11:1
Now, earlier I sort of disparaged the charismatic tendency of always thinking of this verse in terms of immediate practical things. However, these things are not irrelevant at all. The writer will shortly outline a whole series of examples of Old Testament people showing faith, and many of these applied to practical situations. The fact that we are accepted by God has many practical outworkings. We are now in the kingdom of God, the kingdom of light. We live under God's care. There is another important point. Having faith does not mean thinking of something, "believing" it, and then seeing it happen. This is the "name it and claim it" approach. Rather it means that when God speaks we believe and act on what He has said. And God does still speak today. Some cessationists seem to think that God does not speak personally to people, the written word is the only way that He speaks today. Now there is a significant amount of truth in this. The written word must be the bedrock, the foundation, of all that we do and believe. Most of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives will be leading us to have evermore faith and confidence in God's word, and to deepen our understanding of it. However, throughout the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, God has spoken personally to individuals and to His people as a whole, and I can see no evidence in the Bible that He has now stopped doing this. So there may be (will be?) times in our lives when God speaks to us about a practical situation personally related to us. Our faith is then the substance that His word is true. And these instances, and our faith, are all built upon our faith in the cross. For if we know that we are accepted by God, that He loves and cares for us, that all our sin is paid for, then it is possible for us to have faith in practical situations.
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