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Faith makes things hoped for as
real as if we already had them-it provides unshakable evidence that the unseen
spiritual blessing of Christianity are absolutely real.
Faith is confidence in the
worthiness of God. It is the conviction that what God says is true and that what
He promises will come to pass.
Faith is not a leap in the
dark. . It demands the surest evidence in the universe and finds it in the Word
of God. It is not limited to possibilities but invades the realm of the
impossible.
Faith provides us with the
only factual account of creation. God is the only One who was there; He tells us
how it happened. We believe His Word and thus we know.
By faith we understand. The
world say’s “Seeing is believing.” God says, “Believing is seeing.” “Did I not
say to you that if you would believe, you would see…” John 11:40
Adam and Eve are bypassed in the
honor roll of faith. When Eve had to decide whether God or Satan was telling the
truth, she decided that Satan was. However this does not deny that they were
subsequently saved by faith as pictured by the coat of skin God provided for
them. (See Genesis account)
Able had faith and he
exhibited faith by approaching God with the blood of a sacrifice. Able
illustrates the truth of salvation by grace through faith.
Able was killed by Cain
because law hates grace. Self-righteous man hates the truth that he cannot save
himself and that he must cast himself on the law and mercy of God. Abel’s
testimony is perpetuated: Through his faith he still speaks.
Sometimes during Enoch life
he must have received a promise from God that he would go to heaven without
dying. God promised and Enoch believed. It was the sanest rational thing that
Enoch could do; what is more reasonable than that the creature should believe in
his creator. Enoch walked with the invisible God for 300 years (Genesis
5:21-24) and the he walked into eternity. Before he was taken, he had this
testimony, that he pleased God. The life of faith always pleases God; He loves
to be tested.
Faith not only believes that
God exists, but it also trusts Him to reward those who diligently seek Him.
Noah’s faith was based on
God’s warning that he was going to destroy the world with a flood. (Genesis
6:17). There had never been a flood in human experience; in fact, there is some
reason to believe that there had never been a rainfall up to that time. Noah
believed God and built an ark. Noah’s faith was rewarded as his household was
saved, life and testimony condemned the world, and he became heir of the
righteousness, which is received by faith.
God approached Abraham when
Abram was living in UR of the Chaldees. God appeared to him and told him to
move. With the obedience of faith he left home and country, not knowing his
ultimate destination.
The walk of faith often
gives the impression to others of being careless and restless, but the man who
knows God, is content to be led blindfolded, not knowing the route ahead.
God promised the land of Canaan
to Abraham. By faith Abraham believed.
By faith Sarah as
miraculously empowered to conceive when she as ninety years old. The record
plainly states she was past the time of life when she could bear a child. But
she knew He could not go back on His word. She had shatterproof faith that He
would do what He had promised.
The patriarch all died in
faith. They did not live to see the fulfillment of the divine promises.
Abraham’s greatest test of
faith is when God told him to offer up his only son, Isaac, upon the altar. With
unhesitating obedience, Abraham set forth to offer to God the dearest treasure
of his heart. Abraham knew that God had promised to make Isaac a great nation
and that was all that mattered. He concluded that if God required him to slay
his son, God would raise him up even from the dead in order to fulfill the
promise.
Isaac achieved a place in
the Faith Hall of Fame because he invoked future blessing on Jacob and Esau.
Jacob, despite his past,
improved with age and he died in a burst of glory. When he blessed Ephraim and
Manasseh, the sons of Joseph, he crossed his hands so that the older son'’
blessing fell on Ephraim the younger. In spite of Joseph’s protest Jacob
insisted that the blessings must stand because this was the order which the Lord
specified.
Joseph’s faith was also
strong when he was dying. He believed God’s promise that He would deliver the
people of Israel out of Egypt. Faith enabled him to picture the exodus already.
He was so sure that he instructed his sons to carry his bones for burial in
Canaan.
Moses parents had faith for
as they looked on their baby they saw he was a beautiful child, but it was more
than physical beauty. They saw that he was a child of destiny who God had marked
out for a special work. Their faith that God’s purpose would be worked out gave
them courage to defy the King’s demand and to hide the child for 3 months.
By faith Moses, himself was
able to make several noble renunciations. He was reared in the palace of Egypt
and was assured of all things hat men strive for, he learned it not in
possession of things but the forsaking of them that brings rest.
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He refused Egypt fame.
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He repudiated the
pleasure of Egypt.
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He turned his back on
the treasures of Egypt.
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He renounced Egypt’s
monarch. Emboldened by faith he made his exit from the land and bondage,
careless of the wrath of the King. He feared Pharaoh so little because he
feared God so much.
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He rejected Egypt’s
religion. By instituting the Passover and by the sprinkling of the blood, he
emphatically separated himself from Egyptian idolatry forever. For him
salvation was through the blood of the lamb, not through the waters of the
Nile.
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The parting of the Red
Sea was in obedience to God’s Word.
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Joshua had faith that the wall of
Jericho would
come down and he was obedient to God’s word.
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Joshua had faith that the wall of
Jericho would come down and
he was obedient to God’s word.
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The harlot Rahab became a
worshiper of Jehovah. She abandoned the false religion of Canaan to become a
Jewish proselyte. Her faith received a rigorous test when the spies cam to her
home. Rahab stood on the Lord’s side, even when it meant betraying her country.
By giving friendly welcome to the spies, she and her family were spared.
There are many more that
lived by faith in the Old Testament.
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Gideon who’s reduced
army from 32,000 to 300.
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Barah who lead Israel to
battle against the Canaanites, he agreed only on the condition that Deborah
would go with him.
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Samson’s faith enabled
him to kill a young lion with only his bare hands, to destroy thirty
Philistines in Askelon and more.
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Jephthah an illegitimate
child rose up to deliver his people from the Ammonites. He illustrates the
truth whose faith enables a man to rise above his birth and environment and
made history for God
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The faith that David
shines out in his contest with Goliath. It shows in how he treated Saul. In
the Psalms, we find his faith crystallized in penitence, praise and
prophesy
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Samuel was one of
Israel’s greatest leaders in history and the last of her judges.
Faith endowed men with
strength beyond what was natural and enabled them to overcome in the face of
insurmountable odds.
Faith has another face. In
addition to those who performed dazzling feats, there were those who endured
intense suffering. God values the latter as much as the former.
Because of their faith in
the Lord, some were subjected to cruel torture. If they would have renounced
Jehovah, they would have been released; but to them it was better to die and be
raised again to heavenly glory than to continue this life a traitor to God.
The Spirits of Old Testament saints are
already in the presence of the Lord, but their bodies will not be raised from
among the dead until the Lord returns for His people. Then they will enjoy the
perfection of resurrection glory.
The Old Testament believers were not as
privileged as we are. Yet think of the thrilling triumph and tremendous trials!
They lived on the other side of the Cross. Yet how do our lives compare with
theirs?
We must lay aside…the sin, which
so easily ensnares us. This may mean sin in any form, but especially the sin of
unbelief. We must have complete trust in the promises of God and complete
confidence that the life of faith is sure to win.
Keep your eyes on Jesus. He
is the author, or pioneer of our faith in the sense that He had provided us with
an only perfect example of what the life of faith is like. He is also the
finisher of our faith. He not only began the race, but also finished it
triumphantly. For Him, the race course stretched from heaven to Bethlehem then on
to Gethsemane and Calvary; then out of the tomb and back into heaven.
He kept His eyes fixed on
the coming glory when all the redeemed would be gathered with Him eternally.
This enabled Him to think nothing of shame and to endure suffering and death.
Today He is seated at the right hand of the Throne of God. Hallelujah!
Written by Susie |
