Discover the Meaning of Walking by Faith
What Does It Mean to Walk by Faith?
Walking by faith is simply about placing your trust in God through every circumstance life presents to us, even when the path ahead seems uncertain. This insightful book invites you to explore what it truly means to navigate life solely on your faith in God and your belief in the unseen.
What You Will Learn:
Trusting God in Life’s Uncertainty: Understand that walking by faith means embracing complete trust in God, regardless of life’s challenges. Learn how to keep moving forward even when you’re unsure of where you’re headed.
The Power of Making Steady Progress: Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s wisdom, “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase,” this book emphasizes the importance of slow, steady movement in your spiritual journey.
Making Progress in Imperfection: Discover that walking with God doesn’t require total perfection; it’s about making progress. As Paul encourages in Philippians 3:12-13, learn how to “press on” and strain forward toward what lies ahead.
Navigating Life’s Hard Challenges: Walking with God isn’t always easy, especially when faced with opposition. This book teaches you how to lean into life’s winds and keep moving forward, even when progress feels slow.
The Privilege of Walking with God: Experience the profound truth that walking with the Creator of the universe is the greatest privilege. Discover how intimately involved God is in your life and how you can develop a closer relationship with Him.
Savoring Life’s Amazing Journey: Learn how walking with God allows you to experience and appreciate the beauty of life in ways that simply driving past cannot offer. Engage with the world around you and deepen your connection with God through every step you take.
Experiencing The Joy of God’s Presence: Understand that the constant, conscious enjoyment of God’s presence is not just for the future; it’s available to you now. This book helps you anticipate the joys of heaven while experiencing them on earth.
Having Faith in Difficult Times: Gain insights on how to walk with God even during dry and challenging seasons, just as Moses did in the wilderness. Learn how faith can sustain you through life’s hardships.
Why You Should Read This Book:
Having a Faith That Helps You Walk Closer to God is more than just a guide; it’s a transformative journey toward a deeper relationship with God. Whether you’re looking to strengthen your faith, navigate life’s uncertainties, or simply desire to walk more closely with God, this book offers practical wisdom and encouragement.
If you’re ready to deepen your faith and experience the joy of walking with God, get your copy of Having a Faith That Helps You Walk Closer to God today and embark on this enriching spiritual journey!
Take A Peak Inside The Book…….Chapter 1
Faith That’s Ready In An Uncertain World
As the story goes, he must have been in a hurry to get home to see his wonderful family. That’s the only reason his friends could think of to explain why Thomas Burnett of San Ramon, California changed his reservations and took an earlier flight last Tuesday morning. All his friends knew how much he loved his wife and his three daughters. No doubt he was eager to get back home from his business trip. That’s why he ended up on United Airlines Flight 93 from Newark to San Francisco.
What happened next didn’t surprise any of his friends at all. As a senior officer of a medical research firm, he was known as a real take-charge kind of leader. He had been the quarterback of his high school football team in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the president of his fraternity at the University of Minnesota. If there was any problem or a crisis at hand, Thomas Burnett liked to face it head-on.
And that’s just exactly what he did when the hijackers took over the flight. The passengers had already heard about the other planes that struck the World Trade Center in New York. Sensing that they were destined for a similar fate if something wasn’t done to derail the hijackers’ plans. The male passengers of the plane decided to make a stand. Exactly what happened in the next few minutes is a matter of conjecture for nobody really knows for sure. Perhaps we will never know the full story. But we do know that Thomas Burnett called his wife with the ominous news that his flight had been hijacked. After filling her in on the details, he declared, “We’re all gonna die, but three of us are going to do something here.” Then he added, “I love you, honey,” and hung up. A few minutes later Flight 93 crashed into the woods near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Thomas Burnett was only 38 years old. He is survived by his wife Deena, and three children, twins Madison and Halley, both 5, and Anna-Claire, 4.
Many Times, I’ve thought About It What Would I Have Done?
In the days since that dreaded day many of us have wondered to ourselves what we would have done if we had been on that flight. Would we have joined the others in an attempt to overpower the hijackers? Would we have risked everything, knowing we were going to die anyway?
It is said that a crisis never made any man, it only reveals what he already is. That thought is both comforting and frightening at the same time, because we all wonder how we would react if everything we held dear was really on the line. You know Our family …Our health …Our career …
Our future …Even our very life …We wonder—would we have the faith to make it? Or would we collapse under the weight of the pressure of such an important decision? All the things we say we believe—would they still be enough when the crunch comes?
That morning was the longest week any of us can remember. When the final accounting is done, the terrorist attacks on Tuesday September 11, 2011, will prove to be the single bloodiest day in American history. It now appears likely that well over 5,000 people died in the various attacks that day. It may interest you to know that before this week, the single bloodiest day in American history took place September 17, 1862, at the Battle of Antietam during the Civil War when 4,700 soldiers on both sides died. On December 7, 1941, 2,388 American soldiers were killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor. And 1,465 American servicemen died on D-Day, June 6, 1944.
It is still hard to believe, isn’t it? Suppose that one week before someone had said to you, “This week hijackers will fly planes into the World Trade Center and destroy both towers. Another plane will be flown into the Pentagon, and still another hijacked plane will crash near Pittsburgh. And Air Force One and the White House will come under a terrorist threat.” This very notion sounds absolutely absurd, doesn’t it? That sort of thing doesn’t happen in the great United States of America. Or so we thought. That Tuesday morning changed everything for all the time. As Christians we say we live by faith. But what does it mean to live by faith in a world where mighty skyscrapers crumble into dust and thousands of people suddenly die? Where is God in the midst of this unthinkable tragedy? And what does faith in God look like at the end of this terrible week?
There are many places in the Bible where we might go to find an answer to those important questions. In this chapter and even this book I want to focus our thinking on a passage that I have often turned to in times of sorrow and personal crisis. How do you live by faith when the world itself seems to shake beneath your feet? When your world is quaking it’s hard to stand up straight and strong. In order to understand the answer to that question, I would like to focus our attention on Hebrews chapter 11. Not the whole chapter, but on one man, Abraham. And not his whole story, but the record of his journey to the Promised Land. The long version of Abraham’s life is given in Genesis; this is just the short summary.
Let’s start with some brief facts about Abraham. When we meet him in the Bible, he is living 4,000 years ago in a far-off place called Ur of the Chaldees on the banks of the Euphrates River not far from the mouth of the Persian Gulf. No doubt he and his wife Sarah worshiped the moon-god Sin. Beside that he is a prosperous, middle-aged man, successful by any human standard. Life has been really good for Abram and Sarah, certainly they had no reason to complain. It is at precisely this moment that God speaks to him—in a clearly, definitely, and unmistakably way. What God says that night will change his life—and ultimately alter the entire course of world history.
Living The Faith Life Actually Means Accepting God’s Call Without Knowing Where It Will Lead You
“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).
There is only one way to describe Ur of the Chaldees. It was a world-class city for its time. Archeologists even tell us that in Abraham’s day perhaps 250,000 people actually lived there behind its walls. It was a center of math, astronomy, commerce, and philosophy. People from outlying areas even moved to Ur because they wanted to be part of that great city and all its splendor. No doubt many of Abraham’s friends thought he was crazy. Why in the world would anyone want to leave Ur?
For him obeying God’s call meant giving up his friends and family, his career, his traditions, his home, his position, his influence, and even his country. More than that, it meant risking his health at such and age and his future on a vague promise from an unseen God to lead him to a “land that I will show you” (see Genesis 12:1-3). So, when Abraham left Ur, he burned his bridges behind him. For him there could be no turning back. Once he left the walls of Ur, he was on his own, following God’s call into the unknown wherever it led him. You say, “He gave all that up?” “Yes.” “That’s kind of strange, isn’t it?” “Is it?” No Guarantees just promises from and God he didn’t even really know. Please don’t miss the main point of the story. When God calls, there are no guarantees about tomorrow. Abraham truly didn’t know where he was going, and he didn’t even know how he would get there. He didn’t know how long it would take, and he didn’t even know for sure how he would know he was there when he got there. All he knew was that God had called him. Period. Everything else was up in the air. You want a long life? So, do I.
You want to rise in your profession? So, do I. You want lots of friends? So, do I. You want to live long enough to see your grandchildren playing at your feet? So, do I. There is nothing wrong with those desires. Nearly all of us feel that way. But living by faith means no guarantees and no certainty about the future. If you truly want to do God’s will, sometimes you will find yourself exactly where Abraham was—setting out on a new journey that doesn’t seem to make sense from the world’s point of view. Hebrews 11:8 says he “obeyed and went.” There is no greater miracle in his life than that. Everything else that happened flows from this basic decision. God called, he obeyed. That truth is the secret of his life. He stepped out in faith even though there were no guarantees about his own personal future.
It’s a typical Monday night in New York City. Thousands of people are watching the Monday night football game between the New York Giants and the Denver Broncos. On Tuesday morning many of the New York fans who rode the subway to work discussed with their friends the rather dismal performance of their Giants the night before. Many of those faithful fans eventually made their way to the World Trade Center to begin a new day’s work. Little did they know they had watched the last football game of their life. They had no idea what was about to happen in just a few minutes.
At precisely 8:45 a.m. the first plane slams into the north tower of the World Trade Center. Shortly after 9:00 a.m. a second plane slams into the south tower of the World Trade Center. Hundreds of people die immediately. Thousands of innocent people will die when the towers finally collapse a few minutes later. Among the passengers on the first plane to hit the World Trade Center was Jeff Mladenik, who was an associate pastor of Christ Church in Oak Brook, a Chicago suburb not far from Oak Park. His particular calling was to find ways to encourage Christians to live out their faith boldly and creatively in the marketplace. That is a noble and very much-needed ministry in our day. So, we have to ask a few questions at this point. Was his faith weak that’s? No. Had he sinned? No. Was he somehow out of God’s will? No. Did God make a mistake? No. Did God break his promise? No. Did he plan to die that day? Absolutely not. Pastor Mladenik was in the will of God when he boarded that plane, and he was in the will of God when he died in the crash.
It is good to recall what soldiers are told by their commanders before a battle begins: “You have to go. You don’t have to come back.” The same is true for the soldiers in the army of the Lord. When Christ calls, we have to go. We don’t have to come back. Living by faith and walking with God with the faith walk means stepping out for God and leaving the results to him. It’s no guarantee of long life and good success. No matter what the TV preachers are telling you. You may have it. But you may not. The life of faith means, “I am going to be the man or woman God wants me to be no matter where it leads me. I don’t know the future, but I’m trusting him to work out all the details of my life. In the meantime, I step out by faith and follow wherever he leads me.”
Living by Faith Means Also Means Waiting for God to Keep His Promises
“By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise” (Hebrews 11:9).
There is within all of us a natural desire to settle down somewhere and take it easy. The older I get, the less I like to move, and the more I value coming home to the same places and seeing the same faces every day. Moving has a way of making us feel unsettled, uprooted, and adrift in the world. I know a lot about moving, for when I was growing up my father was in construction a lot and I actually went to 12 different schools growing up. Most of the time I went to two different schools every school year until High school. Then my parents both left me as a 15-year-old teenager, and I stayed and actually finished high school and graduated. God silently worked things out and put people in my life without me knowing it to make it happen for me. Multiply that feeling by a factor of 100 and spread it out over 50 years and you approximate Abraham’s situation as he came to the Promised Land. Our text tells us that he “lived in tents.” I know lots of people who like to camp on vacation, but I don’t know anyone who voluntarily loves to live in a tent as a permanent residence. Tents speak of impermanence, of the possibility of moving on at any moment. It’s of reminder of the fact that you live on land you do not personally own.
That’s Abraham. He didn’t own anything in the Promised Land. God had promised to give him the land, yet he lived like a “stranger in a foreign country.” If you don’t own the land, you can’t build a permanent dwelling there. In many ways this is even more remarkable than leaving Ur in the first place. As long as he was traveling across the desert, he could dream about the future. When he got to Canaan, all those illusions disappeared. Think of what he didn’t find: No “Welcome Abraham” sign. No discount coupons from the merchants. No housewarming party from the neighbors. No visit from the Welcome Wagon. No mayor with the key to the city. No band playing “Happy Days Are Here Again.” No ticker-tape parade. Nobody expected him. Nobody cared that he had come to live with them. Nobody gave him anything.
It’s All About God’s Timetable … and Not Ours
God had promised him the land … but he had to scratch out an existence in tents to live in it. Hundreds of years would pass before the promise was completely fulfilled. Abraham never saw it happen. Neither did Isaac or Jacob. Was Abraham in the will of God? Yes of course. Was he right to leave Ur? Yes. Was he doing what God wanted him to do? Yes. Why, then, is he living in tents and not palaces Like we are promised by some of the TV guys? Because God’s timetable is not the same as ours. He’s not in a big hurry like we are. God works across the generations to accomplish his purposes. We’re worried about which dress or shirt to buy for the big party this weekend. There is a big difference in those two perspectives, trust me.Newspaper accounts of 9/11 say that at least 165 people were killed, and hundreds were injured, and tens of thousands of people fled the city for the safety of the countryside. On a particular Wednesday riots broke out again when certain ethnic groups began publicly celebrating the terrorist attacks in America. How terrible. But no one knows what the future holds.
Please never forget friend that we are actually “Still at war.”
It is a false and dangerous theology that says, “If I trust God, everything will work out fine and all my dreams will come true.” Many times, the very opposite seems to be true. Too many people in these modern times follow Jesus for the wrong reasons. What did you sign up for? A picnic in the park? Or maybe a tea party? Instead, Jesus calls you to take up your cross daily and follow him. I really hate to bust your bubble like this.
President Bush went on TV and said, “We are at war.” Do we understand what those words mean? Do we have any idea of the sacrifice for all American people? I am sure the answer is no for most of us. Perhaps it is well that God doesn’t let us know what is in store for us. What I can tell you twenty years later is that the days ahead will not be easy. I wish I could promise that there will be no more terrorist attacks, but I can’t do that. I don’t doubt that there are some people who, if they had the chance, would blow up the Sears Tower down tomorrow morning if they got a chance. That isn’t a prediction; it’s simply a statement of the situation.
As we move forward by faith closer to the coming of the Lord it is vitally important that we let go of any anger or bitterness that we may have stored up. Who knows, we may have to live in tents for a while. Who can say what tomorrow will bring? Our challenge is to be like Abraham and cling to the promises of God no matter what happens. We may have to say at some point, “We would rather die with the Lord than live without him.” In God’s time every promise will be fulfilled. Meanwhile, we watch and wait and walk by faith. There is a third principle at work in Abraham’s life. It is the ultimate key to the life of faith.