You’ve probably heard the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” While that can refer to people, you could very well apply that to life. All throughout the Bible, God teaches us not to accept circumstances at face value. As Andrew says in his teaching Faith Builders, “Faith isn’t denying that this physical realm exists. Faith is just acknowledging that there’s something beyond just the physical. There’s also a spiritual world out there.” Faith is all about not judging your circumstances by how they appear. You judge them by the Word of God.
Hebrews 11 lists several people in the Bible who did not judge their circumstances by how they appeared. “By faith Noah” built an ark to prepare for a flood God forewarned him about (Heb. 11:7). No one at that point in history had ever even seen rainfall before! But Noah knew the words God spoke to him and believed that His words superseded his current reality.
“By faith Abraham” offered up his long-awaited child Isaac as a sacrifice at God’s request (Heb. 11:17). The circumstances made it look like Isaac, Abraham’s promised son, would be gone forever. But Abraham’s faith in God’s promise helped him trust Him, and God responded to Abraham’s faith by having him sacrifice a ram instead of his son.
“By faith Moses” chose not to identify with Pharaoh’s household (Heb. 11:24) but rather to suffer with God’s people, “for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27). Andrew says in his teaching:
“One of the things that has helped me to operate in faith is to recognize that when I am believing God for something, I’m not believing in something that doesn’t exist. I’m believing in things that are already realities in the spiritual world. They may not be able to be seen, but they do exist. . . . If you can understand that faith is just reaching over into the unseen realm and bringing into reality things that do exist—they’re just spiritual realities—it’ll change the way you see God.”
Paul admits in Hebrews 11 that he didn’t have time to go into the stories of all the others who lived by faith. Some of those people were Gideon, Barak, Samson, David, and Samuel “who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of the lions” (Heb. 11:33). Like Andrew says in Faith Builders, “Faith is what separates a person who’s walking in victory from a person who’s walking in defeat.”
In other words, the life of a believer should be marked by believing!
First John 5:4 declares:
For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
“It is not your natural talents and ability,” Andrew continues. “It’s not your great wisdom; it’s not all of these things. It’s God and it’s our trust and adherence to Him that causes everything to work. . . . God’s plans for you are good, and if your life is not good, it’s not because God hasn’t blessed you and had a perfect plan for you. But we have to cooperate, and faith is how we cooperate with God. It takes effort on our part. The things of God do not automatically come to pass.”
What promises in the Bible don’t appear to be a reality in your life? God hasn’t changed His mind. Order Andrew’s Faith Builders teaching and build your faith to live in overcoming victory. It is the key to everything.
Now it’s your turn! By faith you…
