Faith

November 3

Ezekiel 9-11

Psalm 119:89-96

Proverbs 26:17

Hebrews 11:1-16

Faith

“And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who draws near to God must believe that He is and that He is the rewarder of those who seek Him.”  Hebrews 11:6  LSB 

Hebrews 11 is often referred to as the Faith Hall of Fame.  It recounts the lives of numerous men and women throughout the Bible who had faith in God.  Their faith was much more than just an intellectual understanding of who God is.  It resulted in action on their part. Faith is a deep confidence and assurance that God is who He says He is that results in entrusting every part of our lives to Him.  If we truly believe that God is the one true God, the Creator of everything that is, the sovereign King of the universe and the Savior of the world, we will have no problem submitting to Him and doing whatever He says.  There are many people in the world who say they believe in God.  If you ask them if there is a God, they will say yes, but many of them don’t have faith. Belief that there is a God is not the same thing as placing your life in His hands.  I can say that I believe the chair I am looking at across the room will hold me up, but until I sit in it, I am not placing my faith in it.  I can say that I believe an airplane will take me from Bowling Green to Destin, but until I get on that plane and ride in it, I am not putting my faith in it.  Believing God is real is not the same thing as having faith in Him.  “You believe that there is one God.  Good!  Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”  James 2:19 NIV  

It is impossible to please God if we don’t have faith because we don’t belong to Him.  We cannot have an intimate relationship with Him if we don’t trust Him.  In order to experience fellowship with Him we have to believe who He is and trust in His character.  “He is the rewarder of those who seek Him,” means that we believe that He is good, loving, gracious, merciful, forgiving, just, righteous, and holy.  Because we believe those things about Him, we know that He will interact with us in that way if we seek Him.  If we place our trust in God, it will be evident in our actions.  In John 6, many of Jesus’ followers went away and were not walking with Him anymore because they were not willing to do what He said.  Jesus asked His disciples if they wanted to leave Him also.  Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have words of eternal life.  And we have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”  John 6:68-69 LSB  Once you know the truth of who God is there is no turning back.  The disciples knew that  Jesus was their only hope and they placed all of their faith and confidence in Him.  Are you convinced?