By Faith

Hebrews 11:13,16   These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

What are you struggling with? That is a personal question, with a heavenly solution. Your struggle could be of any sort, but the solution is in the level of your faith. Now if your faith lies in your ability, or any system this world offers for it, you only have a temporal solution at best. You may find you band-aid your problem, but it will return, and likely with a greater fervency. This world cannot offer anything but band-aids; this world does not have the real answers, only patches. We can offer pleasures that numb pains, but the pain or worry still resides. If you are admittedly struggling, you are either denying or knowingly worried about the struggle. If you are denying it, you are truly in danger of loosing that war. Knowingly worried about it is the first step of humility that is required in seeking heavenly assistance.

Worry is from hell, one of Satan’s greatest weapons that all of us battle. Worry is a battle of the mind, (Spiritual Warfare), and even in it God can use Satan’s weapon against himself. We must first recognize that is is from Satan, and then claim the power of God over it. 2nd Timothy 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. When God begins to stir our hearts in these struggles, we begin to see our need for him. We hopefully begin to reach out to him for help through prayer and his Word. There is a heavenly strength found in the humble soul who seeks God instead of relying on their pride. This world is steep on the pride of self, and even knowingly hiding behind the ruse of religion, in the works based systems that lead us astray. Participation in any level of prayers to a certain saint, or rituals of any sort, are not the solutions.

The writer of Hebrews was addressing the Jewish Christians who were down at this time. It was becoming hard to believe in Jesus, and the religions rules and practices seemed much easier to them. If all we must do is go to church, follow the rules, and a few ceremonies, the faith to believe seems much more difficult. This chapter is the one of great faith; quoting almost 20 times their Jewish ancestors had believed, obeyed, and followed God. God is not found in religion, he is found in your heart. 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith is how you move forward when you have no idea where you are going. Faith is a glimpse of understanding God’s sovereignty, knowing he is in control even when Satan wants to convince you otherwise. Faith is knowing the end result, even when the present situation seems grim. Faith is all those great patriarchs of Hebrews 11, but also the story God is writing through your life, if you will by faith, believe and follow him.