by Cathy Vinson

It is awesome to realize anything we grasp of God can only be known through His self-revelation to us. Anything revealed must therefore come with the decision of our God to GIVE.

Isn't this what occurs in prayer with faith? C Peter Wagner writes "What is faith? 'Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen' (Heb 11:1). Naturally, we do not ask God for something we already have but for something that we do not as yet have. We hope for it. We do not see it. But if we have faith, the unseen things we hope for will have substance. This substance cannot be material, it must be spiritual, but it is substance nonetheless..."

We reach out our bare arm as an extension of hope, and draw it back only to find a sleeve upon it. Something substantial has been added to it. Something substantial has occurred. We have reached forth a hope, and it has come back to us with the substance of firm persuasion.

Who would clothe substance upon our naked hopes? "He is a REWARDER of those who do diligently seek Him" (Heb 11:6). Like a powerful electric current that arcs through the air between two conductors...the energy of God's love through Jesus Christ must arc across from Heaven waiting to give substance to our hopes.

With this we bear responsibility. Jack Hayford has said, "If we don't, He won't." Let us not hold back our desired hopes from the One who responds..."more things are wrought in prayer than man every dreamed." If God's creative acts seem to allow room for our intervention, let a good heart abound with hope and, in turn, find substance that will create in His name!

(De 29:29)