Coffee With The Lord

THE WORDS “BY FAITH…” APPEAR OVER AND OVER IN HEBREWS 11 LIKE A MANTRA… One case study after another emphasizing “the walk of faith” … what faith does, how faith acts, how faith expresses itself in the daily challenges of life.  Today I’m focusing on Hebrews 11:4-7…

Verse 4 emphasizes faith responds positively – even to disappointments!  Cain offered his best effort… Able offered God what He desired – what was acceptable to Him.  Cain got bitter and focused upon himself rather than on what pleased God.  He stiffened, soured and was swept away by envy and hatred.  Faith seeks to please God and repudiates self will!

Enoch just flat out did it… “He walked with God!” (Genesis 5:24)  His life of continual communion and fellowship with God is a challenge to us all… He did it without a Bible, without a host of encourages, and sustained it through thick and thin longer than any of us comprehend (365 years!).  Finally God just came and caught him away… He proved something absolutely fundamental… simply trusting God every day of your life and walking through life with that trust “pleases God!”  (Verse 5)

In verse 7 Noah illustrates another powerful faith lesson… Faith takes the warning God gives very seriously!  Faith lives life in “reverent fear.”  He took the obedient steps that were necessary to save his household from an evil and decadent culture.  His life became a message to his culture and he “became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith!”

But verse 6 sums up the “the walk of faith!”  It communicates a principle I must never forget… “Without faith it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God!  For whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him!”

Gotta tell you… I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER want to forget that!

A foundational truth today for Christ followers…  FAITH IS CONFIDENCE IN GOD!!!  Here it is from the Bible… read it this morning…

“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see… and 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.” (Hebrews 11.1, 6 NIV)

Peel away all the challenges of life, the perplexing issues, the unanswered questions, the competing voices, the unknown factors, the difficult paradoxes and for the follower of Christ, this is the truth the embrace – this is the anchor they hold to – this is the foundation they build on – this is the answer they rest in… CONFIDENCE IN GOD.  THAT’S WHERE I AM… HOW ABOUT YOU?

An adage we sometimes hear when a son follows in his father’s foolish and sinful ways is… “Like father, like son.”  Sometimes it turns out that way (and more often than we would like to admit – almost becomes a trend) – but, praise the Lord, it doesn’t have to be that way!  And the account of Josiah in 2 Kings 22-23 in your Bible proves it!

Josiah’s grandfather was the incredibly wicked king Manasseh… followed by the equally wicked Amon… You would expected compounded wickedness in Josiah, wouldn’t you, given his legacy?  But no!! The Bible says Josiah “did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of his ancestor David.  He did not turn away from doing what was right.” (22.2)  And then what follows in the Bible is one of the most thorough records of spiritual reform anyone initiated and led in all of the Bible!  Josiah didn’t just “kinda – sorta” lead the nation in reform!  He did it with dedication, conviction and thoroughness … like a “spiritual pit bull”.  (I mean, read it in your Bible!  You’ll be impressed!!)  In fact the final analysis of Josiah’s reign in 2 Kings 22.25 reads like this… “Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses.  And there has never been a king like him since!”

Wow!  Gives me hope!!  Sons do NOT have to be like their weak and wicked fathers!  My prayer?  Oh God, turn around the wickedness of our generation!  Help a generation of young godly men and women to arise that “beat the odds” and lead our nation back to God and righteousness!!  …  Then later this morning during “coffee with the Lord” I read this from Proverbs 21.21… “WHOEVER pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find life, righteousness and honor!”  Oh God, give us a generation of young leaders like that with the heart and convictions of Josiah!”