Implications of Abraham's Footsteps of Faith

What do Abraham’s footsteps of faith have to do with spiritual formation today?

1) We must be open to the revelation of God. God is constantly calling us into fellowship with Him. It is His desire to reveal His will for our live to us. Generally the problem is that we are not expecting God to reveal anything to us. Without the expectation of revelation we are placed on a path of trying to figure out our life for ourselves. This can be messy. There have been times in my life where I truly wanted to follow God, but I was not doing anything to hear Him. I was not praying. I was not studying His word. My desire alone was not enough. It was not until I purposely sought Him that I became open to His revelation. I do not think we find God on accident. We don’t just wake up one day and just happen to be serving Him. There must be effort and openness on my behalf to have a relationship with Him.

2) We must obey the call of God. Just having knowledge of what God wants me to do will never be enough. When God called Noah to build the ark He had a particular plan in mind (Genesis 6). When God finished speaking to Noah there was no doubt in Noah’s mind about what he needed to do. The faith of Noah was shown when he began to do what God called him to do. I know of so many people who know God’s purpose for them, but choose not to follow God. I am sure we have all been there before. Bad experiences, trust issues, fear, and many other barriers have deterred some good people from following God, but His call remains the same. We know that prayer, Bible study, fasting, and other spiritual disciplines are ways to be in fellowship and communication with God, but there is a deep lack of obedience to this call. It is in our obedience that God is able to use us to spread His glory throughout this world.

3) We must allow God to grow our faith. Spiritual formation is a process. We will never do it perfectly. Our flesh will continue to fight our spirit as we seek growth (Romans 7:15-25). I believe that at times we will respond to God the same way Abraham did. We will seek shortcuts in our spiritual formation. We will try to get God to bless situations that do not need to be blessed. Thankfully God can use our weaknesses to help us to become stronger in our faith.

4) We must make God our top priority in life. Due to our lives being directed by school schedules, work, children, marriages, and many other distractions, we leave God little time to work in our life. It is going to take time and effort to practice any of the spiritual disciplines. We will have to make God our priority in order for transformation to take place. If I only give God five minutes a day to work on me He can still use that time to develop us, but we should not expect much. When I make His will and the disciplines priority one in my life my schedule and everything about me will point to God. This is not to say that I will spend 24 hours a day in prayer and fasting. The balanced spiritual life finds time to deal with all of its responsibilities, but God is given precedence in all things.

Spiritual formation is serious business. It cannot be approached lightly. God wants to see us changed, but it begins with us being open to His revelation, being obedient to His call, allowing Him to grow our faith, and making Him our top priority in life. I hope you are ready to begin this journey with Him.

Abraham's Footsteps of Faith

What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."
Romans 4:1-3 (NIV)

I have wondered why we still talk about Abraham in 2007. Why is his name always brought up when the topic of faith is mentioned? It is my belief that he continues to be brought up because the actions he took were so unrealistic and impractical in the human perspective, but necessary in order to follow God.

1) Abraham was open to the revelation of God. Genesis 12 is the first place you see God communicating with Abram. It does not tell of their past relationship. It does not tell of the blessings that God had already given him. Here you see a picture of a man whose life was in a place where he was willing to listen to the revelation of God. He was open to the possibility that God had a plan for him and was ready to hear it. I do not believe that Abram responded that way on a whim. I believe that Abram had an attitude that allowed him to be ready to listen to God when the time was right.

2) Abraham obeyed the call of God. Genesis 12:4 says “so Abram left.” He followed God to an unknown destination. He traveled in a distant land. He did not wait around for a sign. He did not come up with excuses to offer God. He did not even question where he was going. He just did it. The only way he could have responded in this way was because he trusted God. Trust does not necessarily mean that all our fears are gone. Trust means that we know that someone is looking out for our best interest. God was looking out for Abram and he laid his confidence upon that fact.

3) Abraham allowed God to grow his faith. It is tempting to forget that Abraham made some mistakes while following God. He had Sarah his wife tell a lie (Gen 12:11-20; 20:1-18). He questioned God when he and Sarah did not have children (Gen 15:2-3). He showed weak faith in the case of Hagar (Gen 16:1-4). Through each of these instances God continued to work on him and through him. God did not give up even though Abraham’s faith was not where it needed to be. God used these weaknesses to help Abraham to become stronger.

4) Abraham made God his top priority in life. It took Abraham and Sarah late into their lives to have the child they always wanted. They prayed for him and about him. God answers this prayer and allows this blessing to come into their life. God now tests Abram to see if his faith is real. He tells Abraham to sacrifices the thing that was the most precious to him (Gen. 22:1-18). Once again Abraham had to trust God’s voice even though it did not agree with common sense. Through this and all of his other actions he showed God that he trusted him fully.

How is all of this practical in view of spiritual formation today? Come back tomorrow to see.