We may look at the world and see that it is ripe for harvest, and have faith in God to work a work in us to call to a hurting world. But in our own families, we may see their salvation as hopeless. Hopeless is kin to faithless; not that we don’t have a type of faith in God, but we don’t extent now faith to those we know best (know their sins first hand). But God is faithful. God was faithful to us while we were faithless, and died on the cross to give us something to have faith in. God also had faith for us; believing the sacrifice of His Son would bring us back to Him. We, the children of God, were rescued by His faith. What has our family member’s done that would cause the faith of God to exclude them?

Making prayers of intercession is having faith for someone else. “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours” (John 17:9). “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word” (John 17:20). In the prayer of intercession recorded in John; Jesus prayed not for the world, but for those who believe and those who will believe. We cannot confess Jesus Christ for our family members, but we can have faith in God for them. We can believe the sacrifice of Jesus Christ will make a difference in their lives. We can believe that our Savior is enough, and our prayers are heard. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).

With evidence continuing to pile up against faith, faith can endure and we can continue to believe for our family members. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Hebrews 11:1). Faith is the evidence against what we currently see, and gives a witness to the things we hope for so our hope has substance (matter – exists in our realm). Now faith gives us the foresight to have action towards someone according to our faith and not what we see; “For by it the elders obtained a good testimony” (Hebrews 11:2). The good testimony is based on faith and not physical sight or understanding. A testimony is the words of someone who witnessed something; faith gives us a testimony of something witnessed but not seen. What? Our belief becomes more real than what we see, so we testify to what we believe regardless of the physical evidence.

There have been times I have witnessed someone healed who is not yet healed in the physical realm; the witness was in the spiritual realm and now hope is evidence of the manifestation in the physical. No matter what evidence is given to the type of illness or severity, now faith sees the evidence of now hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us (Romans 5:5). In the same way, now hope for the salvation of my children sees them as saved in the spirit, and my testimony is, “My children are with me in the Kingdom of God.” Am I blind to the acts and deeds of my children? No. But I am also not blind to the mercy and grace of God – now hope is in God’s faith (supernatural faith) and faithfulness, because the love of God has been poured out.

When we extend our family to include those we serve with in the body of Christ; we see a very similar type of faith. We may know the physical weaknesses of our brothers and sisters in Christ, and be blinded to the spiritual. When someone new comes into the body, especially a new convert witnessed by the congregation, we invite them to testify. The elders in the body are no longer invited to testify, because we have gotten to know them in the physical. Our physical sight has blinded us and we no longer extend now hope; and the elders obtain a good testimony by now faith (the evidence of now hope not yet seen). Congregations fire ministers because they no longer see with now faith, but judge by physical evidence; they stop hearing the good testimony of the elder because of physical evidence against faith. Without now faith, we stop interceding and start condemning.

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1). Now faith and now hope does not condemn, but believes the evidence not seen. If we turn from believing in our family’s salvation (which is condemning them to be unsaved in our hearts), we have stepped out of the body of Christ towards our family. We can no longer witness a good testimony to them out of now faith, because we have lost our now hope. Without seeing the evidence of hope, we cannot testify to their salvation or of our Savior’s mercy and grace. When God brings them into His family, we will miss the joy of the Lord for them; because we will continue to see them with our physical eyes. That is the spiritual healing God wants to bring to heart of the body of Christ, so we can see and hear from the eyes and ears of Jesus Christ. Hearing and seeing with now hope, we can go into a hurting world and testify from a now faith.

© 2010, Tim D. Coulter Sr.