The eleventh chapter of Hebrews is dedicated to the great men of faith in Bible times. It tells how they walked with God and what they did. In our day, we have tended to relate faith to belief, to the conviction held in a person’s heart that certain facts are true. We have almost made faith a philosophical acceptance of certain creeds or doctrines and teachings. According to Hebrews 11, faith is something else. Faith is an activity, a ruthless action on the part of people who hold convictions which demand that they do something about them.
By faith Noah, being warned by God about things not yet seen, in reverence prepared an ark for the salvation of his household, by which he condemned the world, and became an heir of the righteousness which is according to faith. Hebrews 11:7.
Because God wanted to change an age, He gave a Word to Noah. With reverence and with a godly fear in his heart, Noah set about building an ark, He was determined to act upon that Word. For one hundred and twenty years he faced the ridicule of his neighbors while he built the ark, of all places, on the top of a mountain. No wonder they scoffed at him! Shipbuilding facilities are found down by the ocean so that the ship can slide into the water when it is built. But Noah built a boat on top of a mountain where there was no water. He had something in mind: when the water reached the ark, he would have a good launching spot. If he had built the ark down in the valley, it might have been jostled against the mountain and would have broken up. God told Noah that there was going to be a flood, and Noah believed God. Whenever God wants to start a new age, He does not do much more than He did in the days of Noah when He said, “Here is a Word. This is what I am going to do, and this is what I want you to do.” Noah began to follow the Word with real faith in his heart.
When God wanted to introduce a new age in New Testament times, He did nothing more than to raise up John the Baptist and tell him, “I want you to go and preach the Kingdom of heaven. Prepare the way of the Lord.” And that is exactly what John the Baptist did. Violently and ruthlessly he proclaimed the Word of the Lord; and as a result, his head was cut off. When God wants to start a new age, He gives a Word; then He looks around to find a people who will believe Him. He places the responsibility on a few people to catapult His Word into action.
The Lord Jesus Christ came forth with a beautiful ministry, a wonderful revelation, and then He set about to establish it in a very poor manner according to human standards. He laid His hands on several fishermen and said, “Follow Me. I will make you fishers of men.” He could have promoted His resurrection from the dead in order to bring forth a whole new age. Instead, He found a dozen fellows, among them some fishermen and a tax collector, and He told them, “The Kingdom of God has come. The Church age is opening up. Now go out and make something of it. Make disciples of all nations.” Only a few days before, they had all run like scared rabbits. Even after Jesus’ resurrection, they were staying in an upper room, with the doors securely locked. When Jesus appeared in their midst, they were trembling with fear, afraid that they would be caught and crucified too. Imagine God letting the responsibility for the whole Church rest on a few men like that. It does not seem to make very much sense on a human level, but that is the way God works.
When God gives a Word, He expects us to do it, to make something out of it. He has spoken a Word and opened up a whole move of His Spirit on the earth, and again He has chosen a people who are not worth depending upon. It seems that He could have found someone better to work through. He says, in effect, “I am going to make you forerunners of My Kingdom. I have given you a Word. Now go out and do something with it. Go out and proclaim My Word. Do My will with all of your heart.”
The Church age came forth as ignorant and unlearned men stood and proclaimed the Word of the Lord. They were arrested and warned not to speak anymore in His name, but they answered, “We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard. Whether it is right to listen to you or to obey God, you be the judge; but we must speak, even though you might beat us, put us in jail, or kill us” (Acts 4:18–20).
Hebrews 11:33–38 speaks of the men who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, in order that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.
God has given us a living Word, and I do not think that He will sovereignly do much more for us than He has already done. This may disappoint those who are waiting for a revelation of it to come by some spectacular event that the world would bear witness to. Some may be waiting for a blinding light from heaven to come and say that this move is truly of God. If you are waiting for that, you will be disappointed. This does not mean that miraculous things are not going to happen. But they will happen because you make them happen. When God gives a Word and a leading to His people, from that time on He will say, “Come; now is the time to exercise your faith.”
Every time God wants to bring forth an age, He turns it loose and then lays the responsibility for it in the hands of a few unworthy people. It may be an Abraham, moving out from Ur of the Chaldees. It may be a scribe like Ezra, who, unaccompanied by any armed forces to guard him, dared to believe that he could make his way back from captivity with the Temple treasures and see the restoration of the Temple. Movements, revivals, and blessings do not just happen. God gives a Word, and someone believes it and goes out to turn it into action. God delights in having instruments who will believe Him.
We do not need any further words from the Lord, although they will come and we will rejoice in them, for the Word will flow like a river and not cease. But in this end-time walk we have already had a basic revelation and visitation from the Lord, and now it is up to us. What are we going to make of it? What are we going to do with the gifts of the Spirit? Are we going to observe them as something strange? Or will we look around to see what we can do with the anointing that is coming, what we can do to change things in our churches?
We could move into a new level. This does not mean that we should move independent of God, or that anything should be done by human promotion and organization. We must realize that God has laid the initiative upon us, and how much we want to see happen is up to us. When God gives us a talent, He expects us to use it. What we do with it now is up to us.
You can pray and believe God for every hindrance to be removed forever. This is one of your privileges. It is also a great responsibility. God is saying, “I have committed to you the great move of My Spirit. What will you do with it?” This does not mean that you can go out and do anything you want to do. You know that you must be led by the Spirit, but that will not happen if you sit around waiting for it to happen to you. Guidance will come to those who are in motion. You cannot steer a parked car. Are you waiting for God to lead you? You already have a Word from God; now get up and begin to move. Pray and seek the face of the Lord. Look to God for a word of prophecy. You may not receive anything more than the first sentence or two. Say that, and God will give you the rest of it. There is an initiative of faith waiting to be loosed. Perhaps you do not have much of a burden to pray. Use what burden you have and see if God will not give you a greater burden. Do not wait for a sovereign thrust of God, for it will never come. He has given a Word; now you must move into the place where it will be fulfilled.
The roll call of faith in Hebrews 11 tells about the men of faith through whom God opened up new ages to the people of God. When they received a Word from the Lord, they acted on it. They did not always act too wisely. The Bible tells about Abraham’s blunders, when he lied about his wife, saying that she was his sister. It tells about Moses’ mistakes. When he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrews, he killed the Egyptian and buried him in the sand. Then he had to flee for his life. He spent forty years on the back side of the desert herding sheep. In spite of all the times these men failed, they received something from God, and then they took a step. Sometimes it looked as though they were standing alone; no one was with them. Sometimes the opposition was very violent, but that made no difference.
We have gained a beautiful position of spiritual leverage. We have opened the door to real prayer, real deliverance, and a real answer. What do you want to do with it? Do you want to coast along, or would you like to see this whole age begin to change because you have shoved the door open and you believe? If you expect more to come sovereignly before you ever get started, you will be parked by the side of the road for the rest of your life. Press in and use the Lord’s blessing to the fullest extent. You will not exhaust the spiritual flow. The more you press in with the initiative of faith, the more God will pour into you. He is waiting for someone who will get in motion, who will pray the one prayer that will bring down Babylon. He is waiting for those who will shout before Jericho’s wall. He is waiting for the young people to come along who will say, “Lord, You have given the promise and You have poured out Your Spirit. Now we are going to be that army of Joel, those sons and daughters who prophesy.”
The great men of the Bible were no different from you. They were tormented by the same fears, the same doubts, the same problems of insecurity as you are. They did not have exceptional talents or abilities. Moses would not impress anyone today; he was meek above every man on the face of the earth. He could not even speak plainly; he stuttered and had to have Aaron as his mouthpiece. God could surely have found someone better than that. When the Midianites were oppressing God’s people, the angel of the Lord came down to Gideon when he was threshing wheat, fearful that the Midianites would come and take it away from him. When God said to him, “Hail, thou mighty man of valor,” he looked around to see if there was someone else nearby. Surely no one could be calling him that; he was scared of his own shadow. He was not important. His father’s house was the least in the tribe, and he was the least in his father’s house. But God gave Gideon a Word, and when the cry came up, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon,” his small army defeated the Midianites. The Lord can do marvelous things with people who are completely unworthy.
This move of God could be compared to a big wave, and you are a surfer who has caught that wave. Now you are riding it in. For some reason, God let you catch it. What will you do with it? Ride it for all it is worth! You will be rewarded according to your faithfulness. Faithfulness means seizing every opportunity, doing everything possible. God does not have to meet you every six months and pat you on the head, saying, “Yes, you are still My servant.” It is up to you to take everything He has given and use it wisely, as He leads. As you take that step in the Lord, more will come. If you are faithful in the little things, He will bring greater things to you.
God is saying to His people now, as He said to Joshua, “Go in and possess the land that I have given you. Wherever the sole of your foot treads, it is yours” (Joshua 1:2–3). He gives the promise: “I will drive out the Canaanites before you.” But when you get there, you find that no one has told the Canaanites; they have not left. You come up to a house and knock on the door, and a giant comes and looks down at you. You say, “Hello, Mr. Giant; God just told me that this is my house.”
“No, it is my house.”
“Well, the Lord told me that the vineyard out there is mine, that this land flowing with milk and honey is all mine and that you will flee before me.” The giant looks down and sneers, “Not me, Puny! I’m not fleeing from you.” That is the time to get out your sword, for you have a promise. If you get into trouble, God will send hornets to help you; but in the meantime you will have to trust the Word of the Lord and go after that giant with your sword, regardless of how much you are shaking. You need not expect much help until you draw your sword on the giant.
You have all the words you will receive. They are like sealed orders. You open the first one: “Behold, I have given you all the land. Go in and possess the land wherever the sole of your foot treads.” The next packet is to be opened when you are confronting giants. And you go on from there. There will always be something facing you that requires the initiative of your faith.
Do you want to change within? Do you want to change the circumstances round about you? Do you want to be something that you never could have been otherwise? Do you want to fulfill your destiny in God? Do you want your life to have meaning in His will? Do you want to have a real walk with God? Make it happen!