Hebrews 11:6 ESV – And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.
Whoa. The whole idea of me not pleasing God is something I am holy afraid of. Not scared to death of, just respectfully godly fearful of wrecking my life into a ball of unpleasable yuck when it’s all said and done.
What prevents this kind of demise? That faith we talked about last week – the belief in what I hope for materializing in the future – I keep doing that. I keep bringing my life to Him who holds it and believe He is who He says He is and will fulfill the promises in the Bible and the ones I get personally from Him.
Have I always rocked this kind of unshakeable faith in the midst of my hope feeling shattered? Not completely, sadly. It has taken me longer than I care to admit to realize just how for me God really is.
Maybe you don’t feel like you fit these promises in the Bible. Possibly you are some freak exception to the rule. Well, I have felt that way at times. And I have had to work out my faith under some pretty intense fire.
But what happens after you emerge from the fire? If you are a child of God, He reveals things to you deep in your soul – deep in your knowing.
And then you change.
You can’t help but change to a stronger person – one with a greater faith in the unseen God we have and how yes, all those promises are yours if you decide to believe them.
That’s an act of faith on our part. Actually holding on to His words and actually convincing yourself these things are so and you WILL see either here or in heaven.
This entire chapter of Hebrews talks about the great men and women of faith all throughout Scriptures. Our podcast covers these so I encourage you to listen to Jenny and I discuss some Bible greats!
Back to this Truth of the Week – I love how there are two parts to approaching God.
1. You have to believe He exists. Yes, that is a very important step number one to faith. 2. You must believe He rewards those who seek Him.
What happens if you drop off number two? Where’s the faith then? You have to actually believe He will reward you – that He’s got lots of wonderful things for you here on earth after you believe in Him.
That’s acting out your faith. Walking through your fire believing He is going to help you and give you the blessing and favor He has for you.
We please God when we go past just merely believing in the system of God, but actually draw near AND have expectation of Him for our good.
This makes me so happy – I get to expect good things from God as I draw near to Him believing.
He loves you, He’s for you, now go expect great things from Him!
