I have a friend that asked a small group of ladies to participate in her daughter, Kasey's 13th birthday by asking each lady to share about a christian character trait. I was given the word faith and this is the letter I wrote. Enjoy...My Sweet Kasey:
The very first time I held you in my arms I prayed two things over you. The first was for you to know the Lord as your personal Savior and the second was that you would grow in wisdom & understanding, and to have a heart tender to the Lord’s leading. I can’t believe that was 13 years ago! I am so thankful both are true today. Please know that I do pray for you – my prayer is that you will continue to follow hard after the Lord.
I have so many sweet memories of you… there were so many nights that I held you in my arms till you were sound asleep. (Your mom always said I spoiled you, but I loved every minute!) How about all the times we played beauty parlor, and all the different crafts we created (I am honored to have taught you to cross-stitch). I also remember laying in the snow and watching the clouds go by as you talked endlessly about your friends and teachers at school, or waking up earlier then everyone else so that you could read me your favorite books, sometimes you would just talk about something that was on your heart… These are just a few of my favorite (sweet) memories of you.
Kasey, you are an amazingly beautiful young lady inside and out. You are tender hearted, thoughtful and wise beyond your youth. You are something to treasure and I am thankful to have you in my life. I am honored to be your “Aunt Pammie.”
When your mom asked me to be a part of this special time in your life, I was so excited! I immediately knew what I wanted to do. As time went by I also realized how important faith is in one’s life.
Faith is like a hub of a wheel for all the godly character traits you will find in scripture. A wheel can not possibly turn or work correctly without having a core center that is balanced. The same is true with faith. For example, God calls you to a life of love, hope, purity, self control etc. however none of these attributes are possible without a solid (balanced) foundation of faith at the core of who you are. You can never truly love without first knowing (having faith in) Christ’s love. You are able to love others only because Christ first loved you. You also can’t live a pure life without first trusting and putting your faith in God who gives you the strength to press on towards purity when the world tells you otherwise…
So what is faith? Faith is the confident belief or trust in the Truth and Trustworthiness of God. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 is probably one of the best descriptions of faith found in the bible. Faith is both the substance of things hoped for and the evidence that things exist even when they are not yet apparent to your senses.
1. Faith - the substance
The Greek word for substance found in Hebrews 11:1 is hupostasis which comes from the meaning "that which has real existence, the basic essence, the actual reality, the substance of something.” All that means is faith is believing something is real even before it is made known to us. For example, without thinking, you believe a chair will hold you before you even take a seat in it. You (by faith) sit without even thinking about the chair’s ability to hold your weight. Faith is the same thing. In a nutshell, faith is a condition of the human heart. You believe and put your trust in God and you move forward in life with that confidence. For example, God asks us to pray and believe. What He is saying is that we need to have faith that God will answer what we have prayed. When He does answer our prayers, the image we prayed for is replaced by the actuality.
2. Faith – the evidence
The Greek word for evidence is elegchos, which basically means "conviction." John writes, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us— whatever we ask— we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15). It is important to note that when we pray, we need to pray according to God’s will and not our own. We may not always get the answer we were hoping to get, but when we are in God’s will, we get what we need which is what is perfect for us.
Faith, based on the Word of God, is the evidence found in Hebrews 11. Faith is not what we see or don't see, nor is it based on good or bad situations. Faith is also not based on our feelings but instead it is based firmly on the truth of what God says in scripture. The evidence is based on God and God alone – not on our feelings, or our rationale thinking.
So how do you grow in faith? Faith is actively believing God is who He says he is, God will do what He says He will do and you are who God says you are in Him. In order to have a solid foundation of faith, you need to be in God’s word, as well as pray & meditate - know what His word says and then be obedient to His calling. The two go hand in hand…
3. So what does faith look like?
Faith believes God before He makes himself known - For example, if your mom tells you she has placed a ten dollar bill in your backpack, do you immediately believe her or do you go and look to see if what she said is real? If you trust your mom, you believe her and thank her right away. Why? Because you trust her – she is trustworthy. You know it is there before you see it. It is the same with God. Mark 11:24 says, “ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Faith endures – Many of the people in scripture had to wait upon the Lord. For example, the Israelite wandered in the desert for 40 years and some never even saw the promised land. Sarah and Abraham waited 25 years before Isaac was born. Faith does not look at time but instead keeps its eyes on God. As I type this, your Aunt Pammie is 41 years old and single. If you asked me in high school what I wanted in life, I wanted to be married with a large family. Sweetheart, I am living my life believing God’s perfect will is better than my will and neither time nor the calendar changes the truth of who God is. “Hope may last a few minutes or a few months. Faith will endure until it is replaced by the thing for which we are believing.” D. L. Moody.
Faith is not hope - Faith is the means by which we receive those things we hope for. Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen. Faith can only operate in the realm of the invisible. Faith cannot exist in the visible realm. You don’t need to have faith in something you can see with your eyes – faith only happens when things are unknown.
Faith pleases God – “But without faith it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6
To summarize, let’s think of the hub of the wheel again. Faith is the foundation - a solid balanced biblical faith enables you to be pure, to love, to have self control, etc. Think of faith as the spirit within you reacting to the Spirit of God around you through love, kindness, purity, etc. I heard Beth Moore once use this illustration. The word react is the same word as resonance. Resonance means to osolate to the same frequency as the main source. Did you know that if you hit the middle “C” on the piano, all the other “C’s” in the piano will vibrate? Why? Because they are all in tune to that stronger middle “C”. Now let’s take this a little bit further, not only do the “C’s” vibrate but also the notes that harmonize with the “C” vibrate because they are reacting to their main source. They are in tune to the strong middle “C.” It is the same with us. Our faith needs to be “in tune” or “in balance” with the source which is God. Go home and try it out. Open up the piano and sing a single note “C” into the strings and listen to them vibrate. It is pretty awesome!
Kasey, my deepest wish is that you would be so near to the Lord that when He "sings" of love, purity, kindness, godliness, perseverance, self-control, knowledge, goodness, humility you vibrate in response. Be so "in tune" to the Lord that you vibrate in resonance (obedience) to Him.
I love you! Aunt Pammie
I have so many sweet memories of you… there were so many nights that I held you in my arms till you were sound asleep. (Your mom always said I spoiled you, but I loved every minute!) How about all the times we played beauty parlor, and all the different crafts we created (I am honored to have taught you to cross-stitch). I also remember laying in the snow and watching the clouds go by as you talked endlessly about your friends and teachers at school, or waking up earlier then everyone else so that you could read me your favorite books, sometimes you would just talk about something that was on your heart… These are just a few of my favorite (sweet) memories of you.
Kasey, you are an amazingly beautiful young lady inside and out. You are tender hearted, thoughtful and wise beyond your youth. You are something to treasure and I am thankful to have you in my life. I am honored to be your “Aunt Pammie.”
When your mom asked me to be a part of this special time in your life, I was so excited! I immediately knew what I wanted to do. As time went by I also realized how important faith is in one’s life.
Faith is like a hub of a wheel for all the godly character traits you will find in scripture. A wheel can not possibly turn or work correctly without having a core center that is balanced. The same is true with faith. For example, God calls you to a life of love, hope, purity, self control etc. however none of these attributes are possible without a solid (balanced) foundation of faith at the core of who you are. You can never truly love without first knowing (having faith in) Christ’s love. You are able to love others only because Christ first loved you. You also can’t live a pure life without first trusting and putting your faith in God who gives you the strength to press on towards purity when the world tells you otherwise…
So what is faith? Faith is the confident belief or trust in the Truth and Trustworthiness of God. “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 is probably one of the best descriptions of faith found in the bible. Faith is both the substance of things hoped for and the evidence that things exist even when they are not yet apparent to your senses.
1. Faith - the substance
The Greek word for substance found in Hebrews 11:1 is hupostasis which comes from the meaning "that which has real existence, the basic essence, the actual reality, the substance of something.” All that means is faith is believing something is real even before it is made known to us. For example, without thinking, you believe a chair will hold you before you even take a seat in it. You (by faith) sit without even thinking about the chair’s ability to hold your weight. Faith is the same thing. In a nutshell, faith is a condition of the human heart. You believe and put your trust in God and you move forward in life with that confidence. For example, God asks us to pray and believe. What He is saying is that we need to have faith that God will answer what we have prayed. When He does answer our prayers, the image we prayed for is replaced by the actuality.
2. Faith – the evidence
The Greek word for evidence is elegchos, which basically means "conviction." John writes, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us— whatever we ask— we know that we have what we asked of him.” (1 John 5:14-15). It is important to note that when we pray, we need to pray according to God’s will and not our own. We may not always get the answer we were hoping to get, but when we are in God’s will, we get what we need which is what is perfect for us.
Faith, based on the Word of God, is the evidence found in Hebrews 11. Faith is not what we see or don't see, nor is it based on good or bad situations. Faith is also not based on our feelings but instead it is based firmly on the truth of what God says in scripture. The evidence is based on God and God alone – not on our feelings, or our rationale thinking.
So how do you grow in faith? Faith is actively believing God is who He says he is, God will do what He says He will do and you are who God says you are in Him. In order to have a solid foundation of faith, you need to be in God’s word, as well as pray & meditate - know what His word says and then be obedient to His calling. The two go hand in hand…
3. So what does faith look like?
Faith believes God before He makes himself known - For example, if your mom tells you she has placed a ten dollar bill in your backpack, do you immediately believe her or do you go and look to see if what she said is real? If you trust your mom, you believe her and thank her right away. Why? Because you trust her – she is trustworthy. You know it is there before you see it. It is the same with God. Mark 11:24 says, “ Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Faith endures – Many of the people in scripture had to wait upon the Lord. For example, the Israelite wandered in the desert for 40 years and some never even saw the promised land. Sarah and Abraham waited 25 years before Isaac was born. Faith does not look at time but instead keeps its eyes on God. As I type this, your Aunt Pammie is 41 years old and single. If you asked me in high school what I wanted in life, I wanted to be married with a large family. Sweetheart, I am living my life believing God’s perfect will is better than my will and neither time nor the calendar changes the truth of who God is. “Hope may last a few minutes or a few months. Faith will endure until it is replaced by the thing for which we are believing.” D. L. Moody.
Faith is not hope - Faith is the means by which we receive those things we hope for. Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen. Faith can only operate in the realm of the invisible. Faith cannot exist in the visible realm. You don’t need to have faith in something you can see with your eyes – faith only happens when things are unknown.
Faith pleases God – “But without faith it is impossible to please God.” Hebrews 11:6
To summarize, let’s think of the hub of the wheel again. Faith is the foundation - a solid balanced biblical faith enables you to be pure, to love, to have self control, etc. Think of faith as the spirit within you reacting to the Spirit of God around you through love, kindness, purity, etc. I heard Beth Moore once use this illustration. The word react is the same word as resonance. Resonance means to osolate to the same frequency as the main source. Did you know that if you hit the middle “C” on the piano, all the other “C’s” in the piano will vibrate? Why? Because they are all in tune to that stronger middle “C”. Now let’s take this a little bit further, not only do the “C’s” vibrate but also the notes that harmonize with the “C” vibrate because they are reacting to their main source. They are in tune to the strong middle “C.” It is the same with us. Our faith needs to be “in tune” or “in balance” with the source which is God. Go home and try it out. Open up the piano and sing a single note “C” into the strings and listen to them vibrate. It is pretty awesome!
Kasey, my deepest wish is that you would be so near to the Lord that when He "sings" of love, purity, kindness, godliness, perseverance, self-control, knowledge, goodness, humility you vibrate in response. Be so "in tune" to the Lord that you vibrate in resonance (obedience) to Him.
I love you! Aunt Pammie
