The famous chapter of Hebrews 11 tells us that ?faith is the assurance of things unseen?. Do you ever find it easy to believe in the things that you can?t see?? Most often it?s the stuff that we can see that has the biggest influence on our lives – the kids, school, the mortgage, illness, other people, our marriages, etc., etc. (particularly our painful struggles!). These are the things that get their ?hooks? into us, pull us down, hold us back, or pull us apart.
Imagine if you could be free of those ?hooks??? I mean, those difficulties will rarely disappear, but imagine if we could be free of their power to control and dominate our lives, and cause us misery?? We can – God promises us!
Hebrews 11 tells of God?s people throughout history. They had more ?hooks? in their lives than you?d find in a fishing box! Yet it says that they read and heard God?s great promises – that He loved them, chose them to be His dear children, forgave their sin, saved them, promised to always be their Good Shepherd and lead them to eternal life. They couldn?t see these things with their eyes, but they believed God?s Word, and received the goodness of those promises through faith and the power of the Holy Spirit.
They clung to those promises, cried out to God in faith, and He answered their prayers more amazingly than they could ever have imagined, in strengthening them, comforting them, providing for them, healing them, and raising some from the dead! Abraham, who was as good as dead! God lifted up, strengthened, and led forward to see His glory.
If God did that for Abraham, He will certainly do that for us!
Grace and cheers,
Jonathan