HAVE FAITH

BY EVANGELINE UNITY ESAABA FOLSON

HEBREWS 11:1 – 2

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

For by it the elders obtained a good report.

“Faith can also be defined as calling the things that be not as though they were”. It involves believing that what God says in his word is true and acting as though his word is true even if what you are believing God for has not yet been done. For example, Isaiah 53: 5 says: By its stripes, we are healed.

You are believing God to heal you from a hand injury. Prayers have been said for the healing of your hand from pain and inactivity. Though you may still feel the pain and stiffness of your hand. Keep confessing your healing and try moving and using your hand gently by faith until your hand is completely healed…

HEBREWS 11: 2 and HEBREWS 11: 6 shows that the only way we can obtain a good report from God and please Him is to have faith and exercise our faith.

The whole HEBREWS 11, talks about faith, definition, characteristics, and testimonies of great men and women of God who exercised their faith. There are forty verses in HEBREWS chapter 11, it is long. Verses with important messages and truths are going to be selected and elaborated on.

HEBREWS 11: 7

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

From this verse, we can learn from Noah that having faith, requires taking the steps you need to take when the word of God is fulfilled even when there are no signs of the event happening.

God told Noah about a flood and asked him to build an ark to protect him and his family and the other living things on earth, whilst he was building the ark, there were no signs of a storm, yet he kept building even though those around him were making fun of him.

 

To exercise our faith we need to be:

• Sensitive to hear the move and voice of God.
• Determined to do whatever God is instructing us to do even when there are no signs to confirm his word.
• Obey God completely without giving place to our own thoughts or the ridicule of men.

 

HEBREWS 11: 8

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed: and he went out, not knowing whether he went.

Can you imagine how ridiculous Abram looked when he told his father and other members of his family that he was taking a trip to a destination he did not yet know?

To be able to exercise our faith or when we have faith we should trust God completely. We should be ready and willing to do whatever he directs.

Before we can do this we need to develop our relationship with God such that we know how He speaks to us. He could speak through:

 

• His word (the bible)
• Through his prophets or men of God
• Through dreams
• Through visions

HEBREWS 11: 11

Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed and was delivered of a child when she was past age because she judged him faithful who had promised.

Having faith requires that we are patient and attentive to God’s leading or direction. We should also not be discouraged by our circumstances. Sara gave birth in her old age, over 70 years when her days of fertility were long overdue or over.

When your situation looks hopeless and there is no sign of success from anywhere look up to God, he is able to fix the impossible, because he has promised to do so.

 

MATTHEW 19:26 SAYS:

But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.

 

HEBREWS 11: 22

By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel and gave commandment concerning his bones.

Faith in the goodness of God helps us to predict our future. Joseph knew God had promised the Israelites a land of their own. therefore, he knew and believed that God would move them from Egypt to that promised land.

The bible says in JEREMIAH 29:11 that:

For I know that thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. God promises his children in this verse that he has a good future for us, therefore like Joseph we can predict success and prosperity in our future by faith and work towards it.

 

HEBREWS 11: 38 – 40

(of whom the world was not worthy) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth.

And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promises.

God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

This passage brings out one important characteristic of faith should have. We should not lose sight of the goodness of God even when we do not receive what we are believing God for.

By doing this, verse 39 says we will obtain a good report through faith, even though we do not receive the promise many of the great men and women whose testimonies are recorded in HEBREWS 11 received what they asked God for. However, there were some who did not receive “the promise” or what they asked for. Yet they believed until the end.

 

CONCLUDING REMARKS

In order to strengthen our faith, we should believe at all times that:

• God is faithful and He will fulfill his promises.
• Sometimes the fulfillment of the promises takes time.
• We should not give up when the promises delays and we are ridiculed.
• God always fulfills his promises at the appointed time
• Believe and trust God to the end even if you do not receive the promise.

Coronavirus has affected the lives of people all over the world. New cases are recorded each day and in spite of all our prayers and fasting, there is no solution to the issue yet.

Let us confess and believe the words of a song by a Nigerian gospel singer (Preye Odede)

 

CHORUS OF SONG

You will see the end

It won’t be your end

Have faith it will soon be over

 

REFERENCES

1. King James Bible
2. Google.com
3. Oxford English Minidictionary