Faith

"Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." ~Hebrews 11:1

"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance,obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going." ~Hebrews 11:8

"Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven."" ~Matthew 9:2

Faith is something often struggled with as if it is mystical or beyond grasp.  The truth is much easier and we only make it difficult to understand when related to God.  We struggle to understand faith with regard to our Lord and Savior, God our Creator and God our Father.  Many may say, "It's just so hard because I haven't seen Him or He doesn't 'talk' to me...."

Looking at the first verse quoted above, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see".  We put these words into action everyday with regard to many things in our life.  For example, the breaks on our cars will work every time we press the break pedal.  That the lights will come on in a dark room just by flipping the light switch.  Taking medicine makes the symptoms of colds or illness go away.  The sun will rise today and tomorrow.

We place faith into things we do not understand all the time and have little to zero understanding of how they work.  I'm not a pilot and really do not understand completely how airplanes fly, yet I will purchase a ticket and walk onto a plane in full confidence that the pilot's and crew will safely take everyone on board to the destination.  Did the Wright brothers envision the aircraft we have today?  I don't know, but they believed flight was possible and set out to prove the point.

Abraham believed God long before he arrived in the land God promised and the promise to make him the father of all nations.  God called him out and Abraham took action, "certain of what we do not see".  He left his home and lands for the unknown, based solely on God's word.

We could go on and on with the examples today.  For now, are you willing to take action on what God is calling you to do today?  Do we really believe God for our daily life and all that we need?  We either believe God or we don't.  We accept His Word as truth and walk in faith or we don't.  Faith grows stronger in action.  We cannot grow stronger by wishing a thing is true.  We accept something as true in the absence of any physical evidence.

Based on stepping toward our Father and walking in the direction He leads, we will experience growth in faith and we will learn how to make this journey in Christ alone.  As with everything in life, we will have successes and failures in our walk.  Faith in God's Word and character will become unwavering as we continue to keep our focus on Him in the journey.  Distractions will come in every form to shake us, to derail our course.  We purpose to live by faith, believing that God will see us through.

Blessings & Peace

~Robert