Heaven’s hall of fame of faith

The first verse of Hebrews 11 tells us that faith is the basis for "things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen". Here we find that faith has nothing to do with the circumstances that we see. The following verse says "By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God" and so the things that are seen were not made by things visible.

The verses that follow show that faith has nothing to do with circumstances, but it has everything to do with taking God at His word.

(verses 4-6) Abel died by faith, Enoch survived by faith
Faith has nothing to do with how many years you will have in this life.

(verses 7-10) Noah stayed by faith, Abraham ventured out by faith
Like Noah, God may tell you to work on and stay in your "ark" (home or your church), regardless of how difficult, stinky, and messy it may be. Or like Abraham, God may tell you to leave your hometown to a place He will show you (perhaps a foreign mission?).

(verses 11-12, 17-18) Sarah bore Isaac by faith, Abraham offered him up by faith
God may give you something that He may later convict you to to let go of. I also think of the story of Hannah and her son Samuel. She must have had a lot of faith to leave her son with Eli, who had some really bad kids.

Joseph and Moses are interesting contrasts as well. Joseph lived by faith and gained riches in Egypt, while Moses lived by faith and gave up the riches of Egypt. (especially notice verses 24-26). Well, that definitely throws the "prosperity gospel" out the window (which isn't even a gospel at all).

Again, in verses 32-37, we see more examples of people who either escaped death by faith or they died because of their faith.

Faith is not telling God what I want, believing He will give it to me. Faith is an abiding trust in God regardless of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. We may be facing a life-threatening illness or enjoying good health. We may be perfectly content in our home or facing a move and dreading it. We may be prospering financially or struggling to pay the mortgage. We may be enjoying a great marriage, or the relationship may be strained. We may feel very close to God, or we may feel distant from Him. Faith is not dependent on our feelings or our circumstances (Hab. 3:17-19).
~ Mark Finley