You've Gotta Have Faith!

Genesis 5:22, 24 (NIV):

After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Enoch had a special kind of relationship with God, because he believed wholeheartedly in His ability to take care of him and his family.  He trusted God so much so, that he was translated, and didn’t experience death like we do.  God really loved him because he exercised his faith in the Father.

Genesis 6:9 (NIV):

This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God.

How many people do we know that have this testimony from God?  Nobody in this day and time that we’re aware of.  There is a scripture that says that all our righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord, yet He says that Noah was righteous, not because of anything that he said or did specifically, but because of his faith in God.  May He find us in the same situation.

Genesis 17:1 (NIV):

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.

Before God changed the name of Abram to Abraham, He had already had a conversation with him about the path He was taking him on.  It took many years from that first encounter with God to this point, when God commanded him to walk faithfully and be blameless before Him.  Now, keep in mind that Abraham made a mistake, and ran ahead of God’s promise, and tried to make things happen before the fullness of time that God allotted, and had Ishmael.  But the Lord was able to redeem the time, and Abraham and Sarah became parents over the age of 100.

Deuteronomy 7:9 (NIV):

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

We must know beyond the shadow of a doubt that the God of the universe is the Lord of our lives, which has been shown throughout each generation of people who love Him and not only keep His commandments, but has an intimate and personal relationship with Him.

Deuteronomy 32:4 (NIV):

He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

God has been described as a solid rock, perfect in all His ways, and just.  He is faithful to us even when we don’t reciprocate, and He is never wrong.  We must continually repent to keep in right standing with Him.

Joshua 24:14 (NIV):

“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

Hear the word of the Lord today.  We are to reverence Him, and serve Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and spirit.  Anything that takes away from total commitment to the Lord is idolatry.

Hebrews 11:1 (NIV):

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the ancients were commended for. By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 

This verse talks about us believing what God says, whether we actually see it or not.  The saints of old were blessed, because they knew that God is all powerful, all seeing, all knowing, and He absolutely can do what He says.  All He had to do was speak the world into existence, and bang, it was done.  That’s the big bang theory that science tries to take responsibility for.