Seeing With Eyes Of Faith
by Rita Langeland
For we walk by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7
If you read the newspaper or watch the evening news on television, you know that we are being bombarded with reports of soaring prices and a sinking economy. With banks failing, government budget deficits ballooning and businesses closing, there is bad news on every side. As Christians, what is our attitude to be in times like these? Our responsibility is to see every situation with eyes of faith rather than fear - faith in God's Word and all His promises.
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:31 (NIV)
We are not the first generation of believers to face such economic pressures and difficulties. During the 1800's in London England, Charles Spurgeon, known as the Prince of Preachers, pastored the famed Metropolitan Tabernacle. Those in Spurgeon's era also faced severe financial hardships. He wrote these words to encourage the believers of his day:
"I would say to those who are suffering trials - my brethren, God is good. He will not forsake you: He will bear you through.There is a promise prepared for your present emergencies; and if you will believe and plead it at the mercy-seat through Jesus Christ, you shall see the hand of the Lord stretched out to help you. Everything else will fail, but His Word never will." *
These words of wisdom are as true today as they were when they were written in the 19th century. We must apply God's promises to each and every situation we face. If we see our circumstances only with our natural eyes, we are no better off than anyone else in the world without God. But we have God in our lives - and we need to act like it! He has given us His Word which contains a treasure trove of divine promises for every single situation you will ever face. By seeing your life circumstances with eyes of faith - trusting in God's promises of help, provision, deliverance and favor, you will be able to laugh in the face of seeming impossibilities because you are confident in the One who made the promises. Paul the apostle had such a confidence:
...for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.
2 Timothy 1:12
Charles Spurgeon wrote one of the best and most practical illustrations of how to apply the promises of God that I have ever come across. Let these words encourage you to take God at His Word, and to see your situation through the eyes of faith.
"A promise from God may very instructively be compared to a check made payable to order. It is given to the believer with the view of bestowing upon him some good thing. It is not meant that he should read it over comfortably, and then have done with it. No, he is to treat the promise as a reality, as a man treats a check. He is to take the promise, and endorse it with his own name by personally receiving it as true. He is by faith to accept it as his own. This done, he must believingly present the promise to the Lord, as a man presents a check at the counter of a bank. He must plead it by prayer, expecting to have it fulfilled. Some fail to place the endorsement of faith upon the check, and so they get nothing; and others are slack in presenting it, and these also get nothing. This is not the fault of the promise, but of those who do not act with it in a common-sense, business-like manner. God has given no pledge which He will not redeem, and encouraged no hope He will not fulfill." *
... He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
2 Peter 1:4
* from FAITH'S CHECK BOOK - A DEVOTIONAL by C.H. Spurgeon
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