In our social media and AI - dominated world and lives, concepts like 'faith' often sound outdated, unreal and too far removed from our present realities. We have the "all-knowing" Google that we spontaneously turn to obtain answers to our every question. Indeed, social media seems to have an answer to every need. Users tend also to put their full trust in the answers they derive from the media.
Inevitably, we experience formidable mountains in the form of challenges that Google cannot solve. Oftentimes under such circumstances, a person may then turn to God as a last resort, when everything else appears to have failed. In actual fact, God should be our first port of call which is why the Bible advises that we pray without ceasing.
When we turn to Hebrews 11, the foremost chapter of scripture that deals with faith, we come face-to-face with the lives of Biblical heroes that demonstrate to us what it means to live by faith. Interestingly, when we refer to these as heroes, it does not mean they were supernatural and infallible beings. Amongst those that walked this Hall of Faith were Rahab (a prostitute); Gideon, the warrior who at the start was petrified with fear and hid from Israel's enemies; Samson who who fell under the spell of a seductress, and Sarah who at the onset laughed in skepticism at the thought of carrying a child in old age. Essentially, what stood the heroes of faith apart was the decision each made to believe God regardless of who they were and their life situations.
In defining faith, The Passion Translation says : "Now faith brings our hopes into reality and becomes the foundation needed to acquire the things we long for. It is all the evidence required to prove what is still unseen." (Hebrews 11:1). Verse 2 notes that it is for the reason of their testimonies of faith that these men and women received commendation from God.
But where and how do we start to embrace and to build faith. Is it attainable today in as huge a measure as we found in the men and women of old? The Bible assures us that "... faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ" (Romans 10:17 NLT). The Living Bible adds: "Yet faith comes from listening to this Good News—the Good News about Christ." So you read, study, listen to hear with your inner ear. The more you hear, the more faith grows.
Why is faith so important? The Bible says "without faith living within us it would be impossible" for you or I to please God. That seems pretty stiff. Why does God value our faith in Him so highly? It is a demonstration of our trust and belief in God and His word. Our faith in God is an acknowledgement that we are persuaded that God is real and alive and he loves us. He presides over the affairs of this life (Daniel 4:7). Thus, he rewards us when we act in faith who believe in him. In fact God values our faith in him so much that he equates that believing faith with righteousness. "And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted him as righteous because of his faith." (Genesis 15:6 NLT).
Faith opens our heart to receive revelations from God. Noah received the revelation about the impending flood and this strengthened him to act even when his actions appeared foolish - building a boat on dry land. Faith empowered Abraham to obey God's instruction to relocate to a new land he knew nothing about. However, as he later found out - this was his destiny. As we find later in his life, he also had to exercise bold faith to enter into his calling as 'father of many nations,' being already a century old when the child of promise was born. Indeed, the revelation that started with a relocation continued to unfold beyond his death and included his descendants Isaac and Jacob, and indeed all those who believe by faith thereafter. But he had to take the bold step of faith first.
Faith "inspired" Joseph to peer into the future and to give instructions to his family before his death. Most interestingly, in Abraham’s case, backed by his bold faith, it was logical for him to believe without an iota of doubt that God would raise Isaac from the dead, if that was the strategy God chose to employ. Indeed through their faith, some of these heroes endured excruciating pain and atrocities that led to the death of some. Faith does not only enable you to access the sweet things of life but empowers you to endure tribulation that others cannot even imagine, and still stand having emerged victorious.
According the to the Bible, "their faith fastened onto their promises and pulled them into reality... although weak, their faith imparted power to make them strong!" (Hebrews 11:33 & 34). Thus faith has the capacity and the power to pull things out of the invisible realm into our earthly realm. It is no wonder that these heroes, even in death, held onto what they believed by faith.
It goes without a doubt, therefore, that for these heroes the visible world did not hold sway over their lives, in the sense that this was not what they lived for. (“Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” - Luke 12;15 NLT). Though they enjoyed the riches that this world could offer because they sought the kingdom of God first and God's righteousness, they habitually looked beyond this realm into the spiritual realm. Faith served as a versatile gateway between the earth and the heavenly realm. This earthly body of flesh could not restrain or impede them. They transcended the earth, seeking earnestly that heavenly kingdom where God is the builder and architect.
Hebrews 11 concludes on a most optimistic note “But now God has invited us [you and I] to live in something better than what they had—faith’s fullness! (Hebrews 11:40 TPT). Hebrews 2:2 neatly concludes the argument: “We look away from the natural realm and we focus our attention and expectation onto Jesus who birthed faith within us and who leads us forward into faith’s perfection." (TPT).
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