by Dr Jerry Horner
We are saved by grace through faith. Faith is the mean of communication between us and God. Our Christian walk is a walk of faith and our Christian life is a life of faith.
How do we walk and live by faith?
Take a look at the Father of faith - Abraham in Romans 4:23-34
- An untested faith is a worthless faith
- God test and challenge our faith to strengthen us and assure us
There are 3 great crisis in Abraham's walk of faith :
(1) Genesis 12:1-3
- The essence of faith is simply letting go of one thing so that God can give us something else. Leaving security and identity. The first word is to get out and leave
- Until we let go, God cannot give us all He wants to give us
- The way to grow up is to give up
- God is seeking to set Abraham apart but He couldn't do it if Abraham stay where he was. God wants to be the shaping influence of Abraham's life. We must not allow the world to be the shaping influence of our lives
- We are not to live by the standards of the world (Romans 12:2)
Example :
The story of monkey picking up a trinket from a cut open coconut shell. If it doesn't let go of the trinket, it will be caught because it's hand is too full to go through the hole
- Am I willing to travel and willing to let God lead me to the unknown?
- Walk into the unknown just like when God called Abraham, God didn't say where He is bringing Abraham to
- God wants us to walk and trust Him even though we don't know what is going on or what's happening in our lives
- He doesn't want us to depend on our own knowledge when He calls us out by faith if we know where we are going beforehand
Example :
The stairs of darkness where one light will light us as we take a step forward.
The only way we can see God and His plans for us is from the back, in retrospect. Look back over the path from which I have come from.
(2) Genesis 17:15-18
- Letting go of Ishmael
- Abraham was saying in v18 he wants it his way since Ishmael was already 13 years old. But God wants Abraham let go of Ishmael else God cannot continue doing His works in us
- Ishmael is like our career, ideas, plans, dreams, visions etc
- God may not command or demand that we give us our Ishmael but if our Ishmael collide with God's plan for us, then we must decide whether we want to let go or stay put in our comfortable zone
(3) Genesis 22:1-2
- Let go of your Isaac
- What if what you have now is good and pure and right and perfect, YET God wants you to give up?
- God will never test you in a way you cannot pass the test or in any way you are unable to endure
- Letting go the best you have, the right and good and perfect
- The ultimate test of walking in faith is when you come to the place when you don't need the promise or reward when you obey God
Example :
Paul's biggest threat is not the hardships nor people but it is the blessings that he had (2 Corinthians 12)
God just wants our heart of obedience
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