Now Faith is !

NOW FAITH IS : You may say that you know God's Word is good, but you never will really know what to do until you have acted on it and have reaped the results. And this is what I am trying to tell you that faith is. Faith is giving substance to things hoped for. I acted on God's Word; and it gave the substance of what I had hoped for. Faith says, "God is the strength of my life." As I acted on God's Word, faith gave substance to that for which I had hoped. At that time I had hoped to be an outside trustee, when I was incarcerated. Well, I used (Mark 11:23) for the basis of my faith. A lot of people just hope--- and stop there, thinking that they are operating in faith. And that won't work. Faith is the substance of things hoped for. If you say, "Well, I hope God heard my prayer," and that's all you do, He didn't, and there won't be any answer. But your faith can and will give substance to the answer to that prayer. If you prayed the promise. Remember this: Hope says, "I will have it sometime." Faith says, "I have it now." John Wesley said, "the devil has given to The Church which is the body of Christ a substitute for faith which looks and sounds so much like faith some people can't tell the difference. He as well as me and many others calls it "mental assent." Many people see what God's Word says and acknowledge that it is true--- but it is only with their minds that they are agreeing. And that will not get the answer that you need in your life. It is heart faith that receives from God. Notice what the Bible says, "For with the heart man believeth. . ." (Romans 10:10). Jesus said in (Mark 11:23), ". . . Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart [this doesn't say a word about the head], but shall believe [that is, with the heart or spirit of man] that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith." You may ask, "How can I tell whether I have heart faith or whether I am just agreeing with my head ? If it is merely mental agreement or mental assent it says, "I know God's Word is true. I know God promises me healing or the Holy Spirit, but for some reason I can't get it. And I can't understand it." Real Faith in God's Word says, "if God's word says it is so, then it is so. It is mine. I have it now. Real faith also says, "I have it when I can't see it." When you start calling those things that are not as though they were, then and only then can you operate in real faith. Our text declares that faith is "the evidence of things not seen," one who has not prayed in real heart faith might say, "I don't see the thing about which I have been praying, so it hasn't come to pass." If the thing had come to pass-- if you had it-- you wouldn't have to believe it; you would know it. You must take the step of believing it first in order for to come to the place of knowing first. Many want to know it first and then believe it. That is, they want to know it from the standpoint of its having come to pass. But we know it from the standpoint that God's Word says it is so--- then it materializes.