Thursday, April 24, 2008

Faith

So, lately I have been wanting to know more about what Faith is. Yeah, I know what it is but I want to have more of it! I was reading my bible and came accross Hebrews 11 and it talks about What Faith is and everyone who had strong faith in the Lord.
Hebrews 11 says this: "What is Faith? It is the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. It is the evidence of things we cannot yet see. God gave his approval to people in days of old because of their faith. By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed by God's command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen."
I also found this in my bible:

Our culture loves to enshrine its heroes. There's the baseball hall of fame, the national women's hall of fame, the canadian mining hall of fame, the rock and roll hall of fame, the texas ranger hall of fame, even the national freshwater fishing hall of fame.
The letter to the Hebrews describes another kind of shrine, except this is not a hall of fame- it is a hall of faith. There is no museum through which to browse, but you can read the names listed in Hebrews chapter 11 and ponder what these men and women did to earn this honor.
The writer of Hebrews tells us, "All of these people we have mentioned received God's approval because of their Faith (11:39). They are heroes because they were faithful to God and to other people. They were full of a faith that looked ahead in hope to a life beyond this world.
Were they famous as well? Some were and still are famous even to this day (a lot longer than fifteen minutes!). Some had amazing escapes and conquered seemingly unconquerable foes; they were "winners." But others in this list were mocked, stoned, tortured, or killed- hardly successful by our standards. Yet they were winners too...in the hall of FAITH. Consider the following:
*Who are heroes and role models to you from history or the present day?
*What does it mean to be full of faith today in the sense of being faithful to God and full of hope?
*In what ways do people expect faithfulness to lead to success? How would they define success? How do you define it?
*Think of two ways you can be more faithful to God in the next few weeks.
*Think of two ways you can be more faith-ful (that is, full of faith and hope) in the next few months.
*Who in your circle of family and friends helps encourage your faithfulness? How can you allow them to have more of an influence on you?

I think the person that is a heroe to me in the Bible would be Ruth. I really admire how faithful she was to her husbands family. After all the men in the family died, Naomi and Ruth, were faced with a choice. Ruth could return back to her own people, or she could go with Naomi back to the land of Judah (Israel). But Ruth decided to go back with Naomi. The story of Ruth is powerful, it's about survival, and romance.
What Ruth says to Naomi is amazing "Don't ask me to leave you and turn back. I will go wherever you go and live wherever you live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God. I will die where you die and will be buried there. May the Lord punish me severely if I allow anything but death to separate us!" It was by faith and love that Ruth went with her mother-in-law to the land of Judah.

I remember a few years ago I wanted to know the story of Ruth because my grandma and mom's name is Ruth so, I wanted to read the meaning of it. I have always wanted to name one of my daughters Ruth some day. I love the story it hold's and the line in my family that it carries. The story of Ruth is nothing like my family but the faithfulness and love is powerful enough!

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