Hebrews 11:24-40
We all love the victorious stories in the \u201cHall of Faith\u201d of Hebrews 11 \u2014 enemies are defeated, people are rescued, lions\u2019 mouths are shut, and the dead are raised.\u00a0 But what about those who pleased God with their faith yet suffered and died?\u00a0 The last entries in this chapter convey a spiritual reality many people today are reluctant to embrace\u2014that faith is not a means by which we get God to do what we want. \u00a0
We who belong to Jesus Christ have God\u2019s promise that He will heal all our diseases, rescue us from every trouble, and give us great riches\u2014not now, but in eternity.\u00a0 The Lord said, however, that in the meantime we can expect tribulation, persecution, and suffering (John 15:18-21).\u00a0 So it\u2019s important to remember that faith doesn\u2019t rescue us from all this but will get us through it. \u00a0
God wants us to remain steadfast in the face of affliction and temptation.\u00a0 Like Moses, we may be called on to endure \u201cas seeing Him who is unseen\u201d (Hebrew 11:27).\u00a0 So let\u2019s place our hope in God and hold fast to Him in faith through good times and bad.
Thoughts from Hebrews 11:24-40
These verses summarize the lives of great men and women of faith.\u00a0 Some experienced outstanding victories, even over the threat of death.\u00a0 But others were severely mistreated, tortured, and even killed.\u00a0 Having a steadfast faith in God does not guarantee a happy, carefree life.\u00a0 On the contrary, our faith almost guarantees us some form of abuse from the world.\u00a0 While we are on earth, we may never see the purpose of our suffering.\u00a0 But we know that God will keep his promises to us.\u00a0 Many think that pain is the exception in the Christian life.\u00a0 When suffering occurs, we say, \u201cWhy me?\u201d\u00a0 We feel as though God deserted us, or perhaps we accuse him of not being as dependable as we thought.\u00a0 In reality, however, we live in an evil world filled with suffering, even for believers.\u00a0 But God is still in control.\u00a0 Our faith and the values of this world are on a collision course.\u00a0 If we expect pain and suffering to come, we will not be shocked when it hits.\u00a0 Jesus understands our fears, our weaknesses, and our disappointments.\u00a0 Jesus also suffered.\u00a0 In times of pain, persecution, or suffering we should trust confidently in Christ.\u00a0 As Christians we need love and support from each other.\u00a0 Jesus offers hope.\u00a0 The Holy Spirit gives strength to endure the unreasonable hatred and evil in our world. \u00a0
Key thoughts:
Trust confidently in Christ.\u00a0 Love and support each other.
Blessings from the Youth Committee
References:\u00a0 God\u2019s Word NIV and In Touch Ministries<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hebrews 11:24-40We all love the victorious stories in the \u201cHall of Faith\u201d of Hebrews 11 \u2014 enemies are defeated, people are rescued, lions\u2019 mouths are shut, and the dead are raised.\u00a0 But what about those who pleased God with their faith yet suffered and died?\u00a0 The last entries in this chapter convey a spiritual reality […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":402,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/402"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2181,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2180\/revisions\/2181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.stolaffd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}