In the last years there has arisen a resurgence in interest concerning the supernatural. Kids cartoons are no longer kids cartoons….watch and see for yourself….most of the “cartoons” involve superpowers being used or invoked somehow with the implication that it is the person who is supernatural and possesses powers beyond regular people. Also, it seems a lot of people are interested in demons, witches, spiritualists, and other occult phenomena. Here’s a good question to answer to ourselves: Why is it easier for people to believe in the power of the devil and evil than it is to believe in God? Those demonic images seen in horror movies? Where did people get the idea that’s how it all looks? Who told them that? Where did they get their information?
As pertaining to faith, one big difference between natural faith as the world sees it and the Holy Spirit gift of faith is between that which is bound by the limits of this world…. in contrast to the substance of belief in the sphere and domain that is above and beyond the reach of what is found in simple nature. Our faith in Christ is supernatural in and of itself without even speaking of the gift of faith for miracles, it is above and beyond the reach of what is found in the world around us.
At the heart of faith is the idea of certainty and firmness. Faith means not seeing in order to believe, but resting in the strong arms of a parent who supports the child.
The very root Hebrew word for good faith is the word Amen or ah-man, which we use often meaning truly, steady handed, on good footing, and high fidelity.
The Lord and His faithfulness is the pillar which we the children of God rely on. The same Hebrew word used of believing and trusting God is the same word used in 2Kings18:16 for pillars, which paints a picture of faith as a pillar which supports the house. And maybe that is what is alluded to in Isaiah7:9 when Isaiah spoke the word of the Lord saying “if you will not believe and trust the Lord, then you haven’t got a leg to stand on” (my paraphrase). Unless we stand firm in our faith in God, we are unstable and on poor footing….or “not a leg to stand on” as Eugene Peterson puts it.
In John11:43, Jesus called out, “Lazarus, come out of there!” Even though Lazarus had been dead and was decomposing in a hole in the ground, life came back to his body and he was restored. He came out still wrapped in the grave clothes, only now, by the power of the Lord, he was alive. Many believed in Jesus that day. !But! in an unbelievable display of hard heartedness, and overwhelming blindness there were others who ran to tell the Jewish leaders what happened, like a bunch of childish tattle tales, possibly for the reason of gaining favor with the local leadership: “Rabbi, Rabbi! Jesus is down there raising the dead! What will you do Rabbi, this is really scary?” “Just go home to your family little flock, we will take care of it. Lock your doors and windows and rest assured we’ve got it all handled. Thank you for your time, we will consider your report carefully.”
…. rather than acknowledge their unstable ways, they renewed their efforts to kill Jesus. To me, that is simply amazing. Jesus told Martha in John11:40 that if she believed, she would see the glory of God. From what He said, we can surmise that believing results in seeing. Verses 45-46 reveals there were others who witnessed the same incredible miracle and did not believe. Seeing is NOT believing, believing is seeing, because, again, if we don’t stand firm on our faith in Christ, the truth, is we don’t have a leg to stand on.
The fact that we believe God and take Him to be faithful and true is, in itself, supernatural. Our faith is because of God and not based simply on events that are experiential. You know, even if people don’t believe God it doesn’t mean He isn’t who He is, it just means they don’t believe Him and don’t have a leg to stand on. We believe Him against all odds; we believe Him when things don’t go well; we believe Him when what we thought would happen didn’t; we believe Him when life is good and when it’s not. There is the substance of certainty in us which testifies of God’s reliability, causing us to be sure, and we know that we know that in Him we are established. We are stable and always have a leg to stand on because He is stable and is firm in His footing.
Heb11:1 says that faith is a substance, it is the evidence of things not seen. As much as my flesh may scream that what i believe is not real, my heart says my faith is strong and sturdy. The Greek word for “substance” means the “concrete essence or reality, and assurance”, and the word “evidence”, means the proof and conviction.
Here’s a sticky statement:
Faith is our woven together material composing the concrete essence and conviction of reality.
Our faith is real and productive….and according to Heb11:1, our faith is actually the greater reality…it is no rainbow illusion or a fancy daydream. It is the reality of all realities, so much so, our lives have been reshaped around our faith, causing us to align with the divine.
Ahhh, but faith, supernatural faith, as spoken of in 1Cor12 is hidden in us like “leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened.”, the more we do it, the more we do it until eventually, that supernatural mode of operation is just the way we are…..i can no more stop being supernatural than i could decide to not look like myself anymore.
At the heart of faith is the idea of certainty and firmness….. and the sound of faith is the sound you make before you actually make a sound….it is about intent, how you lean in your heart toward God. From faith comes a flowing fountain of wisdom, making us stand up right before God. Friends, by faith the glory of God is in us, when we speak we have weight, and without faith in the Son of God, our words are like voices in a vacuum, and everybody knows sound does not travel in a vacuum. Sound in a vacuum is something so faint it doesn’t even cast a shadow…that’s us without faith, weaker than shadows with not a leg to stand on.