Faith's Hall of Fame

Hebrews 11 is a book that is referred to as faith's hall of fame. It is an incredible book that features story after story about people in the bible who had faith.

What is faith? Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Two words describe faith: confidence and assurance. These two words need a secure beginning and ending point. The beginning point of faith is believing in God's character - he is who he says he is. The end point is believing in God's promises - he will do what he says. When we believe that God is going to fulfill his promises without actually seeming then being fulfilled, that is true faith.

I hope this post allows you to take a look at your faith. I really just plan on sharing a lot of the examples that were written about in Hebrews. These characters had faith like many others didn't. They trusted in God no matter how badly things looked for them or out of this world. These are true heroes of faith.

One thing that is surprising is that these people of faith did without receiving all that God has promised, but they never lost their vision of heaven. It is fair to say that many Christians become frustrated when their needs, wants, expectations and demands are no immediately met when they believe in Christ. We become impatient and want to quit. Are you discouraged because the achievement of your goals seem so far away? The heroes of faith died without seeing the fruit of their faith on earth and yet they continued to believe.

So who are these heroes of faith?

1. The first hero is actually us believe it or not. God called the universe into existence out of nothing; he declared that it was to be, and it was. Our faith is in the God who created the entire universe by his word. God's word also has awesome power. When he speaks do you listen and respond? We are heroes of faith when we put our trust and faith in God that he created the entire universe.

2. By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commanded as righteous, when God spoke of his offerings. And by faith, Able still speaks, even though he is dead.

3. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death. This is the crazy one to me. I am pretty positive that Enoch was the only person ever to never experience death. God literally decided to just take him away. Before he was taken he was commended as one who pleased God. Without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

4. By faith Noah, when warned about things unseen, in fear, built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith. Noah's faith saved humanity. When everybody thought he was crazy, he wasn't concerned with what others had to think about him. His concern was building the ark.

5. By faith, Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. Abraham left everything he was used to. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country.

6.. By faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made his promise. Imagine a super old lady having faith that she could still bear a child.

7. By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Issac as a sacrifice. He was set to sacrifice is one and only son.

Those were some of the biggest heroes of faith and a really brief description of how they had faith. Now sit and think about your faith. Do you have faith like these heroes of faith did? God used these heroes of faith to have faith in some pretty big issues. You might look at some of the things these people were going through and think that you could never have faith like they did, but God isn't asking us to have faith exactly like they did. God wants you to have your faith in him and your life and the things that you go through on a daily basis.

Have faith is something that is bigger than yourself. You have to have faith in God. Remember to persevere as well. We aren't going to get what we are promised until the day that we die and go to heaven. That is when we will receive what God has promised, it's not going to happen in this world. This world is not our home, never forget that.

Have some faith and step into faith's hall of fame today. It starts with you.