WALKING BY SIGHT AND NOT BY FAITH!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

WEDNESDAY MARCH 24, 2021.

SUBJECT: WALKING BY SIGHT AND NOT BY FAITH!

Memory verse: “Therefore they said to Him, 'What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will you do?" (John 6 vs 30.)

READ: John 20 vs 24 - 29:

20:24: Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. 

20:25: The other disciples therefore said to him, 'We have seen the Lord.' 

So he said to them,  'Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.'

20:26: And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace to you!' 

20:27: Then He said To Thomas, 'Reach your fingers here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. do not be unbelieving, but believing.'

20:28: And Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord and my God!'

20:29: Jesus said to him, 'Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet they believed.

INTIMATION:

One of the greatest dangers we face as believers is walking by sight rather than by faith. Walking by sight is “Sense knowledge faith.” The Scripture describes faith thus, “The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11 vs 1.) Therefore, true or real faith is the faith that holds substantively tight to a future believe. You hold tight to the future occurrence of believed event. The beginning point of faith is believing in God’s character; that He is who He says He is. The end point is believing in God’s promises: He will do what He says. When we believe that God will fulfill His promises even though we don’t see those promises materializing yet, we demonstrate true or real faith.

In the contrary, relying on your sense of touch and sight (sense knowledge faith) before you believe, is no more faith because one cannot hope for what is already seen. This sense knowledge faith (sense of sight and touch) is Thomas' kind of faith as seen in the passage we read today: “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” (John 20 vs 25). But Jesus retorted, saying, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet they believed.” (John 20 vs 29.)

Most of us can believe in miracles when we see them. In many healing meetings, multitudes have sat in amazement when they saw the sick instantly healed. It gave them faith to dare ask for their own healing. Such persons are walking by sight. They are like the sick man in James 5 vs 14 who calls for the elders to come and pray over him and anoint him with oil, and prayer of the elders heals him. The Scripture says, ”Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.” (James 5 vs 14.) The only faith he had was in the elders. This is typical of walking by sight (Sense knowledge faith). He can see the elders, he can hear them pray, can feel their hands upon his head, and the anointing with the oil. 

If the sick believer referenced above has real faith—faith in God’s Word, he wouldn’t had sent for the elders. Instead, he would have looked up and said, "Father, Your Word says in Isaiah 53 vs 5, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." You laid this disease on Jesus, and it is unseemly for me to bear it. I dishonor You in bearing this sickness. So in the name of Jesus, I command it to leave me, and I command Satan to take it with him. I have no use for it, I refuse to have it. Amen."

For many Christians, when you read out to them Isaiah 53 vs 5, and ask them, "Do you believe that?" They will say, "Oh yes I have believed that for years." But when they come to a man of God with sickness, reeling in pain, if the man of God prays for them, the pain leaves them instantly, and you will hear, “Thank God I am healed.” And when He is asked, “How do you know you are healed?” He replies, “The pain is gone.” He believed because the pain was gone, not that the Word of God said so. He didn’t believe in the Word of prayer of the man of God, but rather believed in what he felt. This is not real faith that believes in things not seen, and the blessedness of real faith will always elude them. In a few days they will come back and announce that the pain is back.

But the faith that God demands from us is that we accept His Word as it is—the very Word of God—and act upon it, independent of any feelings or any evidence that the eyes can see or feel. Jesus, during His earth walk, met only sense knowledge faith among the Jews. And even the disciples that were with Him had sense knowledge faith until after the day of Pentecost. The greatest enemy of Christians’ faith is believing in our sense knowledge. It eludes us of the blessings inherent in the Word of God.

Prayer: Abba Father, forever Your Word is settled in heaven. Endue me with complete faith in You and Your Word that I may receive the promises therein, in the mighty Name of Jesus Christ I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!