Scripture: Hebrews 11 v 1 - 6: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."
Hebrews chapter 11 is the roll call of Faith down the ages and many more would be added to it since the ascension of Jesus. People like Martin Luther, a Catholic priest who discovered that The Just Shall Live By Faith. Not by paying indulgences to the Roman Catholic Church.
And this man ......
"It was the year 1569, at the height of Catholicism's Spanish Inquisition in Holland. Dirk Willems, a humble and pious follower of Jesus Christ, lay in prison awaiting a fiery death at the stake. His crime? Having been rebaptized upon confession of faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross. The official town records stated that the prisoner, "...persisting obstinately in his opinion...shall be executed by fire, until death....". So he became another martyr for the sake of Jesus Christ.
We are not called on to defend our faith for we are defenders of the faith just by being born again saints and dying to the ways of this world long before we depart it for Heaven.
We are witnesses to the life of Faith of everyone mentioned in the Bible who withstood persecution. We are adding to the invisible list of past saints who refused to compromise with political correctness that was contrary to the will of God.
We will join that immense cloud of witnesses who have fallen asleep in the Lord to all be awakened on that glorious resurrect day when we all stand before the majesty of the King of Kings and Lord of lords. We are the kings and lords over whom He is King and Lord. Self-appointed worldly royals and titled aristocrats are only included if they too are willing to bow before Him and cast away their crowns.
We will cast any crowns we thought we were worthy of at His glorious, nail-scarred feet and worship the Lamb that was slain that we may be reconciled to the Father and obtain eternal life. Those who please God like faithful Enoch will leave this Earth in the Rapture, like Jesus did in His ascension. In the twinkling of an eye. Blink and you will miss it.
The further story of Dirk Willems was that he saw an opportunity to escape and took it fleeing across snow and and solid ice over a lake. Pursuers searched for him and one followed him onto the lake. Dirk heard the ice crack and his pursuer fall into the water.
Without another thought he went back and rescued him. The rescued man pleaded for the life of Dirk but it was refused. He died at the stake on the appointed day. This is the love of God in action. No matter who or what we must rescue the fallen.
Our faith is in God because Jesus came and rescued us from sin, sickness and death. We are alive in Him. I have never felt so alive and blessed. It started when I surrendered the worldly life to Him and put faith in the unseen. Back in 1974, and I have never looked back.
Without faith it is impossible to please God. We start out with faith in Him but we need to grow it step by step to where it is a strong muscle able to do heavy duty when needed.
We must believe that He is. That He exists. That He has no beginning and no ending. He is God. He is eternal from everlasting to everlasting. In His Kingdom there is no time, no day nor night, no seasons. It is always in the Now. God sees the creation, the crucifixion, the rapture, Armageddon, the new heavens and new Earth happening simultaneously in the now.
We must believe that He is a rewarded of them that diligently seek Him. Not just seek till you find Him then fold your arms and slumber. We must keep seeking to know more about Him. When we love somebody we make it our business to know them as thoroughly as we know ourselves.
What does God love, what does God hate? It's important to avoid doing anything sinful as He hates sin. He sees it on His dead sinless Son and rejects it. Thus He will not permit it in His Kingdom. We cannot hide it from Him, He smells it, sees it, hears it, feels it. It grieves Him.
God loves us and desires to give us great blessings but we must obey that which He writes on our hearts. Like this blog. It just seems to download and I sometimes feel like a Secretary taking dictation. He puts things together for me to sail away on and write into the blog. He never ceases to amaze me. I sometimes look at past blogs in astonishment. Did I write that?
So if we come across startling things in our lives, God's love supplies every need. By Faith. We cannot see faith but we can use it to obtain all we need from the Lord our God.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, the moment is coming when we are home with You because we had faith to believe all You sent through Your Word. Jesus is Your Word made manifest. To have a relationship with Him is to know You. To read Your Word brings us close to Your Son and to You. So by faith we must turn off everything with a screen and turn our eyes upon Jesus and spend some quality time with Him. Amen.
