Length: 4 minutes

Today in the church, faith has been twisted out of shape. It is hard to say “faith” without many people having many different opinions in their head, but faith is not what you’ve heard before. Let’s see how simple and beautiful it is from scripture. 

To a lot of Christians, faith is believing hard enough that what God says will come to pass. To other Christians, faith is believing that the result they want to see will manifest. And still to other Christians, faith is an action. To them faith is acting in accordance with what you believe. But all of this is simply not faith. Faith is spiritual perception to see Jesus. That’s what it means. It’s not believing something will come to pass. It’s not an action you take. It’s just seeing Jesus — understanding what Jesus did a long time ago. 

Pay very close attention to this. Below, Paul says that we should not look (with our minds) at the things which are seen, but at the things, which are not seen.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (KJV)  …we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen…

Ok, so Paul is talking about seeing the unseen — seeing what your eyes can’t see. Specifically, he’s talking about seeing the unseen in your mind. And guess what?  Just a few verses later, look at how Paul refers to this “seeing the unseen.” Look at the term he uses for it: 

2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV)  For we walk by faith, not by sight

Notice, first Paul says that we don’t look at the things that are seen (we don’t walk by sight). Alternatively, he advises that we look at the things which are not seen. Then he says, we don’t walk by sight, but we walk by faith. 

Did you catch that? He uses the word faith instead of saying, “We look at the things that are unseen.” He is defining faith as seeing the unseen. Paul defines faith as a kind of spiritual perception. Faith is being able to see something in your mind, being able to understand something in your mind that your eyes can’t see!

Now, let’s be more specific. What exactly does God want the eye of your mind focused on (Ephesians 1:18)? What unseen thing does God want your mind to see?

Hebrews 11:27 (NKJV) By faith he [Moses] forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.

First this verse says, “by faith” but then it says that he endured as “seeing him who is invisible.” 

Faith is a spiritual perception which this verse confirms, but specifically it is about seeing Him. It’s about seeing a Person. When the verse above speaks of “Him who is invisible,” it is speaking about Jesus. Faith is seeing Jesus in your mind. Not that we should try to picture Jesus’ physical form or something like that. No, faith is a kind of spiritual perception by which we are able to see and understand what Jesus has done for us, even though we have not fully seen His finished work with our eyes (yet). 

Faith is often used even for other religions. But ultimately, in the biblical sense of the word, faith is seeing the unseen. And if someone is believing inaccurately, they’re not really seeing the unseen. They may have an untrue belief in their mind, but they’re not really seeing what’s in the unseen. It’s an inaccurate belief. And according to the biblical usage of the word, that would not be called faith.

Even simply saying “faith in God,” is not enough. It’s about understanding what Jesus did because God is not self-revealed. We need to see the Son to see the Father (1 John 2:23). It’s about seeing Jesus! Faith is a spiritual perception to see Jesus! 

1 Peter 1:8 (NKJV)  …Though now you do not see Him, yet believing…

We need to uncomplicate faith. I think most Christians would agree with most of what we have said here, even if they didn’t realize it this plainly before — faith is seeing Jesus. But as much as believers might agree with this, we still have so many other definitions for faith that we add to this. The problem is not that Christians would disagree with this. It’s that we add so much to it! We complicate it so much. 

We will say, “Yes, of course, faith is seeing Jesus”, and in the next sentence, “Faith is an action” or “Faith is what you confess” or “Faith is taking your manifestation by force” or “Faith is believing that God is going to show up right on time.” Wow, faith certainly has a lot of definitions today, but it seems “seeing Jesus” is just one of many. Yet of course, it is not. 

Faith produces a lot of things. Faith produces good works, faith produces miracles (which is the same thing), faith produces words, but faith is not any of those things. Faith is spiritual perception to see Jesus. Faith is solely and simply, seeing Jesus. 

Just get to know Jesus and take your time doing it. Faith is not all the complicated things it’s been made out to be. Faith is understanding what Jesus has done for you and me 2,000 years ago. 

Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV) looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…

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