The Christian life begins with faith in God. Faith is trusting in the divine character of God, believing in His creation power, it is receiving His gift of salvation by faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9), it is confidence in God’s promises though it is invisible now. In today’s key verse, the author of Hebrews impresses upon our hearts that “without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Regardless of how good your walk, how diligent your service or how fervent your prayers, if you have no faith, you cannot please God. God wants to have an intimate relationship with you and that is determined by your faith and trust in Him. Those who come to God must believe in Him wholeheartedly and have the deep conviction that He rewards those who seek Him.

 

Hebrews 10:38-39 concludes with, “Now the  just shall live by faith… those who believe to the saving of the soul” explaining the new covenant in Christ Jesus. Hebrews 11 defines and illustrates faith that enables us to appropriate this new covenant in our lives. Hebrews 11 is considered the ‘Hall of Faith’, enlisting remarkable men and women of God whose faith life is an example for us to follow. 

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Worship in faith: By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, because his heart was in the sacrifice he offered to God. When you come before the Lord in worship, is your heart trusting completely in the one who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light? Are you able to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship? That is the faith God desires to see in your worship.

Walking in faith: Enoch illustrates how to live our earthly life - by walking with God every day. To walk with God, you need to agree with God and be submissive to Him in every aspect of life. Our Father desires, “that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way…” (Colossians 1:10). As our life is transformed to Christlikeness, like Enoch we will be able to walk with God in faith. 

Obeying in faith: It took tremendous faith for Noah to obey God and build a 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, 30 cubits high ark on dry land when there no sign of rain and everyone around him was ridiculing him. When the Lord gives you a specific direction, you are required to be obedient to his command and step out in faith, irrespective of the circumstances surrounding you. All He requires is your obedience; He will go before you to prepare the way.  

Faith sees beyond the earthly to the eternal: Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of promise, looking to the celestial city of God by faith. As we exercise faith, our spiritual eyes are opened to envision things of the heavenly realm and live by faith looking to the eternal glory. “We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2Corinthians 4:18) 


Receive His promises in faith: For Abraham and Sarah, in their old age – when their bodies were as good as dead, it was only by faith in the One who promised, that they were able to receive Issac - the son of promise. No matter how impossible or improbable the situation may seem to the human mind, when we believe that He who has promised will bring it to pass, we are able to receive God’s promises in our lives. 

It is by faith that we have received the gift of salvation and are made new creations in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore exercise faith in our daily Christian walk and grow in our relationship with God. 

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Think on:

For we walk by faith, not by sight.

2 Corinthians 5:7