What is FAITH?

A couple months ago, God revealed to me something about faith which i never really saw before, and it just make me so excited whenever God make such revelations to me! And right now i just can't wait to share my thoughts on this topic called Faith, and also to start my opening post to my new BLOGSKIN which i have not changeee since 26 march 2006 where i first started blogging 3 years agooo!

Well as you can see that image at the top i have chosen for my main blogskin, shows the time when i was at a kelong trip last year in 2008 at this secluded beach in batam just basking in the presence of God's indescribable nature! With the amazing beautiful white fluffy clouds and vast clear sea before me! It really amazes one how such complex intricate life system came about came about? It cldn't have just appeared like that right? The only best possible solution i believe with a strong convction and assurance to this great mystersty is there's a need for a GREAT BEING and greater reality above our very own human minds to have created all this beautiful nature before us today...

Anyways was doing my precept study on Convenant and few mths back there was this section on Faith with the verse from hebrews 11:1 which i read...

"¹Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

²For by it the elders obtained a good report.

³Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." Hebrews 11:1-3 (KJV)

And when i read this famous verse suddenly i had this revelation which i never had before although i read the NIV version of this verse quite a number of times...God just showed me what he meant by that! Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen means the persuasion is not the outcome of imagination but is based on fact, such as the reality of the resurrection of Christ ... 1 Cor 15 (a summary of 1 Cor 15 talks about the many witnesses of Christ Resurrection during that period),
and as such it becomes the basis of realistic hope. So there are evidence to it, people have seen it, and it is a fact. But we do not see it because it happened many years ago.

"Faith always has been the mark of God's servants, from the beginning of the world. Where the principle is planted by the regenerating Spirit of God, it will cause the truth to be received, concerning justification by the sufferings and merits of Christ. And the same things that are the object of our hope, are the object of our faith.

It is a firm persuasion and expectation, that God will perform all he has promised to us in Christ. This persuasion gives the soul to enjoy those things now; it gives them a subsistence or reality in the soul, by the first-fruits and foretastes of them. Faith proves to the mind, the reality of things that cannot be seen by the bodily eye. It is a full approval of all God has revealed, as holy, just, and good.

This view of faith is explained by many examples of persons in former times, who obtained a good report, or an honourable character in the word of God. Faith was the principle of their holy obedience, remarkable services, and patient sufferings.

The Bible gives the most true and exact account of the origin of all things, and we are to believe it, and not to wrest the Scripture account of the creation, because it does not suit with the differing fancies of men. All that we see of the works of creation, were brought into being by the command of God." - Bible Commentary of Hebrews 11:1-3 by Matthew Henry

Another way of looking into FAITH is something which i inferred from john piper as i prepared this sharing...

From Hebrews 11, Verse 3 is directly related to this definition of faith as "the evidence of things not seen." It says, "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible."

Do you see the connection? Verse 1 says "faith is the evidence of things not seen," and verse 3 says that faith understands that the world - what is seen - was made out of what is not seen - the word of God. So verse 3 is a specific illustration of the definition of faith in verse 1b.

Romans 1:20. "Since the creation of the world [God's] invisible attributes, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood by what has been made." The word "understood" here in Romans 1:20 is the same as the word as in Hebrews 11:3, "By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God.

“Hebrews 11:3 seems to say that the evidence that God made the world is faith. Now think about this for a moment. What shall we make of it? Here's what I make of it. Faith - at least in part - is the spiritual seeing or perceiving of the fingerprints of God on the things he has made. Now the fingerprints of God on the things he has made - the order, the beauty, the greatness, the "irreducible complexity" –john piper

(Perceiving nature right before your eyes at a micro level)

Illustration:

But so is the seeing of these fingerprints a kind of evidence.

It's just the other side of the coin. If you ask me, "How do you know my school has a new Mac computer,at level 5," I will say, "I saw it when I went there." My seeing is evidence that it is there.

I think that is the way faith is the evidence of things unseen. We all look at the same fingerprints, but some see and some don't. Those who see have the evidence - the testimony - in themselves. How can that be?

Take this analogy of the "HIDDEN 3D images" aka Stereograms...

These are pieces of art that, on one level, are one thing, but at another level are something quite different. At first glance all you see is the surface presentation. But if you let your eyes focus more deeply, or more distantly, you may see a train or a boxing kangaroo or a globe not only appearing, but actually standing up off the page. Now some people stare at these pages for several minutes and see nothing but color and chaos. But others almost immediately see the head of Beethoven or a lamb. If someone says, "How do you know a lamb is there?" the answer is, "I see it." Your seeing is the evidence. They may not see it, but that won't change your mind.

Now this is what it is like for some to look at God's creation. Some see color and chaos. Others have a deeper view and suddenly God's fingerprints come into focus. What evidence can they offer? They see it. It is as undoubted as a lamb in a 3-D image. No one can talk you out of it.

(Stare through this picture until you see something...Can you see a 3D shark popping up?)

You may ask, "Should that be called faith?" Didn't Paul say (in 2 Corinthians 5:7), "We walk by faith and not by sight"? How can faith be "sight"? Paul meant that Christ is not present physically on earth to see with physical eyes, but is in heaven. He did not mean that there is no spiritual perception of God's reality. Hebrews 11:1 says, "Faith is the conviction - or better, the evidence - of things not seen."(NASB) And then the writer illustrates this in verse 3 when he says that "we understand by faith" that God created the world. In other words, faith is not just a responding act of the soul; it is also a grasping or perceiving or understanding act. It is a spiritual act that sees the fingerprints of God. This does not mean that you believe them into being. That would be wishful thinking - the power of positive thinking. That is not authentic faith. Real faith is based on real Truth. It looks deeply at the world God has made - looks through it, so to speak - and by the grace of God, it sees the glory of God (as Psalm 19:1 says) standing forth off the creation like a 3-D image. -John Piper

Adding to this...reading from 1 Peter 1:5-9 which means that faith obtains the future entrance into salvation,safe existence which will be provided by God at the end of the present season...

^"5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. ⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, ⁷ that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, ⁸ whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, ⁹ receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls. " 1 Peter 1:5-9

(Me standing before the GLORY of the LORD!!! And basking in the presence of the ALMIGHTY LORD who is the GREATER REALITY who created the sun the sea, the earth and everything that you see before us today and all this alone are enough evidence to show that GOD exists!)

References:
John Piper- http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByScripture/26/999_What_Faith_Knows_and_Hopes_For/