Faith gives substance to our hopes

"Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Mark 11:24

Faith is a solid conviction resting on God’s words that makes the future present and the invisible seen. Faith is to believe what you do not yet see; the reward for this faith is to see what you believe. — AUGUSTINE

Likewise, the Bible says, “Faith gives substance to our hopes”—the idea being that faith grabs hold of what is hoped for, as something real and substantial.

Faith thanks God beforehand. 

If a husband tells his wife that he has placed a hundred dollar bill in her purse for her birthday, she thanks him immediately. Why? Because she trusts him. She knows it is hers before she sees it.

In the verse above, Jesus says, "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Mark 11:24

What do we hope for? Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 11:1 The solid certainty is about the future—“what we hope for.”

1. We hope for Christ’s return — “for the blessed hope—the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13)
2. We hope for the resurrection because “in his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead” 1 Peter 1:3
3. We hope for glorification — “But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure” 1 John 3:2, 3
4. We hope to reign with him, for “if we endure we will also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12). “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

As believer’s our faith can give us such an inner certainty that the return of Christ, the resurrection, the glorification, a place in Heaven, and a coming reign all become true one day! Faith turns hope into more than just a dream. 

So what has happened to spiritual faith? 
Spiritual faith has been replaced with human cognizance as the highest level of reality.  I will only believe in what I can see, touch, taste or feel. Science is God even though the leaps of faith they make in systems is far greater than what we make from the revelation of God!  Today, especially with all that is going on in our country, we must hang on to true spiritual faith in God.  It can’t be taken away from us and as the world is spinning faster and faster out of control and Christians are beginning are becoming a persecuted minority we need all the faith we can muster. The world needs to see us standing firm in our faith, not wavering.

Scripture to Claim:
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. Romans 10:17