This blog is based on a message by Pastor Todd Cosenza.
A life of faith is not occasional. It is daily.
Hebrews 11 is a “faith hall of fame” chapter, but the lesson is not just that great people did great things. The lesson is much more personal. It is about how we are supposed to live.
The foundation is this: “The righteous will live by faith” (Hebrews 10:38). Faith is not something you pull out once in a while. Faith is meant to be your everyday life. When faith becomes a lifestyle, it grows stronger. When faith becomes emergency-only, it weakens.
Think of it like a natural body part. If you immobilize a leg, it gets weak. It shrinks. Then recovery takes time. Faith works the same way spiritually. If you do not use it, it does not grow. It deteriorates.
God is pleased with faith, not just good intentions
The Bible makes this clear: “Without faith, it is impossible to believe God. And without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6).
Pastor Todd’s point is direct and honest. You can be kind. You can serve. You can do the right things. But if faith is not mixed in, it becomes “going through the motions” instead of being pleasing to the Lord.
So here is the practical takeaway: everything in life needs to be mixed with faith. Your decisions. Your prayers. Your conversations. Your obedience.
Hebrews 11:13 shows the key goal, “to the very end”
Now we come to the centerpiece. Hebrews 11:13 says, “All these people (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham) were still living by faith when they died.”
That is striking. These were ordinary people who did extraordinary things by placing their faith in the Lord. But they did not “turn on faith” for a moment and then stop. They lived by faith all the way to the end of life.
Pastor Todd described spiritual faith like natural breathing. You will keep breathing until your life ends. And spiritually, living by faith means you keep breathing in God’s word and promises, and then breathing out faith toward Him.
That rhythm looks like this:
- Breathe in God’s word, God’s promises, and God’s direction.
- Breathe out faith: “Lord, I hear you. Now I believe you. Now I will align my words, thoughts, and actions with what You said.”
And the encouragement is for the long haul: keep your faith strong in the Lord until you pass right into glory.
No spiritual retirement. Faith is meant to grow stronger.
We tend to think of retirement as a natural rest from work. But Pastor Todd challenged that mindset for faith.
There is no such thing as spiritual retirement. The older you get, faith is meant to be used more, not less. Spiritually, you do not grow weaker toward the end. The goal is the opposite: faith grows stronger, even as the body slows down.
And because we are living in the New Testament reality, believers today have even more reason to believe strongly. Jesus took care of everything at the cross. Filled with the Holy Spirit, blessed by God, we can ask: “How much more can we leave this life in a strong place of faith?”
Why live by faith to the very end?
Here are three reasons we need to live by faith until the very end of life.
Hebrews 11:13 continues with the detail that these saints received promises but did not see fulfillment in their lifetime. They welcomed those promises from a distance, admitting they were foreigners and strangers on earth.
God expected them to live by faith anyway. Why? Because the promises needed to be carried forward from on generation to the next.
Pastor Todd compared faith to a relay race: you run your part, but you do not end the race. You pass the baton to the next person. Faith is not only something you receive for yourself. Faith is something you pass on.
Reason #1: God will ask you to carry promises by faith and pass them on
Hebrews 11:14 and 15 highlights the contrast:
- Verse 14: “People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.”
- Verse 15: “If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.”
The danger was looking backward and becoming stuck. Faith looks forward. Faith moves forward. Our faith needs to be passed forward which means we cannot look backward.
Pastor Todd emphasized this with a very needed truth: sometimes what used to be “normal” in your past becomes a chain. Good or bad, comfortable or familiar, if God is saying move forward, it is time to release the past and step into what God has that is better.
Hebrews 11:16 explains the result: instead, they were longing for “a better country” (Hebrews 11:16). And Hebrews 11:16 also says God prepared a city for them.
Pass on faith, not just religion
Pastor Todd made the responsibility clear: we are responsible to pass on faith. If you have children or grandchildren, the “talk” cannot be left only to other people like children’s ministry leaders or pastors.
The heart of faith is this:
- There is a God in heaven who loves us.
- God sent His Son to die for us.
- Jesus took our sin upon Himself.
- When you receive Jesus, you walk in freedom and become sons and daughters of the living God.
Pass it on.
Even when you do not live long enough to see a promise fully fulfilled on earth, Pastor Todd encouraged believers to still stand in faith and to pass on that faith to the coming generations. God remains faithful to fulfill His word, even beyond our lifetime.
Reason #2: God may ask you to lay blessings on the altar
Hebrews 11:17-19 gives the example of Abraham and Isaac:
- Verse 17: By faith, Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice.
- Verse 19: Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and in a manner of speaking, he received Isaac back from death.
God promised Abraham a son through which God will fulfill his awesome promises, but then in his older age, God asked Abraham to sacrifice that son on an altar. Pastor Todd connected this to a test of trust. God wanted to know where Abraham’s faith and hope truly rested: in the blessing or in the One who gives the blessing. Abraham raised the knife to slay his son, but God stopped him.
Then came the key application: sometimes God asks you to put the blessing on His altar and trust Him.
And Pastor Todd clarified that it is not always the same kind of outcome. Sometimes “the knife goes in,” meaning what is on the altar is not coming back, and sometimes the knife does not go in and God gives it back. The real question is obedience, trust, and alignment with God’s will.
He also shared personal examples of faith decisions, including stepping away from certain entertainments that were not good for the soul, ending relationships that did not align with God’s direction, and bringing an opportunity (a building situation) to the Lord as an act of surrender. Sometimes the knife needs to go in; sometimes not. Either way, living by faith means trusting God with the outcome.
The point stands: we need to live by faith until the end because God may require an altar moment at different seasons of life. The goal is not fear. The goal is trust.
Reason #3: Bless your children and grandchildren as your last act of faith
Hebrews 11:20-21 paints an inheritance of faith:
- Verse 20: Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
- Verse 21: Jacob blessed each of Joseph’s sons as he leaned on his staff and worshiped.
Pastor Todd called this a “beautiful legacy.” As one generation comes to the end of life, faith does not disappear. It becomes blessing.
God wants you to bless your children and grandchildren as a final act of faith.
He also shared a specific prayer and scripture he uses daily. The verse is Psalm 102:28:
“The children of your servants will live in your presence, and their descendants will be established before you.”
Pastor Todd described memorizing this and praying it over family members. The expectation is that God’s presence is not something your children must only experience when life becomes difficult. They can know it early, even in childhood.
And the big hope is generational: one generation blessing another, generation upon generation.
The faith relay: a call to keep breathing faith until you pass into glory
Pastor Todd returned to the central call: faith is not just for meeting needs right now. Faith is something you pass on. Some people are at the beginning of that relay. Others are at the end. But the command is the same: hang on to the baton of faith.
- Run for the Lord (obey Him today).
- Be ready to pass it on (bless, pray, and speak faith into the next generation).
And regardless of your timeline, Pastor Todd encouraged everyone: you can still be a person of great faith. Great faith speaks hope, encourages freedom, and strengthens the next generation. But it requires habit. If faith is used once in a while, it will not be ready when you need it most.
Application questions
- Where have I been using faith only when I feel pressure, and where would daily faith look different?
- Am I looking forward or stuck thinking about what is behind me? What chain might I need to break?
- Has God asked me to trust Him by placing “a blessing” on his altar? What would obedience look like on the altar?
- What faith conversation do I need to have with my children or grandchildren now?
- What blessing scripture or prayer could I faithfully speak over my family daily, like Psalm 102:28?
