“What is faith?”
Hebrews 11:1
From my Journal 2005
Best to start this story from the beginning @ "Travel Lines-1:The Self Train Line-Derailed"
Best to start this story from the beginning @ "Travel Lines-1:The Self Train Line-Derailed"
“Your sister has a tumor behind her eye.” My dad had just phoned me, and his words rang in my head, echoing as if repeating them would help me understand the gravity of her predicament. Behind the eye? I thought, shaking my head in disbelief. The memory of her playing ball in the quiet court of our childhood home, twelve years younger than me, always smiling—she exuded a happy disposition—etched in my brain as I tried to comprehend how a sweet, little girl—although an adult now—could have such an affliction threaten her beauty. Nooo! This commanding thought of denial and unwillingness to accept any more thoughts of a traumatic outcome shut down the runaway barrage of what-ifs and consequences of my sister’s fate. From that day forward, I took a stand on faith with my sister for her complete healing. What didn’t I know was that she would teach me a valuable lesson—What is faith?
Teaching the faithless
The picture of Mother Theresa tending to the needs of the poor and afflicted in India is the epitome—ideal example—of a life traveled on a foundation of faith. Belief in God’s character and believing in His promises. Although God healed many of the people touched by Mother Theresa’s ministry, many did not survive their affliction. What is faith?
God is sovereign—Supreme of All, Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient—divinely powerful, present everywhere and all knowing. When the father of a demon-possessed boy brought him to Jesus for healing—for he had an affliction of seizures—the Son of God had a purpose for delivering the boy of his evil spirit and cursed nature far greater than the healing—teaching the faithless about belief in the sovereignty of God—FAITH.
One of the men in the crowd spoke up and said, “Teacher, I brought my son for you to heal him. He can’t speak because he is possessed by an evil spirit that won’t let him talk. And whenever this evil spirit seizes him, it throws him violently to the ground and makes him foam at the mouth and grind his teeth and become rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast out the evil spirit, but they couldn’t do it.”
Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you until you believe? How long must I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought the boy. But when the evil spirit saw Jesus, it threw the child into a violent convulsion, and he fell to the ground, writhing and foaming at the mouth. “How long has this been happening?” Jesus asked the boy’s father.
He replied, “Since he was very small. The evil spirit often makes him fall into the fire or into water, trying to kill him. Have mercy on us and help us. Do something if you can.
“What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.”
The father instantly replied, “I do believe, but help me not to doubt!”
When Jesus saw that the crowd of onlookers was growing, he rebuked the evil spirit. “Spirit of deafness and muteness,” he said, “I command you to come out of this child and never enter him again!” Then the spirit screamed and threw the boy into another violent convulsion and left him. The boy lay there motionless, and he appeared to be dead. A murmur ran through the crowd, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and helped him to his feet, and he stood up.
Afterward, when Jesus was alone in the house with his disciples, they asked him, “Why couldn’t we cast out that evil spirit?”
Jesus replied, “This kind can be cast out only by prayer.”1
NLT Bible notes: The disciples would often face difficult situations that could be resolved only through prayer. Prayer is the key that unlocks faith in our life. Effective prayer needs both an attitude—complete dependence—and an action—asking. Prayer demonstrates our reliance on God as we humbly invite him to fill us with faith and power. There is no substitute for prayer, especially in circumstances that seem impossible.2
Skepticism and Doubt battle Hope and Faith
I have heard testimonies of people who have had a missing eye restored, malignant cancer tumors vanish, limp legs made strong, and a complete recovery from AIDS without drugs. All of these stories seem unbelievable, and it is natural to have skepticism—even one of Jesus’ twelve disciples doubted His resurrection when he heard the good news:
One of the disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.”
Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. He said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and see my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”
“My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed.
Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who haven’t seen me and believe anyway.” 3
My sister’s march of faith was one characterized by resilience, optimism, and steadfastness. She wouldn’t be moved from her resolve to do all that she could to find the right and best doctors, treatments, and procedures to improve the outcome to a complete recovery. Complete. Recovery. The two words offer descriptions with such lofty endpoints—“as if nothing happened.” My sister had the tumor removed; it was malignant, and the next step was the possibility of radical orbital reconstruction. “As if nothing happened” wasn’t going to happen. Yet, her attitude and focus—her hope—was on God’s endpoint—her faith in God to protect her, the mother of two young, beautiful children. That regardless of the outcome—the extent of her recovery—she would accept God’s will for her life. Hope—the attitude and focus—and Faith—the foundation and content of God’s message—are the anchor and substance of our belief in God’s sovereignty.4
He will do what he says
The week before my sister’s exploratory surgery and possible removal of her eye and reconstruction of her face, she allowed me to record her testimony of hope and faith. We felt that it was important for her to share the beginning of her faith journey before knowing God’s endpoint. What is faith?
The beginning point of faith is believing in God’s character: He is who he says. 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 faith.5
She described for me during her testimony that even if it were necessary to remove her eye, she had the confident assurance that God would also remove cancer—God’s mission for her would be greater when she reached His endpoint. What is faith?
The writer of the letter to the Hebrew Christians recounts the journeys of the faith of our patriarchs referred to in the “Hall of Faith,” an inspiring description of men and women who believed in the promises of God and acted in faith. As leaders of God’s people, their responses to adversity, persecution, and God’s commands were established on a solid conviction that God would provide in His sovereign way. Noah had built an ark before it rained. Abraham seeded a nation, yet obeyed God with his willingness to sacrifice his son. Moses’ parents gave up their child to save him. The Israelites walked through the Red Sea and marched around Jericho until the walls came tumbling down. And “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”6 The writer of the Hebrew Letter eloquently concludes this litany of faithfulness:
Well, how much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouth of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped the death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned into strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death.
But others trusted God and were tortured, preferring to die rather than turn from God and be free. They place their hope in the resurrection to a better life. Some were mocked, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in dungeons. Some died by stoning, and some were sawed in half; others were killed with the sword. Some went about in skins of sheep and goats, hungry and oppressed and mistreated. They were too good for this world. They wandered over deserts and mountains, hiding in caves and holes in the ground.
All of these people we have mentioned received God’s approval because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. For God had far better things in mind for us that would also benefit them, for they can’t receive the prize at the end of the race until we finish the race.7
Believing without seeing
The morning following my sister’s surgery, I apprehensively entered her room. Her head was bandaged over her left eye. Tears swelled in my eyes as I looked into her eye, my mind blank and in a gridlock of any thought, my heart bursting with compassion—she had lost an eye. The surgeons completed a radical orbital reconstruction—perfectly. We had walked so many steps of faith together, but what would be her response? What is faith?
“God gave me my miracle,” her soft, meek voice broke through my mountain of emotion. What!? Her words put my feelings of pity into a tailspin as she continued, “I knew if I woke with a bandage over my eye that I was healed. I am free of cancer—all of it.” I leaned over her bed amazed at what I saw and heard. She was teaching me what I had only read about—FAITH—believing without seeing—literally.
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see.8
As Jesus and the disciples were going to the official’s home, a woman who had a hemorrhage for twelve years came up behind him. She touched the fringe of his robe, for she thought, “If I can just touch his robe, I will be healed.”
Jesus turned around and said to her, “Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was healed at that moment.9
After Jesus left the girl’s home, two blind men followed along behind him, shouting, “Son of David, have mercy on us!”
They went right into the house where he was staying, and Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can make you see?”
“Yes, Lord,” they told him, “we do.”
Then he touched their eyes and said, “Because of your faith, it will happen.” And suddenly they could see!10
As the Spirit Airline crested the mountains of our circumstances, my journey of faith was just beginning.
My dad, Charlie Cambridge is pictured with my sister, Dede, during the father and daughter dance at her wedding. Today is Dad's birthday, March 16. He would be celebrating 81 years on earth, but he is in the glory of the LORD at His Great Banquet in the “Hall of Faith.” My dad left behind a mountain of faith for all of us to climb. May you rise to the occasion during your journey with Christ.
“Sail on Dad, sail on!”
Next—The Spirit Airline: Sober…”He must live wisely.”
Praise to Our Father for the words He has given me.
Copyright © 2004, 2005, 2016 Stellar Rhema Ministry, Jeff Cambridge
References
All Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
1. Mark 9:17-29 italics added
2. Mark 9:29 NLT Bible notes
3. John 20:24-31 italics added
4. 1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT Bible notes
5. Hebrews 11:1 NLT Bible notes
6. Hebrews 11:3
7. Hebrews 11:32-40
8. Hebrews 11:1
9. Matthew 9:19-22
10. Matthew 9:27-30
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