Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about
what we do not see. 11:1
Today we live in
faithless times. Even to speak of faith
in God is to invite ridicule or disdain. People are turning away from organized
religion in mass but at the same time religion has become so organized it has
become cold. It is playing all of the
notes without the music. While this could be reason for alarm, it is actually
an opportunity for people to hear the gospel.
In an effort to
win his family to the Lord, a man pointed to all the "changes" in his
life - his church attendance, tithing record, and involvement in Christian
activities. One of his family members replied, “You've not changed. You're just like you've always been - only now
you're religious.” In faithless times it is futile to blow the trumpet for
religion. People don’t need more
religion; they need a living faith!
When You Lose Faith, You Lose Hope
When you lose
faith in God, you turn to systems, governments and material resources. There is
a spiritual axiom implicit here: faith produces hope, and hope produces
perseverance. Without faith one will inevitably shrink back.
The Christian Life Is An Experience Of Faith
- It commences in faith when a person believes in Jesus Christ as
their personal Savior.
- It continues by faith as the Christian establishes a habit of
yielding his life to God’s plan and building his life on the principles of
God’s Word.
- It should conclude with a faith grown strong and unshakable through
testing in which God has proven Himself to be the Almighty God of the
Bible.
What is faith?
How do you define it? When do you know you have it? What is it supposed to do
for you? These are important questions
that many Christians find difficult to answer. Some people have the idea
expressed by the little boy in Sunday school who, when asked to tell what faith
is, said, "It’s believing real hard
in something you know isn’t true." Then there are those who would say
that faith is believing in something that can’t be proven true. Those are
definitions of foolishness, not faith.
Yes, faith does
require more of us because it does usually mean believing in something you
can’t actually put your hands on. We
have faith in God but we can’t actually see or touch Him. We have faith in people – but it is really in
some quality of people like their loyalty or their ability to do
something. Our children have faith in
us, that we will take care of them, wash their clothes, feed them, and come back
for them when we leave them somewhere.
They have no proof of these things until they are actually done. There
is proof of God all around us and some people still refuse to believe in Him. Then some people believe in some really
ridiculous things with no proof at all such as aliens, astrology, ghosts, the
Loch Ness Monster, psychics, Karma, just to name a few. I haven’t seen the Devil but I have seen the
havoc he can wreak in a person’s life. He is real and active, prowling around
looking for an unsuspecting person who has no faith in God. I haven’t seen God but I have seen the beauty
from ashes, strength, healing, and protection He provides. I prefer to put my faith in God, how about
you?
Scripture to Claim:
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him." Hebrews 11:6
And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him." Hebrews 11:6
