What Does it Mean to Walk by Faith?

by Dena Johnson Martin 

"For we walk by faith, not by sight ."(2 Corinthians 5:7).

Those words seem simple enough.

However, I am learning that fleshing out those words, that simple concept, can be a much tougher assignment. It requires tremendous courage and strength. You must be willing to be misunderstood and even abandoned. You must be willing to give up any semblance of control of your life that you thought you might have. You must be willing to look like a complete fool.

But it is a journey of tremendous blessing and reward. It is a journey that is exciting, life-altering, and mind-boggling. It is a journey that will allow you to see and experience God as he was meant to be: in all his fullness and grace. 

What Does it Look Like to Walk By Faith and Not By Sight?

Walking by faith and not by sight requires you to go to a place you do not know, one that God will reveal as you walk in obedience. Just look to Abraham as an example (Genesis 12:1).

Walking by faith means that you continue to cling to the dreams God has planted in your heart, even when you’ve been thrown away, taken to prison for crimes you didn’t commit. Just look at all Joseph endured (Genesis 37-50).

Walking by faith requires a strong determination to follow God’s plan regardless what life throws your way. Look to Daniel to discover how to have the resolve not to sin (Daniel 1:8).

Walking by faith means you have the courage to stand up for the hurting, broken, and down-trodden, to face death yourself for the good of others. Look at Esther and how she risked the death penalty to save the Jews (Esther).

You just may have to play the part of a fool. Think about Noah building an ark for a flood when it had never even rained on earth. Think about Abraham clinging to the promise that he would be the father of many nations even though he was childless at the age of 100. Think about Moses standing before the Israelites in the wilderness telling them they would eat meat until it disgusted them but having no idea where that meat would come from. Think about Joshua marching around the walls of Jericho as God had told him to and wondering what good it was going to do.

If you choose this path, you must be willing to get out of your comfort zone, to run from the Americanized brand of Christianity that so many of us have known our entire lives. You must be willing to let God take your world and turn it upside down, shake it up, and start all over again. You must be willing to let God out of the neat little box that you have put him in, to let him show up as he sees fit.

Maybe it will be a calling to do something you never dreamed before: foster or adopt children, leave your job and become a missionary, trade in the worldly comforts for heavenly treasures.

Maybe it won’t be that clean and neat and socially acceptable. Maybe, like me, your world will be turned upside down by the pain of adultery and divorce. Or maybe you will be faced with infertility or addiction. Maybe you will have a prodigal child that completely changes the direction of your life. Or, maybe you’ve experienced the loss of a child—a hurt like no other.

I don’t know what your shake up might look like, but I know that if you will give it to God—throw up your arms in surrender and ask him to use it to change your life—he will honor your request. He will take you on a journey, teach you to walk by faith, entrust you with some of life’s most treasured moments.

He will build a faith in you—faith that moves mountains and moves God’s hands. He will teach you to live this life with abandonment, giving you a freedom to walk in all his fullness and grace. He will prepare you to be used mightily in this life for his glory.

Perhaps you’ve already experienced your life being turned upside down, toppled without any control. Perhaps, like me, you’ve found yourself wandering in the wilderness, watching his fire direct your every step by night, a cloud lead you by day. Perhaps you sense you are on the edge of the Promised Land, just waiting for him to give the command to take possession.

And yet, you are tired and weary. You’ve lost friends who don’t understand how you can continue to cling to a promise that is so obviously dead and gone. You are so close and yet feel so far away. You are struggling with temptations to just settle, even though you know it is less than God’s best. You simply don’t know how much longer you can stand.

You are not alone. I see God raising up a remnant of believers, those he knows will be obedient. He is looking for those with clean hands and a pure heart, those who will choose obedience even if it costs them everything this world has to offer. He is looking for those who will throw caution to the wind, believe that he has an abundant life (John 10:10) waiting if we will follow his ways. He is looking for those whose hearts have been purified, whose faith has been strengthened by the trials of this life (James 1:2). He is looking for those who will cling to his promises even when it seems there is no hope.

Be strong and courageous, my friends!

God has specifically chosen you to be a part of this remnant, those who will allow him to take their lives and mold them into what he wants. He has chosen you to have your faith tested and tried, and he promises that the fire will only purify you—not burn you. He has promised that he will be with you every single step, walking with you, carrying you, supporting you. He promises that he is still in control even when life seems to be spiraling wildly out of control.

He is teaching you to trust him so he can do something bigger and better than you ever dreamed possible (Ephesians 3:20-21). He is teaching you to let go and trust him with your heart, your soul, your life (Proverbs 3:5-6). He is teaching you to walk every single day in the spirit so that he can do even greater works in you and through you (John 14:12). He is preparing you to be a beacon of light and hope to a world which desperately needs to see Jesus.

I don’t know where you are on this journey of walking by faith, but I encourage you—beg you, plead with you—to wave the white flag of surrender. Let God take your life, your pain, your loss and use it for his glory. Ask him to do an amazing work in you so he can do an amazing work through you.

Get out of that boat and step onto the water…and never take your eyes off him. It is a decision you will never regret!

Dena Johnson is a busy single mom of three kids who loves God passionately. She delights in taking the everyday events of life, finding God in them, and impressing them on her children as they sit at home or walk along the way (Deuteronomy 6:7). Her greatest desire is to be a channel of God’s comfort and encouragement. You can read more of Dena’s experiences with her Great I AM on her blog Dena's Devos.

Intellect vs. Emotion

Growing up the child of a controlling mother, certain emotions were something frowned upon and discouraged.  If she could have gotten into her children's heads she would have scrubbed them clean of any disparaging thoughts or rebellious interludes.  In fact, opinions that differed from hers were not even tolerated.  Perhaps emotions such as peace, happiness and joy were allowed, but the funny thing is, when a person is robbed of the full gamut of emotions, even those elevated as superior will begin to fade and diminish - either stuffed down inside or replaced with depression and/or despair.  Every emotion we can name is supposed to be present in our human beings.  Of course because of the fall that was ruined, but certainly we should not continue down that road by disavowing the existence and usefulness of certain emotions either.

From The Gift of Anger by Carroll Saussy:

When beliefs about emotions are embedded in dualistic thinking, the emphasis shifts to separations rather than intimate connection between one value and another. 

Instead of emphasizing that thought and emotion can be the best of intimate partners, dualistic thinking implies that they are separate and competing.  The insinuation is that being rational and objective requires following rules and standards; being emotional and subjective means running wild.  However, the unavoidable truth is that thought and feeling are so mutually wedded that there is no thought without feeling tones, no feeling that is mindless.

Dualistic thinking shapes religious teaching about the emotions, and with it, parental injunctions about their expression.  Most people have been taught that emotions are to be under the control of the mind - if not the mind, then the will - but in either case one should be able to control those unruly troublemakers, especially anger, fear, sadness, hatred, and depression.

Nico Frijda in The Law of Situational Meaning says: "Emotions arise in response to the meaning structures of given situations; different emotions arise in response to different meaning structures."

Thought and feeling are not to be separated.  Because a person holds certain thoughts or assessments regarding a particular person or value (and those thoughts are laden with feeling), she or he experiences certain emotions when that person or value is present, other emotions when the person is absent, and still different emotions when the value is secure from when it is endangered. 

Frijda uses the analogy of the pianist, saying that experience "appraised in terms of their meanings are the emotional piano player's finger strokes; available modes of action readiness are the keys that are tapped; changes in action readiness are the tones brought forth."


This struck a chord in me (no pun intended) as I thought back to my childhood.  I started piano at the age of six and very quickly became a pretty good pianist, receiving a perfect score at my first National Piano Playing Auditions in Washington D.C.  I loved playing piano for probably several different reasons but the one that comes to mind after reading the above is that I could use ALL my emotions while playing.  It was probably the only time I was allowed, no encouraged, to let go and experience my feelings in their fullness.  And I did.  Sadness, joy, anger, sorrow all came flowing out of my little fingers.  It was euphoric and liberating.  It brought me in touch with my emotions and allowed me to validate them in a way my controlling parent prohibited.  Wouldn't it be equally liberating to have this experience in our daily lives?

Frequently we hear "Don't get emotional" being tossed at women as a way of putting down their powerful reactions, almost always with the implication that clear thinking is trustworthy (and masculine); strong feeling, suspicious (and feminine or perhaps the characteristic of an unmanly man, out of control").  James and Evelyn Whitehead, Shadows of the Heart: A Spirituality of the Negative Emotions

Trust and cherish the whole gamut of emotions, no matter how troublesome they can be at times. I developed a passionate dedication to helping others believe in their emotions as messages from their "true selves."

Can it be that when feelings/emotions are combined WITH logic/intellect followed by deep immersion in Godly prayer there will be the potential for the most powerful witness we can be blessed to behold?  That we are created to combine emotion and intellect, not separate them, and when we align our will with that of the Lord's, we will be able to achieve all things in His name.

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

Philippians 4:13