Sight is a precious gift from God, but there is a gift of sight that goes beyond the natural seeing eye. This gift ventures into the spiritual realm of God where you can see with the eyes of faith. Those bound in the natural seeing realm cannot enter the avenue of faith. Man’s way is to see and believe, God’s way is to believe and see; God’s ways are higher than ours. (Isa 55:9) Those who see with the eyes of faith have been released from the anchor of unbelief, just as a boat is set free to sail when the anchor is raised. What is faith? It is a gift that is intangible in the five senses of sight, touch, taste, smell, and hearing, but in the spiritual realm, faith is like a solid brick in the construction of the life of a believer. Faith according to Webster’s means, “confidence; belief; trust; reliance”. According to the Bible, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen.” (Heb 11:1) There are varities and degrees of faith. (Rom. 1:17; Rom. 12:6) There is saving faith that brings you to salvation through Jesus Christ. (Eph. 2:8) There is everyday faith to walk through life and go to your heavenly home. (Hab. 2:4; Gal. 2:20; Heb. 10:38) There is miraculous faith in Christ that leads you to walk through the impossible into triumph. (Luke 17:6; Heb. 11:7) Confirmation deepens your faith. Before stepping out you must be certain that God has truly spoken a word of His leading. There must be confirmation. (De. 19:15; Mt. 18:16; 2Co. 13:1) Before traveling to China, God confirmed through His Word, my husband, and the elders in our church that the journey was of His leading. With each confirmation, God deposited a deeper gift of faith within, that the mission would be completed successfully. When God gives direction and confirms, you are responsible to step out with your face set like flint to obey. (Isa 50:7) My mission in China was to locate and adopt a girl in an orphanage. This was not just any orphan girl, but a specific girl that God showed me in a daytime vision. I saw her face, and then He gave me information about her age and location. He spoke into my spirit loudly, “Go get her!” When I heard those words within my spirit, I laughed. I didn’t even know where China was! Through many miracles and numerous trips to China over the next four and a half years, our daughter Faith and I came together, and my husband and I were able to adopt her. During those years I learned how to walk with the eyes of faith. Christian friends and three of our four grown children thought I had lost my mind. One of my closest friends asked my forgiveness just before we left for China to bring Faith home. She said, “I thought this was just something of your own doing.” She didn’t have the gift of faith because God had given that gift to me. It was my responsibility to walk without wavering. Faith involves an act of your will to step out through the pathways of doubt. Faith is a Kingdom principle requiring action to release God’s power, whether it be by knocking or receiving. (Mt. 7:7; Jas. 2:17-18) By faith I knocked on the door of China in search of our daughter and found her, by faith we received our son Christian after a call came to us. In both cases it was faith in action. Faith defies rationality based on reason or evidence, but thrives on revelation and inspiration. Many have told us that we are crazy to be adopting children at our ages but the evidence is in that this is a God thing. Living faith actively and progressively enables the believer to complete his goal or calling. In faith, though always without the finances, we proceeded with every adoption, learning that the smallest measure of faith can release miracles. (Luke 17:6) Faith peers into heaven and sees it done on earth, though it has yet to happen. It calls those things that are not visual as though they were. Faith is God’s vehicle by which heaven’s plans become earth’s reality. Faith is the core of obedience to the divine will of God. (2 Th. 1:11) Two years ago, after adopting four Chinese daughters, we thought our family was complete, but God spoke into my heart that He had two Chinese sons for us. We all prayed and within one year two sons joined our family. Faith gives us the ability to see through the eyes of God. It developes within a separation from unbelief and brings confident trust in God. Faith never lets go, knowing that with God all things are possible. (Mt. 19:26; Mr. 9:23) We have one more daughter left in China. We have tried to bring her home to our family for over four years. China adoption laws changed, and it is now impossible with man, but with God it will happen. A believer may walk in a gift of faith in one area yet struggle in another. It is no problem for me to have faith that God will provide finances to pay for an adoption, yet I struggle over having enough to pay for my continuing education working through my doctorate. Faith is joined hand in hand with God’s power. (Acts 6:8; 2Th. 1:11) Laced throughout the Old Testament we read about saints who walked with the eyes of faith. Noah built the ark by faith according to God’s instructions, and it saved his whole family. (Heb. 11:7) Abraham was called out by God, he obeyed and settled in the promised land. (Gen. 12:1; Heb. 11:8,9) By faith Sarah bore Issac, the child of promise, when she was 90 years old and Abraham was 100. (Heb. 11:11) In our first church, a young woman gave her life to Jesus. She and her husband had been in a tragic car accident that left her badly disfigured, and she not able to carry a baby. On New Year’s Eve one year we were invited to their home. Before we left to visit, the Lord spoke into my spirit a word of promise for the young woman that she would bear a child. I wrote out the promise and gave it to her. She took hold of that promise in faith. Months later she became pregnant. The doctor told her to go home and expect to abort the baby as she had done many times before. Several months later she called the doctor and asked if he would like to see her as she had not aborted. He was amazed and told her to come right in. In her time, by faith, she birthed a beautiful baby girl. By faith Moses was birthed and hidden by his parents. Not only was he spared, but he was raised by Pharoah’s daughter to later become the deliverer of Israel. (Heb. 11:23) By faith the Israelites heard and obeyed in marching around Jericho seven times. Miraculously the walls fell down and they were victorious. (Heb. 11:30) In the Bible we are instructed to walk by faith and not by sight. (2 Cor. 5:7) With our natural eyes we see earthly things, but with our spiritual eyes we see heavenly things. Faith is immoveable when secured in the believer’s heart in the place where God intends it to grow. Some years ago, a Christian brother who suffered from asthma and a serious back problem, knew by faith that God called him to compete in the Western States Race. He faithfully trained for almost a year, and set his eyes toward to the goal of completing the 100- mile race in less than the twenty-four hours allotted to buckle. I will never forget pacing him on the last part of the race. It was the wee hours of the morning as we neared the finish at the high school in Auburn, California. He almost shut down in the last mile, but then he caught sight of the lights in the stadium he entered the arena leaping and yelling like a man going to war. As he reached the finish line he made one last leap before collapsing. By faith Duane finished the race in a little over eighteen hours and buckled. Faith does not waver in the face of opposition or comments, but walks past with eyes set on the goal in Jesus. By faith you know that somehow, someway, someday, what God has revealed will happen. Talking to one man in an adoption agency about our daughter Faith before she was found, I said, “I know this will happen, I don’t know how or when, but I know it will.” He said, “Sandra, let me pray about this and get back to you. The next week he called and said, “I believe that God is in this, lets keep praying.” His agency was instrumental later in helping us bring Faith home. A gift of faith is the outcome of the believer’s union with Jesus Christ, knowing that apart from Him we can do nothing. You cannot manufacture faith because it comes to you as a gift from God. (Eph 2:8) When the gift of faith comes, it is up to you to step out. The Bible says, “Faith without works is dead.” When we step out in faith, as God leads, our faith is perfected. (James 2:17,18,22) May God have His perfect way in you