Hebrews 11:7, 8, 17

Faith is obedience. Simple.
Not always easy but very, very simple.

Noah heard God,
"divinely warned of things not yet seen."
And he began to move on what he heard.
No one else heard it. Nobody affirmed it.

Faith is moving on what you hear.
What is foolishness to others,
is perfectly natural to you . . .
when you just believe what you have heard.

But until you move on what you hear, you
haven't believed it.

Abraham obeyed, that is his faith,
so acclaimed by the Bible.
He is held forth as the example of faith.
All he did to gain such a place was this:
he "obeyed when he was called to go out . . ."
"He went out, not knowing where he was going."

Faith is hearing . . . yes . . .
but you have not believed
until you have moved on what you heard.
God doesn't count is as "hearing" until it is
the action of going.

Joshua believed where millions disbelieved.
He just accepted what he heard and started
moving . . . .

God's voice to the one He can trust is very specific.
"This is how you take Jericho."
It was not a battle plan ever presented before.
Circle the city seven times in silence?
And then shout?

God, being the Only Creator,
is always original in His strategy.

And that Originality is our severe test.

It had never rained nor flooded before . . .
There was no precedent that supported Noah's
mandate to build.

It was the first flood, the first-ever-boat,
the first destruction of the earth . . .
and in the end, the very first rainbow of promise.

Noah ventured into a new realm of God's
ever fresh progression.
To explicit instructions, he followed
every detail and
"prepared an ark for the saving of his household."

He moved.
In spite of his logic, ignoring his mockers,
he moved to build, obeying because he believed
what he heard.

Noah obeyed to the saving of life.

But Abraham! Abraham obeyed to the
taking of life, the most precious life - his son.

The God, who condemned child sacrifice,
contradicted His own standard and
called for an obedience - strangely out of order -
that made no sense in the face of the
promises about Isaac.

Faith, true faith, obeys when God changes
His direction and appears to go against
His previous purpose.

But in the faith of his obedience, still
Abraham never abandoned the original promise
even in facing the death of its fulfillment:
"concluding that God was able to raise him, up,
even from the dead . . ."
Amazing! He believed in God's original purpose
even as he lifted the knife.

Faith that moves, real faith shifts with God
who is always moving.

Faith lives by the Voice, the Current Voice
and by that Intelligence alone.

Faith believes God knows best
and is always right.

On that ground - the ground of God's Character -
faith is action . . .
and is not Faith until it is action.


Copyright © 1999 Martha Blaney Kilpatrick