By Faith Your Life Works

Faith pleases the Father when it originates from His word. Faith is the expression of God’s word when it is from God’s word. Faith reveals the Father in and through a life that works according to His word.

In Hebrews 11 you find a list of people whose lives operated by God’s word. They heard a word from God and did something based upon it. Actually, God’s word did something in them, with them, through them, which worked in the eyes of God.

In man’s eyes, it may have seemed a bit strange at the time, like when Noah built the ark. But in the end, it proved to be the right course of action! Or when Abram moved his family to a foreign land far from his home, or when he and Sarah began preparing for their first child, at the age of 90+! Some probably thought they had lost their minds, but in reality, in their hearts and their minds God’s word had been received. His work followed His word and they had a baby shower at the nursing home! God’s word previews God’s work.

As you study this amazing chapter you will find individuals whose lives worked out a word from God. Their activities vary from sacrificing, to walking, to building, to traveling, to having children, to blessing children, to walking away from successful careers, to fighting enemies, and being homeless. The one thing they all have in common is that they had received a word from God and that word did a work in them, with them, and through them. And it pleased God. He commended them for the work He did in them, with them, and through them! Hallelujah!!!

The life of faith works in God’s eyes because He can see His word at work in the life of the faithful. As Hebrews 11 shows, the life of faith is not easy, but it is simple. It is life according to God’s word. You will find great opposition, loneliness, homelessness, as well as great victory, miracles, and blessings as you study these lives. And you will find that God had spoken to each one which worked in them, with them, and through them, for His glory.

The other characteristic the life of faith has is vision, something greater than this life is clearly seen, welcomed, and spoken of. These are the promises of God at work in the life of a person of faith. They live by faith that what God has said, He will do! God is pleased with a life that works like that because that work expresses who He is since it is based upon His word.

The book of Hebrews begins with these powerful words, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” Hebrews 1:1 – 3.

These verses reveal the full and final Word of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. His Life fully pleased the Father because every thought, every act, every motive, every intent, every choice, every element of it from start to finish originated from the Father. His Life worked and was given for you and to you. When you receive Him, you receive God’s word and work as your life, and your life works from God and for God! This is the Life that pleases God and this is what it means to worship the Father in spirit and truth.