This is a wonderful text. Hope is not a mere expectation, as in an assumption (without proof). No, not as things seem to be, but as they are... Faith is made confident through "evident demonstration", or convincing evidence. What produces solid evidence? It is our relationship with our heavenly father, as we continue to grow spiritually, we become familiar, acquainted with his dealings with us, we continue to see and experience Him in our lives daily, we know it is Him. We develop eyes of faith to perceive the things above, Jehovah himself, his Son, and the Kingdom and our role in his arrangement. I love illustrations the scriptures give regarding seeing spiritually... The only way Elisha could receive a double portion of Elijah's spirit, was if he saw and witnessed Elijah being caught up in the wind. Him seeing, yes faith was absolutely required. (2 Ki 2:9,10) if he didn't see, it would indicate a lack of faith in not believing the things he was told and appreciating the miracles he had witnessed. What Elisha learned from this is that faith is essential. This was evident by him showing his attendant the heavenly armies protecting them from the Syrians, this showed that he was resilient in faith in Jehovah God. (2 Ki 6:15-17) And even though the attendant was a servant of Jehovah, there was an element of faith missing. Could we have an element missing from our faith? That is why we keep on building it! May we keep developing our faith, Imitating their faith.