Faith gets a sad rap these days... Not necessarily a "bad rap," but undoubtedly a sad one. Most people speak of faith in a broad, undefined sense. For example, if a friend is suffering from anything from a death in the family to financial struggles to even a lack of direction, so many of us respond with "Just have faith." Well, what does that mean? It's a term for belief in something, but if someone told me to "just believe" I think I'd be left wanting more.
The Bible defines faith as "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Heb. 11:1, NIV). This is such an amazing concept! By this definition, I do not just "believe" that what I hope for will happen and that my God is real, I am sure of it, certain in fact... I KNOW it to be true. With this knowledge, faith becomes a verb - we TRUST. Hebrews 11 offers a break down of faithful people from the Old Testament. In it we are told what these great men did to be called "faithful" - all of them said, "I trust you" when God told them about the impossible. Can you imagine? Abram was told to move, to pack up and leave his family, not knowing where God was leading him or when he would get to stop and call some new place "home." And his reaction was, "Okay." And God asked Noah to quit his regular tasks and build an enormous boat on dry land in a time before rain! And Noah said, "Sure."
This same God asks us to follow Him today. He asks us to trust that He will provide for us, satisfy our deepest desires, comfort us, deliver us, protect us, speak for and through us, etc. He longs for you to respond in faith, to look at Him and say, "I don't see how it's going to happen, but I trust you."
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