English Standard Version (©2001)
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
American King James Version
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Now faith is the substance of things to be hoped for, the evidence of things that appear not.
Weymouth New Testament
Now faith is a well-grounded assurance of that for which we hope, and a conviction of the reality of things which we do not see.
Young's Literal Translation
And faith is of things hoped for a confidence, of matters not seen a conviction,
Interlinear Bible
_________________________________________
Hope: Greek Elpid'zo
to expect or confide:-(have, thing) hope(-d) (for)
Faith: Greek Pistis
conviction of the truth of anything
Substance: Greek Hupostasis
a setting or placing under thing put under, substructure, foundation that which has foundation, is firm that which has actual existence a substance, real being the substantial quality, nature, of a person or thing the steadfastness of mind, firmness, courage, resolution confidence, firm trust, assurance
Hope is Expectation which is founded on some understanding. If I expect you to pay my light bill, but you never said you would and don't have the money to do it anyway, that would be an unfounded expectation. But if Bill Gates, who has the money for sure, said he would pay my light bill I would have a better expectation of that result, but I still have no relationship with him, so I could have some lingering doubts. If my Dad said he'd pay my light bill, he has the money put aside and has quite frequently followed through on his word financially, so I could expect that that would happen. In fact my expectation in my Dad's word would be higher than that of Bill Gates Word because I have no relationship previously established with Bill Gates.
Hope is the blue print that Faith funds. Faith is substance, material substance. The earth was NOT created out of nothing. It was created by that which is not seen, yet has very real substance. It is called Faith. (Genesis 1, John 1, Heb 11:3) Science finally catching up to some of the bible and telling us that matter is made of light. (God is light... so duh!). Not all light is visible. Only visible light is visible.... let that sink in. There are spectrum of light that are not visible to humans or their equipment, more and more is becoming visible to equipment but not all is. FAITH is light is substance. Faith was the substance that trees, rocks, oceans, and you and I came from. It is the SAME substance that is the basis for any and all answered prayers. But how do we get that substance into the tangible realm?
HOPE. The blue print.
A contractor only orders supplies after he has analyzed the blue prints to determine what supplies and how many he needs. You don't order supplied and then figure out if you got enough. So you can have all the faith to move mountains but without Hope there is nothing for the Faith to do.
It is HOPE then, not faith, that is the first step to "Faith Projects". You must have a blue print. Joshua had to go to God to get a blue print of the Jericho Battle Plan. Only then could Faith go to work and make it happen. Your God given dreams are blue prints that set in motion the angels to gather up the supplied and minister to you. "Minister" is the root word for Administer, and it means to serve. Administer means that service is dispensing supply to you. But they can't go to work on supplies if you haven't created the blue prints. They also have delays when you keep CHANGING the blue prints!
- Get a vision and dream for what God would have you do/accomplish. (Josh 1:8)
- Get it down on paper so that it's clear and unchangeable (Hab 2:2)
- Then call in your supplies. (Heb 1:14)
Get a dream, a clear dream... if it's not clear start making it clearer. Write it down, create a folder if need be. Collect Pictures and articles. Get a picture on the inside of what you want. When it's more real on the inside than anything on the outside than your delivery is almost at hand!
Darrell G. Wolfe