Hello Dear Friends

I pray that all is well with each of you reading this letter and that you are running the race and pressing towards the mark of the high calling in Jesus Christ our Lord! What an amazing race it is!

A few years ago, I wrote a series on “Crazy Faith” and I feel God leading me to share this again with fresh new meaning. Over the next several weeks I will be sharing with you amazing stories of great people in the Bible who had "incredible faith" in the Lord, and how they overcame many obstacles along they way through their faith. At the end of this series, I will be sharing my own incredible journey of faith and how God has blessed beyond measure, even in the darkest days of my life. I pray that this will be a encouragement to you!

Let me begin by asking you, “What is Faith?”

Webster defines faith as: (1) firm belief in something for which there is no proof (2) complete trust (3) something that is believed especially with strong conviction.

The Word of God defines faith as: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

Warren Wiersbe says, "True Bible faith is not blind optimism or a manufactured "hope-so" feeling.” Faith operates quite simply. God speaks and we hear His Word. We trust His Word and act on it no matter what the circumstances are or what the consequences may be. The circumstances may be impossible, and the consequences frightening and unknown; but we obey God's Word just the same and believe Him to do what is right and what is best." (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary - New Testament. 1989”)

Throughout the Bible, you will find many stories of men and women who trusted God no matter what the circumstances were. They had great faith! In the book of Hebrews there is a “Hall of Faith” that speaks specifically about great men like Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, and a host of many others!!

They have left great blueprints for us to follow as examples of incredible faith. We will be touching on several of these great men throughout this series.
Faith is the very heart and soul of the Christian life. Without Faith, it is impossible to please God!!

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.

If you take your Bible and look at Genesis 22, you will see a man of incredible faith! Here is a father who has been put to the ultimate test! God has asked Abraham to take his only son, Isaac and offer him on the altar as a sacrifice!! (2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.)

What does Abraham do? He takes his son on a three day journey to Moriah. As he approaches the mountain, he takes Isaac, along with the wood, the fire and a knife in hand. When I read this story it makes my heart sad just thinking about how Abraham must have felt.

Can you imagine what must have been going through his mind? I believe that Abraham knew God would provide the sacrifice but if not, he was willing to do whatever the Lord asked of him! Wow.... that’s complete obedience and "incredible, amazing faith!"

I want that kind of faith and I want it for you too! I want to be able to put everything, and I mean EVERYTHING in His hands ALL the time, no matter what the circumstances. Even if I am faced with the unthinkable, I want to totally and completely trust in the Lord.

There are several things that stand out to me in this story that I want to share with you:

1. God was testing Abraham to see if he really loved Him with all his heart by asking him to take his only son, and sacrifice him as a burnt offering. As a child of God, there will be testing times and there will be trials. This is what truly makes us who we are! These times in our life will show if we really love God with our whole heart like we say we do.

I Peter 1:6-7 says, “Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

"Trials should not surprise us, or cause us to doubt God's faithfulness. Rather, we should actually be glad for them. God sends trials to strengthen our trust in him so that our faith will not fail. Our trials keep us trusting; they burn away our self confidence and drive us to our Saviour" (Edmund Clowney)

2. God was testing Abraham to see if he would obey His commands, even in very difficult circumstances! Without hesitation, Abraham got up the next morning, and took his son, Isaac, knowing that he might face the “unthinkable.” WOW, what incredible Obedience!!

"True Bible faith is confident obedience to God's Word
in spite of circumstances and consequences. " (Warren Wiersbe)

3. God was testing Abraham to see if he would completely trust Him to provide!! There is no doubt whatsoever that Abraham had completely trusted in God. As he was climbing that mountain with his precious son, he had complete faith that God would provide a sacrifice.

Genesis 22:7-8 “And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.

Not only did Abraham know that God would provide, he also was confident enough to tell his servants that he and his son would come back to them! Abraham knew that God could do anything and he trusted Him completely to do the “impossible!!” (5 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.)

Abraham believed God was who He said He was, and he knew that God Could Do Anything!! Abraham’s faith was so incredible, he knew that if his son died, he believed God could raise him back to life!
Take a look at Hebrews 11:17; “By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead"

Today, we as Christians are blessed beyond measure! We have God’s precious Word, We have the Holy Spirit, and we have Jesus Christ living in our hearts! Our faith should be so much more and yet many times we allow things to stand in the way of us being men and women of "incredible faith!"

Matthew 17:20 says, for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.

Today, I challenge each of us to become men and women of “incredible faith” and Believe God for everything! If we will put our life completely in His, we will see amazing things happen before our eyes! We will see "mountains" moved and what a victorious life we will live! There will be a peace like nothing you have ever experienced before, even in the midst of extreme testing and trials, this I promise! God is the God of the Universe. He has power beyond our imagination. There is NOTHING that's too hard for Him! All He asks from us is that we are found faithful!

Jeremiah 29:17 “Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for Thee:”

Trust Him completely today and watch what He will do for you!

Encouraged in Heart….United in Love!
Jenny
II Timothy 1:12