Central Truth: It takes a positive faith – a now faith – to get positive results.

Hope-and-faith-300-webWhen Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said, “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13), he was not inferring that hope and faith are not important. Each has its place, and one cannot be substituted for another. We cannot substitute love for hope. Neither can we substitute hope for faith. Yet so many people try to receive things from God on the basis of hope rather than faith.

Faith Is Now

Hope looks to the future. It is always future tense. Faith is now. Faith says, “I’ll receive the answer right now. I have it now.” It is not hoping that gets the job done, it is believing. Someone said, “Well, I believe I will receive my healing – sometime.” That’s not faith, that’s hope, because it is looking to some indefinite future time. Faith says, “I receive my healing – now!” In one modern translation of the New Testament, the familiar verse in Hebrews 11:1 reads, “Faith is giving substance … to things hoped for.”

If you need healing, you don’t want it in the future – you want it right now, especially if you’re in pain. If you are seeking the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, you want to receive now – not at some future indefinite time. If you need salvation, you cannot put it off to the future, for that may be too late. I have talked to people who told me that they hoped to be saved. Yet some of them are now dead. They left the world unsaved, because salvation that is based on hope never comes to fruition.

Ephesians 2:8, 9
8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Romans 10:9, 10, 13
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
The above verses point man to the plan of salvation. We see that it is by faith – not hope – that we are saved. Jesus promised that He will not cast any out who come to Him, but will save all who “call upon the name of the Lord.” Therefore, we don’t need to hope that He will save us. He said He would.

How Do We Get Faith?

Faith, we know, grows out of the Word of God. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). Another translation of this verse reads, “Faith is the warranty deed, that the thing for which you have fondly hoped is at last yours.”

Faith is “the evidence of things not seen,” as we read in Hebrews 11:1. To illustrate, you might hope for finances to meet a certain obligation, but faith gives you the assurance that you will have the money when you need it. You might hope for physical strength to do a job that you must do, but faith says, “The Lord is the strength of my life” (Psalm 27:1). In other words, faith says the same thing that the Word of God says.

Unbelief is really taking sides against God’s Word. There are those who talk unbelief and take sides against the Word of God and then wonder why God’s Word doesn’t work for them. If we want God’s Word to work for us, we must side in with it.

Many times when I ask folks who come for prayer in my meetings if they believe that they will be healed they answer, “Well, I sure hope I will.” I simply tell them that they won’t for we receive from God by faith, not through hope. Still others will answer my question by saying, “Well, I want to.” But I tell them, “You might want a new Cadillac, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get one. You see, just wanting to won’t get the job done.”

It is not hoping or wanting, it’s faith that gets the job done. You will not receive from God because you hope. Nowhere does the Bible say that when we pray, we shall receive what we hope for. God’s Word does say, however, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). Jesus also said, “And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive” (Matthew 21:22). Not hoping, but believing.

Notice in the definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1 – “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” – that the verb used is present tense. Remember, if it’s not now, it’s not faith. Faith is present tense, hope is future tense. Even though you might say that you believe, if you are putting it into the future, then you are not believing, you’re hoping. In order for it to work, it must be in the right tense – the present tense. Some people are always believing that God is going to do something for them, but faith believes that He has done, and is doing.

Several years ago while preaching in the state of Oklahoma, a lady who hadn’t taken a step in four years was brought to the service one night for prayer. She was an older woman in her seventies, and the doctors had said that she would never walk again. At the close of the service when we were ready to have prayer for the sick, her friends brought her forward and sat her down on the altar. I knelt in front of her, laid my hands on her and prayed. Then I said, “Now arise and walk in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

She did her best to get up, but all the time she was crying and praying, “Oh, dear Jesus, please heal me, please let me walk, oh, please … please!” She continued in this vein for some time until finally I was able to quiet her enough to talk to her. I asked her, “Sister, did you know that you are healed?”

Astonished, she looked up at me and said, “Oh, am I?”

“Yes,” I said, “you are healed, and I will prove it to you from the Bible.” Then I opened my Bible to I Peter 2:24, handed it to her and asked her to read the verse aloud. She read, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed.” I asked her to repeat the last phrase, and she read, “… by whose stripes ye were healed.”

Then I asked her the question, “Is ‘were’ past tense, future tense, or present tense?”

“It is past tense,” she answered.

“If you were healed by Jesus’ stripes, then you are healed now, aren’t you?” I said. A smile spread across her face and her eyes lit up with new understanding. Then I told her, “Just lift your hands and look up to Him. Begin to praise Him because you are healed, present tense. Because you are healed – not going to be, you are … now.”

With child-like faith she looked up and said, “Dear Lord Jesus, I’m so glad I’m healed.” She hadn’t walked a step and therefore had no physical evidence of healing whatsoever. Yet she said, “I’m so glad I’m healed.”

I turned to her and said, “Now my sister, arise and walk in Jesus’ Name.” Immediately she jumped off that altar like a sixteen-year-old, and walked, leaped, ran, and praised God.

You see, we had to help her to get it in the right tense – for faith is present tense. As long as we are struggling to receive, hoping to see the answer sometime, it won’t work. That is just hope. Faith says, “It’s mine, I have it now.”

Hope, of course, used properly is most blessed and beautiful. We have a Blessed Hope in the soon return of our Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrection of the righteous dead, the rapture of the living saints, the hope of heaven, and the hope of seeing our loved ones and friends. We thank God for that hope. But this is all future tense. Jesus is coming, whether we believe it or not. He is coming because the Word says so. The Resurrection will take place whether we have faith or not. The dead in Christ will rise to meet Him in the air, whether we believe or not. Our faith, or lack of faith, will not affect these events. Jesus is coming back again, for the Word says that He will. This is the Blessed Hope that all Christians look forward to.

But it is faith, not hope, that can change the impossible to the possible. It is faith, not hope, that brings healing and victory.

Hope is a good waiter, but a poor receiver. Too many times I’ve heard folks say, “I’m hoping and praying …” or “All we can do now is hope and pray.” If that is all you are doing, you’re defeated. It takes a positive faith – a now faith – to get positive results.

Memory Text: “And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love” (I Corinthians 13:13).
Faith in Action: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only ….” (James 1:22).

Previous Lesson – Kenneth Hagin – What Is Faith?
Next Lesson – Kenneth Hagin – Faith Sees the Answer

Comments

  1. I teach Sunday School at the Nursing Home in my home town and I have gotten wonderful material from your lesson’s. I know they are inspired by the Holy Spirit so they are a blessing to me and the residents at Heritage Hall. Thank you so much.

    In His Love, Charlotte

  2. Your Comment *well, I feel so blessed with this inspirational message sent by God through you.Thank God for using you to clear my mind on this issue

  3. I am well pleased reading your message. Highly explicit. May The Almighty God bless you & increase ur wisdom.

  4. Papa, I am very grateful for the explanation of this two words. In fact, something just fell on me and am transformed, I got a clear understanding of this words. Papa God bless you.

  5. God bless you, Sir
    for letting God use you to break down His word to us with so much understanding. My faith in God is increased…Hallelujah

  6. am so glad the way you treat this two word faith and hope.am so happy.

  7. I have been in a very dark place for the past few days and have been trying to come to terms with the two sides of me one being a Christian and second being challenged by the the devil daily and giving in. Now I have seen my mistake my faith was weak and I hoped for everything but did it with out faith. Thank you for uch inspiration

  8. It’s a pity to resort to ridicule. Shouldn’t we focus on the Bible’s teaching? Paul is an interesting case surely. No lack of faith yet he had that thorn in the flesh. “My grace is sufficient for you” he was told. If there are troubled people reading this site and feeling that their faith is too small perhaps it will help to know that this believer at least does not agree that the Bible teaches that you will be physically healed if you have sufficient faith. Job even though Old Testament is relevant to this debate. Didn’t Jesus himself teach that the big thing is forgiveness of sins which is on offer to all who believe? In the case of the man let down through the house roof he first forgave and only then healed to evidence that his forgiveness of sins was real.

  9. It really doesn’t work like that. Check out Job. His suffering was not a lack of prayer. He was being taught as are we through him. He was ultimately healed but not all are by any means. Our stories are all different. If we die have we lacked faith? That would mean all the saints before us we deficient in that they did not trust enough to be healed. Are we better then they?

    1. Author

      Akdenton – I do not have the time to fully answer you. Job has NOTHING to do with receiving healing today in the Name of Jesus. Just like in the Gospels, we are healed through faith in His Name. God does not teach us through pain, suffering, and sickness. He teaches us through the Word and the Spirit. If you don’t get it from them you won’t get it. And you don’t get it. Religious garbage.

  10. Hi! I’m so glad that I read this article. This really helped me understand the difference between faith and hope! God bless us all! =)

  11. I do bible study classes and i thank GOD for you ,you have helped me to help others bless you.

  12. Thanks for this lesson. I have a better understanding of the two, hope and faith. Thanks.

  13. This is wrong – it is not physical healing that is meant in 1 Peter 2:24 but spiritual. After all which is the greater: to be able to walk again or to be saved for all eternity. People get your priorities right. Physical healing can happen and is a blessing when it does whether through “normal” means or by a miracle but in the end we will all die mostly after illness however much faith we have. The vital thing is that we are saved. Don’t beat yourself up that you don’t have enough faith to be healed. Look to Jesus and trust in Him for everlasting life, that’s all that matters in the end.

    1. Author

      With all due respect, this is just a bunch of religious garbage. First, I Peter 2:24 does not refer solely to spiritual healing, but includes ALL healing – spirit, soul, and BODY. See also, Isaiah 53:4,5.

      Second, just because ‘spiritual’ salvation (going to Heaven) is more important that physical healing, you recommend that we just ignore physical healing. After all, we are going to die someday anyway. So, we are only to care about the greatest blessing and forget about all the other blessings?! Do you also mean that physical healing is not spiritual? I think Jesus would disagree with that, see Matthew 9:2–8.

      You should have been around to keep Jesus from wasting His time healing people. Jesus did not heal people physically to prove who He was. He healed because He was ‘moved by compassion.’ Jesus healed because there were people standing in front of Him needing healing. It is as simple and as obvious as that. Only religion has the power to confuse and mess that up.

      This makes me angry – “Don’t put the effort out to have faith in God; you’re going to die anyway, so just go to Heaven.” Besides, sickness may actually get you there faster. Yes, but you would not have finished your full course here on earth. We have much to do!

      “Don’t beat yourself up that you don’t have enough faith to be healed.” – Go ahead take your gifts from God and hide them in the ground – Luke 19:12-27. We need to dig all of His graces up and start using them to the glory of God.

      The Bible says that He desires to heal us (III John 2), and that He is pleased when we have faith in Him (Hebrews 11:6). Faith in God for healing blesses us and it pleases Him. Furthermore, the whole process of receiving faith and walking in faith brings us closer to God.

    2. AKDenton, WHY?

      Third – How shall we ESCAPE (sickness, spiritual death, poverty, and all the affects of this fallen world) if we NEGLECT SO GREAT A SALVATION, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,

      Fourth – God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?

      Healing is a part of your salvation. If you are a sheep do not listen to the voice of a stranger. You must know the voice of The Shepherd or you will be classified as a goat!

  14. Peace Udo, Thank you Jesus, for using your servant to bless my life. Now i have proper understanding on faith. Sir, you will ever remain a blessing. Thanks

  15. I am learning day by day of how to desire God above all else. These first three faith lessons bring tears to my eyes. I love the Lord and I thank you all for putting this on the internet!!!

  16. Thank you very much for the great work you’re doing on this website. May God give you more grace in Jesus Name

  17. I thank you Man of God for that great teaching it has push me to my next level in GOD>

  18. I love your teachings it has given me more confidence and trust in believing God’s word all thanks to you.

  19. I am so impressed the way you treat the word hope in faith it enlightened me and made me have more confidece and trust in believing God’s words.

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