Have Faith, Beyond Your Sight!

Thank you for coming to ‘hearthenspeak.com’ to read the post. Often times, we determine what we believe by our physical senses, what we see, what we hear and by what we feel. Today, I am going to share some awesome truths from the Word of God that should have much more sway over our belief system than those things. As always, pray and ask the Holy Spirit to bring divine revelation to you concerning these words you will read today. Eric

In Acts 27:18-26 (NIV), we read an account of what in the natural, was an impossible situation. Paul was a prisoner on a ship headed to Rome, where he was to meet with Caesar.

When they encountered contrary weather, near Crete, Paul advised them to not sail. However, “the centurion, instead of listening to what Paul said, followed the advice of the pilot and the owner of the ship.” (verse11). According to worldly wisdom, it seemed like the ‘right choice’ to make didn’t it?

“Before very long, a wind of hurricane force, called a Noreaster, swept down from the island.” (verse 14). They took such a beating from the storm that they threw the cargo overboard; the third day, they threw over the tackle and by verse 20b we read, ”the storm continued raging for many more days and we finally gave up all hope of being saved.”

Paul though, spent time in the bowel of the ship fasting and praying. An angel of God informed Paul that even though they would lose the ship also, He would spare all of the men’s lives.

Interestingly, when they started to near land, 14 days later, some were going to try to escape on a lifeboat. However, the Lord had instructed Paul that all of the men would be saved, if they stayed on the ship. Considering everything they had been through, if you’d been on that ship - when you got near land, what choice would you have made? Listen to the prisoner or get out of the hopeless situation as soon as possible?

Whose report would you believe? God’s Word to the prisoner or your own reason which was shouting at you to get free from the doomed ship as soon as possible?

The ship became grounded on a sandbar, broke to pieces and yet, since all the men chose to listen to Paul and stay with the ship, all 276 on board were saved!

Here is the question we want to consider today: “How do we choose to believe the Word of the Lord regardless of the natural ‘reality’ we face or the ‘inevitable’ consequences that will result from the choices we make?

We do face challenges in accepting divine truth, which often contradicts human expectations and understanding. How do we recognize the voice of the Lord? How do we, regardless of consequences, choose to believe? Our redemption came through a suffering servant, Jesus. He endured the cross for us. What will our cost be, for following the Lord? The revelation of God’s power is selective and often hidden from those who are spiritually blind or hardened of heart. (Isaiah 6:9 and 10). That is not where we want to live.

Having true faith can be difficult and rare. Today, I want to challenge you to examine your faith and the reasons for your belief in the gospel Do you recognize and respond to God’s revealed power when it does not align with worldly expectations of strength and victory?

In Exodus 6:4, the Lord spoke to Moses and told him to let the Israelites know that He was going to deliver them from the bondage of slavery in Egypt. In verse 9, we see that Moses delivered the message to them, however, because of their broken spirits and the cruel bondage they had faced - they did not listen to him. Then, the Lord told Moses to ‘go and tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land’. Moses responded with, “if the people won’t listen to me - why would Pharaoh?” Did Moses give up? The circumstances didn’t look real promising? Did he quit?

No, he believed the will and Word of God and although it was a while in coming (10 plagues later) the deliverance was accomplished!

We see throughout Scripture that those who believed God were used mightily of God and succeeded in that which God raised them to do.

In Romans 4:18-21 (BSB), “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as he had been told, ”So shall your offspring be.” 19 Without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body (since he was about a hundred years old) and the lifelessness of Sarah’s womb. 20 Yet he did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God was able to do what He had promised.” When the Lord gave that ‘word’ to Abraham, he faced a naturally impossible situation. Verse 19 reveals, ‘without weakening in his faith, he acknowledged the decrepitness of his body. Abraham was about 100 years old!

Abraham’s faith transcended, exceeded, or surpassed human logic!

Our belief must not be based on visible evidence, but on trust in God’s promise! You see, that is the very definition we have been given for faith. “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1, BSB).

However, look again at the amazing example we have from Abraham, in verse 20 of Romans 4, “Abraham did not waver through disbelief in the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, having given glory to God.” “Faith is not static but rather, it is dynamic.“ (Bible Hub, Study Bible). Abraham’s faith was strengthened because of his reliance on God! Verse 21 gives us tremendous insight into Abraham’s steadfastness in believing in stating, “being fully persuaded.” “Our faith in believing needs to be rooted in trust and confidence in God’s character and promise.” (Bible Hub, Study Bible).

Nothing is too difficult for God! (Jeremiah 32:17). God is always capable of accomplishing His will.

Looking at the life of Sarah, Genesis 21:1 reveals that the Lord ‘attended’ to Sarah. ‘Attended’ means: paid attention to, visited, looked after and cared for. God had an active role in Sarah’s life and in regard to His promise that she would have a son, we see a wonderful example of God’s divine faithfulness and the importance of His timing! (Which is often, not in alignment with our own desires and wishes!). From the time Abraham was first told that he would have a son and that his descendants would outnumber the stars - 25 years had passed until the fulfillment of that promise! Sarah was barren and beyond the age of childbearing!

God’s promises will come true and will be fulfilled even it it takes a miracle to perform it!

Please grab hold of this! Hebrews 11:11 reveals that Sarah was enabled to conceive because she considered Him faithful who had promised. ‘Was enabled,’ translated from ‘elaben and dynumin’ means” took hold of the miraculous power of God! Wow! Sarah took hold of the miraculous power of God because she considered Him faithful!

God is the God of the impossible! (Matthew 19:26).

“God is sovereign over nature and He has the ability and capability to fulfill His promises, no matter the odds of fulfilling those promises in the natural world.” (Bible Hub, Study Bible). God is a supernatural God! Hallelujah!

Numbers 23:19 (BSB) is very straight forward and reveals that, “God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” Verse 20b reads, “He has blessed and I cannot change it.” God’s blessings are irrevocable and not subject to human manipulation.

God has a divine nature and it obviously is very different than man’s. In Genesis 6:5 we are taught that the wickedness of man was great and the inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. God’s nature though is inherently truthful and faithful. “God cannot lie.” (Titus 1:2 BSB).

I believe for many of us, we have a difficult time getting past our physical senses in regard to holding more firmly to our faith. We tend to be controlled by what we see, what we feel and what we hear.

We humans have limitations that God does not have. We were born with a sin nature and God is divine!

We need to hide Hebrews 10:23 (BSB) in our hearts and not let go of it! “Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.”

If we inserted the Greek meanings into this verse, we could read it this way: Let us take possession of, hold fast and firmly to the expectation, trust and confidence we acknowledge and confess, without being swayed or inclined to change, because the One who has made the promises is reliable and trustworthy! Praise God!

God is not partial - if what is necessary to fulfill His promises is the working of a miracle, as with Sarah and Abraham - He will do the same in our lives!

He is faithful!

God’s Word is full of promises. His promises are for His children.

He will fulfill His promises for you!

If you can truly grasp the trustworthiness and reliable faithfulness of God - your life will never be the same!

Jeremiah 29:11 reveals that God has plans for us and that the Lord’s plans are to prosper and not harm us to give us a future and a hope.

Remember this, even when we discover that His plans for us do not always align with what we think, feel and believe are the best for us, His plans actually are best. Case in point, my wife was a physical education major in college and believed her mate would be athletic also. Believe me, she got a mate who was as far away from athletic as possible. And yet, if you asked her about it today, she would tell you that our marriage is blessed of God and that I was the perfect mate for her.

You can put all of your faith in God, no matter if your situation is or looks totally impossible.

You can trust Him in all things even if your timeline and His do not line up!

Your believing will never be in vain!

For, He is always capable of accomplishing His will and He fulfills all of His promises!

Scriptures were taken from the Berean Standard Bible unless otherwise noted.

NIV - New International Version