Substance part 2
If something has substance... it's real. You can feel it. It's more than just an idea. More than just something you wish for, or hope for. It's something you've got. With that in mind, look at Hebrews 3:14 in the Message Bible, "If we can only keep our grip on the sure thing we started out with, we're in this with we're in this with Christ for the long haul." Faith isn't about trying to get something you haven't got. Faith is about knowing and believing that you have what God says you have. That you ARE who God says you ARE! Connect this with 1 Timothy 6:12, "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." The good fight of faith is not GETTING eternal life. Eternal life is the gift of God. He gave it to us over 2,000 years ago on the cross when Jesus gave His life for us and gave His life to us. The good fight of faith is LAYING HOLD of eternal life. Receiving the gift you've been given. Letting God love you to the point where there's no doubt in your mind. To the point that you're filled to overflowing with what you've already been filled with! The outpouring of the indwelling Spirit, right? Faith isn't about getting anything. It's about being persuaded that you've already GOT something. Because seeing is believing. This idea of "taking things on faith," which basically means hoping for things, is really not Biblical. All throughout the Bible God would ask someone to do something, and the person in question would turn right around and ask for a sign. Ask for proof. Ask for something to believe in. Some evidence. Some substance. And every time God would give them a sign. He's not afraid of proving Himself. In fact, I think He delights in proving Himself. Because that's where faith comes from. "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17). We have faith in God because He has proven (and continues to prove) Himself faithful. We trust God because He has proven (and continues to prove) Himself trustworthy. Faith isn't a blind leap (into the dark, or the light). Faith is walking on the path that God has illuminated with His Word. We hear the Word of God--literally the Word about Christ--and then we have something to believe in. The Holy Spirit--our love receptor--whispers in a still, small voice that Daddy loves us. And when we hear that Word, faith explodes. When we know and believe the love of Christ... when we know and believe that we ARE loved, right now, just the way we are... that's when we have something real to cling to. Something to hold on to. Something to release, because we have received it. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So first you hear, then you believe. First you receive, then you release. You don't fake it 'til you make it, and you don't try to conjure it up by "believing really hard" (which, again, is really hoping really hard). You simply let God love you and then love others with that same love. You experience the love of God, and then you share it with those you come into contact with. Faith is the SUBSTANCE of things hoped for. The EVIDENCE of things not seen. Faith is the proof in the pudding. It's not trying to believe, it's what we believe in!