Digging Deeper: Stepping Out in Faith
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Genesis 12:1-3 (ESV)
STEPPING OUT IN FAITH
We learned on Sunday that God had a blessing in store for Abram, but to receive the blessing, Abram had to trust God’s Word, step out in faith, and leave all that was comfortable to him. This required a lot of faith because he was a successful businessman with established relationships and connections. God’s call was a call to separate himself from the corruption around him, and Abraham obeyed by faith. His faith opened the door to God’s blessings.
Imagine two letters that are sent to the post office. One letter is typed beautifully by a word processor. It is typed on exquisite, expensive stationery. There is not a word misspelled. It is beautifully framed. Everything is perfect, not a smudge, not a smear. It is perfectly addressed and it’s placed in the mail.
Another letter is written. This letter is written on common notepaper like a yellow legal pad. It’s stuffed into an envelope. It is written in pencil. It is full of grammatical errors. It is smudged and dirty. It has erasures on it. But there’s a difference in the two letters. The first letter, so beautifully written, has no stamp on it. The second letter, written in pencil, with smudges and smears, has a stamp on it. Question: Which letter will be delivered?
Faith is the stamp that gets your letter on through—faith. Some people may pray beautiful prayers; I mean they are eloquent, and they may be right, and the content may be good, but there is no stamp on the letter. (Adrian Rogers)
Bible scholar, Warren Wiersbe, writes, “The life of Abraham is an example for all Christians who want to walk by faith. Abraham was saved by faith (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:1–5; Gal. 3:6–14) and lived by faith (Heb. 11:8–19), and his obedience was the evidence of his faith (James 2:14–26).”
Reflection
Obedient faith hears what God’s Word is saying to me and responds with appropriate action. What did you hear from God’s Word in the sermon this week? What was God saying to you? How did you respond?
Prayer
Praise God for His faithfulness to keep the promises in His Word. Ask God to grow your faith to step out and trust His promises.
Dr. Larry Grays is the father of four and lives in the Canton area. Larry consults with churches, schools, city governments, and businesses nationwide. He’s been a member of the NorthStar family for over 20 years.