Capital City Church International Capital City Church International

According to the writer of Hebrews faith is defined as the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Sunday was a momentous day in the life of 3ci, God spelling out vision before us as a local community that will require lots of faith. We looked with excitement at 3D pictures and plans of buildings and play park that we envisage on our church property, but outside on the ground there was nothing.

This reminded me of something we experienced earlier this year when Jacomien and I went to Switzerland for a couple of days. We stayed in Lucerne, the most picturesque city with surrounding mountains and glacier lakes. We decided to take a trip to one of the nearby Alpine summits, Mt. Pilatus. According to the brochures this piece of granite stood over 2,400 meters tall with 360 degree views on top.

The weather in the city was very grey, gloomy, wet and overcast, nothing like the sunny pictures of the brochure. But the lady that sold us the tickets gave us the assurance that it will be very different once we reach the summit.  The cable car we used on the way up was very small and made out of aluminum and some sort of Perspex, only the two of us inside, slowly traveling up this mountain. I sat in the cable car trying to look all cool, calm and collected but deep inside my heart I was thinking all kinds of anxious thoughts. Movie clips of people falling out of a cable car were flashing in my mind’s eye. I tried to think happy thoughts but nothing came up.

At one stage of this trip we were going through a thick cloud layer, visibility was less than 10 meters on any side. It was a little daunting but I just kept on reminding myself of pictures in the brochure, the pictures of the top of Mt. Pilatus with the 360 degree view of the Alps. Suspended in mid -air, in a foreign country, in a cable that you have no control over, with zero visibility, slowly moving forward. What a way to spend a holiday. But no sooner did we break through the clouds into the most glorious, bright sunshine, our destination filling our view. Finally we reached the sunny summit and could appreciate the majestic view of the Alps covered in snow. What a memory!

This experience reminded me of faith. Most of the time the Word calls us to see the sunny, glorious promises of God with its 360 degree views, but our reality is dark, gloomy and rainy. But this is the breeding ground for faith because faith sees that which is not yet seen.  
While the world is slap bang in the middle of economic recession, our Heavenly Father is calling us to be those that do not walk by sight but by faith. Faith is a heavenly commodity that is far stronger than the Dollar, Euro or Yen. Faith draws on the credibility of God, not the financial acumen of the Reserve Bank. Faith buttresses every heart when we decide to rather see in the spiritual than the natural. Someone once said that God said it, that settles it.   

Faith does not mean to visualise or imagine. Imagination is not faith. Imagination projects unreal images out of the mind and seeks to attach reality to them. Faith creates nothing, it simply reckons upon that which is already there. God and the spiritual realm are more real than we are. Spiritual things are there, or should I say rather here and inviting our attention and challenging our trust. AW TOZER

My heart is stirred for what lies before us. God set before us an opportunity to build something that will glorify His mighty name and build our faith. This property will be developed through the faithfulness of our Heavenly Father and the simple belief of a community of friends. I dare you to join in the action.