Flowing In Faith

Faith lies at the heart of all that we have in and from God through Christ. It is the very energy of God in us through the presence of His Holy Spirit. And we see this in Hebrews 11:1 as it gives us the evidence to the meaning of faith. In the phrase, "Faith is the substance," we have insight into it's true nature. The text does not say that faith is a human instrument for getting things from God, it says that faith is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is the essential reality of all that we receive from God. The phrase "hoped for" is better translated "expected." The English word "hope" has too much uncertainty in it to properly express the Greek word elpidzo. 

Hebrews 11:1 would better be translated—"Faith is the essence of our expectations."

But what precisely does that mean?

Faith is an expression of Divine energy.

It is strictly a gift of God and is impossible without Him (See Ephesians 2:8). It is that flow of Divine energy that activates our spirits. Our spirits then become like a circuit board, receiving signals from God. Apart from the gift of energizing faith we would not be able to receive these signals—without the Holy Spirit, we would not have this faith.

We can take it a step further and look into the meaning of the Greek word that usually translates the word substance, hupostasis which means in Greek what it does in Latin—that which "stands under" or is "the inner essence of." 

For example, in the case of electric wiring, it is the electricity or energy flowing through the wire that is the essence of it. When the energy flows through it, the wire is the effective instrument that accomplishes innumerable tasks. Without the energy flowing through it, the wire is simply like a cord, that is not very useful. The electrical circuitry in a house gives to that house an innumerable range of useful functions. But the wiring itself, were it not connected to an energy source, would be of little value.

Just so, it is not the object itself, for which we pray, that is important, but the flow of energy that represents our communion with God. As the electricity is more vital and real than the appliances it serves, so the energy of faith within us—the gift of God—is more vital and real than those things which come to us as a result of our interactions with God.

So faith, then, is the energy process from God that charges our spirit nature and equips us for communion with Him.

 

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

  Hebrews 11:1