The faith of those before us

“Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
“These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.” Hebrews 11:39-40

This verse struck me because of what was being said. It is awesome that we get to take part in God’s plan this side of the cross. Here the faith of these mentioned in Hebrews 11 had not yet received what was promised but they lived as if it was. They knew what James says to us, “faith with out action is dead.” They lived out their faith in God. They lived out what was promised and did what God commanded them to do. They lived in the freedom of faith and the action carried it. The benefit for us, is that we get to see their example and through God’s plan we are saved.

The people mentioned in this chapter inspires me to take bold leaps of faith for God. I often trade bold faith for comfort faith. What I mean by comfort faith is that I believe in God, but I rarely go out and exercise my faith in Him. I like to play it safe sometimes, I like to pull back and let others take the lead. Often I also am not sure what God wants. Therefore I just play it safe. What it says is “faith is being sure of what we hope for”, being absolutely sure of what is to come regardless of what is in front of you right now. So what is the next step? I need to pray. I need to pray for what the Lord wants me to do. The great thing about the faith of those mention in this chapter is that they all had constant communication with God. It all begins with that. It all begins with sticking close to God. What does the Lord want me to do. What is the future? Besides take one step at a time. I starts with prayer, then the next step is obedience, then I have to have the faith to complete it.

Lord thank you for the lesson from the fathers of our faith. Help me Lord to carry it out in my life.

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