The Jew in the desert knew what God had promised.  Through Moses they heard from God.  Yet they chose to believe the report of what the ten scouts saw in Canaan and for that they perished in the desert.  So walking by faith means that we learn to believe and obey God rather than what we see.  But you say, I don't hear from God.  Never did.  How, then, can I walk by faith?

  
    For the born again Christian, the initial experience of hearing from God was through anointed preaching.  We were saved from sin and death when we heard the word of God and repented.  The power of God is revealed through the preaching of the cross.  Unless a person hears the word from an anointed Christian they may never hear from God and consequently, never walk by faith.  If there is no power in the sermon, going to church will never bring about faith.  So as the Jew in the desert had Moses, we have anointed ministers who preach and teach and we learn to hear.  And if we learn to hear, we can chose to obey regardless of what we see and thus, we can walk by faith and not by sight.

    The next step in our faith is receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit because when we receive the Spirit, we can learn to hear from God for ourselves as we spend time in the word of God and we can learn to  discern the leading of the Spirit and obey the inner witness of the Spirit and thus walk by faith and not by sight.  Then our words too become the power of God and we can bring others to Christ through repentance as we share the good news of God.

    If we are committed to hear from God and walk by faith and not by sight, we must overcome persecution and trials and tribulation.  People who continue to walk by faith must overcome adversity for God is looking for people who live by faith.  So like the second generation that entered the Promised Land there are battles to be fought and enemies to be overcome.  Unless we are willing to go the distance and not fall back, as Hebrews suggests, we must be people of faith and not turn a deaf ear to God.

    Finally, our adversary, the devil, will try to distract us from hearing from God and walking by faith if we become overly concerned with the cares of the world or if we are enticed by the riches of the world and the lust of other things.  Unless we spend time in solitude and silence, unless we forgo many of the worldly things that distract us from our call to walk by faith, we will begin to become dull of hearing and if we do not hear, we can not obey, and thus we can not walk by faith and not by sight.

    Hearing from God and obeying what we hear is essential to walking by faith.  Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are the gifts of Christ for the building of the kingdom.  When we grow in our Christian walk, however, God expects us to be able to discern his voice for ourselves and become mature Christians by obeying Him rather than what we see.  Become a man or woman of God. 
 

amen