The Just Shall Live By Faith

By Rachael Sales 

The Bible lets us know that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11: 1, KJV) and that without works, without action, faith is dead. (James 2:20. KJV) A faith-filled life is therefore one that demands the courage to go against the evidence that is seen to believe the unseen of what God is saying. In essence it takes great courage to walk by faith and not by sight, because it will mean defying physical evidence and doing it out loud for all to see.

I have learned that our nation is not one set up to support this kind of lifestyle. We live in a quick fix society, based on results, evidence. Seeing is believing and we want to see it within minutes. When we’re in the hot seat, we’re very welcoming of miracles, but we have a five minute limit on how fast our God must move. Unfortunately the American Christian does not understand faith until forced into an impossible situation where trust in God is a must.  Faith is not the application of positive thinking to difficult situations. It is not the exertion of extra effort in a crisis where we can see a possible win. No, faith only begins in situations that are absolutely impossible to man, where there is no way it can work outside of God’s intervention. Until that is the case we have encountered an everyday challenge and not a testing of radical faith.

Recently my husband and I experienced a true test of faith that reignited my understanding of what is true bible-based faith. About a month ago, my husband and I conceived a child, which would have been our sixth pregnancy together. Around the time that we realized we were, complications immediately followed. Over the period of seven days the physical evidence told us that day by day we were losing our child through miscarriage. The doctors’ reports were coming in negative and we knew that this was truly a test of faith.  Right before this trial came, I had gone on a forty day fast and read the scripture of how Jesus was tested in the wilderness after fasting.  In the scripture, when Satan came, the only thing found on our Lord’s lips was the Word of God. My husband and I realized that the same Word had to be found on ours. As the spotting continued and all the other symptoms followed, our apostle and our pastor/ first lady, asked us to proclaim our faith. “What do you all believe God can do?” they said, “and we will believe with you”.  We declared that our faith was that we would carry this child full term. They prayed the prayer of faith with us and we confessed that our child would live and not die. This was professed day and night in the midst of my body attempting to miscarry. And in the midst of it, I realized that it would take great courage to stand on this thing used so lightly called faith. I realized once again (I’d known it in my early days of salvation) that faith was that thing Abraham stood on for twenty plus years believing God for the birth of his son Isaac. How many of us can endure twenty days waiting for the promise of God with constant continuance and cheerfulness?

There were many times after the prayer that the symptoms heightened, and the doctors reports were steadily coming. I had begun to concede that you win some and you lose some. When we took the report of conceded defeat back to our Apostle, the response was one that jolted both me and my husband. We were posed with the question, “What does any of that have to do with what God said? I hear what you’re saying, but a miscarriage is not acceptable. God must do this for his word’s sake. Believe Him. Satan does not have the right to win against God’s Word.” And do you know what saints?  He doesn’t. I realized in that moment that what we were seeing meant nothing in God’s court. The spotting. The cramping. The fatigue. It didn’t matter and it was not an indication of what God was doing. So my husband and I maintained that in spite of what we saw, we would have this baby.

It is now a month later and my husband and I are excited to say that I am indeed pregnant in the first trimester. We are seeing our faith manifested. The small still voice that said, Rachael, believe me for this child has shown Himself strong. Faith is believing God for life when you see death, no matter what the evidence and the unbelieving are saying. God’s Word does work. As Minister Terry Mize maintains, “Stay until the smoke clears. You will win.“