The Guarantee

I went with my mom to the house of some of our tenants a few months ago. She’d met with them the day before that and one of the ladies had, had a migraine for a month… So bad that she couldn’t see, she couldn’t work, she couldn’t be in the light. The pain was debilitating.

At the time I had just taken a Global Awakening course on physical healing and my mom hoped that I could help. So I went with her to their house to explain a lease and see what else I could do. We started and as she winced, I asked her if there was anything she needed prayer for. She explained about her migraine, and I asked the Holy Spirit to come. I commanded the pain to leave. Honestly, I don’t remember how I prayed but it was simple and it worked.

She looked surprised and I asked her how she felt and she said, “It’s gone. I cant believe its gone. I couldn’t look at light, and now I can! Its gone!” She started crying and I explained what happened and how God loves her and wants her well. She said she had prayed for other people and had helped other people but it had never been done for her. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before. She had never experienced the evidence of the guarantee that God gave her of who He is. She had never encountered faith.

I love looking up the original meanings of words in the bible.

Hebrews 11:1 says

Faith is the substance (assurance) of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

The Greek word for Faith is pistis, which means to be persuaded. In secular antiquity, according to the Strongs Concordance, pistis meant a guarantee. Faith is the guarantee - or another way to say that in real estate language is it is a warranty deed. It proves ownership. Faith is the guarantee that what God says is true and that we can own it. That He does what He promises. That He is who He says He is and that we can have access to Him and his promises.

Hypostasis is the Greek word for substance or assurance. Hypostasis is a state of being – It means, according to the Strongs, (to possess) standing under a guaranteed agreement ("title-deed"); "title" to a promise or property, a legitimate claim (because it literally is, "under a legal-standing") entitling someone to what is guaranteed under the particular agreement.

So what is the agreement?

We are God’s children because of the new covenant (agreement- promise). Jesus died to give us access to the Father and his promises. Before the Jews only had access to the one and only Holy God and his blessings by sacrifice. A priest would sacrifice a spotless lamb which would pay the debt that was owed for the sins of the people. Once Jesus came – he was that pure and spotless lamb that paid that debt for all of us – personally – not just for the entire nation.

When we ask Jesus to become the Lord of our life – when we accept his sacrifice and surrender and give ourselves (Our hopes, dreams, plans, resources, everything) to him, We gain the legal right to possess the guarantee… And he gives the gift of that guarantee to us. He gives us Faith.

I am going to give you the Katharine Translation of Hebrews 11:1:

Now the warranty or guarantee of God (Faith) is (The substance) what gives us the legal right to possess all that we anticipate will be ours (What we hope for) and is the (evidence) the end result of the experiment proven over and over which makes us know beyond a shadow of a doubt what the end result will be.

The guarantee is a gift from God and cannot be made by us only by the One who has the right to give the guarantee. So in other words we cant work up our faith – we cant muster up our courage to believe. We cant pray for God to increase our faith…. The apostles tried that in Luke 17:5-6

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” And the Lord said, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

That’s because a guarantee can’t be increased – it either is or it isn’t. The only thing that makes a guarantee less is if you doubt its validity. That is why the faith of a child is so precious and valuable. Because it isn’t doubted. They trust in the truth of the guarantee. They haven’t lived a lifetime where they have experienced disappointment or had people sow doubt over and over. They …. Just…. Trust… that it is true.

Faith is also the evidence of things not seen. The guarantee is tangible. Faith is tanglible – you can put your hands on it – you can experience it. When that lady received healing she experienced faith.

In Mark 16:15 just before He ascended into Heaven, Jesus gave a command to believers….

“Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In My name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not harm them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be made well.”

The way that the world will encounter Faith – The guarantee of the good news that God loves them and has made a way for people of this world to live in freedom – free from the dirty deeds of the enemy – anxiety- pain – depression – lack – sickness - is for us to go show them the evidence through the Power that God gave us. The power of deliverance. The power of healing. The power of love. These things did not pass away because a guarantee never stops. God never changes.