By Faith

There was a man who lived and did not experience death.  He walked with God and then he was no more.  He did this by faith.

There was a man who built an ark to save his family from something he’d never seen nor experienced before.  He did this by faith.

There was a man who took his family to a place he did not know because God called him to go there.  He did this by faith.

There was a man who led a multitude of people across a sea as on dry land.  He did this by faith.

Then there was a man who sent his entire army across the same sea, and they all drowned.  He did not do this by faith.

Hebrews 11:29 (NIV)
By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.
The Egyptians were destroyed because they tried to step out and do something extraordinary without having faith in the One who was creating the extraordinary circumstance.  Moses heard from God, and so he was able to use his faith in what he had heard.

A lot of times we hear about how God miraculously met a need for someone when they took certain steps of faith.  Then we try to replicate those steps only to find that it does not work the same for us.  The other person had faith because they had direction from God.
The same thing happens with churches - something works for one, and so others try to copy without God’s direction, and they fail miserably.


We can’t try to live by someone else’s faith.  Like the heroes in Hebrews 11, we must live by our own faith.  In order to do this, we have to hear from God so that we can follow His direction for our own life.  Read through Hebrews 11 and get inspired to live by faith.