Posted on Sat, May 9, 2015
“You have been taught the holy Scriptures from childhood, and they have given you the wisdom to receive the salvation that comes by trusting in Christ Jesus.”—2 Timothy 3:15 (NLT)
Faith seemed to be something I could never get my head around. When people talked about “walking by faith,” I didn’t understand what it meant. I figured I would just keep doing what I had always done. I had asked Jesus to be my Savior and the people who helped in the process said that qualified as a “step of faith.”
Since I had taken that big step of faith, I figured I was good. I tried to read my Bible and I headed to church every once in a while. I was living a life of faith, right? Not so much.
A friend shared this illustration with me: Faith is like waiting for your best friend. Your friend told you he would meet you at such-and-such a time, so even though you don’t know exactly where your friend is, you know he will show up. How do you know this? Because you have a relationship with him and he loves you.
Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV) provides a great definition of faith. It says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” When I read that, the idea of faith started to come into focus.
Some say faith is the language of heaven. It makes sense if you think about it. You need faith to ask Jesus to be your Savior. You need faith to share with others about Jesus. You need faith to tithe. You need faith to trust God daily with the fun, interesting, tough, and difficult things that come into your life. In fact, the Bible tells us that unless we have the faith of a little child, we will not enter heaven.
So, what does this mean for you practically? Well if you want to increase your faith, you need to read your Bible because the Bible says “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God” (Romans 10:17 NKJV). When we read our Bibles, we grow in faith. We’re also told “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV). So, if you want to please God, demonstrate your faith. Finally, we are told in Hebrews 10:38 (NKJV) how to live our lives: “The just shall live by faith.”
DIG: Check out Hebrews Chapter 11. What person’s story speaks to you?
DISCOVER: Take the life of the person you picked from Hebrews 11 and share it with a friend.
DISPLAY: Now, try to apply faith to your own personal life. Do you tithe? Should you start? Can you reconcile with another person? Do you have a big dream the Lord may want to encourage you on? What is the first step He is encouraging you to take? Go for it!