Faith in the promises of God produces a loving relationship with the Lord. The Old Testament worthies demonstrated the love in fullness that pleased God. Enoch walked with God for three hundred years and “had the testimony that he pleased God.” Like him, the Lord can “circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul” to maintain steadfast and consistent walk with Him.

Love also made Abraham an intimate friend of God. When God tested his love and obedience to sacrifice his only child, “Abraham…rose and went.” He never looked back or had a second thought about his decision. When God demands something we should cherish it and be ready to surrender same as proof of our faith and love for Him.

The fullness of love earned Moses a special place in God’s heart because he “refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.” He chose this because he esteemed “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.”

Seeing and focusing on the invisible God by faith enabled Moses to forsake Egypt, “not fearing the wrath of (Pharaoh).” Like him, our faith should make us give up something we cherish for the glory of the Lord and help us make decisions for Christ without fear. We must realise that activity, earnestness, zeal, sacrifice, religious deeds or mechanical acts, without the faith that produces total love, cannot please the Lord.

The worthies of old laboured for the flock of God. They fought for His glory, led the flock, taught, counselled, exhorted and fed them with the word of God. They also contended with adversaries, “subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, (and)stopped the mouths of lions.” They laboured by faith to preserve the nation of Israel¬¬— God’s elect and flock. They “subdued” the enemy and the powers that would have hindered them from doing God’s will and preserving His people.

Likewise, God has called us, today, to do His bidding and we must subdue whatever stands between the great commission, spreading the word of God and us. We must also subdue the land for Christ and turn the heart of people to God. Believers in Christ are the fulfillment of the interpretation of King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream “that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver and the gold…”

Jesus Christ is the Rock of ages who lives in the believer; and greater is He that lives in us than he that is in the world. Therefore, through His Church, God will subdue the earth. If we believe, God will use us to purify, empower, preserve, protect, project, prosper, perfect and prepare His Church to please Him in all things. By faith, we can overcome the opposition of the enemies of the gospel in our contemporary time.

• Further Reading (King James Version): Hebrews 11:6; Galatians 1:10; 1 Thessalonians 2:4; Romans 8:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:15; Isaiah 2:6; Judges 14:3; Hebrews 11:5,6; Matthew 3:17; 17:5; John 8:29; Philippians 2:5. Hebrews 11:5; Deuteronomy 10:12; 30:6; Hebrews 11:14-16; Genesis 24:6-8; 22:1-3,15-18; Hebrews 11:24; Exodus 32:10-14; Hebrews 11:25; Psalm 119:30; Hebrews 11:26; 13:12,13; 1 Peter 4:14; Hebrews 11:27; 13:5,6; Psalm 56:4,11. Hebrews 11:30,32-34; Joshua 18:1; Judges 11:33,35; 1 Samuel 7:13; 2 Samuel 22:40,45; Daniel 2:40,44,45; Hebrews 11:40.