Embark on an enlightening quest with us as we probe the profound impact of faith on the spiritual voyage. Inspired by Abraham's remarkable trust in the divine, we examine the pivotal steps of vision, acceptance, and proclamation in embracing God's promises. Our discussion reveals the indispensable role of faith, not merely in the moment of salvation but as the cornerstone of ongoing spiritual development. We find profound wisdom in the triad of seeing God's design for our lives, embracing His will with open arms, and voicing our devotion to act on it. This episode is a sage guide for anyone yearning to transition from the superficiality of worldly living to the depths of a faith-filled existence.
As we traverse the landscape of spiritual growth, we consider the radical difference between stagnation in the comfort zone and the courageous pursuit of God's calling. Reflect on Abraham's legacy—had he chosen safety over faith, what richness would have been lost! Exploring our identity as pilgrims on Earth, we highlight how divine encounters can shift our aspirations and self-conception, steering us from the familiar into the embrace of God's kingdom. The episode illustrates life's faith journey akin to an academic ascent from elementary to university level, each step marking a bold venture into the unknown, guided by an inner peace that signals our alignment with the divine will. Join us on this exploratory adventure into the heart of faith and spiritual maturation.
Embark on an enlightening quest with us as we probe the profound impact of faith on the spiritual voyage. Inspired by Abraham's remarkable trust in the divine, we examine the pivotal steps of vision, acceptance, and proclamation in embracing God's promises. Our discussion reveals the indispensable role of faith, not merely in the moment of salvation but as the cornerstone of ongoing spiritual development. We find profound wisdom in the triad of seeing God's design for our lives, embracing His will with open arms, and voicing our devotion to act on it. This episode is a sage guide for anyone yearning to transition from the superficiality of worldly living to the depths of a faith-filled existence.
As we traverse the landscape of spiritual growth, we consider the radical difference between stagnation in the comfort zone and the courageous pursuit of God's calling. Reflect on Abraham's legacy—had he chosen safety over faith, what richness would have been lost! Exploring our identity as pilgrims on Earth, we highlight how divine encounters can shift our aspirations and self-conception, steering us from the familiar into the embrace of God's kingdom. The episode illustrates life's faith journey akin to an academic ascent from elementary to university level, each step marking a bold venture into the unknown, guided by an inner peace that signals our alignment with the divine will. Join us on this exploratory adventure into the heart of faith and spiritual maturation.
Speaker 1:
When you and I come into the things of the Spirit and we allow the Spirit of God to move through us every day, our faith can operate in so many wonderful areas. What does God want from us more than anything? Faith. He wants that from us. That's how we receive what he wants us to receive.
Speaker 1:
Number one having seen, you do not buy a new dress, buy a new dress, you do not buy a new house. You do not choose a mate in life, as a rule, unless first you see it. And when you see it, you might be just driving down the road and suddenly something is there for sale and wow, you've seen the sign, you've seen it. And what happens is all kinds of things happen so quickly. You cannot stop it. Desire. You see yourself buying that, you see yourself enjoying that. You see, in the action of seeing so many complex Processes Are taking place in your mind, seeing Just suddenly causes an explosion. And Abraham, when God came to him and said I want you to go To another land, I want you to go to another land, I want you to go to another place to dwell. And God is saying to us that, to us in our spirit walk, we're going through life and maybe you're having issues, maybe you're feeling lonely, maybe you're feeling like I don't know what the answer is, or something missing. And somebody God uses, somebody who speak to you and said you need Jesus, what? But suddenly they were there at the right time to give that word to you. And you see that, and you to you, and you see that and you say, yes, I see that, but that's not good enough. But the second thing he had to welcome it In Hebrews, chapter 11 and verse 13. Seen it, number one.
Speaker 1:
Number two he had to welcome that, he had to embrace that. He had to see that this was going to be so, that this would work, that he could do it, that he was willing, that he had the ability. There was no doubt in his mind that he'd heard from God and there was no doubt to him that God would make the way for him. See, faith always makes the way. So Abraham welcomed that. Or abraham said yes, I will do that. It's just like when the lord speaks to you and you're not saved. You don't have, you don't have your sins forgiven, you've never made it right with god, and god comes to you and says I want you to make, I want you to make it right. You need to make it right and we say I see that. So now you're going to have to embrace that, you're going to have to say yes to that and that not only works for salvation or buying a new house, that works in our spiritual development and in our spiritual growth. God could have picked up Abraham, took him in the middle of the night, even while he was asleep, and just floated him and lighted him amongst the midst of the Canaanites. He could have done that, but he didn't. He wanted Abraham to walk it and God wants you and I to walk it.
Speaker 1:
Anything we don't understand, see, anything that we don't embrace there are so many things that are going to be missed. Then the third stage that I see here is having confessed, I will do it, I'm going to do this, I'm moving, I'm receiving that, I'm going there. We have to go through. We have to see the world is very comfortable with the world and the world understands stealing and robbing and lying. The world understands making yourself number one. The world understands all of this and they do it and they are unhappy. See, the world can give you nothing that's lasting and peaceful.
Speaker 1:
If Abraham had said no to God? And if Abraham had said no? I like it here Because remember, let's think about this Abraham is comfortable where he is. He knows every street in that city, he knows who lives where, he knows where his meals are coming from. He is very comfortable where he is, thank you. But he is going to embrace this promise and he's going to come out of that which God found him in. God said you want more? I've got a lot more for you. Matter of fact, your life is about to explode in experience, like you never thought was going to happen. And that's the way it is with every believer who grows and moves in God. Was it easy? No, there would have been many tears. There would have been relationships severed, things that they've worked hard for in that city, and now God is about to uproot them and is going to move him.
Speaker 1:
Abraham was just a common, ordinary, hard-working citizen, but I'm going to tell you, before he settled where he was to settle, he was a very wealthy man. Cattle and servants. That's what it's like when we grow in god. We come to the lord and we get saved and we're going to say you know what? I go to sleep at night and I've never known such peace, or they'll say I was filled with the spirit. I never realized that not only am I seeing new things, but god is using and working through me and I am blessing and I want to bless. When you first start off, you think things is what you really need, but quite quickly, as you grow and as you mature in the lord, things lose their value. Things are just simply vehicles to get what has to be accomplished for the mission In verse 13 that I've read to you and I'm talking to you about today Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 13,.
Speaker 1:
They were strangers and exiles on the earth. He saw that he was a stranger to what was happening around about him. When you have a God encounter and you meet with God and God shows you something, one of the almost immediate things that you see, this is not for me, this is what I used to desire and I no longer desire it. He recognized, and we are to recognize, that we are strangers. When we are strangers to an issue that we're fighting or struggling with or just has to be, when that desire we no longer want that we realize it's not for us. Great peace comes when you're a stranger, you're somebody who has come from another place. They're going to say, oh, they're strangers. If you're in a place where you are a stranger, you cannot embrace or they will not embrace you, you're with the wrong people. And we're going to find that as we. The more that we know the Lord, the greater is going to be our desire to be with the Lord's people.
Speaker 1:
I often say that if you're comfortable with the world and the world is comfortable with you and you can go along with all of their situations, there's a problem existing here. No, we're a stranger to that. And then I see this other word there exile this word. When you are in exile, you reside there as an alien. But I'm going to explain that. You're someone who lives in a country of which you're not a legal citizen. We cannot enter. We cannot enter the kingdom of God and be an alien. If we did, we would walk among them as a stranger. But when we come to Jesus, when we give our hearts to the Lord, we're no longer a stranger, nor are we any longer would be referred to as exiles. We're not strangers. He sees us as somebody who has rights, in the next verse, 14 of Hebrews, chapter 11. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. They see, they welcome, they've confessed, and that is the kingdom of god. And look at, rather than looking at using this word country seeking a country. We're seeking the place where we belong and you belong with jesus, you belong in the kingdom of god.
Speaker 1:
But what takes place? This doesn't usually it's not usually a surprise. When something like this happens to us, god's been preparing us. We can look back and we're going to say you know what? I've been there's, I've been sensing more and more lately that there's more for me. Sometimes you'll hear people say how's life? Well, I'm doing okay. Yeah, I would expect so You're quite comfortable, aren't you? No, no, you don't understand. There's more to life than what I'm experiencing.
Speaker 1:
What's taking place is that isn't some momentary statement that happens right while you're standing in front of them. God has been preparing them, he has been speaking to them, he has been causing or allowing events to take place that's making them uncomfortable for where they're at, and that's how we grow spiritually. It's not that we don't appreciate everything that we've got in God. We realize that the Lord is saying when you were a baby, when you were a child. You thought as a child all your plans were childlike, that's all you could understand. But when you became mature, became a man, growing up, became a woman, when you mature all those things that you so enjoyed when you were a child there's nothing there anymore for you. And that can only happen if we move what God calls us to move. We're moving from the known to the unknown.
Speaker 1:
I believe that God is always moving us into the unknown. You look back over your life. When I went to elementary school education, I was in grade one first year. I had no idea what it was like to be in grade six. That was unknown to me.
Speaker 1:
And I believe that God has given humans definitely believers believe that God has given humans, definitely believers. He's given us this ability to always be looking for more, to be hungry for more. Does God satisfy? God always satisfies to the fullest. Where you are, what you're willing to eat, he will give you, and it's always full. But isn't it interesting that the Bible said Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness? It seems to me that there's something more.
Speaker 1:
So what does he do? He unveils. He lets us see what's waiting. Just the next step. And here's what I've always appreciated For me. He even shows me how to get it. He'll show me how to get it. He'll show me how to walk to it.
Speaker 1:
What is? I'm talking about? The next step? Yes, we know what the grand picture is, but the next step? He'll show me how to take the next step. God will come on the scene and he'll bring you out of that little secure place where you are called the known, and he'll take you and he'll say come on, we're going. You're going to go where you've never been before. Yes, but I know what it's like here. I know how to not. I know how to be comfortable where I am. If I go there, I'm going to be uncomfortable.
Speaker 1:
Well, this may come as a shock to you, but where you are right now, you are uncomfortable about going to one time in your life, one time in your life, god wants to bring you out so that you will walk and live by faith, and you will walk in the realm of the spirit. As you begin to take the leap, as you begin to take the step in the spirit, god will suddenly speak to you and he will tell you this is the way for you. Walk in this. This is right. This is what you're to do. The spirit of God. Does it feel right? Yes, it feels right. That's the spirit. That's how you know it's God's will. It feels peaceful, it feels right. You've never been there before. You left that comfortable, secure level of life that you had and you're now moving forward. When you move in the spirit, the flesh doesn't know what to do, and that's wonderful, because the flesh has nothing to do with the spirit, because the flesh has nothing to do with the spirit and the flesh can never move in the spirit. You.