by Dr. MaryAnn Diorio

Today I am beginning a series on Faith.

Sometines, in order to define what something is, it is better first to define what it is not. So let’s take a look at what faith is not.

1. Faith is not Hope.
__Hope is always in the future. Faith is always NOW.
__Hope says, “I believe I’ll get healed someday.” Faith says, I am healed NOW.”
__Hope says, “Someday I’ll be debt-free. Faith says, “I am debt-free NOW.”
__Hope is believing that God is going to do something. Faith believes that God has already done it.

The late evangelist and Bible teacher, Kenneth Hagin, used to say, “If it’s not NOW, it’s not faith.”

So, what, then, is Faith?

Hebrews 11: 1 tells us that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Well, what is substance? Substance is whatever we need, whether it be a job, a raise, a car, a healing, a place to live. Substance could also be peace of mind, a good marriage, or wisdom in how to parent.

We could describe faith as a title deed. Let’s assume you hold the deed to your house or your car. That deed is not the actual house or car. It is a document that is legally as good as the actual property or car. If you show your deed to a judge in court, that judge will understand that your deed represents your ownership of the property.

Faith is like that title deed. Faith is our title deed to the promises of God. For those of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord—in other words, for those of us who have been born again—faith is our title deed to all that Jesus died to give us.

When Jesus released His last breath, He said, “It is finished!” What was finished? His work of salvation. There is nothing more that Jesus has to do to save us, to forgive us of our sins, or to heal us. He did it all when He shed His Blood on that Cross.

Now it is up to us to receive what He died and rose from the dead to give us. Next time, we’ll take a look at how to receive those blessings into our personal lives.