What does it mean to “Walk by Faith, Not by Sight”?

What does it mean to “Walk by Faith, not by Sight?

2 Corinthians 5:7 states it like this (Amp)
⁷ For we walk by faith [we ^[b]regulate our lives and conduct ourselves by our conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, with trust and holy fervor; thus we walk] not by sight or appearance.

In that one verse, hinges so much for us to understand about
our faith”. But to fully understand what it means to “walk by faith not by sight”, we must first understand who God says we are, what Jesus meant when he said “My Kingdom is not of this world”!.

We start to get a glimpse of just who we are here and now walking in the “flesh”, with an eternal perspective given to us in 2 Corinthians 5. The first verse there explains that our body is merely an “earthly tent” (flesh). The Greek wording is strong in depicting a flimsy temporary home that “can dissolve”. But then the verse goes on to explain that as a born again Christian, a “building” made by God exists within us. The wording describes a much stronger, permanent, yet unseen structure and goes on to say), “not made with earthly hands” (a building not of this world) but a strong structure which is established by God, made eternal in the heavenly realm.

I don’t know about you, but that revelation really excites me as a redeemed son growing in understanding my eternal destiny! If you have ever had a feeling deep in your spirit, a feeling that longed for something more in this body, then you probably intimately understand what Paul is writing about in verse 2 “² Here indeed, in this [present abode, body], we sigh and groan inwardly, because we yearn to be clothed over [we yearn to put on our celestial body like a garment, to be fitted out] with our heavenly dwelling”. I think deep inside, we all long for the day our bodies are renewed into eternal dwellings, Amen?.

If we can only lay hold of the truth about our physical body verses our eternal glorified bodies then we are already beginning to understand what it means to walk by faith not by sight! Think about it, everything in that verse wars against our natural mind and natural understanding of the world and “physical existence”, to imagine we have a future eternal “glorified” body free of sickness and pain that can effortlessly move through walls, time, and space is simply a stretch for the natural mind. Yet, not only does scripture talk about this body, but Jesus Himself gave us a glimpse of what such a body may be like. So if we can get past this one teaching and fully digest it, then we are well on our way to “walking by faith” in a far more powerful way. For me, I think this would be considered a “stepping block” to us walking by faith, just by believing what the disciples saw and what scripture tells about such a destiny.

Consider in a similar same way, we must “walk by faith” to believe Jesus was the Son of God, and receive the invisible gift of salvation through God’s grace, by faith….the gift of “Redemption and eternal life”. Our salvation and redemption to righteousness, is a gift that can not be seen with earthly eyes , can not be touched by hands, can not be heard with earthly ears, yet through God’s Grace, we who believe, receive such a gift that it has turned our hearts from stone to flesh, receiving a new heart complete with all His laws written within and making us into a brand new creation! Ezek 36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh. And 2 Cor 3:3 You are a letter written not on tablets made out of stone but on human hearts.

Once again, if you have gone this far in your walk with God, then you are well on your way to turning your entire walk here on earth, into a more Godly, “walk of faith” that can and will produce greater evidence of God’s presence in your life daily! It’s really not a as hard as some would have us think to walk by and grow in such faith. The power of believing through faith combined with God’s grace are an amazing and powerful transforming agent…….by His amazing Grace, when we spend time with Him in the secret place and surrender and believe, He continues to mold and shape us daily bringing us to a place of greater faith, day by day. It’s pretty simple – when we stand believing His word (in faith), His grace does the work and His will begins to be done on earth, as it is in heaven. It’s by our faith that Heaven is moved if we can learn to whole heatedly believe in and stand firm in faith, unmoved by what we may see happening around us, unmoved by what people may say or do, unmoved by our trials….unmoved by sight.

Scripture tells us God is of Spirit, and that everything He created came from that spirit. Our natural minds struggle so much with this and want to continuously bring our human (and spiritual”) experiences back to the “natural realm” in ways that makes sense to man’s thinking (Prov 14:12 There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way that leads to death.)

But we are told for this very reason, to keep our minds on the heavenly things above, renewing our minds daily on God’s truths, and not focus on or worry about the half truths found in a fallen world dominated by sin, filled with lies, sin, sickness, death, and deceit.

This is the essence of learning to “walk by faith”, and if we start looking at scripture from this heavenly, Christ given attribute called faith, we begin to see God’s real truth clearer and clearer. We begin to understand what the verse means in Hebrews 11 “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see”.

If we can get our minds around that verse then we just might be able to graduate to the next verses in Heb 11:3 that can help us even further to” Walk by Faith not by sight” “the origin of the visible was/is in fact, created from the invisible”!! Can we really get our minds around that MAJOR detail? If not, we need to “camp out” and meditate on this verse for a while to let it sink in!! Heb 11:3 “By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God’s command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible” I don’t think many of us have ever heard a sermon on that one major fact, which to me is a major focal point for us to hang our faith.

As crazy as that may sound to believe, should we really be so surprised since the deeper we look into the science of physics and subatomic particles, the more it seems matter is made from an invisible force, pulsating in and out of existence every other microsecond.

It seems science itself may be adding proof of the unseen mentioned in Heb 11:3. If we can only grasp this, then I believe you and I can stand in such a more powerful place to overcome the lies of the natural world, that often discourage us from believing so many truths found in scripture, because we too often “walk by what we see and NOT by eternal truth”.

Hebrews Chapter 11 goes on to tell us over and over again, how God’s amazing story of the Old Testament unfolded on the important foundation of “walking by faith, not by sight” through the testimonies of all the saints before us. We are told: “By faith, Abraham when he was tested…., By faith also Isaac blessed. Jacob”, By faith Jacob, as he was dying….,By faith Joseph, at the end of his life…..,By faith, when Moses was born…., By faith, when he grew up, Moses refused…. And then Chapter 11 ends by telling us how important walking by faith is for you and I, and how that influences the outcome of God’s ongoing story by saying: ³⁹ And these all were commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised. ⁴⁰ For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us. “

Brothers and sisters, did you catch that one? Something even better has been provided for you and me. That “something better” is the revelation of His Son Jesus who has unleashed a new and better covenant of Grace, overflowing with supernatural promises if we’ll only walk by faith. Heb 1 “After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, ² in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. ³ The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. ⁴ Thus he became so far better than the angels as he has inherited a name superior to theirs.”

Something much better has been provided for you and me and through “walking by faith, not by sight” and believing God’s truth, found in His son Jesus. By believing, we are walking by faith and knocking down the lies of this fallen world, and standing on this rock of faith, from which the gates of hell shall not prevail!! If you are not rejoicing in that revelation, then you are missing out on a major portion of your inheritance in Christ. It’s not only our heritage to walk by faith, but it is the privilege of our destiny in Christ, with no greater purpose found in the universe.

We are called to renew our minds, fix our eyes on the heavenly, understand our eternal purpose, and believe God’s written word about who we are in Christ Jesus. Friends, do not let your eyes deny you of your eternal destiny…..believe in His word, and press forward minute by minute, walking by Faith not by sight!

May God bless your walk and ground you in His faith!!

Scott Levesque
8/29/2013