By Faith

We hear a lot about faith from people nowadays it would seem.  They say things like I cling to my faith.  I heard of a former President of the United States who asked someone how their faith was.  What concerns me is that when people mention their faith I rarely hear them say faith in what.  I am going out on a limb and say that everyone uses faith whether they believe in the true living God or not.  I am not saying everyone has saving faith, not at all.  A person is saved and forgiven of their sins by putting their faith in what Jesus Christ did for them on the Cross.  He died for our sins by shedding His blood as an atonement for our sins.  We are saved by His grace when we put our faith in Jesus and what He did.

What I was saying is that everyday people use faith.  When we drive our cars down the road we have faith that the person coming toward us in the opposite lane is going to stay in their lane.  Most of the time they do, but sometimes they don't and we call that an accident. 

True faith needs to be anchored to something that is immovable and the only One who is truly worthy of putting our faith in is the Lord God Almighty.  He is the true living God and there is no other besides Him.  He is the Creator of all things seen and unseen.  He is Mighty and all Powerful.  the Lord is the Just Judge and all will give account to Him.  He is our Rock and our Foundation.

We read in Hebrews 11:1, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see."

This isn't a definition of faith, but it shows us what faith is.  When we put our faith in the Lord we are saying that we trust Him and our hope is firmly established upon the truth of who He is.  We must believe that the Lord exists before we can trust Him and we can trust Him by observing the lives of those in the past that have come to Him in faith and all the great things the Lord has done in their lives and ours as well.  We are not just talking about wishful thinking by any means.  We are talking about a true and living hope that we have in the Living God.  We come to Him in faith and we live for Him by faith.  We trust that He is able and willing to help us in our times of need because He cares for us so very greatly.  We can read of how He has helped others who put their faith in Him by reading our Bibles.  We can see in Hebrews 11 where the author recalls several people mentioned in the Old Testament and their journey of faith in the Lord and how He was always faithful and He is still faithful to all of us who put their faith in Him and in Him alone.

(Here is a link to Hebrews 11:  http://www.biblestudytools.com/hebrews/11.html )

Throughout Hebrews 11 we read how people form the Old Testament times put their faith in God and served Him even when they faced hardships and difficulties.  They kept their faith in the Lord and they pressed on in faith and trust in the Living God whom they knew would never fail them.  The Lord is worthy of our faith.  We can trust Him and we can know that He always keeps His promises.

We may not always know what the Lord is up to in our lives and in the lives of those all around us.  We may not always see the fruit of our labor in our lifetimes.  We may not get any rewards hear, but we may indeed have to bear some severe hardships in our life's journey here on earth.  We may not see our reward until we reach that far greater country whose maker is God Himself.   If we have put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ then when we die we will be taken to Heaven our eternal Home where we will dwell in the awesome presence of the Lord our God.  What an awesome and great Day that will be when our faith in the Lord will become sight at long last. 

It is easy to get discouraged when we see all the fighting and strife.  We see the darkness and perversion that seems to be growing day by day.  There is a lot of anger and distrust in government and in our political leaders.  There is a sense of hopelessness that seems to be spreading like wildfire.
It would even seem that some believers in Christ have forgotten to whom them belong.  Has our faith shrunk.  Our God is still God.  He hasn't shrunk.  God is not small.  The Lord has not weakened at all.
He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. 

Without faith it is impossible to please God.  We need to have our faith in God alone.  Let us continue in our walk with the Lord and lean upon Him in faith for who He is and what He have done for us. 

Lord God,
We thank You that we can come to You in faith and we thank You for sending Jesus to did for our sins and that when we put our faith in Him we are saved.
Thank You Lord for being an Awesome Loving God.
Sometimes our faith falters.  Please forgive us for that.
We ask for a fresh faith in You.
Lead us and guide us by Your Holy Spirit.
Bless us now O Lord.
In Jesus name,
Amen.