Faith Is Believing What You Can’t See

The life that God planned for you to live is simple. It’s a life of faith and love.

The Bible explains the principle of love: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind’ . . . ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself’” (Matthew 22:37, 39 NCV).

And Hebrews 11:6 explains what it means to live a life of faith: “Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (NIV). 

If you’re a parent, you know how pleased you are when your child trusts you. It’s the same way with God. Your trust in him—your faith—pleases him.

What is faith? Faith is believing when you can’t see it.

People say, “Seeing is believing.” God says the exact opposite: “Believing is seeing.” Some things you’ll never see unless you believe them first.

Hebrews 11:1 says it like this: “Faith means being sure of the things we hope for and knowing that something is real even if we do not see it” (NCV).   

Every great achievement starts when someone first believes it’s possible. Faith turns dreams into realities. In other words, faith makes reality out of what’s in your imagination. Nothing happens until someone believes it’s possible.

Over 40 years ago, I stood in front of a small group of people for the first service of Saddleback Church. I shared a dream God gave me for a church with 50 acres of land—a church that would minister to 20,000 people every week. People laughed. Frankly, I laughed too. We all knew the high price of land in Orange County, California. It seemed impossible.

But God did it. Everything God has done through Saddleback in the last four decades has seemed impossible before it happened. But we had faith that God would do the impossible.

What about you? What dream do you have today that requires faith? 

Spend some time today asking God, “What do you want me to do?” When you’re tuned in and talking to God, setting goals becomes an act of faith.