Whenever you say, "I know God is going to do something," you are not in faith. You are not operating in faith, and that is why things are not working. Most people do not realize it, but when they say God is going to do something, they are saying He has not done it.

He said He did it; you said He did not. God cannot get in agreement with you, because you are not in agreement with Him.

First Peter 2:24 says, "by whose stripes ye were healed." It does not say you will be healed. It says you were healed. If you were healed, then you are healed right now; it is already done.

You cannot receive the healing for yourself on your own faith until you realize that you have to receive it in the now. You cannot say that you know the Lord is going to heal you. You can die making that confession, because that is future tense, and faith is present tense.

Going on with Hebrews 11:1, it says, "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for." That means that hope does not have any substance for what I am hoping and praying.

Hope will not do you any good until you join faith with it. Hope sets the goal. If all you have is hope, then all it will allow you to do is smile while the ship is sinking. But if you put faith with the hope, you will keep the ship afloat. That is a big difference!
Faith is the substance, but what is substance? Substance is something that you can contact with your physical sense. It is something that can be seen, smelled, heard, tasted or touched. It is tangible. Hope does not have any substance.

If you are hoping God is going to heal you, you had better get a good doctor, because Satan is trying to give you a one-way ticket to the graveyard.

Sure, you are sincere, but so was the gangster who broke into your house and ripped off your television set. He was sincere, too, but he was sincerely wrong.

So faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is the evidence, but what is evidence? Evidence is proof, and proof substantiates or validates the existence of something you do not presently have.

If you already had it, you would not need any proof of it, because you have it. Proof takes the place of what it is the proof of until the things arrives, therefore, proof is temporary.

Faith for each situation of life is temporary until that situation manifests itself. When the situation manifests, then you do not need any more faith for it, because you have it in manifestation.

If faith is the evidence or proof, then faith itself must be something. If it were not something, it could not be the proof.

Source: Living in the Realm of the Spirit by Frederick K.C. Price
Excerpt permission granted by Faith One Publishing