Wednesday, July 22, 2026

Opening Scripture

For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17

Opening Prayer

Gracious Father, thank you for this day, another chance to love and serve You. Help me make the most of it and do everything I can to please You. May Your priorities be mine. Remind me that, apart from You, I can do nothing. Help me follow the Spirit today as He guides me in grace, truth, and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Help me not to be foolish, but to understand your good, pleasing, and perfect will. Open my heart and mind to all You want me to know and learn. As I draw near to You, please draw near to me and help me sense Your presence. Help me to stand strong against the evil one, and to think and act as Your child. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Daily Bible Reading

Hebrews 11

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. 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.

By faith Abel brought God a better offering than Cain did. By faith he was commended as righteous, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead. By faith Enoch was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death: “He could not be found, because God had taken him away.” For before he was taken, he was commended as one who pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. 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.

All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 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.

By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff. By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his bones.

By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and the application of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel. By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to do so, they were drowned.

By faith the walls of Jericho fell, after the army had marched around them for seven days. By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies, was not killed with those who were disobedient.

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword; whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies. Women received back their dead, raised to life again.

There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated—the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground. These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

Reflection  

This long, wonderful passage explains “faith” (pistis) as both the means and substance of our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith, and faith supplies the confidence and assurance we need.

The Greek word for “assurance” (hypostasis) refers to structural certainty and foundational support. Hypostasis denotes the underlying reality that gives something its tangible existence. Hypostasis is what provides the solid, reliable, and enduring in what we hope for.

As such, our faith is not wishful thinking, but the present possession of a future reality. It is not an abstract, self-generated desire, but a foretaste of God’s secure promise. The Lord Jesus is both the focus and source of our faith.

This faith is absolutely essential because “without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” That’s the way it has always been because “this is what the ancients were commended for.”

Being faithful often comes at a cost. In yesterday’s passage, the writer reminded his listeners that they had endured great suffering, were publicly exposed to insult and persecution, and had their property confiscated. Today, he mentions heroes of the faith who were tortured, flogged, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, and martyred.

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 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.”

Flourishing Habit

Flourishing Christians

Hebrews 11. So many names. So many stories. So many heroes of the faith. Some are obvious. Others less so.

For example, Enoch (Methuselah’s father) walked faithfully with God for 300 years, then one day God just took him up “so that he did not experience death.” It has been said that Enoch and God were out for their usual stroll when God said, “Why don’t you just come home with me?”

Then there is Rahab, the prostitute. Though she was “unfaithful” by profession, she was very faithful in the moment when the Israelite spies came to her home. As such, she not only served God’s purposes at a crucial time, but she was woven into God’s redemption story as the mother of Boaz and an ancestor of Jesus.

Things are not always as they appear. The world often takes the position that seeing is believing, although, in this age of AI, even that is now suspect. We are being conditioned to grow ever more skeptical of what we see. AI is increasingly capable of distorting or producing images and experiences that do not exist in reality, yet present themselves as true. What can you believe in?

Despite recent discoveries and developments, there are definite limits to what modern science and human intelligence can grasp or explain. However, for followers of Jesus, believing is seeing. As today’s passage declares, “by faith we understand.”

Faith is a perspective, a lens, a way of viewing things. Faith is the basis for a Christian’s understanding of the entirety of life. We believe that the universe was formed at God’s command. He made everything out of nothing. He can do anything!

It is imperative that we place our faith in the right object! Great faith in the wrong thing can be disastrous. It’s not the size of our faith but the object of our faith that makes the difference. Our confidence and assurance come from the Lord Jesus Himself, not how much we believe in the moment.

Are you living by faith?

How is your faith helping you understand things?

Remember: Nothing changes until something changes!