Through Faith (Part 3)

THE DAILY WORD
By Jim Seekamp

Wednesday July 8, 2009

Lets look again at the Bible definition of faith:

Hebrews 11:1-3 (NIV)
1. Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. 2. This is what the ancients were commended for. 3. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.

Just as the universe was formed at God's COMMAND, faith is exercised mainly through WORDS:

2 Corinthians 4:13 (NIV)
It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak

If you talk with someone long enough, you can always locate a person's faith by their words! If someone is (Biblically) standing in faith on God's Word for something, you will not hear that person contradict what he's believing for! Faith requires HOLDING FAST to your profession:

Hebrews 4:14 (NIV)
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess (speak).

One of the best Old Testament examples of holding fast a profession of faith was Caleb, who was one of the 12 spies Moses sent to spy out the promised land:

Numbers 13:25-33 (NIV)
25. At the end of forty days they returned from exploring the land. 26. They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh in the Desert of Paran. There they reported to them and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.
27. They gave Moses this account: "We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28. But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. 29. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan."
30. Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, "We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it."
31. But the men who had gone up with him said, "We can't attack those people; they are stronger than we are." 32. And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, "The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. 33. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them."

Notice that while the other men were talking about how powerful the people of the land were, Caleb held fast his profession of faith that what God said was true; that they could go in and take the land despite the strength and size of the people living there! Only Joshua and Caleb held fast their profession of faith in what God had told them:

Numbers 14:1-10 (NIV)
1. That night all the people of the community raised their voices and wept aloud. 2. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! 3. Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder. Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?" 4. And they said to each other, "We should choose a leader and go back to Egypt."
5. Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown in front of the whole Israelite assembly gathered there. 6. Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7. and said to the entire Israelite assembly, "The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9. Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will swallow them up. Their protection is gone, but the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them."
10. But the whole assembly talked about stoning them.

Notice the profession of Joshua and Caleb in verse 9! They recognized that the Lord would be the one who would give them the land; that there was no protection for the land's present inhabitants against the power of God!!

Notice also that in verse 10 the typical response was given to those who stand in faith on what God says! Faith in God's Word is often met with skepticism, but that doesn't mean it's wrong! Only Joshua and Caleb went into the promised land 40 years later-- everyone else died in the desert!!

Numbers 14:26-30 (NIV)
26. The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: 27. "How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling Israelites. 28. So tell them, `As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you the very things I heard you SAY:
29. In this desert your bodies will fall-- every one of you twenty years old or more who was counted in the census and who has grumbled against me. 30. Not one of you will enter the land I swore with uplifted hand to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

Notice in verse 28 that God gave everyone exactly what they SAID!!! Their WORDS determined their destiny!!

Numbers 26:63-65 (NIV)
63. These are the ones counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest when they counted the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho. 64. Not one of them was among those counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Desert of Sinai. 65. For the LORD had told those Israelites they would surely die in the desert, and not one of them was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

Like the Israelites, if we want to live a good life, and live in the "promised land" God has for each of us, we need to watch what we SAY:

Psalm 34:12,13 (NIV)
12. Whoever of you loves life and desires to see many good days, 13. keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.

Proverbs 10:31,32 (NIV)
31. The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but a perverse tongue will be cut out. 32. The lips of the righteous know what is fitting, but the mouth of the wicked only what is perverse.

Proverbs 12:18,19 (NIV)
18. Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. 19. Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.

Proverbs 18:21 (NIV)
The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

It is with our hearts that we believe, and the tongue and the heart are bound together:

Proverbs 10:20 (NIV)
20. The tongue of the righteous is choice silver, but the heart of the wicked is of little value.

Matthew 12:34 (NIV) (Jesus speaking)
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.

PRAYER
Thank You Father for Your life-giving Word. Thank You for sending Jesus Christ to redeem me from the curse of the law. Thank You for making me a joint heir with Christ, even though I could never do anything to deserve such a thing. Help me to remember the blessings that are already mine, so I can take hold of them by faith.
In Jesus' Name, Amen.

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