We will learn why many times our Faith doesn’t work.
Let’s read the word of God in Hebrews 11:1-6
1 “Now Faith is confidence in what we Hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
2 This is what the ancients were commended for.
3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.
4 By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God.
6 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
Faith is the confidence!
Faith “is”! It doesn’t say that it “was”, it “will be”, “should” be” or that it “could be”!
Faith is the confidence of things we hope for!
What God is going to do in your life may not make sense to you because faith is not logical.
What God is ready to do in your life is totally illogical, it makes no sense, because it is through faith that God moves.
The problem with you receiving the promises of God is that sometimes it looks as if what God promises you is illogical.
God called me to come to Ireland and in the beginning I said, it makes no sense! I have no English, I can’t do it, I have no background, I’m not qualified for it.
Sometimes things with God don’t make any sense to us.
If we look to David’s life, it didn’t make any sense for David to be king. How do you make a shepherd boy into a king?
He had no background, he followed no protocol, he grew up taking care of sheep, he had not been trained or educated, he had never had any exposure to royal life, he wasn’t prepared for it, but still God said: I found a man who is after my heart and he is going to be the next king of Israel!
“It’s Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
Zechariah 4:6 NIV
Maybe there are things that God has said to you that sound frightening, things that make no sense, that make you scared, that make you feel disqualified, you don’t feel ready, and yet God can make it happen, because it happens by Faith.
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family” Hebrews 11:7 NIV
Noah built a boat with no water around him! He did it in his backyard, willing to look like a fool and waiting on the rain he had never seen to catch up with what he built.
Noah built an ark for the saving of his house. His whole house got saved because he was willing to look a little crazy for a while.
When you have Faith people will always say you are crazy! But let them look at you funny, let them call you a fool, let them say it doesn’t make any sense.
Don’t worry because the rain is going to catch up with you! (Am I talking to anybody in here?)
Faith is the confidence in what we HOPE for! Do not lose your Hope!
Where there is no Hope, Faith cannot operate!
Faith doesn’t work without Hope! Your Faith needs your Hope!
Faith is the substance (confidence) of things hoped for.
When you have low self-esteem, Faith’s hands get tied up.
This is why the enemy is always attacking your Hope: it likes to bring up what you don’t have, that you’re too young, you are too old, you are not capable, no one loves you, etc.
If the enemy manages to kill your Hope, Faith is left with nothing to work with.
“Hope means expectancy when things are otherwise hopeless.”
Faith is the confidence in what we HOPE for!
The worst people in the world to preach to are the people who have no Hope.
The people I like to preach to are the people who have audacity to Hope. The courage to believe anything is possible, the courage to say I’m free from this addiction, the courage to believe they can go back to school, the courage to believe that they can preach the gospel, the courage to say that their life can and will be transformed.
Nowadays we have been hearing about many women who were abused by men. What a man does to a woman when he abuses her, as well as causing physical and emotional hurt, is killing her Hope, he takes away all her Hope, he doesn’t want her to talk to her relatives or friends, he tells her: You’re dumb, you’re ugly, you’re stupid, and what he does is kill her hope!
Abuse kills Hope!
What a man does to a woman is kill her hope in herself and others and eventually kill her Faith!
For your Faith to work, you have to believe what God says about you!
What you think about yourself, so you will be!
Faith is the confidence in what we HOPE for!
The day you lose your Hope, you lose your life!
So, the devil is not after your faith, he’s after your Hope!
You have to have hope: Hope that you could rebuild your life, that you could be better, that the second half of your life could be the best half, that the best is yet to come, that God has more for you, that you are important to God, that God has plans for your life, that all things are possible to those who believe.
The enemy is doing everything he can to destroy your Hope. He will always bring you bad news, bad reports! Stop listening to people, turn off your TV, stop watching the news.
My faith is the confidence of things that I hope for!
“Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and the assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1
It’s the assurance of what we do not see! Faith is the proof, the assurance, the receipt, the evidence about what we do not see!
“What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him” 1 Corinthians 2:9 NIV
This is the evidence of things unseen!
Do you remember when you were a child how you had a great imagination and you believed anything was possible. You used to say: I’m going to be a doctor, I’m going to be an astronaut, I’m going to be the president and some children even jump off from trees because they imagine that they have the power to fly!
Jesus said that we have to become like children again, we must have faith like children if we want to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)
Some of us stopped dreaming, stopped believing and I have a question for you:
What took away your Hope? When did you stop dreaming? Did you let the abuser take away your Hope?
Faith is the assurance of things not seen! Stop acting like an unbeliever. Walk on what God said, talk based on what God said, move in what God said and preach what God said.
You think you are waiting on God but it is who God is waiting on you!
God is waiting on you to believe all the things He’s said about you, not what you imagine about yourself.
“By faith we understand”
Faith is the Truth we stand on! It’s my safe ground!
I know it’s hard to understand many things in life. There are a lot of questions in life, but by Faith we come to understand!
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed through God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible.” Hebrews 11:3
By Faith we understand that God made us and gave us a plan and we messed up because of our choices!
But He still has His plans for us! Your life is in His hands, your next year is in His hands, the whole universe was formed at God’s command.
Faith pleases Him and we must believe that everything is possible for those who have faith.
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what is visible.”
Everything that exists, everything that is touchable, tangible, physical, everything that you can pick up, hold and feel did not start in the physical realm.
Everything started in the spirit.
That’s why the enemy attacks your spirit and mind, because everything that you will receive from God comes from your faith and your spirit.
How can you have Faith and increase it?
“So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
Romans 10:17 NKJV
If I’m going to have Faith, I have to control what I hear! I have to shut down all these voices, external and internal ones.
Because what I hear informs my belief system and it can either cancel out my blessings or improve my blessings.
If my belief system is sick; my Faith will also be sick.
Faith is about what and how you think, because if I’m sick and in my mind I also believe that I’m sick, then I’m going to be sick in my results too. I’m not going to receive what God had prepared for me, because my mind is foggy with disbelief, it’s not clear!
“For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he” Proverbs 23:7
You can be a servant of God, you can be in church, you can be a good person, but still your faith might not be working!
Faith is only for this earth, in heaven, after death, we will not need any Faith! Faith is for this time, it’s for your physical life and if you want to please God you need to believe in the impossible!
5 By faith Enoch was taken from this life. For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. Hebrews 11:5
Enoch pleased God with his faith!
He didn’t bother to please people, his neighbours or his family, but he pleased God!
Are you trying to please people that have no consequence?
“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 11:6
Enoch pleased God by faith. Without faith you cannot please God .
We should live a pure life, but it isn’t purity that pleases God.
We should praise God, but it isn’t our praise that pleases God.
The way we can please God is by Faith!
We need to trust God, even when we don’t understand his ways.
Example: a child trusts his parents, he believes that his parents’ intentions are good, even when he does not understand every decision they might make.
Did you know that God has designed your entire future for you? He has the best for you, the best place, the best possibilities, all in store for you!
If you get out of God’s way and design your own life, making your own plans, planning your own future and trying to manage your own stuff, then things will go wrong like before.
Just give it all over to God and say: whatever you want me to have, I will take it, whenever you think I’m ready for it, I will move into to, whatever you design for me, I will go for it!
This is Faith! You have to move according to God’s will.
And remember, without Faith it’s impossible to please God.
You can sing, you can preach, you can dance, you can come to church, but you may still not be pleasing to God, because what really pleases God is our Faith!
May God bless you, and don’t lose Hope!