Hebrews 11 Lesson

There are three things that all of us can do to increase our faith:

1. Study the Bible,
2. Pray for a stronger faith,
3. Act on our faith.

We will look at each of these during today’s lesson, but first, we will define faith and outline why having faith is so important to the life of a Christian.

THE DEFINITION OF FAITH

Dictionary.com defines faith as:

1. Confidence or trust in a person or thing,
2. Belief that is not based on proof.

Christianity.com defines faith as:

• “Putting your trust in God and having confidence that he will fulfill his promises.”

These definitions are helpful, but the best place to learn about faith is not in a dictionary, it is in the Bible!

BIBLE VERSES ABOUT FAITH

The Bible has a lot to say about faith. For today’s lesson, we have highlighted the following five verses:

1. “And 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 seek Him.” - Hebrews 11:6,
2. “Faith is the assurance of  things  hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1,
3. “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.” - Ephesians 2:8-9,
4. “Nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” - Galatians 2:16,
5. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” - 2 Corinthians 5:7.

PROTECTING OURSELVES FROM SATAN

In his letter to the Ephesians, the Apostle Paul told us that faith acts like a shield against Satan's attacks.

• “Stand firm therefore having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.   And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” – Ephesians 6:14-17.

Did you know that according to the Bible, Satan is the ruler of the Earth?

That is a powerful statement to make, backed up by the following four scriptures:

1. “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” - 1 John 5:19,
2. “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 4:4,
3. “The ruler of this world will be cast out.” -John 12:31,
4. “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” - John 14:30.

In these four verses, Satan is referred to as:

1. “The evil one,”
2. “The god of this world,”
3. And “The ruler of the world” twice.

Of course, we know from the Book of Revelation that Satan’s rule on Earth will eventually come to an end when he is defeated and thrown into the lake of fire:

• “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” – Revelation 20:10.

This is a comforting scripture to read, and it gives us hope, but it will not protect us against the many attacks of Satan that we are going to face while we are on Earth.

Protecting ourselves against Satan requires a strong faith!

We will now go into greater detail about three things all of us can do to increase our faith.

STUDYING THE BIBLE

The first thing that we can do to increase our faith is to study the Bible.

Paul wrote in his letter to the Romans:

• “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” – Romans 10:17.

When we read the Bible, we are exposed to the wisdom of God! And the wisdom of God is strong enough to protect us from any of Satan’s advances.

As we read the Bible, we will learn the right scriptures to apply to any given situation, and this will make us stronger.

We also will learn about how beautiful Heavenis, and this gives us reason to have hope in a sinful world.

Studying the Bible teaches us to have endurance, and to never give up no matter how difficult our lives may become.

That is why studying the Bible is so important, and why it is the first thing that we should do to grow our faith.

PRAYING FOR INCREASED FAITH

The second thing that we can do to increase our faith is to pray about it.

John wrote in his first epistle:

• “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.  This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. ” -1 John 5:14-15 .

If we study the Bible and pray to God for more faith, He will answer our prayers and our faith will become stronger.

ACTING ON OUR FAITH

The third thing that we can do to increase our faith is to act on it!

You can have all the faith in the world, but if you never act on it, it is useless.

True faith compels us to act!  

Nowhere is that better articulated than in the following scripture taken from the Book of James:

• “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith, but he has no works? Can that faith save him?  If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.” – James 2:14-17.

As the above scripture so powerfully points out, we can have all the faith in the world, but faith alone will not help that person who needs a meal taken to them, or warm clothes.  

God needs workers in the field to do His will, and we are those workers!

The more we act on our faith, the stronger it will become. Just like a muscle, faith needs to be exercised if it is going to grow stronger.

CONCLUSION

Satan is constantly looking for ways to create havoc in our lives.

Peter wrote about this in his first epistle:

• “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” -1 Peter 5:8.

To properly shield ourselves against these attacks, we need to build a strong faith in Jesus.

In today’s lesson, we discussed three things that all of us can do to increase our faith:

1. Studying the Bible regularly,
2. Praying for increased faith,
3. Acting on our faith.

When we do these three things, the Bible teaches us that our faith will grow, and God will be pleased.  

We will end today’s lesson with the following Bible verse.   It reminds us how important our faith is to God:

• “And 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 seek Him.” – Hebrews 11:6.