When we believe…

“And without faith, it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6

Have you ever taken a really good, hard, long look at this verse? Faith pleases God. Equally so, it is IMPOSSIBLE to please God without faith. That part of the verse I think I grasped before. I get it. You gotta have faith, right? But that last part…God rewards those who believe…that part I had missed for so long.

I think there is a tendency to view faith as something that gains us good standing with God. I mean, if faith pleases Him, and we have faith, then we’re doing pretty good, right? But to take it a step further to say that God actively blesses faith? That astounds me! Tonight in Bible study, we looked at a solid definition of faith:

“Faith is believing the Word of God and acting upon it no matter how I feel because God promises a good result.”

I have to admit that I genuinely LOVE the promises of God, don’t you? His Word is filled with them, and every time I come across another one of His promises, my heart just lightens a bit. You see, Hebrews 11:6 presents us with one of the most important commands in all of Scripture: You gotta have faith! We get that. We know that. We understand that, right? The promise, though, that I think might be frequently missed is that God promises a good result for those who believe. He REWARDS those who seek Him! I don’t know about you, but I like a good reward. And on top of that, I love knowing that my faith, although weak and frail and often broken, brings God pleasure. Faith literally pleases the heart of God! And His pleasure results in good rewards for us. God blesses faith. I am living proof of this! Are you?

When we believe, when we choose to take God at His Word and refuse to continue to dwell in doubt and unbelief, He promises a good result. It is fear that will always be the enemy of faith. Fear creeps in and cripples our faith. So, today I invite you to begin to take God at His Word. Don’t just stop at believing His Word to be true, but also DO what it says despite how you feel, knowing that God’s promise awaits your steadfast faith in Him.