Exploring the Unknown: Lessons on Faith from Uncharted Territories (Lesson 1)
- Yewande Olapade
- Jan 28, 2024
- 5 min read
Winter 2024 Table Talk
Before the end of the 2023 Winter Table Talk, I knew the subject for the 2024 Winter Table Talk. I had thought the currency of Honor was a one-time thing. But it is beginning to look like an annual expedition. In summer of 2023 when Walking on Waters, Navigating Uncharted Territory- a Journey of Faith, dropped on my mind, I said to myself, what do I know about Faith to sit at the end of the table on that subject? A voice whispered, nothing on the surface. Faith is a deep subject.
Suddenly, I realize, faith is simple, faith is trusting, faith is believing. Faith is dependence. Faith is in Levels. Faith has dimensions. Faith has proportions. Faith has degrees. Okay, that is enough Geometry!
However, everything about your journey is Faith. Your story builds Faith. Your lessons build faith. Your testimony increases faith. The evidence is faith. How you got the process is Faith. We live by faith; we breathe by faith. We sleep by faith hoping to wake up the next morning. We inhale oxygen by faith hoping to exhale Co2. We put the right foot forward by faith, hoping to push the left foot afterwards. We ingest food by faith, hoping that the digestive system processes it. We invest in personal growth by faith, with the hope that the marketplace recognizes the value. You create the product by faith, hoping that your customers like it enough to make a purchase. We create content by faith, hoping to get an impression and influence followers positively. Essentially, our whole existence is about Faith. You could argue that these are all processes that are part of a purpose. Exactly! Faith is what makes a process delivers a purposeful result.
Many who identifies as people of Faith have no clue what that means. In Hebrews 11:1, the bible described Faith as a substance- a quality of having solid basis in reality or fact. Faith according to this verse means tangible evidence; a hope for something; an action in line with a desirable goal; a believe in something; a mindset about a divine being. But how can you have evidence about something that you have not witnessed? How do you act like the answers are already released when you have not taken the exams or seen the questions? How can you behave like the break is already here when the process has not even started? How can you rejoice like you know the end, when the beginning has not even been actualized? How do you rejoice as if the results are tangible and real, when in the physical sense, it is not here? To a rational mind, faith doesn't make sense!
During the 2024 winter and in the following weeks, we are learning about Faith through some bible characters, and I will be using this space to teach. So, what is Faith? Why is Faith Important?
Before the What, let's start with the WHY of Faith
Imagine walking to a huge store to purchase a particular thing. Within the store is the grocery aisle, outdoor products aisle, cleaning supplies, over the counter pharmacy, an ATM, an entertainment aisle, a massage place, and so on. Each of these products come in varying sizes, quality and has time element.
Think of Prayer as the marketplace of life. As children of God, on this earth, prayer is how we place an order for the supplies we need for different aspect of our lives at different time and seasons. Prayer is presenting the orders at checkout. While some supplies are purchased with coupons, in this kingdom nothing is free! Even our salvation was not free. It costs the Father His only begotten son. So, what do you use to purchase the supplies? -Your Faith. Faith is the currency of the kingdom. Therefore:
Your level of faith is proportional to your level of results.
Your level of faith determines the quality of your results.
Your level of Faith is proportional to the significance of your results
Your level of faith determines your influence.
Your level of faith energizes the grace upon your life
Let me briefly use Paul's write up in Hebrews 11 to lay out the definition of Faith.
The first verses noted that what exists in the invisible is real and can become tangible when we believe. By Faith, the universe was formed. Not by bricks, not by hands, but by Faith so that at a spoken Word of Commands, what we see came out of what we do not see.
Therefore, Faith is exercising Godly authority and bringing what is spoken into a tangible reality.
In Hebrews 11: 1- 40, the bible noted that:
By Faith, Abel offered a worthy sacrifice!
By Faith, Enoch pleased God!
By Faith, Noah built an ark even where there was no rain!
By Faith, Abraham stepped out to an unknown land!
By Faith, Abraham lived in the land!
By Faith, Sarah received strength to birth!
By Faith, Abraham offered Isaac as offering!
By Faith, Isaac blessed Jacob!
By Faith, Jacob blessed his sons!
By Faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter!
By Faith, Israelites passed through the Red Sea as on Dry land!
By Faith Rahab received spies...
Every of these statements has an action word. Everyone of this individuals or group of individuals has a PURPOSE. Everyone of this individuals or group of individuals has GOAL. Everyone of this individuals or group of individuals received a PROMISE. Everyone of this individuals or group of individuals had a CONVERSATION with God. Everyone of this individual followed a DIRECTION. Everyone of this individual or group of individuals obeyed specific instructions. Everyone of this individuals or group of individuals OBEYED a command.
Here are some takeaways from this chapter that we will focus on for the rest of the study.
Faith is Confidence
Faith is Believe
Faith is Action
Faith is Trusting
Faith is Obedience
Faith is Purposeful
Faith is a Process
Now let us put it all together...
Faith is confidence in God to believe what He promised to do and to act in obedience to His instructions in order to arrive at a purposeful desirable goal.
Faith is following his direction when the end goal is not clear.
Faith is clarity of God’s love.
Faith is trust in God’s capacity.
Faith is belief that what God said He will do is the truth.
Faith is knowing what God's authority over a subject looks like.
Faith is seeing God's perspective over an issue or subject.
Faith is action when the full details are unclear.
Faith is movement when the destination feels like a mirage.
Everything about Faith is a process!
Everything about Faith is a journey!
You don’t run in Faith; you can’t crawl in Faith.
You don’t swim in Faith; you don’t dive in Faith.
You don’t fly in Faith; you don’t soar in Faith.
The movement of Faith is line upon line, a little here, a little there. The movement and the pace depend on the terrain, the movement and pace is in the Becoming. Many things about our relationship with God can’t be rushed!
But we Walk by Faith. And through Faith and Patience we obtain the blessing. Many things about faith can’t be rushed. Many things that we endure in faith prunes us to become a better human. Sometimes, the process is painful to endure, sometimes the test is difficult to sustain. But that endurance built through patience gives you the strategy and the tenacity to sustain the break when it finally arrives.
We WALK by Faith
Here are some Application Questions from Lesson 1- Mathew 14:22-32
What is uncharted territory? what is your uncharted territory?
In Mathew 14: 29 when Jesus said Come, was that an instruction, a command, or a conversation? How do you know the difference?
Why or what pushed Peter to ask Jesus to ask him to come?
Do you think anything prepared Peter for stepping out of the boat?
In Mathew 14:30, the Bible noted that when Peter saw the wind, he became afraid. How does fear come? Why did Peter lose focus?
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