A Pattern For Faithful Living

Most of us do not take the time to seek the Lord about these matters. We go about our business with our ears and our hearts closed to the still small voice of the Lord. We can’t hear God call our name over the blaring Televisions, headphones, and radios. We must all cultivate the habit of quieting ourselves before the Lord and seeking His Word for guidance and direction.

Now, hearing the voice of the Lord does not mean that you get the full message with all of its details. That doesn’t require any faith. And so God’s message often only comes to us in pieces and a little bit at a time.

Moses was instructed to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. He had no clue how that was going to happen. Joshua’s plan of overtaking the city of Jericho seemed crazy and it unfolded.

Abraham set out for a new home, but he had no idea where that home was going to be. He only knew God would lead Him and show Him the way. Even when Abraham arrived in Canaan, and God told Him that his descendants would one day inherit and possess the land – Abraham continued to live in tents waiting for the Lord to fulfill what He had promised. His real hope was in the city that God was preparing for him, not in some man made scheme or plan.

All too often we fail to find the fullness of what God has in store for us and we settle for a man made copy of the divine plan for our lives. What is it you really seek? For Abraham, he sought the Lord. The Lord was His heart’s desire. And when God spoke, Abraham moved and obeyed.

Do you need to rekindle that relationship with the Lord? Do you need to return to a childlike trust and response to the voice of God? Do you need to fall in love with Him all over again.

One night a house was on fire and a young boy was forced to flee to the roof of the home. In the smoke and blackness he was terrified, but he could hear the voice of His father crying out from the ground below. The Father pleaded with his son: “Jump, I will catch you.” The boy was terrified because he could not see the father he could only hear his reassuring voice. The boy protested: “Daddy, I can’t see you.” The Father replied: “It’s OK Son, I can see you and that is all that matters. Jump!”

- If the impetus for faith is the Word of God. Then the response of faith is obedience to the Word of God.

Faith hears the Father’s voice, and they jumps in obedience trusting that the Father sees the way. Faithful living begins with obeying God’s Word. What is God saying to you today?

2. Faithful living welcomes God’s supernatural power.

Look at Abraham in verses 11 and 12. I want you to key in on these words: “By faith, Abraham and Sarah were enabled”

All too often we are guilty of diminishing what God wants to do in our lives because of a lack of faith.

When the city fathers of New York began to plan their city they decided to number the streets from the center outward. When they began there were only six or seven streets. In their planning maps they had only a limited idea of how large the city would grow and so when they reached the 19th street they decided to name it “Boundary Street” because they were convinced that would be the extent of their city. None of them had the faith to realize that the number streets would reach up to 284th Street.