us that the new covenant brings in “a better hope, through which we draw near to God” (7:19). Our life should be a life of hope, which goes together and abides with faith (1 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 13:13). We should follow Abraham who “beyond hope believed in hope” (Rom. 4:18). All the things which we are hoping for are substantiated by our faith. With faith, they all are real; without faith, they seem vain. We need to contact God for His infusion of faith that we may substantiate all the things which He has promised as our hope. Life-study of Hebrews, pp. 533-535, by Witness Lee
we are people of faith who live in hope, and faith is the conviction of things not seen.
Hallelujah, Christ in us is the hope of glory, and we can substantiate the things not seen by faith.
I agree brother!!
We are people of faith who live by faith and live in hope.
The bible says that the righteous shall have life and live by faith. We alsolive in hope. The bible says that we were saved in hope. Therefore we need to live in hope. And we hope for what we do not see, and we eagerly await it through endurance.” (Romans 8:24-25)
Hope abides and accompanies with faith. Faith receives the divine things and substantiates the spiritual and unseen things (Heb. 11:1). Hope reaps and partakes of the things substantiated by faith (Rom. 8:24-25).
Praise the Lord brother for such a living hope, a hope of life that enables us to have a hope, with numerous aspects, for this age, for the coming age, and for eternity.
In this age we have the hope of growing in life, of maturing, of manifesting our gifts, of exercising our functions, of being transformed, of overcoming, of being redeemed in our body, and of entering into glory.
In the coming age we have the hope of entering into the kingdom, of reigning with the Lord, and of enjoying the blessings of the eternal life in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens.
In eternity we have the hope of being in the New Jerusalem, where we will participate fully in the consummated blessings of the eternal life in its ultimate manifestation in eternity.
Oh what hope is this!!!!
Brother we have a hope and we can substantiate this hope by exercising our faith and walking by faith may we be those who hold unto this hope by exercising our faith
Amen! O Lord keep us in our spirit!
Amen. Faith is not a substance. It is the action of substantiating the unseen realm.
Wow isn’t it amazing that we were once without any hope in this world, because we were without Christ. But now Christ Himself is our hope.
And this hope is to be brought into glory. Which will be the New Jerusalem as the corporate expression of God for eternity.
And Christ had also been and is constantly being infused into to us as our faith. By which we are able, in our mingled spirit to substantiate the unseen things in which we hope
We were saved in hope, but a hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes what he sees?
Our life should be a life of hope which accompanies faith…do not regard things that are seen but those not seen which are eternal.
The Christian life is a life of things unseen; the degradation of the church is the degradation from unseen things to seen.
The Lord’s recovery is to recover His Church from things seen to unseen
Hallelujah for the spirit of faith!
That not of ourselves! But the Christ we behold and is infused into us
Haleluyah! We believers have a sixth sense, a particular & specific sense called faith. Faith goes together with hope.
Our life should be a life of believing in things unseen, and boasting in the conviction/hope of unseen things like the Holy of Holies and the New Jerusalem. If anything is seen, we don’t need to hope for it.
It’s faith that assures us of the things not seen; hope gives us the encouragement & bravery to take Christ as the reality of all the riches of the Triune God.
O, what a life of faith & hope we have in Jesus!
Amen, faith is Christ Himself!
May we continue to enjoy Your word, the Spirit and prayer until faith increase in us to please God!