Developing Abrahamic Faith Pt. 1

Pastor Samuel Tyler

Faith in God is a subject that can’t be exhausted. Many today have the misunderstanding that their religious beliefs are what the bible calls faith. The bible definition of faith is found in the book of Hebrews 11:1,6 Through the years I’ve listened to many ministers preach on the subject of developing faith. Many times listening to those sermons I felt like I had eaten a cake with missing ingredients. Abraham is called the father of faith. Romans 4:12-16 There were many before Abraham that lived a bible faith. Enoch, Noah , Abel and Job were among the many that lived the faith lifestyle. God chose to the use Abraham’s faith because his faith had an element that would cause it to perpetuate itself. Genesis 18:19 We will take a look into the development of Abraham’s faith to see why he is called the father of faith. The word of god implores us to walk in the faith of father Abraham. Hebrews 11:1,6 (NKJV) states, Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Here we see that to have a developed vibrant faith, bible hope must be present. Romans 8:24-26 states that hope gives us the ability to see with the spiritual eyes of hope. True faith has evidence that is not seen or touched. Seeking the father is another element that sets apart true faith from presumption. Much of what is seen today is presumption produced from a lack of a seeking heart. Bible faith and bible knowledge gain by study are not the same. Many have studied the bible for years and a heart of faith is still not present. Faith comes by hearing the word of God. Romans 10:17 God’s words are spirit and must be heard with our spirits. It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63 KJV) Hope gives us the ability to see spiritually. Everything that we have been commissioned to produce is designed to help you grow spiritually in a loving relationship with God through obedience. Everything present on the site is to help you develope true bible faith and hope. True salvation begins by making Jesus the Lord of your life, because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9 ESV) Jesus made an astounding statement that is often overlooked. If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his [own] father and mother [in the sense of indifference to or relative disregard for them in comparison with his attitude toward God] and [likewise] his wife and children and brothers and sisters–[yes] and even his own life also–he cannot be My disciple. (Luke 14:26 AMP) Jesus is stating that if you truly in the depths of your heart make Him Lord He will make you His personal disciple. This has nothing to do with a calling to minister but this is a calling to Jesus to know Him. Knowing His character will cause faith to grow. Therefore He calls you to Himself. This is vastly different from what we consider normal Christianity. Jesus stated that He will become your personal teacher. The Lord will take entrance into your life that will be unforgettable to develope your faith. As stated, the development of the faith of Abraham, the father of our faith will be examined. The process of God developing him will teach us God’s ways so that we can produce His acts in our lives. The first test that Abraham faced in his obedience was to rid his household of idols. Luke 14:26 states Jesus must be the true Lord of your life to live a life of faith. It is written that Abraham grew up in a household of idolatry. Joshua 24: 2, And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. Idolatry resulting from not making Jesus Lord, is devastating to faith development that’s attempting to seek God. “Therefore speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols, that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols.” ’ (Ezekiel 14:4, 5 NKJV) The human heart that is inhabited by idolatry will hear every word from God pass through the idols within distorting His message. This causes pseudo faith actions outside of God’s will due to idolatry. In Numbers 22:12-21 we have an example of how this occurs in the human heart. Due to translation issues it appears as if God changed His mind concerning Balaam traveling to Balak to curse the Lord’s people. Not having knowledge of the Hebrew language is causing much difficulty in seeing that the Lord is the same in all of the bible. “For I am the Lord, I do not change.(Malachi 3:6 NKJV) In the western world we look at other nations and their worship and wonder how someone can worship and believe in those ways. What we misunderstand is if Jesus isn’t truly Lord then idolatry is the result. We worship material wealth, comfort, and sensuality. The dollar is sometimes called the “almighty” dollar. Only the Lord is almighty and awesome. We are using words and images that are destroying our ability to develop faith and hope in God. Hebrews 11:1 states that faith causes hope to stand. Jesus asked a question However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8 AMP) Let us be the people who develop faith in our hearts in order that the answer would be yes.