We believe in Eternal Things that are Unseen
| Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is not “a list of wishes” nor is it an “intellectual agreement.” Faith is about hoping for and desiring something that actually exists. Believing in God is the same. We believe in the living God, even though we cannot see him. Belief in the unseen but living God is revealed through obedience to his word. Living a life of obedience to God’s Word is proof of our faith in Him, even though we cannot see Him. Therefore, our faith must necessarily move us according to what God speaks, and as a result, it brings about actual changes that please God. If we claim to believe but do not act according to that belief, then it is not true faith. |
1) The Israelites who did not have the Faith to enter into the Land of Canaan.
| The Israelites, at the time of the Exodus, witnessed ten plagues that afflicted the Egyptians, and among these plagues, they experienced the protection of God’s grace. They also saw the miraculous parting of the Red Sea. During their journey through the wilderness, they received daily manna and water from a rock, were shielded by a cloud pillar during the day and a pillar of fire at night, and they had tangible experiences of the miraculous God who guided and protected them. However, when they stood before the Promised Land, a land flowing with milk and honey as God had promised, they revealed their lack of faith in the God who would lead them there. The Israelites’ persistent unbelief, demonstrated countless times in the wilderness, was starkly evident even as they scouted the land of Canaan and reported their findings. They marveled at the visible miracles but tragically failed to believe in the unseen God who performed those miracles. |
》Scripture Prayer
(Numbers 13:25-33) 25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.” 30 But Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
》Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. The Israelites, who had experienced God’s miracles and grace during their exodus from Egypt and reacted fanatically about it, lacked faith when it came to entering the land of Canaan. They couldn’t believe in the unseen God who performed those visible miracles. Let us recognize our own tendency to compromise and not truly reverence God as we live in this world, and let us repent.
But whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:33)
2. Have there been times when we once dedicated ourselves to God but turned away in fear when faced with the wall of reality? Let us pray for our brothers and sisters who, caught in the trap of hesitation, are unable to fully devote themselves to the Lord. Pray that they may, with faith, obey the God who is unseen.
He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. (John 21:17)
2) Rahab, the Prostitute who risked everything for what she Believed.
| Through Rahab, the prostitute of the city of Jericho, we see the fundamental nature of faith. Rahab hears an amazing story of the LORD God who led the Israelites to victory. Also, Rahab believed that Jericho, the city she resides in, will soon to be conquered by the Israelites. Therefore, she was determined to risk everything, including her life, to stand on God’s side. This is the faith: risking everything of who you are for what you believe. Do we believe that the Lord will come again? Amen! Jesus will surely come again, with the voice of an archangel and with the sound of the trumpet of God (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Do we also believe that the mission will be accomplished? Amen! It’s because Jesus promised that He would come again when the gospel has been preached to all nations (Matthew 24:14). Furthermore, the Lord instructed us to pray for the completion of the mission. (Isaiah 62). If we truly believe and long for the day when the Lord returns, we will be motivated to pray for the nations. Are we living our lives by putting everything on the line for the truth we believe in? “I am running with everything I have for what I believe in. Maranatha!” |
》Scripture Prayer
(Joshua 2:1-6) And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.
(Joshua 2:8-13) Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father’s house, and give me a sure sign. that you will save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.”
》Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. Rahab the prostitute risked everything for what she believed in. Likewise, let’s commit ourselves entirely to the God we believe in and His promises. Is “the Day” of the Lord’s return a reality for me? If so, then it’s only right for me to pour out my all for the fulfillment of the mission. Let us pray that the church of God would become one in unity for the completion of the mission.
He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20)
2. When the Lord instructed us to pray for the completion of the mission, He promised that when we pray, He Himself will act (Isaiah 62:6-7). If we earnestly long for the day of the Lord’s return, we will surely be led to pray for the nations. Let’s resolve to become intercessors for the nations and pray that every church will be established as a “house of prayer for all nations” as we pray for the nations.
These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” (Isaiah 56:7)
3) Faith, Facing the Unseen Reality
| God chose us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world. And in love he created the world and mankind (Ephesians 1:3-7). However, when we look at the present world and ourselves, it is hard to find the original form that God had intended in Christ before creation. Being chosen in Jesus Christ means that God’s intention was to transform us, even if it required shedding the blood of His Son, into the original form that He had dreamt of before the foundation of the world. Believing in the gospel accomplished through the cross, I believe that I have been transformed into the original form in God’s plan through faith. Similarly, other believers in Christ also, by faith, see and relate to Him as the original form. Therefore, faith is not about judging and concluding based on what is visible but rather believing and concluding according to what the truth in God’s will says, even if it has not been fully realized. This is faith in the unseen reality. |
》Scripture Prayer
(Hebrews 11:1) Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
(2 Corinthians 4:18) as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 5:7) for we walk by faith, not by sight.
(Hebrews 11:7) By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
(Ephesians 1:4-5) even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love, he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.
》Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. By faith, let us receive the Truth that at the cross, our diseased old self was put to death and we were born again as a new creation, the “original form” that was in God’s plan before the foundation of the world. As one united with the cross of Jesus, I no longer identify myself as the old self that was a slave to sin and Satan. It is demanded of Christians to believe in and live accordingly to the original form, now possessing the life of Jesus. Let us resolve and pray to live a life of obedience to His Word, moment by moment, in a manner worthy of the life of Christ.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17)
2. I, as an “original form being who has the life of Jesus,” have nothing to do with “my old diseased self.” “My old diseased self” that has been revealed in the light of the gospel has been put to death with Jesus on the Cross. And I have risen with Jesus and have new life in Jesus Christ. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel of the Cross but boldy proclaim it as witnesses of the gospel wherever and whenever we are. Let us resolve to live as witnesses of the gospel and pray for the souls of the nations to be restored to their original form through the proclamation of the gospel, testified by the Church, the body of Jesus Christ.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. (Romans 1:16)
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