With this very first day of a brand new year, one cannot help but think of fresh starts and new beginnings. Dreaming of what can be and the exhilarating hope it elicits is foundational to the faith that transforms dreams into reality. As the writer of Hebrews so masterfully expresses, "faith is the substance of things hoped for."

The Greek word for "substance" is hupostasis, from hupo, under, and stasis, a standing. Vine defines it as "that which stands, or is set, under, a foundation, a beginning; hence, the quality of confidence which leads one to stand under, endure, or undertake anything."

This definition implies that the process we understand as faith is messy, down and dirty, digging deep into the soil of the physical and material to be a foundation of the hope that has captivated the imagination. Any dream that is worthwhile requires the faith of God to endure the resistance of a disintegrating creation to the launching of the new thing. And that which God initiates in the imaginations of men is so far beyond human capability that it's impossible without God's kind of faith. It's the kind of faith that liberates slaves from bondage to become the nation of Israel, that incarnates the omnipotent creator God into humanity, subjecting himself to that fallen humanity, overcoming its death with resurrection life. So with God, nothing is impossible!

So often, great expectations are ground into dust by the continual obstruction of the physical realm. But the people that know their God shall be strong and do exploits. It's a corporate thing where people are knit together as they engage in the mission of God to bring heaven to earth as Jesus incarnates himself and his kingdom through them.