Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

1 Corinthians 2:2:  “For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him Crucified.”

Paul teaches the cross and that He no longer lives but that Christ lives in him. In the book of Galatians, we are taught that the flesh is the enemy, and as we die to the flesh and sinful nature, we live in Christ bringing forth the fruit of the Spirit. All of this is so that we can have a clear conscience and confidence to stand before God to get our prayers answered and live a blessed life in Christ.

This is a short enough message, so easy that even children can understand it to live the blessed life in Christ.

God’s grace is a constant, all of it is always at our disposal. All we have to do is to partake using our faith. We all have the portion of faith, we all have the same faith, but this is where most of us miss it. We believe for things and then we don’t have the discipline to live in the hope that it is mine! Paul starts the faith chapter of Hebrews this way. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.”

Our hope is in the imagination and thoughts of the heart which must be continually filled with what we hope for. We cannot say that we are believing, and then start talking about the problem with other people. Your hope must be so complete that you see only the answer to the problem. Many storms will arise while you are looking at what you hope! The problem will get worse. This is proof that heaven has started working on the problem.

Jesus told us to take up our cross and lay down our life. (Luke 9:23) Our life is the problem we need to get sorted. Now the cross was a violent affair. Jesus was mutilated, tortured, and executed most horrifically. He took all of the flesh or any problem that could result from fleshly or carnal behavior upon himself. In the garden of Gethsemane, his sweat became blood as he overcame fear. The blood sealed him from his carnal nature, in the same way, he was sealed at birth in the blood of his mother’s torn virgin blood. He rose from that garden and faced the world to challenge it to do its worst. And they did!  He faced all of the worst that the Romans and Priests could do to Him. He never said a word against them and was led like a lamb to the slaughter. The only sinless man who ever lived on the earth took all of the jealousy of the priests upon himself. All of the wickedness of the Romans was poured out on him and he gave his back to be beaten and flayed with a led-tipped whip.  He took all sickness that would ever be onto himself. The Bible says that he did not look like a man anymore. But that is what He wanted, He wanted all of the sinful nature of man and then He crucified it. When all the terrible things had been done to him, He prayed for them.

This is the Jesus whom I serve, and I follow Him daily, to lay down my life. No matter how big my problems are, I crucify them as Jesus was crucified, and then I leave the problem there! This is how Jesus saves us, the problem is no longer yours. When you start talking to people about your problems you are taking the problem down again. Once we crucify it, we leave the problem on the cross, the problem should be crucified violently. Now leave it there! Now give God thanks and praise Him because God is going to work all things out. He will fix the problem in a way that we could never have dreamt. But remember God can only work if your hope remains perfect.

Look at the things you hope for and never stop giving thanks. In this way, believe God, believe His Word, and know He loves you. You know it is impossible to please God without faith. We must have trials in our lives so we can have testimonies. The Bible teaches that nothing will be impossible for you.  Believe God, God is a good God and He wants you to have a great life full of victories and testimonies.