The Substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

On Saturday, the prayer in my heart was that God would show me what he wanted me to post here. So when I opened up my bible for devotions I read Hebrews chapter 11 (The Faith Chapter). As I meditated on the verses I thought, maybe this is what I am supposed to share.” But I dismissed the thought because I thought it would be to hard to write about faith. Then I prayed again for a message and went about my daily work. That evening I went to a bible study and guess what the topic was? Faith! And the passage was Hebrews 11! So then I thought “ok, maybe I am I supposed to write about faith.” All doubts were removed when I got home and my family was watching the movie “Faith like Potatoes.” God surrounded me with the topic of faith till I eventually got the picture. So I decided I had better see what God wants me to say about faith and not fight it any longer.
So what it faith? Hebrews 11:1 says that, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Noah Webster further defines faith as, “the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority, without other evidence.” So faith is simply taking what God has said in His word (and through His spirit) and believing it without material proof. As someone once said, “He is as real to me as that car sitting out there.” Hebrews 11 gives us many examples of such faith. Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are just a few. Faith is important. So important that the author of Hebrews (probably Paul) said that, “without faith, it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh before God must believe that He is…” (11:6). If we can’t believe that God is real, that His word is true, and that He loves us, we can’t please God. Pleasing Him should be our goal in life. With out faith, not only is it impossible to please Him, but we can’t be saved (John 3:16). A life lived fully for God will show evidence by faith (Galatians 5:22). Faith is key, it is necessary for salvation, without it we are lost. If your faith feels weak read Hebrews 11. I guarantee that reading those great stories of faith will encourage you. All of those people faced great trials and tribulations, but “by faith” conquered them. In the sight of impossibility they chose to believe in God’s faithfulness.
I Just felt led to say that. I pray that God will bless some soul with this feeble attempt to define faith. As always comments welcome, and wanted. In Christ, Benjamin