Walk by Faith and Not by Sight
Please notice here, about the title that I did not say to walk in faith, but I said walk by faith. Many believers do not know the difference between walking in faith and walking by faith. Walking in faith is salvational faith, but walking by faith is receiving faith.
Paul says in 1 Timothy 1:19, “holding on to faith and a good conscience, which some have rejected and so have suffered shipwreck with regard to the faith.”
Now the question is what type of faith is this? This is salvational faith, which has to be kept till the very end and if you lose it then you are going to hell and this would mean that you have to hold on to Jesus till the very end (Matthew10:22,24:13).
Here, I would like to give a testimony of my grandmother, who walked in faith and held onto Jesus till the very end though she faced persecution by her husband, a wretched person I have ever known, who would chew beetle leaf and used to spat at her. He would throw away food served to him by her, would beat her up, and inflict pain to harass her in all possible ways. Her brothers were filthy rich and were determined to kill her for her faith. They made her stand in front of them, with a small sword-like weapon, threatening to kill her for her faith in Christ. But she did not bow down before them and declared that even if they cut her to pieces, every piece would cry out only the name of ‘Jesus’. She was never bitter because of her faith in Christ and she took everything on her stride and stood single-handedly against all the persecutions. Gradually, she won her husband to Christ. Her son was a drunkard and gambler. Her son was transformed because of her strong faith in Jesus. He left all the unacceptable habits and surrendered his life to Christ. She turned her entire family to the Lord out of the faith in Christ. It was her prophecy for me that I would serve the Lord! Now, she is in heaven, looking down and thanking the Lord for every persecution she had to go through and because of her faith in Jesus, we witness hundreds and thousands of lives turned and transformed today.
But when we look in the book of Hebrews chapter eleven, we see the statement ‘by faith’ used many times, which in reality is about receiving faith. Before going deep into this, let’s define what faith is? Faith is the firmness of one’s heart towards God and his promises.
Secondly, let’s read Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence (proof) of things not seen.”
The Greek word for ‘substance’ in above verse is ‘hupostates’ which means realities/being or under setting. So in other words, anything you have faith for is set under. So if you have faith for healing, healing is under your feet. If you have faith for increase or anything, then those are set under your feet in the unseen realm. Some people, when they talk of faith, they talk loosely and don’t talk with firmness not knowing it is the realities of reality. In other words, it’s more real than the physical world.
Let me give a testimony below to explain what is walking by faith. I heard about a man of God and his wife, who was pregnant. After a few months, she started bleeding and informed her husband about it, who was unmoved by it. He asked her to put/serve the dinner on the table and she was shocked to hear his response. Then after dinner, she told him that she was bleeding but he asked her to go to sleep. She confronted him and asked as to what sort of man he was! He said that he was not going to support or agree with her in this matter. When morning came, they went to the doctor for a check-up. As they reached the clinic, she was about to open her mouth and tell her woes to the doctor, but the husband forbade her from opening her mouth. The doctor checked the lady and said that the baby is perfectly normal. She again wanted to open her mouth and tell the doctor but the husband forbade her from opening her mouth.
Just imagine a lady who is pregnant and bleeding entire day and night, yet the husband was unmoved. Why was her husband walking with such a confidence? It is simply because he was walking by faith and not by sight! Had he agreed with her and walked by sight or by five senses, they would have lost the baby. Today he says, among all his children that particular baby is the healthiest one.
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