Faith is a force to be reckoned with, for my faith can change the world. Take for an example F.W. Woolworth. He had faith in 5 and 10 cent coins, and he changed the world’s shopping habits!
Take the man who sold the idea to Coca Cola that they should bottle their product. He helped change the world’s soft drink industry by taking Coca Cola out of the milk bars and delicatessens and into the homes. Take Robert Hefner, a man who had faith that there was natural gas 3 to 5 miles under the Oklahoma plains. He studied, he lobbied, he drilled — and changed the natural gas outlook for the United States. Yes, faith is a force that can change the world — your world and the world around you!
The framework of my faith is that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6) — He has good intentions towards us. The foundation of my faith is the faithfulness of God, as revealed in His Word, and that is eternal and secure. Right after the verse that tells of the necessity of faith (verse 6), Hebrews 11 gives us the example of the force of faith in Noah. “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear [reverence], prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith” (verse 7).
Noah’s faith was based on a word from God. Noah was “forewarned of God concerning events of which as yet there was no visible sign” (Amplified NT). Faith is always in the invisible, that is why faith is an assumption (Hebrews 11:1 Concord- ant). Or you could say, faith is an attitude concerning the invisible. Up until Noah’s time, no one had ever seen it rain; the earth was watered by the dew rising from the ground. God did not tell Noah how He was going to bring a flood upon the earth (Genesis 6); He simply told Noah to start building. What do you think Noah’s neighbours had to say about the activity on his property? I’m sure he was ridiculed, perhaps even from within the family, but he stuck to his faith. And we also have situations where our faith is in the invisible — our total health, reaching our sales goal, paying off the house — and we suffer ridicule when we choose an attitude of faith over the world’s solutions. Hang on to your faith — it is a force that gets things accomplished!
Notice also that Noah did not just sit cross-legged and say, “Yes, I believe what God said is right”. He “moved”, he “prepared” (Hebrews 11:7), he “did according to all that the Lord commanded him” (Genesis 7:5). Faith always take an action. The assumption or attitude always comes first and then there must be an action. Sometimes the action is simply to speak the word of faith and declare that such a thing is so, and thank God for it; sometimes there are other actions necessary, such as giving in order to receive. There will always be an action, for “faith without a corresponding action has no life in it” (James 2:17 Weymouth)
Another point of interest with Noah is that his faith “condemned the world” (Hebrews 11:7). That is, “This action of faith condemned the unbelief of the rest….” (Phillips). Faith will always make the world sit up and take notice. And your faith, and my faith, and our faith combined, does this too!
Finally, Hebrews tells us that Noah became “heir of the righteousness [right standing with God] which is by faith”. This standing “by faith” alone was not available until Jesus died and rose from the dead, but Noah was assured that he could have it the moment it became available. You and I receive it the moment we become Christians, the instant we are members of God’s family.
So my faith is a force in my life and in the world in which I live. The force is with you — use it today!
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