#1 in FAITH & HOPE: Living in the Balance of Wisdom and Revelation
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Welcome to a New Year!! The Lord has laid it on my heart to focus on faith and hope for the first part of this year. Faith means to trust, and hope is to have a confident expectation of good things. One source defines hope as a confident expectation of eternal salvation.
Hebrews 11:1 tells us that faith is the title deed or proof of the good things we expect. The fact that you have faith for it in your heart is proof that it can be a reality in your life.
I want to live a lifestyle that is always full of faith toward God and is always hopeful of God’s promises and purposes coming to pass in my life. I want to confidently expect to experience all the benefits of the spiritual eternal salvation that Christ has given me. I want to experience the promises that come with salvation personally and walk in the responsibility toward others that comes with eternal salvation.
To do this, I believe we need to live in the balance of wisdom and revelation. In Ephesians 1:7, Paul prays that God would grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ.
Wisdom and revelation are paradoxical. Wisdom is the practical application of knowledge. While revelation is a spiritual process that isn’t written down anywhere for you to read. It’s the product of a personal and intimate relationship with the spirit of God. Revelation happens when the written Word comes alive in your heart in a new way. Revelation is when you see God more profoundly or understand His will due to intimate time with him.
Wisdom is when you go to the Word and put it into practice in measurable ways. Revelation is when you have an impression or unction and follow it into fruit that is hard to define. But the two meet in the knowledge of Christ. The knowledge of Christ will always keep your revelation anchored in wisdom, and the knowledge of Christ will always stretch your wisdom into revelation.
What joins the two is faith and hope. Trust and expectation. When you trust God but expect to see his promises and purposes manifest, you will always stay anchored in wisdom but allow revelation to challenge your current state.
I want to live anchored in wisdom but always expectant to see the impossible come to pass. I want to stretch my faith out there to experience all that God wants FOR ME and all that God wants to do THROUGH ME. Experiencing his PROMISES and PURPOSES.
I want to guide my life in this direction this year personally, and I hope to be an encouragement to help you do the same. I invite you to make this journey with me this year.
Guiding Thoughts
Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
Faith comes before understanding. We must trust God before we understand and be willing to move before we know.
Revelation will fill in the steps as we move forward. And the knowledge of Christ will keep your steps anchored along this journey.
Know Christ, know his Word, and see who you are as the result of his finished work.
Everything you see was created by something unseen. So we walk by faith, not by sight. So we are to walk by faith, not sight, because that which we hope for is being created, built, grown, or manifested by something you can’t see, which is the living Word of God.
Stretch your faith and be confident in your expectation.
Questions to Ponder
What has God promised you?
What promises are you believing?
What purposes has God revealed to you?
What purposes are you living?
How will you prioritize hope in God’s promises and purposes for your life this year?
Join me in our Facebook group to continue the conversation.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/forwardchurch
Or you can leave a comment on the youtube video for this message.
Clint and Sara Byars
Forward Ministries
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