“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen.” – Hebrews 11:1

There’s not enough internet space to talk about how much I love this chapter, but specifically this verse.

We talk about faith in a lot of ways –“Have faith,” we say when things get scary. “Put your faith in God,” we encourage people when there’s nothing we can do for them. Faith is a total relinquishing of control, and it’s scary and uncomfortable… until it’s not.

This verse is telling us that the very belief that God hears us is the proof of the answer to our prayers. Just knowing you can take it to the Cross is the first indication that God sees you and will answer you. Hebrews 11 tells us that this is something we can count on back to the dawn of time.

“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,” verse 3 tells us.

What is seen was made out of what was unseen. Think of the places in your life where you’re holding out hope that God will move and you think you’re not seeing an answer. HE HAS PROMISED that your faith will bear out His promises to fruition.

Please read this whole chapter. Each of these verses is an important example of how God kept His word to the heroes of the faith. As a writer, I love the part that says, “And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.”

That legacy of faith, y’all. And Abraham, who put his own son on the altar at God’s command. His only son, the light of his life, but also the vessel God said that He would use to bear out his promise to make nations from Abraham’s bloodline, and Abraham put him on the altar willingly.

He knew God could raise his son from the dead. He knew God could provide a replacement. He knew, even down to the last minute, that GOD WAS THERE.

“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.” – Hebrews 11:14-16

All I want is for God to be proud of me. I do long for a home in heaven with Him. And even when everything seems lost and I feel alone and tired and abandoned by people I love, I have great faith that one day I’ll know Him better than I could have ever dreamed of.

If He can bring nations out of an old, old man, He can bring His promises to be in my life too, and in yours. There’s power in that the world can’t match. ❤️

“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.” – Hebrews 11:12