Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV) 6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Yesterday I spent some time on two small words in this verse that carry a great deal of weight and meaning. In this verse the words are actually “he is” but the “he” spoken of is God. Therefore, the idea we want to grasp is the simple truth that God is. However, the point is not just that God exists. Certainly, we believe that he exists. The power of what this verse is saying lies in the fact that He is active and involved in my life. He did not create humanity and then wave goodbye hoping we would make it in the world he created.
I believe this is a very important verse for any Christian to understand. We must begin with accepting the reality of God and his involvement in our lives but there is more than that in Hebrews 11:6. First, the writer reveals to us is the one thing we must have to please God. Without faith, it is impossible to please him. It does not say it is really hard to please God without faith. It does not say that faith is one way to please God. This verse makes a very definite statement. There is no need to “study it out” in order to get the real meaning. It means what it says. If I am not operating by faith, I am not able to please God.
What does this mean? Exactly what is it I must have to please God? I want to please him. I think I have faith but I want to be sure. Faith can mean many things. The best way to keep the context of what the writer is speaking about here is to let him define what kind of faith he is talking about.
Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) 1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Again, we see a very straightforward statement. Faith is defined as two things. It is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of what we cannot see. The Amplified Bible says faith perceives as real fact what cannot be perceived with the senses. This is the faith that we must have to please God.
I have taught on faith for most of my life. Yet I still have to renew my mind in this area periodically. The devil believes verse 6. He knows that a Christian who cannot please God is miserable and ineffective. If he can rob or compromise your faith, he will keep you from fulfilling your place in the Kingdom of God. So how can we know if we are walking by God pleasing faith?
First, faith is the substance of things hoped for. Where there is no hope, there can be no faith. What is hope? There are many good definitions of the word hope, but let me submit my favorite. If I have hope, I believe something is possible. I may not know how it can be done but I believe it can be done. I have hope.
A person with a diagnosis of cancer in their body is attacked with hopelessness. The word itself very often is a death sentence. If the Doctor comes and says, “You have cancer.” The first thought you have is death. If he continues and says, “This type of cancer is treatable.” hope rises. You may have no idea what the treatment is or how it is done. What you do know is that the doctor has given you a possibility of success.
“God is” gives us hope about anything. If God is in my life, there is a possibility for victory. There is a possible solution to the problem. It does not matter what the problem is, I have hope if I have God. Faith, which is what pleases God, comes when I put substance to hope.
Hope is possibility. Hope becomes faith when I find a promise in the Word of God. That promise becomes the substance of my hope. The doctor who gives the patient the hope that their cancer is beatable will then begin to tell them what the treatment options are. The doctor begins to give some substance to the hope. The same is true in the spirit.
If we know that God is with us and active in our lives we have another layer of hope that supersedes the hope given by the doctor. We know that God created the human body and is therefore capable of healing it. We know that God can remove cancer from our bodies even if the doctor has no hope to give. In Romans 4, Paul described this hope in Abraham’s life as hoping against hope. He had hope in God when there was no possibility in the natural.
We give substance to that hope by finding what God said about our problem. We will look at one scripture that can give substance to our hope of healing from God.
1 Peter 2:24 (NKJV) 24 who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness–by whose stripes you were healed.
If I believe that God is, I know that God can heal. He would not be God if he could not fix the bodies he created. I have a supernatural hope that goes farther than the hope I may or may not have in the natural. However, hope is not faith. Hope is possibility. Faith is assurance that the possible thing will happen. When I read 1 Peter 2:24, there is substance with my hope. Not only can God heal, but also I have his own words that say he will heal me.
The faith that pleases God is the faith that starts with the possibility of “God is” and applies the written promise of God until “God is” becomes “God will” in our hearts. There is another element of this that makes it a little more difficult. Faith is the evidence of what I cannot see or perceive with my senses.
Faith takes hope, applies the promise of God until I can see the answer in my heart. For it to be faith, I must not be able to see it in the natural. Once I see cancer healed, it is no longer faith. It is simply a physical reality. My body no longer has cancer in it. To please God, I must be willing to believe what I do not yet see. That is the tricky part.
Healing is one area we may apply faith but it is not the only area. In truth we should do everything by faith. The bible says we live by faith and that we walk by faith. (Rom. 1:17 & 2 Cor. 5:7) Everything in our lives should be a product of believing things we cannot see with our natural eyes. There are specific promises that apply to all areas of life. Faith is taking the hope that God is and applying any one of those promises to any situation and believing that God is doing what we need done.
There are also general promises. 2 Cor. 5:17-21 tells us that we were made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. This is a promise that we are right with God because of what Jesus did. I may not feel right. I may need to repent of some sin to maintain my sense of being right with God, but I am right with him by faith. I have a hope of being right with him. I put substance to that hope with the promise. Now I must believe that promise even if I do not feel it or see it yet with my physical eyes.
It is that kind of faith that we must have if we are going to please God. Start with hope. God is! Find a promise. Find many promises. Apply the promise to the hope and give it substance. Meditate on that promise until you feel the substance of faith rising in your heart. When your mind is attacked by the physical circumstances, look to the evidence of faith. Do not be distracted by the fact that you do not see the manifestation yet. That is what makes if faith. When we continue to apply the substance even when we cannot see the result, we please God.
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