Living by Faith

Faith is talked about a lot in God’s Word and also in the church, but how many of us really walk by faith?  What is faith according to God’s Word?  It says this in Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

Faith believes who God says He is and also the promises He gives in His Word, believing that you will receive the promises without having received them yet.  Faith is an action word; I think sometimes showing faith is like stepping out on a limb and trusting that it will hold your weight even when it doesn’t look like it possibly could.  The strange thing to me is that it seems like there is much more talk about faith then the actual demonstration of it.  Maybe it is that we have tried to make things happen ourselves for so long that we are still trying to do that instead of putting things into the Lord’s hands.  The bad thing about this is, we have no excuse as believers because we all have a measure of faith, read what it says in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

There is no way to be a true born-again believer without at least a little faith.  There are reasons for our lack of trust or not depending on faith like we should, think about Peter when he stepped out of the boat to walk to Jesus in Matthew 14:28-33, “And Peter answered Him and said, ‘Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.’

So He said, ‘Come.’ And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink he cried out, saying, ‘Lord, save me!’

And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, ‘O you of little faith, why did you doubt?’ And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased.

Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Him, saying, ‘Truly You are the Son of God.’”

Peter was happy and doing fine when he got out and started walking, probably all excited, focusing his attention on Jesus, but then everything changed because Peter got his focus on what was going on all around him and his eyes off Jesus, then fear set in and he began to sink.  He started out demonstrating faith but doubt crept in and faith was replaced, many of us have the same proble

Now think about Thomas, he had a different problem, read John 20:24-29, “Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, ‘We have seen the Lord.’

So he said to them, ‘Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.’

And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, ‘Peace to you!’ Then He said to Thomas, ‘Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.’

And Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’

Jesus said to him, ‘Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’”

Thomas said he would not believe unless he saw Jesus’ nail prints and put his hand in His side.  What about the evidence of things not seen?  I think many of us may have this problem also.

Then there was Gideon in Judges 6:33-40, “Then all the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon; then he blew the trumpet, and the Abiezrites gathered behind him. And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, who also gathered behind him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali; and they came up to meet them.

So Gideon said to God, ‘If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said— look, I shall put a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said.’ And it was so. When he rose early the next morning and squeezed the fleece together, he wrung the dew out of the fleece, a bowlful of water. Then Gideon said to God, ‘Do not be angry with me, but let me speak just once more: Let me test, I pray, just once more with the fleece; let it now be dry only on the fleece, but on all the ground let there be dew.’ And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, but there was dew on all the ground.”

Even though God said He would save Israel, Gideon didn’t have the faith to believe God’s spoken word, how many of us are like that?  It is easy to say we have faith but when the rubber meets the road, so to speak, how many of us really show it?  As things go on, as we draw nearer to the Lord’s return, we will need to have a strong faith to combat the situations and circumstances we may have to face.

Jesus said this in Luke 18:6-8, “Then the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unjust judge said. And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?’”

If you struggle in this area, you are not alone, I think we all do at times, some more than others.  The Word tells us how we can build our faith in Romans 10:17, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

It would be a good thing to keep studying and reading God’s Word, allowing your faith to grow stronger and stronger each day.  Something to think about!  May you have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!