Inspiration from God’s Word – From our head to our heart

By Toni Ford

Over the past few weeks, I have found myself in several conversations with friends and co-workers about the difference between head knowledge and heart truths, what we know in our head verses what is rooted in our hearts. It is often easy to read God’s Word, and listen to teachings about God and His truths, but to have them take root in our hearts is something different.
These conversations had me start asking the question, “How can we take His Word, His truths, and the understanding of who God is and make sure all those things become a part of what defines us, becomes our foundation on which we stand, and the motivation for which we deal with life each day?”
This question led me to Hebrews Chapter 11, often referred to “the heroes of faith.” I knew the people God included in that chapter were people who understood the head to heart concept.
As I began reading, verse three stood out to me immediately. It says, “By faith we understand that the entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be seen.”
Following this verse, the chapter immediately begins to explain how each hero lived out a life of faith. One specific thing I noticed was that with each person(s) there was an action step.
Let me explain by giving a few examples.
Abel brought. Hebrews 11:4 says, “It was by faith that Abel brought a more acceptable offering to God than Cain did. Abel’s offering gave evidence that he was a righteous man and God showed his approval of his gifts.” Abel and Cain both had been taught at a young age to bring the first and the best to the Lord as an offering for sacrifice. We see that Cain chose not to bring his best and that choice affected him all his life. However, Abel, even though he might not have understood the reason or the greater spiritual meaning behind bringing the best, by faith, he obeyed and brought his firstborn, his best lamb from his flock as a sacrifice to the Lord.
Noah built. Hebrews 11:7, “It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before.”
Noah heard what God was saying and the warnings he gave about destroying the entire earth but it wasn’t until Noah acted on his faith and built the ark that the Lord was able to confirm His covenant with Noah.
Abraham obeyed and left. Hebrews 11:8 says, “It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.” In order for Abraham to become the father of many nations, he had to leave his native country, his father, and relatives and by faith go to the land where the Lord directed him. By faith Abraham left and went.
The people of Israel marched. Hebrews 11:30 says, “It was by faith that the people of Israel marched around Jericho for seven days and the walls came crashing down.” The people of Israel heard God’s instructions to keep silent and march around the walls, but it wasn’t until they took the step to march around the walls that the Lord was able to give them victory over their enemies along with new territory to claim as their own.
There are at least seven to eight more examples in this chapter of people who had truths of God they had learned at a young age, but those truths had moved from their head to their hearts and they were willing to risk all to follow their God.
Lord, today I ask that you help us to not just believe but to believe in faith. Please take what we know and have learned about You to move from head knowledge to heart truths. For we know this is where true freedom lies. Thank you, Lord!