Hall of Fame of Faith or Failures
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As I celebrate my 83rd year in my earthly body, God has reminded me of the following.
The Bible is not a collection of stories of human heroes. No, the Bible is the story of a hero Redeemer who transforms weak and ordinary people by His power through faith.
FAITH is trusting and believing God loves us more than we love ourselves and wants the very best for us. God is not Santa Claus, who we ask for what we selfishly want, but is the Sovereign Father who desires to do what is always best for His kids (true believers in Christ). We, many times, struggle with God’s definition of “best.” We want what we think is best.
God wants us to have FAITH in Him; in fact, He mentions faith 247 times in the Bible.
Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, Heb. 10:38 — The just shall live by faith. God the Holy Spirit indwells all of His kids and is present with them 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. To live by faith is to live in the reality of His presence. He wants to be the President of our life, not just a resident.
In Ephesians 5:18 we are instructed to be “filled with the Spirit.” This does not mean that we get more of the Holy Spirit, but that He gets more of us. We yield to His control, knowing He will do what is best for us. We usually have areas of our lives that we think we can control, and we don’t need God involved. He does give us the freedom of choice, but once again, He has the freedom of allowing consequences.
He wants to fill every area of your life with His goodness, but we must yield that area to Him. Being filled (or yielding control) is a continuous process and is not “once and we are done.” When we are comfortable, we usually try to handle things ourselves, but the best only comes from God. Ephesians 4:30 informs us that we can bring sorrow (grief) to the indwelling Holy Spirit by the way we choose to live.
2 Cor. 5:17 — Walk by faith, not by sight. In every step we take, we are hand in hand with God, no matter if we are on the mountaintops or in the valleys; in the light or in the dark—He is there to guide us.
Heb. 11:6 — Without faith it is impossible to please God. No matter how many good things—even in church—that we are doing, these things do not please God unless we do them in faith involving God. He wants to be involved in everything, whether it is little or big. He wants us to know that nothing is too big or too small for our Sovereign God.
Hebrews 11 is known as the Hall of Fame of Faith; it could be called the Hall of Failures. Each person was an ordinary person who failed constantly. Abraham consistently lied; Jacob was a deceiver; Moses murdered a man; David was the cause of a man’s murder, and he committed adultery; Rahab was a prostitute.
But God chose to use them in eternally significant ways when they stepped out in faith. It is truly a joy to know that God does not focus on our failures but on our faith. He wants us to trust Him in all situations. He will continue to use us when we exercise faith.
However, we are trained by the world and deceived by Satan to be self-sufficient and to trust ourselves. This world training program teaches us that success and significance are measured by the number of individual achievements we have, the number of wins we have gained, how much money we have accumulated, how many toys we have, that I am always “Number One,” and that everything is relative. Integrity, honesty, morality, serving others, and generosity are removed in this pursuit driven by human wisdom. God tells us in 1 Cor. 2:5, “Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”
Faith is the means that God allows us to plug into His power. We are all like electrical appliances that do not serve the purpose for which we were made until we are plugged into the power source. When we are plugged into God’s power, we then operate on a supernatural level.
Jesus tells us in Mark 11:23, “If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, and doubt not, you shall say unto this mountain, be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.” Now I know that I can do nothing supernatural by myself, but when I am plugged into God’s power, supernatural things happen.
1 Thessalonians 5:19 reveals that we can quench the Holy Spirit by not praying and giving thanks in all things. God wants us to choose Him to be our power source in every step we take and thank Him in every step.
In essence, faith provides a partnership between God and you.
John 15:5 — “He that abides in me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without me you can do nothing (supernatural).” By yourself, you as an ordinary person will always have only natural results without God; being teamed up with God in faith, you can expect extraordinary results.
To God be the Glory!
-Ed Thomas
