Abide – Faith
Welcome, everyone. Welcome to Abide, a prayer practice that comes from Matthew 6:6 where we go into our inner rooms and we shut the door and we meet God in secret. And in these secret places, God desires to give himself over to each and every one of us. And so I'm so grateful that we're all taking this time in our days to close our doors and abide with him.
Right now we are in a series of virtues and I've been reading a book by C.S. Lewis called Christian Behavior and he gives us a little insight on what we have studied in the virtues and what we're continuing to study. So hear these words from C.S. Lewis: “There are seven virtues and four of them are called cardinal virtues and the remaining three are called theological virtues. The cardinal ones are those which all civilized people recognize and the theological are those which, as a rule, only Christians know about. The word cardinal has nothing to do with cardinals in the Roman church. It comes from a Latin word meaning the hinge of a door. These were called cardinal virtues because they are, as we should say, pivotal. They are prudence, temperance, justice, and fortitude.” And so we have been working with the cardinal virtues, of prudence, temperance, justice. And now we're moving into faith where the object is God.
So let's just become a little more settled in our seats or wherever we are. And we're just beginning to quiet ourselves before the Lord and begin to listen with our ears and listen with the ears of our hearts to this virtue of faith. And faith has such a big, large, and yet small and sweet way about it, which we'll get to discover together today. Faith meaning trust or confidence, solid convictions, fidelity.
Karen Swallow Prior in her book on reading well has guided a lot of my thoughts as she talks about faith. She says along with hope and love, these are not attained by human power, but by God, beyond natural human ability. And these theological virtues, the object is God and they assist us in seeking and finding God, and faith comes to us by God's grace alone.
Just like the other virtues that we've studied, they can become excellent through practice. And that's why we're here. We're here to listen and discover and practice what these virtues look like in the scriptures, what they might look like within our daily lives, and how we might ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in moving in these virtues in our lives. Because through hard work and habituation, these can become consistent, and it can become an enduring quality of our character.
And so with that then, let's begin to take a deep breath in together, take a deep breath in of faith into the body. And let's exhale out faith. And inhale. And exhale.
And as we sit with Jesus, the author, the perfector of our faith, we're going to just begin to bring forth words of gratitude to God. And we're going to think together on who have been those key people in our lives that are men and women of faith, of fidelity to God, of trust and perseverance, and ones with solid conviction to follow after God. So let's all spend some moments now just reviewing our maybe little lives of a few years or maybe long lives of many years, and just allow the Spirit to bring to mind people in your life of great faith that have inspired you, drawn near to you, encouraged you, celebrated you, and talk to God about that now.
Wonderful. God is gracious in that he gives us real life examples of faith in our everyday lives. Today's scripture for us to discover more about this word, faith, and this virtue, we're going to open the book of Hebrews and I'm sure many of you are familiar with Hebrews 11, which is just this beautiful 40 or so verses about the people of faith in the scriptures. And the writer of Hebrews wants the readers to not walk away from their faith, their salvation that they have received, as the Israelites in the wilderness did. And so we're going to pick up from there as the writer of Hebrews wants, wants the readers to not shrink back, but to persevere. And so we're going to begin our reading in Hebrews 10:36 and we're going to make our way all the way through Chapter 11. So this will be a bit of a sitting, a bit of a listening of the reading, and so if you get antsy or if you get distracted, that's OK. Just gently come back to where we are in the passage at that point, and we'll trust the Holy Spirit will allow you to hold on to or see or experience one or two small parts of the passage, so just trust where you're at today, how you're feeling, and allow the words just to wash over you.
And so, before we begin, let's just take another deep breath to get settled, to hear the word of God afresh today.
You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. For,
“In just a little while,
he who is coming will come
and will not delay.”
And,
“But my righteous one will live by faith.
And I take no pleasure
in the one who shrinks back.”
But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed. But to those who have faith and are saved.
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for.
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.
By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, and when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.
By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. 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.
By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have [had] opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country — a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice this one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from the dead.
By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons, and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.
By faith Moses' parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king's edict.
By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than [to] enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king's anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
By faith the walls of the Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days.
By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.
And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again. There were others who were tortured, refused to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated — the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.
Allow this big piece of Scripture, of Word, of image, of story, to just settle in our space. Allow us to just be still, honoring all of these humans that believed in something unseen.
I'm wondering, as this passage was read to you, which story or person sticks out to you, or maybe inspires you the most? Maybe you're familiar with a few of the stories, and maybe some of them you're yet to even know very well, and that might just give you a little idea or perk your interest of, maybe I should read about those individuals and their stories because they're pretty amazing. I know for me when I was in university, I was taking a painting class. I was very inspired by Hebrews 11 and I painted an eagle or a bird of sorts with its wings outstretched and I entitled it ‘Wings of Faith’. And within the colourful wings of this eagle, I have different stories from Hebrews 11 painted in in the wings, and in the center of the eagle’s body is the cross. And so for me, many of these stories became very inspiring stories that I wanted to have around me so that I could be continually encouraged and empowered to keep living like these individuals.
Let us consider and notice how faith isn't just believing something, believing in God, but it has action and it has feet, as it were. Faith, also, you sense within these characters lives that it's not afraid to make a mistake. As you sink deeper into all these individuals, whether it be Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, we know that these stories weren't a straight, perfect line of faith. There's doubt, there's lying, there's deceit, and yet they don't give up, they keep going. And God continues to use their little faith or big faith, each step, to broaden and deepe[n] their experience with God, their personal experience.
To quote my mother, she says to me, “Faith is based on a fact. It's the evidence of things unseen. Faith is not blind. It’s substance, it’s built up in us as we experience life in and with God. We can stand on it, the ground rises to meet us as we walk.”
Later in my life, as I gazed at this painting and these stories of faith, got to the point where we had our first child and we named him Abram, because Abram was called to go and live in a new place, but he didn't know where that place was. And it just so happened that when I had my first son, we were feeling called but didn't know where it would be. And so I wonder in your own life, how can we take these faith stories and make them more actualized? You know, for me, it was painting something. For me, it was naming a child after this faith journey of Abram and the steps he moved forward. I'm wondering how you might creatively bring these stories, these humans, simple humans that believed in the big God and a life lived that wasn't just for this life, but for the next. Maybe that will mean a poem you write or a song you sing. Maybe it will mean you dedicate yourself to discovering more of these individuals in this Hebrews 11 passage to infuse your faith. But I encourage you now to sit with the spirit of God and inquire how can these stories of faith affect my life, encourage my story?
And I'd encourage us now to think on a situation in our own life that really requires faith, belief and trust, requires us not to shrink back and to not give up. So let's spend time talking to God about this particular situation or about these particular people in our lives. Usually I find that these spaces in our life are ones where we feel so tender, so inadequate, so not sure of how this is all going to work out. And so just like our friends in Hebrews 11, we too have stories and lives where there is just deep uncertainty, where it will require faith. And so speak to God about those tender spaces, those situations where you need the virtue of faith.
And as you think about these particular situations, I'm wondering if you can think on our gratitude practice earlier and the people in your life that have shown you great faith or have encouraged you and, if you can just be reminded of those people as you continue to journey, your story, your life, that you would surround yourself with a great cloud of faithful people. And just be reminded, who are you spending time with? Who are you listening to? Whose stories are inspiring you and allow those to really fan the flame of your life. What books are you reading? What authors are instructing your thoughts and your prayers and your life? For this will make a great difference. So just allow God to remind you of those people that are on the journey with you. Those books and words and phrases and hymns that are there for you, to keep you from shrinking back.
And to close our time of prayer, today I'm going to continue reading on in Hebrews, with Chapter 12:1-3:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run. With perseverance, the race marked out for us. Fixing our eyes on Jesus. The pioneer and the perfector of faith. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Scorning its shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him. Who endured such opposition from sinners so that you will not grow weary. And lose heart.”
Go in peace, my friends, to practice and exercise this virtue of faith. And it can be a small tender step, it can be a big leap. So may we rest in this wonderful experience of life knowing that God is the pioneer and the perfector of our faith. Amen.
