By Shannon Marshall

Sometimes my wife will ask me, “what are you thinking?” Usually this means I am in deep thought about something. With all that has happened the last two years, what are you thinking? Primarily what are you thinking about God? A lady this past week was mistaken about what she agreed to do in a contract. She said, “that is not what I thought I agreed to do.” Opinion doesn’t shape truth.  Truth stands on its own. Truth doesn’t take sides. Whatever we are thinking about God needs to be done through the lens of faith.

The writer of Hebrews wrote, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) What is faith?

Faith defined. Hebrews 11: 1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidenced of things not seen.” Faith is the reality of things hoped for.  We hope for a cure, faith is belief the cure can happen. The direction we seek, faith is the reality the way will be found. Faith is also the confidence of things not seen, will be seen.

Faith declared. The objective of faith is to please God. It takes faith to please God. Most importantly is the object of our faith. The object is who we put our faith in. Who or what is your faith in? Faith is the opportunity to believe in God. That He is! And that He does! He is real and He really does rewards and bless our belief in Him.

Faith demonstrated. We are spirit led, not spirit pushed. We demonstrate our faith when we take a step. We have to get our feet wet before we see the water part. In Joshua 4, Israel was to take twelve stones and pile them up by the Jordan River, to remind them God was with them in crossing the Jordan. Faith is a reminder God has been with us in all that has been happening.