Five Virtues of a Woman's Faith.

Aspen, Colorado, has 6000 permanent residents, and 50 of them are billionaires. To some, living in Aspen is the height of material prosperity. However, people of spiritual virtue have different values. Godly moms in particular desire a spiritual home through which they may leave a faith that will remain through generations of their families to come.

Hebrews 11:11-12 highlights the faith of a godly mother. Sarah had to own Christ personally to become a person of faith. She could not rely even on her husband's faith to give her a relationship with God.

Abraham's faith was a representative faith for all who would be born again throughout history. His faith affected generations after his life. The faith that produces spiritual descendants is characterized by five virtues that we find in Romans 4:17-21.

Faith is based on omnipotence and the Word of God.

"Our faith is as strong as its object." True faith is sourced in God and His promises. God's omnipotence was evident in Abraham and Sarah's lives only because they had a personal encounter with God in salvation. This allows us to love God for who He is more than what He can do for us.

Faith in God's omnipotence is the foundation for perseverance.

Faith perseveres despite contrary appearances.

Abraham's faith was not without struggle. But God did not highlight his failures in the Bible, and He does not highlight ours either. When we are in Christ, God's opinion of us does not change. Only God can keep what He's saved.

In the absence of all external supports, Abraham and Sarah believed God's Word. This gave them hope when His promise was humanly impossible. If you desire spiritual progeny, you must be in Christ, Spirit-governed, and winning more battles than you lose.

Faith trusts in affliction.

For the believer, divine things are born out of adversity.

To know and to feel that you are born again are two different things. Knowing involves realizing what God has done for you; feeling depends on your own sense of struggle or victory in a moment. Immediate failure can cause us to forget the perseverance God has granted us for years. Faith

Faith is united.

The word translated "waver" in verse 20 also means "to divide." James wrote that double-mindedness leads to instability (James 1:6-8). We want to believe God, but often trust ourselves too much. Our faith sourced in God and the facts of His Word must inform our feelings.

Faith regards the fulfillment of God's promise.

Abraham believed that God would provide him a spiritual inheritance to leave his descendants. Because we have a relationship with God and know His promises, we can live with great anticipation.

"Delay is the deadliest form of denial." If you have been derailed spiritually, something of infinite value is at stake: your spiritual influence.

Abraham and Sarah were able to do right because they were people of faith.

Application Points

• Sarah had to own Christ personally to become a person of faith. She could not rely even on her husband's faith to give her a relationship with God. Have you placed your faith in God for yourself?

• When you waver in obedience, as all believers do, don't highlight your failures, but focus on who you are, remade in Christ. Dwell on God's forgiveness more than your mistakes. Then properly assess whether you are winning more battles than you are losing.

• Do you trust God despite circumstances that seem impossible?

• If you are a person of saving faith and obedience, these five virtues will be reproduced in your spiritual descendants.

Tools for Further Study

A Hymn to Encourage: "How Firm a Foundation"

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And then, when gray hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.