Blessings come through obedience and faith. To be obedient and faithful to the Lord will take trust on our part. Most Christians know what faith is or what it is supposed to be, but how many display it in their lives? Faith is an action word, to have it you need to act on it and apply it in your lives.
If you think about Hebrews 11, the word faith seems to be the main ingredient, in many cases if not all, the people did something to demonstrate their faith. In Hebrews 11:2 it says of faith, “For by it men of old gained approval.” The Lord approved of them because they walked by faith. In verse 5 it says this about Enoch, “By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God.” How did he please God? He did it through his obedience and faith.
Did you know that without faith it is impossible to please God? This is what it says in verse 6, “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and He is a rewarder of those who seek him.” And in verse 17 it says this of Abraham, “By faith Abraham when he was tested, offered up Isaac; and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son.” When God told Abraham to offer up Isaac, he didn’t hesitate, he was obedient.
It also says this in verses 31-34, “By faith Rahab the harlot did not perish along with those who were disobedient, after she had welcomed the spies in peace. And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.” They didn’t just do these things because they had faith, no they acted because of their faith and not only that but they were obedient and the Lord blessed them by standing with them and giving them victory.
The reason I added pride to my title is this, you can be obedient and have faith and trust God but in time you may allow your faith to become weak through circumstances or situations and instead of trusting the Lord you may start putting your trust in other things. Then when the things you trust in don’t come through you may become angry and because of pride you may even take it out on the Lord.
There was a King in the Old Testament named Asa. He was a man of faith and obedience. King Asa trusted the Lord and was blessed because of it. He fought various battles and the Lord gave him victory over his enemies. He led the people that were subject to him to seek the God of their fathers with all their heart. This is what the Word says in 2 Chronicles 15:12-15, “They entered into the covenant to seek the LORD God of their fathers with all their heart and soul; and whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, man or woman. Moreover, they made an oath to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, with trumpets and with horns. All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath, for they had sworn with their whole heart and had sought Him earnestly, and He let them find Him. So the LORD gave them rest on every side.” I wish we had a President that had this same mind set Asa had at this time.
But as time went on, Asa’s faith must have become weakened because the next battle Asa had to fight he depended on King Ben-hadad, King of Aram, instead of trusting God to deliver him as he had before and this was his downfall. It says this in 2 Chronicles 16:7-10, “At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, ‘Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the LORD your God, therefore the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand. Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.’ Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him for this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time.” After this Asa became diseased in his feet but he refused to seek the Lord and he died in the forty first year of his reign.
His pride was his downfall. I wonder how many others have fallen into this same sin? Think about it and don’t be one of them. Be careful we all can let our pride get out of hand and shipwreck our faith. Pride is one of the seven sins God hates and now you know why. Enough said, God bless and have a great day!!
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