What's Faith?

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Hebrews 11:1-12

TO CHEW ON: "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1


Think about some of the ways you show faith every day.

• If you jump from the third step, you have faith that you will land, not on the ceiling or against the wall, but on the floor.

• If you plug in an iron and turn it on, you don’t touch the bottom, because you have faith that it will be hot.

• If the light turns green in traffic, your mom drives through the intersection with faith that the people who would be coming across your path will have a red light and will stop.

In the same way that we have faith in invisible things like gravity, electricity, and people, God wants us to have faith in Him. In order to please God, what two things must we believe? (Hebrews 11:6):
1.
2

If we have faith in God, we will show it by doing the things He tells us to. Hebrews 11 names some people who had faith. They proved it by what they did. Match each person with the faith act he did (check the references if you’re not sure):

1) Abel     a) built an ark on
dry land (Genesis 6:9-22)

2) Enoch    b) left his home and went
where God led him. (Genesis 12:1-4)

3) Noah     c) walked with God
beyond this life. (Genesis 5:24)

4) Abram  d) pleased God by making
an animal sacrifice.(Genesis 4:3-7)

PRAYER: Dear God, I believe You exist and will show Yourself to me as I seek You. Help me to prove my faith be being obedient. Amen


MORE: Faith in Action
- Would you say you have faith in God?
- What faith act is God asking you to do?
- How can you prove your faith in God is real?

ANSWERS

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Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

X-ray Book

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Hebrews 4:12,13

TO CHEW ON: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

You have just fallen off your skate board. But even after you cleaned up your scraped arm it keeps hurting. Then it begins to swell. What do you do?
- Take a pain pill to make the pain go away?
- Wrap it in a sling and keep it very still?
- Go to the doctor for an examination and an x-ray?


You may do the first two. But chances are if the pain doesn’t go away, you’ll do the last one too. Though a pill and keeping your arm still may help make the pain less for a little while, those things don’t tell you the reason for the pain so you can fix the cause.

An x-ray picture, on the other hand, will show the doctor what happened inside your arm. If it shows your arm is broken, the doctor can move the bone pieces back together (set it), and put your arm in a cast to protect it and help it heal straight.



The Bible is a lot like an x-ray machine for our hearts. As we read it, we discover what God is like and what pleases Him. And we also see what we are like and where our thoughts and attitudes are twisted, broken and displeasing to God. Then we can ask Him to help us change so that we will be healthy on the inside.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your word which shows me what I’m like. Please help me to change my thoughts, attitudes and actions to please You. Amen



MORE: X-plain X-ray

• What are x-rays?
• How do they work?
• Have you ever had an x-ray? Why? Did it hurt?
• Are x-rays used for other things besides looking inside our bodies?

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Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.