According to the New King James version Hebrews 11:1 tells us, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The New Living Translation version says “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us the assurance about things we cannot see.” This tells us a few things that are vital in our walk with God. It also is the foundation of truth that we need to live a victorious life here on this earth.

Let’s examine the words of this well known verse. Let’s start with the word faith. Just what is faith? According to the dictionary (at least the top two entries), faith is confidence or trust in a person or thing. It is also defined as belief that is not based on proof. Now if we combine these two definitions we can surmise the following statement. Faith is believing in someone that we cannot see and trusting in that someone without reservations.

To have faith in God then, we must first believe in Him, although we cannot see Him. As Hebrews 11:6 states,”he who comes to God must believe that He is”… In other words we must believe that He exists, even though we cannot see Him. This is the first and most important part of faith. Once you believe in the Who, then you can trust that He will do!

Now that we have determined exactly what faith is, let’s look at the rest of Hebrews 11:1.It tells us “Faith is the substance”. Substance is what a thing consists of, the actual matter of a thing, and we learned in elementary school that matter is anything that has weight or takes up space. So faith is actually what gives weight or actuality to something.

Faith is the substance of what? It is the substance of things hoped for. Faith is what makes up what we hope for. And what does hope actually mean? Hope is the feeling that we can actually get what we wish we had or that events or circumstances will turn out for the best. So, faith then is the actual matter, consistency, what gives weight to what we wish we could have or have happen.

Now let’s look at the final part of Hebrews 11:1. The last part of the verse tells us that faith “is the evidence of things not seen.” Evidence, we all know is proof. Faith is the proof of the things we cannot see. It is our assurance that though our eyes do not behold it, it is a reality.

So let’s put it all together and see what it all means. Faith or trust in God is what gives weight, realness or credibility to what we wish we had. It is our proof of things that we cannot see with our physical eyes.

So don’t doubt. Have hope. Trust in God. Have faith. It is your assurance that things will turn out for good. If you can trust God and hope for the best, then you can have the things you cannot see.