TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Genesis 15:1-6; Romans 4:1-5
It is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. - Ephesians 2:8
TODAY IN THE WORD
Following the Civil War, General Ulysses S. Grant was showered with gifts by admirers and people grateful that the terrible war was over. Grant received so many presents that one newspaper even grumbled about the way the former “stern soldier” gladly received these gifts--which reportedly led Grant to develop a taste for lavish living.

It’s hard to turn down a reward when it’s set before you, especially if you think you’ve earned it. Abraham had a great opportunity to enrich himself after defeating an alliance of kings who attacked Sodom and Gomorrah and took his nephew Lot captive (Gen. 14:1-12).

Abraham and his men rescued Lot and all the goods that had been taken, and the king of Sodom offered to let Abraham keep all the property. But Abraham refused the reward as an act of faith (vv. 22-24), because he had committed his future to the Lord.

This is the context for God’s further promise that He would be Abraham’s security and reward (Gen. 15:1). This assurance dealt with whatever fear Abraham may have had for his future after passing up the reward offered to him.

Abraham understood that the Lord’s promise to make him into a “great nation” (Gen. 12:2) required him to have an heir. Enough years had passed since the promise that Abraham began to wonder if he would have to name his servant Eliezer his heir.

It’s not entirely clear if Abraham’s question (Gen. 15:2) was an evidence of doubt. This is a possibility because even though Abraham was faithful, he wasn’t perfect.

But God restated the promise in no uncertain terms. Abraham’s heir would be “a son coming from [his] own body,” and his descendants would be as many as the stars (vv. 4-5).

Abraham’s response to this was to believe the word God spoke, and to receive God’s declaration that he was righteous--that is, Abraham believed God in the face of seemingly impossible circumstances.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Many lost people may tell you about the good things they are doing to earn their place in heaven--much as Paul said that Abraham could have bragged about his good works. The problem is that human goodness has no weight with God, a reality that lost people have to understand.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:11-12; Genesis 17:15-18:15
Is anything too hard for the Lord? - Genesis 18:14
TODAY IN THE WORD
Children born in biblical days were often given names that reflected their parents’ circumstances before that child’s birth. Isaac (meaning “laughter”) certainly fit into that category, because both of his parents laughed at the idea that Isaac would ever be born.

The two laughers were Abraham and Sarah. They considered themselves far too old to become parents after so many years of being childless. But Isaac was born when his parents were age 100 and 90, respectively, and it’s a story of doubt and faith that we can learn from today.

The problem with Abraham and Sarah is that they laughed in doubt. It had been twenty-five years since God first promised Abraham that he would become a great nation, and yet nothing seemed to be happening. Fourteen years earlier (Gen. 16:16), Sarah had tried to help the promise along by giving her servant Hagar to Abraham, resulting in the birth of Ishmael.

But God had other plans. Abraham wavered for a moment when God announced that Sarah would have a son and become “the mother of nations” (Gen. 17:16). That struck Abraham as so unlikely that he laughed and asked God to make Ishmael his heir. God did not directly rebuke Abraham, but restated His plan to establish His covenant through Isaac.

Abraham’s full confidence in God was restored by the time God Himself and two angels appeared to the patriarch in the form of three men. This time, Sarah laughed inwardly in disbelief as she heard the promise of a son being made one more time (Gen. 18:12).

Despite these displays of humanness, God kept His promise to send Isaac. Abraham was commended for believing that God could bring life from two people who were as good as dead when it came to having children (Heb. 11:12).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Have you ever laughed at the idea that God could do something that seems impossible to you?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Galatians 3:1-18
Those who have faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith. - Galatians 3:9
TODAY IN THE WORD
Pastor and author Charles Swindoll says he highly values the heritage of hard work, integrity, and commitment left to him by his father. Swindoll compares a godly heritage to “an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers” (Prov. 22:28), which the Scripture warns us not to tamper with.

Whatever your family background, if you know Christ you have an invaluable heritage that Abraham left to every person of faith. Paul used Abraham as a compelling argument to keep the Christians in Galatia from falling under legalism.

While we’re on the subject of Abraham’s faith, it’s important to see his role in God’s plan, and where we fit into the picture. Galatians 3 gives us a perspective on faith that isn’t discussed in Hebrews 11--a perspective emphasizing the antithesis between faith and law.

The Scripture teaches that the opposite of faith as a principle for life is the principle of law, or trying to please God by keeping the rules.

This was the tension at Galatia--the fact is we’re not far removed from this issue because there are plenty of rules-makers in the church today.

The Galatians were in danger of allowing themselves to be placed under obligation to keep the Mosaic law, creating a mixture of faith and law that would never work.

Paul used Abraham to clinch his argument that salvation has always been by faith, not by obedience to the law. The apostle’s logic is inescapable. When Abraham believed God and was credited with faith, the principle was forever established that “the righteous will live by faith” (v. 11).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Let’s admit that sometimes it feels safe to live by a set of rules. Just follow the rules, and you’re in.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:13-16
Our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. - Philippians 3:20
TODAY IN THE WORD
An ad placed in a London newspaper by Arctic explorer Ernest Shackleton drew thousands of responses, even though the ad made this offer: “Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful.” Shackleton’s goal was to reach the South Pole and prove that it was on land rather than beneath the Arctic Ocean.

People will give up a lot when they believe the goal they’re sacrificing for is worth it. The heroes mentioned in the early verses of Hebrews 11 were willing to give up whatever it took to follow God. We could call this the perspective of faith, and it’s the only way to live.

The opposite of this faith outlook is to live only for this life--to pile up all the possessions we can and enjoy them while we can. In Jesus’ story of the rich man and Lazarus, Abraham said to the rich man at his death, “Remember that in your lifetime you received your good things” (Luke 16:25). But all of the man’s wealth did not prepare him for eternity.

It’s possible to read today’s verses and feel sorry for these people of faith who didn’t receive everything God promised them. But the writer is making a positive statement, not a complaint.

The idea is that these people were still going strong in the Lord and full of faith when they died. They were content to be aliens without a country and pilgrims (“strangers”), always on the move, because they believed that when God makes a promise, it’s as good as done (v. 13).

Abraham, for example, left behind his citizenship papers and a settled existence in Ur to trust God and travel to Canaan on the strength of nothing but God’s command. Abraham and the others didn’t have the Bible’s teaching on heaven that we have, but they knew the God of heaven. And that’s where they anchored their hope (Heb. 6:19).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Living by faith may mean that we settle for a little less here on earth.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:17-19; Genesis 22:1-18
On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided. - Genesis 22:14
TODAY IN THE WORD
In his wonderful book, Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life,Charles Swindoll makes these observations about the startling sacrifice that God commanded Abraham to make in Genesis 22. “We are often hindered from giving up our treasures out of fear for their safety. But wait. Everything is safe which is committed to our God. In fact, nothing is really safe which is not so committed. No child. No job. No romance. No friend. No future. No dream.”

Most of us are still learning the wisdom of trusting God with everything. Nothing is safe if it is withheld from God. Was Abraham somehow holding out on God by failing to commit Isaac to the Lord? There’s no evidence for that. Instead, God wanted Abraham to undergo the ultimate test of faith--whether he loved God more than anyone or anything else.

It’s hard to appreciate all that was at stake for Abraham. Isaac was a beloved and only son for whom his parents had waited twenty-five years. Fatherly love alone would be enough to make most fathers pull back in horror at the idea of giving up their only son.

But Isaac also represented every hope Abraham had for the future. It was God who promised to bless Abraham and his descendants through Isaac and no one else.

The writer of Hebrews says that Abraham obeyed God, believing that He had the power to raise Isaac from the dead (v. 14). That may appear to take the edge off of the test, but far from it.

First of all, Abraham’s confidence in God’s power reveals an incredibly strong faith in a day when there was no evidence of resurrection. Second, he still had to raise the knife over Isaac’s heart and bring it down. That would take great faith no matter what Abraham believed about the outcome.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Let’s finish today’s study with Paul’s teaching on the importance of the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:12-20).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:20; Genesis 27:1-40
These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised. - Hebrews 11:39
TODAY IN THE WORD
One basic principle of Bible study is that Scripture is often the best commentary on itself. Isaac’s inclusion in Hebrews 11 is a good example of how one part of the Bible helps us understand another part. Hebrews 11:20 shows how God used Isaac to accomplish His purposes even in the middle of all the deception and anger that surrounded Isaac’s blessing of Jacob and Esau.

This faith perspective is important because it’s hard to see from Genesis 27 how anyone in Isaac’s family was acting in faith. Isaac was famous mostly because of his famous family. He lived longer than either Abraham or Jacob, but there’s not much space given to him in Genesis. His most clearly recorded act of faith was to pray that he and his wife Rebekah would have children (Gen. 25:21).

When it came time to pass on his blessing, Isaac turned to Esau, probably ignoring God’s prophecy that Esau would be subservient to Jacob (Gen. 25:23). Isaac’s decision was motivated more by his appetite than anything, because he liked what Esau hunted and cooked.

Esau had already shown his contempt for spiritual things when he sold his birthright to satisfy his own hunger. The Bible says that Esau “despised” his birthright (Gen. 25:34).

Jacob wanted the blessing that God wanted him to have, but he and Rebekah used deception to get it instead of acting faithfully. Jacob seems to have been more worried about getting caught than he was about the rightness of the plan.

All four family members had their own agenda, but God overruled this biblical “soap opera” and Jacob became the next in line to inherit the promises God first made to Abraham.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
God still overrules and uses human sin and weakness to work out His plan for our good and His glory.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:12; Genesis 48:1-22
Each generation of the upright will be blessed. - Psalm 112:2
TODAY IN THE WORD
Cyrus McCormick, the inventor of the reaper and manufacturer of farming equipment, was a friend of Dwight L. Moody and a generous supporter of Moody’s work. McCormick’s son, Cyrus Jr., also a very capable business leader, later stepped into his father’s place and led the company, International Harvester, for more than thirty years. He was also committed to Christian work, and became one of the original trustees of Moody Bible Institute.

God is always looking for faithful people to bless generation after generation. One of the greatest benefits of a life of faith, which Hebrews 11 demonstrates so well, is the opportunity it gives us to pass on a godly legacy.

Abraham’s family is Exhibit A of this principle at work. His grandson Jacob inherited and preserved the blessing--though far from perfectly, given Jacob’s years of deceit and the faithless actions of his older sons in their treatment of Joseph among other things.

Despite everything, Jacob was still the “blessing carrier” for his generation, and he followed a family pattern in the way he blessed Manasseh and Ephraim, the two sons born to Joseph in Egypt (v. 5).

Like Isaac, Jacob had bad eyesight, suggesting that he couldn’t tell Joseph’s boys apart. Jacob seemed to be confused when he crossed his hands to confer the blessing, despite the fact that Joseph lined the sons up so that Jacob’s right hand would rest on Manasseh (v. 14).

But Jacob knew what he was doing when he reached across and blessed Ephraim instead. This was the fourth generation in a row in which the younger son received God’s blessing: Isaac over Ishmael, Jacob over Esau, Joseph over Reuben, and now Ephraim over Manasseh. By basically adopting Joseph’s sons, Jacob gave his faithful son’s family a double inheritance.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Looking back on the time when you first came to know the Lord, you can probably remember several people who played a role in bringing you to faith.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:22; Genesis 50:15-26
Let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit. - 2 Corinthians 7:1
TODAY IN THE WORD
Last August, the class of 1970 at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, finally held its commencement exercises. The 30-year delay was the result of a deadly tornado that struck the city on May 11, 1970, days before the university’s graduation exercises. The ceremonies were called off as Lubbock dealt with the tragedy. A group of those 1970 graduates, now fifty-somethings with children old enough to graduate from college, participated in commencement exercises.

Some things are too important to be forgotten with the passage of time. We’ve been meeting “heroes from Hebrews” whose faith in God and His promises did not fade throughout more years than most of us expect to live. In fact, “These people were still living by faith when they died” (Heb. 11:13).

Joseph was one of these faith champions. His confidence in God never wavered from the time he was a seventeen-year-old sold into slavery in Egypt until he died at the age of 110. The writer of Hebrews could have drawn on many dramatic stories from Joseph’s life to prove his faith.

But Hebrews 11:22 also speaks of Joseph’s prophecy concerning Israel’s future (Gen. 50:24-25). Woven into this account is a dramatic statement of faith in God’s ability to keep His word.

Genesis 50:20 has been called the Romans 8:28 of the Old Testament. It takes a faith perspective to realize that even the hateful actions of other people are part of God’s greater plan for our good. Joseph’s faith was put into action (James 2:18-26) when he embraced his brothers and their families instead of taking revenge on them.

But Joseph’s greatest act of faith may have been his last act on earth. He looked ahead and believed that God would someday bring the Israelites out of Egypt and back into the promised land. Joseph’s command to take his coffin with them was a statement of his confidence in God’s fulfillment (Gen. 50:24-25).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Joseph’s life is the embodiment of today’s verse. He believed God’s promises and made faith commitments that kept him true to God even in the face of temptation (Gen. 39:1-12).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:23; Exodus 1:6—2:10
The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. - Psalm 34:7
TODAY IN THE WORD
A recent missionary newsletter carried the story of the Tajumulco Baptist Church in Guatemala, which meets on property located next to two sacrifice stones thought to be left over from a Mayan temple. Local witch doctors still offer animals on the stones, and pray that the Christians among them will be “skinny, sickly and removed.”

When two opposite and antagonistic worldviews meet, people have to make a choice and take a stand. This is happening in Guatemala and many other places today, just as it happened in the time of Moses. Pharaoh forced God’s people to make a choice when he began oppressing the Israelites, and then ordered the death of all newborn Hebrew boys.

The Hebrew midwives were the first to make the decision to obey God rather than the pharoah. They refused to kill the newborns because they feared God (1:21), a faith commitment that He rewarded by giving them their own families.

Hebrews 11 focuses on the choice made by Moses’ parents, Amram and Jochebed (Ex. 6:20). Jochebed and Moses’ sister Miriam were the main characters in today’s story, but in Hebrews, Amram is also credited with acting in courageous faith to help save Moses from Pharaoh’s murderous order (Heb. 11:23).

The story of baby Moses records the second time that God had preserved His faithful people by putting them in an ark. The word translated “basket” (2:3) is the same word used of Noah’s ark. The ark became a symbol of God’s ability to save His people while judging unbelievers, which happened in a spectacular way when Moses pronounced the plagues on Egypt and led the people of Israel out to safety.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Hebrews 6:10 assures us, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:24-26; Exodus 2:11-25
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. - Matthew 5:10
TODAY IN THE WORD
Think about the forty years that Moses spent living in the royal palace of Egypt as Pharaoh’s adopted son.

How often did Moses see Hebrew slaves being mistreated as he rode in his chariot, and when did it begin to bother him? Did his real family ever tell Moses about his origins or did God reveal it to him? Did Moses suddenly decide one day to forsake the riches of Egypt and identify with the Hebrews or was it a conviction that grew in his heart over a long period of time?

The Bible doesn’t answer questions like these. The martyr Stephen did say in Acts 7:25 that Moses believed his killing of a cruel Egyptian would cause the Israelites to accept him as their liberator.

Moses’ decision to identify with the people of God was the right one, but his timing and his methods were not God’s choice (Ex. 2:11-12). The Israelites rejected Moses’ attempt to lead them, and he had to run away for forty more years of preparation as a shepherd in Midian.

The writer of Hebrews telescoped the events of Exodus 2, focusing on the faith behind Moses’ decision to reject his royal status and identify with God’s people. How was Moses able to trade a life of pleasure among the “beautiful people” of Egypt for a life of pain among despised slaves?

The answer was in his perspective. He was “looking ahead to his reward” (Heb. 11:26), not looking back at the pleasures of Egypt. Moses had the same faith in God’s promises that those before him had.

This led him to give up what he could see in favor of what he couldn’t see--except through the eyes of faith. He knew that the pleasures of Egypt were not only temporary but laced with sin, and he made the right choice.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Sometimes we believers can begin to develop a “martyr complex” as we think about all we’ve given up to follow Jesus.

The apostles had a touch of that one day as they watched a rich young man walk away after talking with Jesus with all of his wealth intact (Luke 18:15-25). The apostle Peter spoke for the group: “We have left all we had to follow you!” (v. 28).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:27-28; Exodus 12:1-36
The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. - Exodus 12:13
TODAY IN THE WORD
Bible teacher John MacArthur says that true faith always accepts God’s plan and God’s provision, even when these don’t seem to make sense to human ways of thinking. He points to the experience of Moses and the Passover as an example.

Humanly speaking, putting a baby in a basket and then hiding the basket in the marshes doesn’t seem to be the best way to keep a future leader alive--much less for him to wind up in the right hands.

It also doesn’t make sense to think that the most powerful king on earth would let his slaves go free, or that painting an animal’s blood on the doorframes of the slaves’ houses would save their firstborn sons from death. But that’s what God commanded the Israelites to do.

Before Moses was ready to lead Israel in observing the Passover he had to leave Egypt, which Hebrews 11:27 says he did “by faith, not fearing the king’s anger.” This seems to present a problem with the account in Exodus 2:14-15, which says that Moses was afraid his murder of the Egyptian had become known, and fled from Egypt because Pharaoh tried to kill him.

But Exodus does not say that Moses was afraid of Pharaoh. And although he had to leave Egypt to avoid being killed, Moses’ actions--even when wrong--were motivated by his basic faith decision to identify with God and His people.

It was a different Moses who returned to Egypt forty years later to deliver God’s command to the king: “Let My people go.” By the time God was ready to carry out the tenth plague on the land and establish the Passover with Israel, Moses was the recognized leader.

In that role Moses faithfully communicated God’s instructions to the nation. These included both directions for Passover night itself, and for the future observance of the Passover feast that would become a part of Israel’s worship (vv. 24-28).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The book of Hebrews says, “Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” for sin (9:22).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:29; Exodus 14:1-31
Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. - Exodus 14:13
TODAY IN THE WORD
The reformer Martin Luther once wrote, “Reason holds that if God had a watchful eye on us and loved us, He would prevent all evil and not let us suffer. But now, since all sorts of calamities come to us, we conclude: 'Either God has forgotten me, or God is hostile to me and does not want me.’ Against such thoughts, which we harbor by nature, we must arm ourselves with God’s Word. We must not judge according to our opinion but according to the Word.”

Luther wasn’t writing about the Israelites at the edge of the Red Sea, but he could have been. They were trapped between the water and the Egyptian army in a developing calamity that caused them to turn angrily on Moses (vv. 11-12). The people could have substituted God’s name for Moses’, since they were really questioning God’s love and goodness.

The Bible says the people went through the Red Sea by faith, but at least in the early stages of this miracle the faith seems to have been on Moses’ part (v. 14). He calmed the people and assured them that the Lord’s purpose for them was complete victory, including their enemy’s destruction. Moses acted faithfully as God’s leader, and the way was prepared for Israel’s escape.

Let’s give the Israelites some credit too. Even with the Red Sea’s waters walled up on each side of them and dry ground to walk on, it still took faith for the people to step out on the sea bottom and walk between the high walls of water without looking back.

This was the moment of faith that Hebrews 11:27 speaks of. The sight of the waters piled up must have been overwhelming, even with the safe passage God provided. When the people made it safely across and watched the Egyptian army being swept away, their faith was renewed (Ex. 14:31).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Do you feel trapped between a hard circumstance and the enemy today? Maybe it’s time you stepped out in faith to discover God’s way of escape for you.

The apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that when we are tempted or tested (the word can be translated either way), God will not let us drown beneath the waves, but will make “a way out.” Read this verse, and then pray it back to the Lord while you take a Sunday walk today. As you walk and pray, imagine yourself walking through the Red Sea on dry, solid ground.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:30; Joshua 6:1-21
Be strong and courageous . . . for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. - Joshua 1:9
TODAY IN THE WORD
Faith can be embarrassing--at least to the world’s eyes. From the safety of Jericho’s high walls, the city’s defenders must have ridiculed the Israelite priests and soldiers who walked around the fortress day after day doing nothing but blowing on trumpets. Maybe even some of the Israelites themselves secretly wondered what they were doing, and why.

But as unorthodox as it seemed, this was God’s plan to hand Jericho over to Israel, which meant finally entering the promised land after forty years of disobedience in the wilderness. Joshua was acting under direct orders from “the commander of the army of the Lord” (Josh. 5:14).

The chapter break between Joshua 5 and 6 is a little misleading, because the conversation begun in 5:13 continues into chapter 6, after a brief parenthetic note about the situation at Jericho (6:1). The complete lack of any military effort on behalf of the Israelites underscored the most important part of this story: Jericho was conquered “by faith” (Heb. 11:30).

This Commander who appeared to Joshua was the Lord Himself, most likely Jesus Christ in one of His appearances before the Incarnation. Joshua asked Him whose side He was on (5:13). But as someone has said, this Commander didn’t come to take sides. He came to take over. And His strategy was to take Jericho in a way that would leave no doubt whose victory it was. The people of Jericho were afraid of Israel (Josh. 2:9-11, see tomorrow’s study). So it must have been a relief to them when the dreaded Hebrews arrived and started holding “camp meetings” instead of attacking.

But the secret to Israel’s strength wasn’t in her people’s military might. It was the presence of the Lord in their midst that made the difference. That’s why it’s interesting to learn that the trumpets the priests blew were the trumpets blown during Israel’s feasts to announce the Lord’s presence. The Israelites would have known the trumpets’ significance.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Joshua and the battle of Jericho may seem like a children’s Bible story, but there is a sober note of judgment to it. God commanded Jericho to be destroyed.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:31; Joshua 2:1-24; 6:22-25
Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained. - 1 Samuel 2:30
TODAY IN THE WORD
Which is harder for God to do, conquer a city with thick, thirty-foot-high walls, or conquer the heart of one person?

The answer, of course, is that neither is too hard for God. And in the ancient city of Jericho, He did both. Jericho stood in the Israelites’ path as they advanced into Canaan, and the people of Jericho were under God’s judgment for their gross immorality. He brought the walls down by His sovereign power without an arrow being fired.

But because God is also gracious, He opened the heart of a Jericho resident who seemed to be the least likely candidate for salvation. Rahab heard about the approaching Hebrews and their great God, who parted seas and flattened enemies on their behalf (Josh. 2:10). Like the rest of her neighbors, Rahab feared this God.

Hers was a different kind of fear. The rest of Jericho’s people simply hunkered down behind the city’s walls and locked gates and hoped the Hebrews wouldn’t come. They showed no inclination to repent of their sins and throw themselves on the mercy of the true God.

But Rahab’s fear turned into awe for the Lord, and she came to believe in the God of Israel (2:11). As a result, He credited her with faith. James 2:25 says Rahab’s faith was genuine because she acted on it by receiving and hiding the Israelite spies. In this way she was like Abraham, who believed God and proved it by leaving Ur, and later offering Isaac as a sacrifice (James 2:21-24).

Rahab’s faith was rewarded by the salvation of her entire family. She came to live in Israel, and even became part of Jesus’ lineage by marrying a man named Salmon and becoming the father of Boaz, David’s great-grandfather (Ruth 4:21; Matt. 1:5).

Because of her faith and God’s blessing on her, Rahab came to be highly regarded both by Jews and by Christians despite her former life as a prostitute. Some biblical scribes have tried to soften Rahab’s reputation by making her simply a hostess or an innkeeper.

But God’s grace doesn’t need any help. All of us are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Rahab’s life illustrates this biblical principle: “Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hebrews 11:32-34; 1 Kings 18:1-40
How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him. - 1 Kings 18:20
TODAY IN THE WORD
Pioneer missionary Robert Moffatt served for years in South Africa without seeing any converts. But when friends in England wrote to ask Moffatt what they could send him as a gift, he replied that he wanted a Communion set. The friends were surprised, knowing the difficult struggle Moffatt was having, but they sent him the set anyway. By the time it arrived, enough people had come to Christ under Moffatt’s ministry that he was able to hold a Communion service.

There’s a certain kind of confidence that comes when you’re living by faith in the God “who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were” (Rom. 4:17). By faith, Robert Moffatt could see those first converts as if they were already there.

God’s prophets spoke and acted with the same confidence. Of all the people and events mentioned in today’s verses, we chose one of the Bible’s best-known examples of the confidence that faith produces. Elijah served during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, arguably the darkest period in Israel’s early history.

These two were so fearsome in their opposition to God that anyone with less fire and courage than Elijah might not have been able to stand against them. When Ahab and Jezebel filled the land with idolatry and supported a total of 850 false prophets, Elijah stood in their path to stop the madness and call the people back to God.

Elijah was not afraid of Ahab, even though the king’s servant Obadiah reminded Elijah that Ahab could order anyone killed any time he wanted. Elijah’s confidence was not self-focused but anchored in the Lord (v. 15), which explains why he called for the contest on Mount Carmel with absolute assurance that God would answer and glorify His name.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
On June 7, we encouraged you to pray for an unsaved person you know--even the one who seems to be the farthest from God.