Experiential Faith
Kriss Mitchell
Hebrews 11:1 is a very
familiar scripture to
anyone who has studied
about faith.
Hebrews 11:1 (amplified):
“Now faith is the
assurance (the
confirmation, the title
deed) of the things [we]
hope for, being the
proof of things [we] do
not see and the
conviction of their reality
[faith perceiving as real
fact what is not revealed
to the senses].”
We have heard it quoted
many times, showing us
that we need faith in
order to receive from
God. But the truth is, if
that is all this
scripture means, then
faith could be construed
as manipulating God to
get what we want.
Anything we believe for,
so long as someone in the
bible believed along the
same lines, we can have.
However, once we
come to understand the
larger picture, we see
that there is a little
more to it than that.
Faith (according to
Webster’s Dictionary) is
an assurance of a belief
that one’s desires may be
attained, combined with
confidence and an
expectation of
attainment. Assurance, as
defined by Webster, is a
pledge furnishing ground
of full confidence.
In this particular verse,
the word assurance in the
Greek is
“Hupostasis”, a noun that
conveys the idea of a
state of being; the
strength of a foundation;
steadfastness and
confidence. In other
translations, faith is
the “substance” of things
hoped for. Substance
means “that of which a
thing consists or is made
up; that which is
real.” So in other words,
faith is made up of
something real,
something we know to be
true thrown forward into
the future.
When reading this verse,
we may overlook the word
hope, but hope is a
significant component to
faith. It is very
difficult to have faith
without hope because hope
is what you tie your
faith to; it’s what
gets the experience out
of the past into the
future. Many people beat
themselves up because
they believe they don’t
have enough faith, when
in reality, in order to
have faith, we must have
hope. When our hope
is eroded away, our faith
becomes hollow and lacks
living quality. If
faith is all we are
considering in this
equation, we can judge
ourselves very harshly
when our faith seems weak.
Proverbs 13:12 (NKJ):
“Hope deferred makes the
heart sick, but when
the desire comes, it is a
tree of life.”
The preceding proverb
describes the condition
that we find ourselves
in without hope; we
become depressed, our
heart is sick and we are
unable to sustain our
faith. However, when the
desire comes, it is a
tree of life! What
happens when we
experience answered
prayer, or see
the hand of God at work
in our lives? Life comes
flooding back in,
hope returns and our
outlook improves! Faith
becomes much stronger!
Hope (Webster’s
Dictionary): The belief
that one’s desires may be
attained; trust; someone
or something in which
confidence is placed;
the thing hoped for or
desired; to have hope
with the expectation of
attainment.
In Ephesians 3:17-19,
Paul prays for the
Ephesians that they would
come to know the
attributes of God’s love
in personal experience. He
wants them to be
strengthened with power
by the Spirit, to know the
love of Christ. That
personal experience
creates the faith, which
allows Christ to dwell in
their hearts. It is by
this kind of
experience I can share
with those I counsel who
I know the Lord to be,
His character and His
nature. When someone
expresses to me that the
Lord has abandoned them I
can say with complete
assurance that
abandonment is not in His
nature. It is NOT
something He is capable of
doing.
Paul expressed to the
Ephesians the same
process that we must go
through in developing our
own faith. Let’s look at
an example of what
this is like in scripture.
One of the best examples
of taking past experience
known to be true
about God and throwing it
into a place of hope, is
the story of David
and Goliath. David came
to Saul and told him he
wanted to go out and
fight Goliath. Saul
responded by doubting
David’s abilities because he
was so young. In turn,
David told Saul of the
times when he was
tending his sheep, having
been attacked by wild
animals and having
overcome them. In I
Samuel 17:37 he describes
faith perfectly. “David
said, The Lord Who
delivered me out of the
paw of the lion and out of
the paw of the bear, He
will deliver me out of
the hand of this
Philistine…” What he was
saying was, “The Lord
saved me before; it is
His nature to defend me
and He will do it again.”
David made a
decision, based on his
personal past experience
with the Lord, to
believe for something
that was about to happen.
Because we are all
different, the Lord gives
us different ways to
acquire faith, and
experiential faith is
only one way. Experiential
faith works well for
those of us who are
hands-on learners. Those who
are audio learners can
learn by hearing about
the experiences others
have had with the Lord
and believe that way,
applying what they hear
and building on their own
experiences with the
Lord. (Faith comes by
hearing…) Even before we
know Him, He can give us
a measure of faith,
the Gift of Faith, so
that we can believe in
Him. Then He builds on
that faith by showing us
Who He is. He gives us
experiences to go
through where He builds
our trust and our faith
in Him, a little at a
time, so that when the
hard circumstances come,
there is enough faith
built in us to see us
through. We reach a point
where, as II Cor 5:7
says, “...we walk by
faith and not by sight.”
We can walk through a
set of circumstances,
knowing that whatever we
are facing, it cannot
withstand the character
of God and that, in the
end, He will cause us
to have victory. Our hope
is set in the
unchangeable nature of
our Lord.
One important point to
remember about faith is
that we are not telling
God what to do by having
faith. We believe in His
unchanging character
and faithfulness to bring
us through to the other
side of the
circumstances, but we do
not tell Him how to do it
or what has to
happen. Faith has a
component of trust within
it. We trust the Lord
that He knows what is
best for us. As we walk
through the
circumstance, we trust
Him to know just exactly
how to orchestrate
everything so we are
walking in victory at the
end, even if what we
see doesn’t make sense to
us. Our obligation is to
walk through
whatever we are facing in
truth. It is not up to us
to manipulate
people, opinions, or
circumstances so they
will come out in our favor.
God can only honor the
truth, so if we are
honest on the path, believe
that what God has done
for us before He will do
again, we can just go
along for the ride.
Individuals develop faith
in different areas
because we all have
different experiences
with the Lord. As a
counselor, I have great
amounts of faith that
when I ask the Lord to
come heal one of my
client’s wounds; He will
do it and there will be
good fruit. My faith
has become strong in that
area because I have
experienced His
faithfulness again and
again. Those faithful men
and women who work in
the Healing Rooms
Ministry have superior
faith to heal the sick. The
word says in James
5:14-15 that if there is
anyone sick, others should
be called in to pray and
their prayers of faith
will heal the sick
person. Other people have
well developed faith in
the area of
finances. If your faith
hasn’t been developed
enough in an area, check
to see if your hope has
been eroded there. Join
together with someone
whose faith has been
strengthened. Let them
encourage you, let them
pray for you, and let
them build up your hope.
As a last point, it is
important to note that
when a person finds no
results coming from their
faith, it may be time to
ask the Lord what
is blocking them from
receiving. Is there a
trust issue that needs
healing, or a wrong
belief or a decision that
has been made which
blocks the ability to
believe? Does what we
believe for come from a
wrong motive of the
heart? James 4:3 says,
“You ask and do not
receive, because you ask
with wrong motives, so
that you may spend it
on your pleasures.” Have
we interpreted God’s word
inaccurately or
have we lost hope and now
believe in what those
painful experiences
are saying to us? James
says, “And the prayer
that is of faith WILL
save him who is
sick...”(Amplified) James
didn’t say “perhaps” or
“maybe” or “only at
certain times”, he said
will. If your faith is not
producing good fruit,
there is a reason beyond
“it simply isn’t
working.” The Lord wants
you to find out what that
reason is so you
can know the truth, and
the truth will set you free.
|