Page 14 - The Standard Volume 2

The
Substance
of
Sara Jenson
I have never heard anyone say, “I have no desire.” We all expect, hope and pray for something. A miracle. Healing. A breakthrough. Peace. Provision. Comfort. Change. All of them wrapped up in prayers, timing and expectation that the God to whom we are praying to WILL provide.
The journey is not always certain. It can be downright exhausting at times. The intent is not to make you faint but to make you strong. In the end it’s never about the petition. It’s to strengthen your Faith and to learn that your hope is in Salvation through Jesus Christ.
God knows the end from the beginning. He knows the number of hairs on our heads, and yet, He doesn’t tell us everything we want to know. He’s God. Being settled and comforted by that truth is not always easy, but it IS the place He wants us to rest.
We believe that He fulfills His promises even if we don’t see our prayers answered in the way or time-frame we asked. In the end (if we allow them to), our trials season us and give our Faith substance.
Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” As a Christian, this means I have signed up for a life where I don’t know the HOW of everything that will unfold in my life. What I do know is that I have hope of an expected end (Jeremiah 29:11). This gives my Faith substance.
Many Christians misunderstand Faith as simply believing and declaring something will manifest, or they don’t understand Faith at all beyond believing that Jesus saves from eternal punishment. They see Faith as a mere way to receive a desire; or they don’t that understand Salvation also gives power over sin, sickness, temptation, anger, fear, depression, or any other work of the devil.
Faith is much deeper than this. It is SUBSTANCE. The word “substance” means the most important or essential part of something; the real or essential meaning. If our Faith is the “substance of things hoped for,” it means that we must have roots that go down deeper than the superficial matters of our lives. We must understand that the most important or essential part of what we expect is the substance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; to see beyond a particular trial or circumstance to the “expected end.” We must understand what it means to have Faith according to the teaching and examples in the Bible, and then apply this understanding to our own lives.
Abraham is known as the “Father of the faithful.” God told him that he would have a son. When it looked impossible, God performed the miracle! His wife Sarah, barren and 90 years old, gave birth to a son. (Read Genesis 12-22 for the whole story.) Funny thing is, God then told Abraham to do something that sounded completely crazy!
Genesis 22:1-2 tells us,
“1After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 2He said, ‘Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.’” (ESV)
Visualizing my reaction, I would have wanted to say, “Really God? You want me to kill my own son? The one you promised to give me!?” Although I don’t like to admit this, I would have been discouraged; If God said He would provide, why is He taking my son away from me?
We don’t see Abraham flinching at all. “Abraham said, ‘God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.’ So they went both of them together” (Genesis 22:8).
14 THE STANDARD | January 2020