SHE 31 - Woman Of ValourSample

Our Proverbs 31 woman is a woman of faith. There’s no doubt in my mind about it. She laughs without fear of the future because she has faith for what is to come. She isn’t anxious or afraid. She trusts that the future holds good things. It is well with her soul. 

Consider: You gotta have faith

Hebrews 11 is a chapter all about faith. If you want to learn more about faith, that’s a great place to start. Verse 1 gives us a great definition of what faith is: “Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” 

But faith alone isn’t enough. We need faith AND action. James 2 v 18 - 22 speaks about our faith being made complete by what we do. Faith and action work together, so our faith is incomplete without action. 

Context: Why bother?

Having faith isn’t easy. Neither is taking action. It is far easier to believe in something when we can see it, hear it and touch it. But that isn’t faith and that doesn’t stretch us! There is a distinct difference between hope and faith. 

Faith = having complete trust and confidence in something (rational sense of certain expectation)

Hope = joyfully expecting something (emotional sense of joyful expectation)

Example:

My nephew experiences a huge amount of joy every time I tell him he’s coming to stay with me (being an auntie is the greatest!) He believes that he is coming for a sleepover based on what I’ve told him - that’s faith. At the same time, that belief creates a massive amount of joy within him - that’s hope. His natural trust in what I say is faith and his jumping around and fist pumps are how he expresses the hope he feels at coming to stay. 

Over to you: Ask yourself…..

• What in your current lifestyle is causing you have faith? How is it causing faith?
• Are there any things that you’re hoping for but don’t truly have faith for?
• What do you need to change in your life in order to put yourself in a position where you need to have faith?