By Pastor Doug Cox

I encourage you to read through Hebrews chapter 11 to see the results of what happened when men and women lived and walked by faith. What you will find is by faith, the elders obtained a testimony, Enoch was raptured, Noah became an heir, Abraham obeyed and dwelled in a land of promise, Sarah received strength to conceive a child and judged God as faithful who gave her the promise.

By faith Abraham received promises, Isaac blessed his son, Joseph gave a prophecy of what would happen to his bones following his death. Moses’s parents realized he was special and saved him from a mandate of death. Moses later refused to align himself with the culture of Egypt but was then rejected by his own people. By faith the walls of Jericho fell and by faith a prostitute named Rahab was spared.

Going on you find that those with Biblical faith subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises and shut the mouth of lions. They quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword and were made strong. They were valiant in battle and put their enemies to flight and women received their dead raised to life again. After reading about all these great things accomplished and orchestrated by faith who doesn’t want to say “sign me up”?

Hang on because there is something else here to learn. Sometimes Biblical faith results in suffering. The world will hate you for it. In reading the last half of Hebrews 11:35 we see where things take a challenging turn. It says “…others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.” It goes on telling us that some (because of their faith) were stoned, others sawn in two, others wandered destitute and afflicted, etc., and all these obtained a good testimony through faith.

To summarize, Hebrews 11:6 says, “without faith it is impossible to please God.” Biblical faith and personal faith can sometimes be two different things. Personal faith can be all about bringing to pass personal desires and wants. If your faith has no room for suffering for the cause of Christ at times, it may not be Biblical faith at all.

Prayer. Lord as we live and walk by faith, may it be to please You and not ourselves. May it bring glory to Your name even if it puts us at odds with others.