Sometimes I hear the phrase “walk by faith, not by sight,” and I nod along… but then I think, okay — but what does that actually look like on a Tuesday morning? When the bills pile up, or someone cuts you off in traffic, or you’re staring down uncertainty?
I’d love to hear how you all practice “faith” in the everyday, not the big dramatic moments, but the quiet ones where trust gets tested in smaller ways.
i think that walking by faith is believing that what God says is true. Once I was called on to serve communion in church. They were short on people and i said yes although i didn’t want to. All through the sermon I kept envisioning myself shaking and dropping the tray. I became more anxious as time went on. It was ridiculous. I have no idea what the sermon was about.
Then I remembered Philippians 4:8-7. It’s a conditional promise. God says if you do this then I’ll do that. So I did it in open eyed prayer. I made my request known and started giving thanks. None of this was from the heart. I was just following the instructions in the verse.
So nothing happened and when the time came, I got up. But when I got up the change happened and I felt this amazing peace. I served communion with the utmost sincerity. No tension. No anxious thoughts whatsoever. I think believing God’s word through action is walking by faith.
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I think the best way that I can describe the way I think of this is found here.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Let me explain, or try to. If we can get to the place where we are praying, aka talking to God, always, throughout the day, our minds will shift from worldly thinking to Godly thinking. Instead of looking straight ahead to the oncoming storm, we look up to speak with our Father.
Bills? “God, you said that I should not be anxious, that you will meet my needs. I need comfort from these bills. Please let me know that all will be ok. In Jesus’ name, Amen.” Cut off in traffic? “Lord bless this person in front of me. I do not know why they are diving like this, but you do. Thank you for keeping me safe, in the name of Jesus, amen.”
Facing uncertainty? It often feels like an approaching storm. Throughout our lives, we encounter storms—whether we’ve faced them, are currently dealing with them, or will face them in the future. No one welcomes a storm; we don’t celebrate it with joy. Instead, we recognize that it’s something we must endure.
“Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled [with water], and were in jeopardy. And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm, and he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.”Luke 8:22-25
“On a certain day.” An appointed time. A specific day that was appointed by God. Not them. They did not get up that morning and say Let’s go there. Did they even decide to go to the other side? No. Jesus told them to go to the other side. Then “And they launched forth.” They heard God’s plan. They received the instructions, and they were obedient.
“There came down a storm of wind on the lake, and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.” In the midst of doing what God told them to do, a storm came upon them. It was bad. To the point their ship was filling with water, and they were “in jeopardy.”
Then they feared. “Master, master, we perish.” What did Jesus do? He saved them. Pray something like “Father, there is a storm coming, but I know you got it. I’m going to sleep now. Thanks for saving me. In Jesus’ name, amen.”
Peter
“Walking” generally means how one conducts his everyday life. We are told to walk by the Spirit. This basically means to act more in the interests of others than the selfishness of the flesh.
Perhaps the most common example of this is when people become parents and act to take care of their children before thinking of their own needs.
INTRODUCTION TO
HEBREWS “HALL OF FAITH”
THOUGHT - Faith is a Key Word in Hebrews - Dear child of God, let me encourage you to take a moment and observe each of the following Hebrews passages that mention faith or faithful, taking care to observe the associations, actions, etc (you might also consider recording your observations and using them to offer a prayer of praise and thanksgiving to the Most High God) (your faith will be thereby be increased just as God promises in Romans 10:17+. Do you believe that Paul’s inspired declaration?)…
(pistis) Faith - 33 times in 31 verses - Heb 4:2; 6:1, 12; 10:22, 38, 39; 11:1, 3, 4 (2x), He 11:5, 6, 7 (2x), He 11:8, 9, 11, 13, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 39; 12:2; 13:7
Faithful (pistos) - 6 times in 6 verses - Heb 2:17; 3:2, 5, 6; 10:23; 11:11
Related verb pisteuo = believe - Heb 4:3, Heb 11:6.
Now - Now (de) is a transitional conjunction can be temporal (“at this moment”) but is more likely logical in this context, connecting what has just been stated in Hebrews 10:38 (“MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH”) and in Hebrews 10:39 (“those who have faith to the preserving of the soul.”) In other words, NOW connects the writer’s continuing explanation of living by faith (Heb 10:38-39) with what follows, which illustrates what such a “living faith” lives like! To say it another way, the NOW in Hebrews 11:1 does not point to the clock but to the context. NOW ties the call to endure by faith (Hebrews 10:38-39) to the examples of enduring faith that follow in Hebrews 11:1-40. It is as if the writer says, ‘You must live by faith and here are examples of men and women who will show you what real faith looks like in action.’”
Faith is introduced because
the flip side of apostasy is faith
– Thomas Schreiner
Faith (pistis) is (estin = present tense, first in Greek for emphasis) the assurance (hupostasis/hypostasis - that which stands under ~ foundation) of things hoped (elpizo in present tense = continually hoped) for (“hope sure,” not “hope so”), the conviction (elegchos - evidence~inward certainty produced by the Spirit) of things (pragma) not (ou - absolutely not) seen (blepo) - 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].” Hope looks forward while faith makes it real in the present, even though it is not yet seen. As someone has said faith is like our title deed and so guarantees our future possession. The unseen becomes certain, not by sight but by spiritual perception. True faith is not wishful thinking but Spirit-wrought assurance. In short, faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality of those things that cannot be discerned by the eye of the body. Faith treats the future as present and the invisible as seen because God has said so.
The world says, “Seeing is believing.”
Faith answers, “Believing is seeing.”
Kenneth Wuest - The mention of a FAITH that is answered by salvation (Heb 10:39), leads the writer to speak about it now in detail. The word “faith” occurs without the article here, indicating that it is treated in its abstract conception, not particularly as New Testament faith. (Hebrews Commentary online)
Faith must be more than mental assent to a few religious propositions.
Faith lives, breathes, and exercises in dependence upon the living Lord.
Keep in mind the struggles the first century audience faced, as they were in the throes of opposition and imminent persecution. How would they be able to make it through without abandoning their faith for that which had no power to eternally save them? They might escape immediate danger but their souls would suffer the fate of those who reject the gospel. So our writer calls for the kind of faith that preserves the soul through the most demanding circumstances. Such faith enables the believer in the midst of trials to “run with endurance the race that is set before” him (Heb 12:1). We know very well the opening words of chapter 12 and the crescendo that sets our attention upon our exalted Lord. Exercising faith fixes the eyes on Jesus and endures even hostility in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ. Faith aims for soul preservation-that’s perseverance in concept; and it runs with endurance-that’s perseverance in process. Exercising faith in Christ stands at the heart of persevering as Christians. (Hebrews 11:1-3 What Is Faith?)
Faith in practice is living today
as though God’s tomorrow is already here.
Hebrews 11:1-2 Commentary | Precept Austin.
Hmmm, maybe off topic, right?
J.