Grapevine Ministries
Messages from the bible to uplift and encourage those that need a word from the Lord, to strengthen their faith. Ps Phillip Barker is an itinerant pastor in Perth, Western Australia.
Grapevine Ministries
Part II Faith is Now
When everything around you feels like it's falling apart, what do you hold onto? Faith—but not just any faith. Now faith. This eye-opening exploration of Hebrews 11:1 reveals that faith isn't some distant future concept or vague spiritual notion—it's a tangible substance you can grasp today.
"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." These powerful words reveal that faith brings elements from the spiritual realm into our natural world. God desires for us to experience His blessings here on earth, challenging the misconception that spirituality requires poverty or perpetual struggle. Looking at Solomon's story, who received unprecedented wealth after requesting wisdom, demonstrates that God's blessings can be both material and spiritual when our hearts are properly aligned.
Life resembles a heart monitor—rhythmically moving up and down rather than maintaining a single continuous line. We experience peaks and valleys, but the critical understanding is that we're always moving through these experiences, not permanently dwelling in them. When the Psalmist wrote about walking "through the valley of the shadow of death," the emphasis was on movement—we don't remain stuck in our valleys. This perspective transforms how we approach difficulties, helping us recognize their temporary nature and God's constant presence with us.
The message emphasizes keeping our focus on God rather than our circumstances—"keep your eyes on the healer, not the healing." When we fixate on problems, we become overwhelmed, but when we shift our gaze to God, we position ourselves to receive His intervention. Now faith isn't trapped by yesterday's regrets or tomorrow's anxieties; it exists in this present moment, enabling us to declare with confidence that "no weapon formed against you shall prosper."
God wants you to experience wholeness in every dimension—financially, emotionally, physically, and spiritually. His promises are for you today. Ready to embrace the power of now faith in your life? Listen, share, and let this message transform your perspective on faith and what's possible right now.
Good morning, good afternoon, wherever you are in the world - Welcome to Grapevine Ministries.
Part 2 of prayer. Faith is now. Typically this centres around Hebrews 11.1, which also happens to be my wife's favourite passage of scripture, purely and simply because it's 111 and that's her favourite numbers. This passage is what defines faith, as now, faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Now let's just go through that again Hebrews 11.1,. It says Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not yet seen. So when you look at that, you're clearly seeing that faith is tangible. It is a substance, okay. So it's not like a spiritual thing that's just out there that you can't grasp, hold of or have active in your life. Like you know, the wind's there, you can feel it. So you know the wind is there. But what about the air? See the air we breathe, but what is the air made up of? And so if it's a substance, then that's something tangible that you can get hold of.
Speaker 1:Many sermons emphasize that faith is a present reality. It's a really powerful force that provides assurance and conviction for unseen spiritual truths and future blessings. You see, the key theme is vital for prayer, which is faith the substance of things hoped for, the things that expect to receive from God, expect to receive from God faith, the essence of we have only by believing Faith, the indication of God's truth and promises revealed by his word. So faith, the evidence, the outward signs that God will reveal in the spiritual realm to those who believe him. And I'm talking about faith now. Is that all right? See, it's basically you're bringing stuff from the spiritual realm into the natural realm. See, God wants us to have things here and now on earth. He doesn't want us to wait until we get to heaven. And a lot of people will tell you, you know, he says we've got to be poor and humble ourselves before God and make all these sacrifices, and that no, I mean, just have a look at Solomon, for instance. Solomon asked God for wisdom, and because he was asking for something that would help his people or help him be able to reign over his people properly, he wasn't thinking about himself. God also gave him more financial blessings than has ever been conceived before and after since. So that just goes to show. It says the love of money is the root of all evil. Having money isn't a problem. It's if you love money more than you love God, or you love money more than you love your family and your children and everything else. You've got to always put things into the right perspective so you can ask for things, materialistic things but the thing is, if you pray for others, then it'll come back on you tenfold. You've always got to look at the purpose behind the prayer that you want. So faith is now.
Speaker 1:Has there ever been a time in your life where everything around you seemed to be falling apart, tearing at the seams even? Have you ever felt as if you were troubled on every side? Well, I stopped doing that because I want to encourage you. I want you to know that you have the God-giving ability to call those things that are not as they were. Oftentimes I've said that if you look at the storm, you'll surely see the rain. Allow me to explain it this way If you look at your situation, you may not be able to see what God has in store for you.
Speaker 1:If you look at your circumstances, you may not be able to see beyond the trials and the tribulations. That is why, when we admonish to walk by faith, not by sight 2 Corinthians 5.7. And I'm here to tell you that eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him. And that's 1 Corinthians 2.9,. Glory to God.
Speaker 1:You see, when you look at it from that perspective, you can't always focus on what's actually taking place in your life. See, there's a scripture that goes, you know, psalm 24, I think it is Yea, thou walkest through the valley, a shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, he says. Although you're walking through the valley and it's death and destruction all around you, god is with you. And the other thing to note about that passage of Scripture there is it talks about you walking through. See, we walk through things, we walk through challenges in our lives, we walk through chaos in our lives, we walk through loss in our lives, and we think that that's it. But the thing is it's not it. You need to continue through. You see, what it's saying is that when you go through the valley, okay, you're going through it.
Speaker 1:Okay, if you ever looked at a heart monitor and you see the little lines beeping up and down, up and down, up and down, okay, there's not just one long beep, because the heart just doesn't do one beep. That lasts for the duration of your life. And then when you die, it just stops. No, it's pulsating. It's going up, it's going down. It's going up, it's going down. The same with our lives we have trials and tribulations. We go through good times, we go through bad times, but the thing is to remember you're going through those things. God is always with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Call on him when you are weak. He makes you strong. Okay, when you are in a dark place, the light of the Lord comes into it. See, darkness doesn't exist. Darkness is just the absence of light, and God is the light. Okay, so get out of the shadows, get out of the darkness, darkness. We need to make sure that we realize that the circumstances around us do not define us.
Speaker 1:I've got a pastor friend of mine. He used to lead praise and worship for many, many years at the church I was going to. He wrote this song which was very prevalent for me at that particular time and it was like believe in the healer, right. And it says keep the eyes on the healer, not the healing. So what? The consensus of the song was keep your eyes on Jesus, okay, don't focus looking at your problem or the situation that you're in See, elders of a church have no problem believing what they could not see.
Speaker 1:In fact, they realized that the little that they did have had come by faith. They realized that the little progress they had made came by faith. They knew that they had come too far to turn around. They also knew that God had not failed them in the past and surely and I mean surely he would not fail them now. See, they found themselves in the midst of their troubles singing We've come this far by faith, leaning on the Lord, trusting in the Lord's word. He never fails me. Yet, oh, can't I turn around? I've come this far by faith. You only get so far and you think it's too hard. Do I go back? Or you've experienced so much trauma and loss in your life that you don't want to be happy anymore, because if you get happy or you get your life back on track, are you feeling guilty because you're now being able to enjoy yourself where loved ones are no longer there? But if you look at it from a practical perspective, to be absent from the body is to be present from the Lord.
Speaker 1:See, today we are faced with destruction all around us. The media portrays violence now like never before, because bad news sells. There are children killing children in schools, there are random acts of violence in every region of the world. Why are you telling us all this? You see, you know I'm glad you asked this. So why would I be telling you this? Why would I tell you about all the bad things that are going on in the world?
Speaker 1:I don't tell you this just to make you aware of moral degeneration, of, you know, destruction of our society, but rather I want you to realize that it's time for now faith. It's time for us to stop holding on to a religion that's based on our parents' faith. It's time for now faith for us. It's time for us to forget those things that are behind us and reach forth onto those things that are before and pressed towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God. You know, jesus Christ. It's time for now faith, a faith that rooted and grounded in Jesus as Lord and Saviour. It's time for a faith that understands and believes in the infallible, or the infallibility of the Word of God. See, his Word can't fail. It's time, it's time out, okay For Cheech, you know if you're one of those people, or you know people that are, you know, just hanging in there or hanging on their parents' coattails.
Speaker 1:We can't continue to get on with what we need and what we need to be doing. So this is what you need to say, lord we have to have a right now faith, and that's what we need to do. You just need to agree with me that faith is now and faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen Now. Remember last week I said now faith is the substance of things hoped for, evidence of things not seen. So hope builds faith. Faith builds belief and belief builds us to knowing somebody has to start somewhere in their journey. You've got to have hope, no matter what you're going through now, what the circumstances are in your life. You need to know that God has not forgotten you. If we fail to have a now faith, you can rest assured that the devil will bring some more troubles your way. If we fail to have a now faith, you can believe that there's a new storm that's coming your way. That's coming your way. But glory to be God. That faith is now and it can't be ever too late for you to believe in something again.
Speaker 1:Now faith moves us beyond old ways of our thinking. Now faith allows us to believe God is able to do what he chooses to do when he chooses to do it how he chooses. And that's the same as faith now that says forget what happened yesterday. And it's the same now. Faith that says don't worry about tomorrow. I'm talking about now faith you need to say to yourself amen, hallelujah, thanks be to God, I have now faith working in my life. When the devil reminds you of your past, you tell him faith is now. When someone tries to disqualify or discredit the Bible truths, tell them faith is now. When you can't figure out how to pay your bills, stop and say faith now. When the enemy comes like a flood, faith is now. See, god will rise up with you and stand against anything that's coming your way, when trouble seems more than you can bear. Now faith says count it all. Joy when you fall into divers' temptation. Just remember James 1, 2.
Speaker 1:I know I'm sort of like harping on this quite a lot, but the reality of the fact is that if you believe that you receive when you pray, you know that faith is here, right and now. So you have the opportunity right now, irrespective of your circumstances, to actually get there and start praying and believing for your circumstances to turn around. When everyone and everything tends to come up against you, you can say with faith now, no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper. Isaiah 54, 17. You tell the devil to take a hike. It says the devil is under your feet. Tell your troubles, you may have come for a season. It says the devil is under your feet. Tell your troubles, you may have come for a season, but now I have faith in the word of God. You have now faith in the word of God. You can turn your life around, irrespective of what and the thing is I don't know what many of you are going through out there I know some people that I know that are going through difficult, challenging times. But if you believe in the word of God and you believe that you can have what you have when you ask for it in Jesus' name, that's faith.
Speaker 1:Now. It's not a yesterday or it's not tomorrow. You didn't miss your opportunity. It wasn't that. Oh, if I'd have only prayed about this yesterday, maybe I wouldn't be in this situation now. No, you will go through trials and tribulations, but the important thing is you will go through. It doesn't say you've got trials and tribulations happening in your life. No, it says you're going to go through them. See, if you go through something, that means you come out the other side. There's no other way of doing it. See, I've actually spoken to a lot of people and people get there and they say well, this is the hand that I've been dealt, you know? Um, so I've just got to. You know, take my punches. Look what happened to Job. Job could have given up at any time and thrown in the towel, you know, but he didn't. And look what the end result was. I'm not saying you're going to have a Job experience, but you could have a Damascus Road experience. Tell your storms. You have blown some fierce winds my way and caused destruction, but God, my faith is now. God, my faith is now. Tell the mountain that it has delayed your progress, but you've got faith now.
Speaker 1:There's a kid's song that got stuck in my head years ago. I don't want to sing it again, otherwise it'll get stuck in there again, but it's about going on a bear hunt and you're going to catch a big one, you know. And it says you can't go over it, you can't go under it, so you've got to go through it. See, storms will come your way, but you go through them your way, but you go through them. And if nothing else, you know all you, men and women of God.
Speaker 1:I'm here to tell you that you believe the report of the Lord. The devil may have told you what happened the last time somebody tried something with you and what it is all about. It doesn't matter. They've tried to intimidate you, they've tried to threaten you and you would have gone through some difficult, challenging times. You need to stand in agreement with me that you are believing that you can put your foot on the neck of the devil and crush him under your foot. On the neck of the devil and crush him under your foot, look down at him and say faith is now, even though you don't see it. Glory be to God. You need to believe it, and believing is seeing. This is all you've got to do is say, lord, we thank you for giving us all measure of faith. Lord, god, you told us that if we would have faith the size of a mustard seed, just a little bit of faith, we could speak to our situation, we could speak to our troubles and we could speak to the devil and tell them to take a hike. Be thou removed. We thank you, lord. We increase our faith and restore us to a level of now faith, to a level of now faith. So, jesus, we will be able to say boldly I have kept the faith, we believe it in Jesus' name.
Speaker 1:Now, this is what I wanted to really focus on. Right, I've said it before I don't know your circumstance, I don't know what you're going through. I've said it before I don't know your circumstance, I don't know what you're going through, but the Lord wants you to be prosperous, he wants you to be happy, he wants you to be healthy and he wants you to be whole. These are all promises that are in the word of God, jeremiah 29.11,. He knows there's a plan for you, and that means, financially, you're going to be better off. Emotionally, you're going to be better off. Physically, you're going to be better off because you are going to praise and worship the Lord Almighty.
Speaker 1:Luke 4, 18 and 19 says this the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, or I should say, the Spirit of the Lord is upon you, because you who are listening to this message have been anointed and appointed for a time such as this. Anointed and appointed for a time such as this. You know you're meant to be able to heal the brokenhearted, set those that are in captivity free but, most importantly, declare the acceptable year of the Lord. We need to be rejoicing in the Lord. Joy, joy, unspeakable joy, full of glory.
Speaker 1:Okay, when, when Paul was in chains in in the dungeon, what would he? He was praised in worshiping God. You know why? Because he knew that that wasn't the end. It wasn't going to be his end, because he still had things to do. We all still have things to do, whether they are personal, family related, or whether they're physical, emotional, whether they're spiritual, whether they're relationship, whether it's finances. We have all still got work to do, okay, and we need to know that we're in end times. Now.
Speaker 1:Jesus is coming soon. We want to be caught up, like everybody else, when the rapture happens, but that's for another story. But the thing is, he wants you to be happy here and now. He doesn't want you to be suffering or believing that you need to suffer because of others that have suffered. Okay, the joy of the Lord is your strength. A merry heart does good like a medicine.
Speaker 1:God is telling you over and over, through the word of God, that he wants you to be praising and worshipping him. He wants you to be happy. He wants you to have joy in your life. He wants you to have a relationship in your life. He wants you to be able to tell people the good things that he has done in your life, because it's all about the good news of our Heavenly Father.
Speaker 1:I hope this is helping you and I'll continue to pray for all of my listeners and believe for good things. And you know, at the bottom of my messages there's a little button where you can sow into the ministry or you can even send me a message. Tell me something that's happened in your life. Tell me good reports. I want to hear good reports. You know we don't listen to the devil, we only believe the word of God. Okay, and there's lots of songs out there about you know who do you believe? You know we believe the report of the Lord, all right. Believe. You know we believe the report of the Lord, all right. So believe that faith is now and now. I need to go and I'll talk to you next week, god bless, talk to you soon.
