But the righteous shall live by his faith!

(Habakkuk 2:4) “… but the righteous shall live by his faith.”

We must always remember to take consolation in the fact that God is not like us, He never changes, and He is not volatile! At times we flippantly promise to do something only to go back on our word. God has none of these characteristics as He is perfect. We must learn that the universe is at His pleasure or disposal where and when He chooses. Both the natural and the spiritual realm are subject to His rule. If only we could see the warfare in the heavens, if our eyes could be opened to the spiritual realm as a natural man, it would solidify the reality of how serious a topic this is. “Fear God and keep His commandments.”

And yet lives through the existence of mankind have proved this impossible. Outside of the Lord Jesus Christ all have failed, He alone was free from sin, praise His name! Mahatma Gandhi, the Dali lama, Mohammed, all of the popes and anyone else you would chose to include in the list have all fallen short of my Saviour achievements, they all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. They will be found guilty of sin on judgment day, unless along the way, they fell to their knees denouncing their false faith and repented of their sin by acknowledged that it was the Lord Jesus Christ who died on their behalf and paid the price they should have paid; He was judged by His holy Father, the only true living God, on our behalf not for His sin as He knew no sin, He never succumbed to sins temptation and yet He died for our sin, may this truth resonate deep within our understanding; the love of God on display for all to see, reject this open invitation at your own peril.

But when and if embraced it is like the sweetest honey in the desert rock, the realization that this almighty God who has it in His power to summon fire from the heavens or to flood the earth as He did in the days of Noah, the very same God I am now  able to address as my Father. This is one awesome privilege! And only because of my great Saviour Obedience, bless His majestic name now and forever more! All hail King Jesus!

Why where those in Hebrew chapter 11 prepared to lose their lives and live in the desert or in caves without any of the leeks and garlic of Egypt. The answer is obvious, they believed in our risen King although they could not see heaven with their natural eyes, it was by faith they believe the promises of God. It was so real to their understanding that they proved it by the way they lived. Look to any of the examples penned in this chapter, as they all speak of sincere faith by their actions. It is not merely lip service. What then can we learn from them? There is much we could and should learn from these valiant warriors of God. They all have an overshadowing common denominator, “Faith”! They believed God! Will we believe God? We must not rely on our circumstance, whether we are rich or poor has no bearing on our eternal outcome, all must believe the Word of God and in faith embrace its teaching as there is nothing else that will stand the test of time.

Some were vertically sawn in half, while others excluded themselves from the fashions of the world and wondered the desert sheepskins and I am persuaded that their attire was not branded “Armani” or the like. Just common people saved by an awesome God who was thankful for the call upon their lives, are we? Can we share the sentiments of the Apostle Paul; have we learnt to be content wherever we find ourselves. Does it really matter what comforts we have in this life? Paul reassures us that this should have no bearing on our daily living. In fact it hinders our growth in the Lord. How so one may ask? If we look for anything above food and raiment, then we walk straight into the trap of “the love of money” and it will lead us down a slippery road.

But in order for us to embrace this glorious hope, heaven with all of God’s blessings we must firstly understand that God Himself has called us, then saved us and that He will lead us home. Once this is truly understood, the rest will take care of itself. This is what all those in Hebrews 11 believed. That does not mean that at times they lacked faith, we know that Abraham tried to speed up the promise of God under Sarah’s unction and had a child with Hagar, who was not the seed that would be blessed by God.

Yet no mention is made of this in this stanza; “By faith even Sarah herself received power to conceive seed when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had promised.” (Hebrews 11:11) – In spite of our mistakes alone the way God is faithful to His call, praise His name. It has nothing to do the self-righteous. Rahab the harlot, Samson the womaniser had their faults, nevertheless these people are mentioned. In fact their faith was of such strength and character, that God the Holy Spirit chose to mention them by name.

Regardless how you may have fallen in the past, if God has saved you and you have His Spirit, you are covered by the blood of the lamb and you indeed are a son of God, Know this that He will never leave nor forsake you even if you have been unruly at times. He is the greatest of all Fathers and His love can be measured, just look at the length He went too to get you confessing Him as the only true God. He sent His only begotten Son to die in your place, my place! Rahab and Samson understood this, do you? Do we? Faith believes God and the frailty of sin and the flesh is no match for true faith.

We now as sons have this privilege, we can cry “Abba Father”, the Lord Jesus has opened this door for us and let no one lie to you and convince you otherwise as they look to appropriate legalism as a form of justification, we will never be justified within ourselves by what we do or do not do. We are justified by what Christ achieved on Calvary and nothing else, praise His name! We must believe God for this truth; “And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6) 

We believe that He exists and we know that our reward will be an eternity in heaven with Him. What then if we find we struggle so often with the issues of life? Should we let them rob us of our hope in Him? Absolutely not! Even if we are battered by the wind and the trials of life leave us feeling rather bruised, we must cling to our hope by faith. This is then our consolation if we skirt with borderline decisions on what we should be doing as a child of God, know this that God our Father will address those issues in our lives; always remember this encouragement as I speak from a platform of experience and I hope it will encourage you to press on regardless of your struggles;-

“In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? "My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.” (Hebrews 12:4-8)

Signing off

Tyrone