Putting our faith into action is not easy and requires God’s strength. The enemy likes to attack to keep us from fulfilling God’s plan. Perhaps you have experienced this. Be prepared for it to happen again.
When the Lord called Abram, He gave him instructions necessary to fulfill his calling, which may have seemed overwhelming. Genesis 12:1The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. [1] We often read over this verse without realizing the profpund impact this would have on Abram and his family. They had to move hundreds of miles from where he grew up.
As a testament to Abram’s faith, he immediately began to put his faith into action. Genesis 12:4 So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.[2]
Walking by Faith
When God called Abram to move to a new land, it would require him to walk by faith. Hebrews 11:1Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.[3] The Lord did not give Abram a detailed roadmap of where he was going; as a result, he had to rely on God daily along his journey.
Learning to walk out our faith may not always be successful. Sometimes, we fail, and the Lord calls us to repent and begin again. Abram stopped in Haran for a time and did not go on to Canaan until after his father died. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”[4] True faith for any of us goes beyond belief to doing what the Lord said. It is a choice to obey and trust God that He loves us and will fulfill what He has told us.
We May Not Understand God’s Plans
When we take steps of faith, we trust that the Lord’s ways are beyond our imagination, as Isaiah the prophet writes. Isaiah 55: 8 My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. [5] Abram may not have understood all God was doing when he left his native country.
To walk by faith means we don’t have to figure everything out, instead we trust that the Lord knows best. Hebrews 11:8 It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.[6] When we take the Lord’s hand and let Him lead us, our assurance is not knowing where we are going but the hand that guides us.
To learn more about faith in action, listen here:
https://podpoint.com/light-of-christ-church-podcast/called-to-a-promise
[1-3,5,6] Tyndale House Publishers. (2015). Holy Bible: New Living Translation . Tyndale House Publishers.
[4] https://saraclaudia.com/home/what-it-means-to-walk-by-faith-not-by-sight