Fighting the good fight of faith is not always an easy fight.
Why? It takes courage and boldness to fight the good fight of faith. All through the Bible, those in faith were few. When the Hebrews sent twelve spies into the Promised Land, for instance, the majority returned with a negative report that had no faith in it. Ten of the spies said, "We can't enter into that land. It's full of giants. We are like grasshoppers to them. If we go in we will die." (Numbers 13:33.)
But Joshua and Caleb, two of the twelve, a clear minority, said, "Yes, we can make it. If we go into the Promised Land we can occupy it, in spite of the giants. God said He would fight our battles for us and we believe Him." (Numbers 13:30; 14:6-9.)
Unfortunately, the people believed and acted on the anti-faith report of the majority and were ready to stone Joshua and Caleb to death, when
God intervened and told Moses that the Israelites would not be allowed to enter into the Promised Land because of their lack of faith. Instead, they would have to wander in the desert for forty years -- one year for each day the twelve spies had explored the Promised Land (Numbers 14:5-34). After those forty years, the Israelites who were still alive went into the Promised Land, just as God had told Moses.
Now, interestingly, the giants were still there. Even after delaying for four decades, the battle still had to be fought. But God was with them, because this time they had faith. When you have faith, God is with you and you always win.
When you believe what God says and you believe it enough to act on His Word in spite of how things look around you, that's faith and faith pleases God. God
is always on the side of those with faith.
In God's Word and all through history, God has looked for men and women with faith. Hebrews 11, known as the faith chapter, tells about a man who did not die. His name was Enoch. Verse 5 says he was taken away and did not see death. It tells why he did not see death and was instead taken into heaven: "By faith Enoch was taken away so that
he did not see death, and was not found, because God had taken him; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God."
Then verse 6 goes on to say that it is faith that pleases God and more precisely, "Without faith it is impossible to please Him."
Notice that Enoch
had a good testimony. He gave a good report. He spoke the Word of God and whatever God said, he believed it. Not only did he believe God's words, he acted on them. We know this because the Bible says he had faith, and that is what faith is. Faith is believing that God has done everything He said He would do and believing it so completely that you place everything you say and everything you do in line with His Word.
So, I guess it all boils down to this: Do we please God by having faith, or do we go with the majority who speak doubt and unbelief? Going with the doubters does not please God and could leave us wandering in the desert. Being in faith pleases God and the miracles that can happen in our lives are unlimited.
Who do we please, God or man? The choice is ours (Luke
16:13).
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