|
Home
Archive
December
November
October
Comments
and/or Questions
|
Monday, December
1, 2008
Spiritual Substance
Hebrews 11:1-2 Now faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (2) For by it the
elders obtained a good report. (KJV)
Thayer’s definition for
‘substance’:
5287
hupostasis-
1) a setting or placing under; a thing
put under, a substructure, a foundation
2) what has foundation, what is firm
a) what has
actual existence; a substance, a real being
b) the
substantial quality, nature, used of a person or thing
c) the
steadfastness of mind, a firmness, courage, a resolution, confidence, firm
trust, assurance
What, or should I say, who are you
placing your confidence and assurance on; is it something or someone in the
physical realm, or are you looking to the Spiritual realm to find something
that will provide concrete evidence that will bring peace to the heart? Now
faith, hearing for yourself the message God has for you personally through
His Son Jesus Christ is the only foundation that will have substance and
endure, while anything or anyone else just won’t hold up. You can listen to
tapes and sermons night and day from other people on what they are hearing,
or in some cases what they claim they are hearing from God, but unless you
hear for yourself and let it take root in the heart, your foundation will
be on shifting sand; one that can be blown away with the wind.
Hebrews 10:34-36 For ye had compassion of
me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in
yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. (35)
Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of
reward. (36) For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the
will of God, ye might receive the promise. (KJV)
Williams New Testament translation
of Hebrews 10:34-36
34. For you showed sympathy with those
who were in prison and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your
property, for you knew that you had in yourselves and in heaven one that
was lasting. 35. So you must never give up your confident courage, for it
holds a rich reward for you. 36. Indeed, to carry out the will of God and
to receive the blessing He has promised, you need endurance, for:
Remember our Lord said that a man’s abundance
would not consist in the things he possessed, which was referring to the
outward realm, but rather as we see above it’s what we take possession of
Spiritually, that is what is going to endure. The opposite of faith is
fear, which, if one gives more ear to the lie rather than the truth then
they will end up casting away their confidence, assurance, and substance
rather than casting down the imaginations and the lies of the wicked one.
When you accepted the plan of salvation and pledged your life to the Lord
it involved more than just walking up to an alter and making a public
proclamation. However you hear the Lord in the beginning it is important to
continue giving ear to that voice, because the same one that got you into
His kingdom is the same one that will keep you there if you continue in the
faith enduring to the end. Without faith, which involves not just hearing
but being a doer as well, then we cannot please God; rather we have decided
that something or someone else has more substance than the Word of God, or
so one thinks.
Hebrews 10:37-39 For yet a little while,
and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. (38) Now the just
shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no
pleasure in him. (39) But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition;
but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. (KJV)
What causes many to draw back, withdraw
is another way of putting it? The cares of this world, deceitfulness of
riches, or lusts of other things choke the Word, and then we become
unfruitful. Basically what happens is the believer who found a new life in
Christ thinks they can perfect their walk with something, or sometimes
someone else; and what started out on a firm foundation is now on shaky
unstable ground.
Deuteronomy 8:2-4 And thou shalt remember
all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the
wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine
heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. (3) And he humbled
thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know
that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out
of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. (4) Thy raiment waxed not old upon
thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years. (KJV)
Where do you find true substance, a
foundation you know you can rely on; is it something in the carnal realm or
is it in the Spiritual eternal one? Are you as diligent and concerned with
your next Spiritual meal as many are with their physical one, knowing
without it you will not last? God had a perfect and enduring plan for the
children of Israel as He does for each and every believer in Christ; now
it’s a matter of putting our faith and confidence more in His realm and
less into the carnal one, which does take retraining ourselves on a daily
basis, renewing the mind. How would you like to try to cross a desert with
just a handful of provisions and one pair of shoes? Heck some of us panic
if there is not a fast food or convenience store within a few minutes when
traveling much shorter distances. But despite the outward circumstances,
the Lord held true to His word and made a way of escape so that they could
make it to the promised land. That same Lord has a promised land for us
also; one that is eternal in the heavens, but it can only be found and
walked in by faith and not by sight.
1 Corinthians 2:9-10 But as it is
written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
(10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. (KJV)
In your search, your journey on the path
of life, you will not find the answer or anything of any substance in the
outward realm, but rather it is vital for you to look inwardly if you
desire something of substance that will endure. Our Lord Himself said that
an evil and adulterous generation looks for signs and wonders, something in
the outward that they think will bring peace and confidence in their walk.
However with the Lord the opposite is true; He desires to establish a
relationship with us in the Spirit, the realm which is not seen by man
outwardly but revealed to us by the Spirit inwardly, which is where we will
find true peace, confidence, assurance, and boldness as well, knowing we
are on the right path.
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 For which cause we
faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day. (17) For our light affliction, which is but for a moment,
worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; (18) While
we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not
seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are
not seen are eternal. (KJV)
So where are you searching for your
answer; and are you finding anything of substance that will last and endure
to the end? Our outward man, or old way of thinking and looking at things,
should be perishing on a daily basis so that we can learn to hear and rely
more on the inward man, which is Christ in you the only hope of glory. The
outward things are temporal (only temporary), while a true faith and the
real evidence of God’s existence is found in the unseen; the only thing
that has a real, sound, Spiritual substance.
|
