Faith: Part 3 — A ‘Time With God’ Audio Devotion

Subscribe to the ‘Time With God’ Podcast

Transcript

Good morning. I hope your day is going to be a great one, and we’re starting it by coming to God and letting Him just teach us things that will shape our lives. We’re looking this week at the theme of faith.

And we’re seeing that in the Hebrew word that our Old Testament of the Bible was originally written in, this word faith in the Hebrew language contains four ideas, and understanding these four aspects of faith, really enriches your understanding of what it means to have faith in God.

The four aspects are this. It means to rely on God. Secondly, to trust in God. Thirdly, to obey God. And fourthly, to cling to God.

Well, let’s look at this idea of faith as obeying God today.

What do you think is the connection between relying on God, trusting God, and obeying God? You know, really obeying God is the expression of trust.

Right, you could almost say obedience is the reality of trust. If you’re not obeying God, it means you’re not trusting in God. Your faith is incomplete. How does James put it in James chapter 2 verse 17? He says faith without works is dead. That is, trust without obedience is not really faith.

Don’t you see this in Jesus’ own life as he faced the cross?

And he said, Father, I do not want to go to the cross. If it’s possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done. You see that his faith was expressed in obedience to his Father.

Listen to what Hebrews chapter 11 says. Hebrews chapter 11, we call the roll call of faith because it just talks through so many people from the Old Testament who lived by faith and the outcome in their lives. In verse 8, he comes to Abraham, and this is what it says. By faith, Abraham obeyed. Well, you can see it so clearly there, can’t you? Obedience is part of faith.

Hope 103.2 is proudly supported by

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance, and he went out not knowing where he was going. Faith showed itself in obedience. It goes on to say, by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. That is, he was obeying God.

And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said through Isaac shall your descendants be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Well, we see all three of the aspects of faith we’ve been looking at so far interrelating, don’t we see, when you trust who God is, you obey Him, knowing you can trust His good purposes.

And when you do obey him, then you rely on him to come through.

Because he’s trustworthy, reliable, competent, and has a proven track record in the Bible and with people you know and in your own experience as well. So when you think about this, one of the aspects of faith is obedience, and if the obedience isn’t there, the faith isn’t there. So when you’re struggling to obey God in some area of your life or in something you know that God has called you to, always remember it’s a matter of trust, not a matter of willpower.

Ask yourself, why am I not trusting God with this? Remind yourself of who God is. Remind yourself of His love for you that you’ve already experienced. Remind yourself of the stories of people you know who’ve trusted God and found Him reliable. Stories of people in the Bible who’ve trusted Him or not trusted Him and the outcomes in their lives.

Choose to trust him and then step out in obedience.

I’m John North.

To go deeper in your faith, visit AFCI.com.au.

Feature image: CanvaPro