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Many people think it is to believe something they can be sure of. But did you know that for the Christian, faith is also a way?

At the moment of salvation, the believer takes his first step, and from that point walks in a relationship with Jesus. This trip is the most exciting experience in life, because we are learning to know our Savior and to fulfill what He has called us to do.

Any path is easier if you know someone who has traveled before. Thank God, we have the Bible, which is full of wonderful examples of people who walked the same way we are today.

Abraham was a man who experienced both confidence and confusion in his walk with God, through successes and failures, certainty and doubt, experiences at the top and in valleys of despair.

When we examine his pilgrimage of faith, we find six words that help us understand what we can expect by imitating his steps.

PURPOSE.

First, we must understand that God never does anything without a plan. His purposes have been fixed and fulfilled since creation (Is 46.9, 10). He has plans for his life as well, but the only way to discover them is to walk the path of faith with him. Even if you do not understand all the turns and turns along the way, you can rely on fidelity and the unlimited power of the One who will guide you.

When Abraham heard the Lord for the first time, he had no idea that his story would be recorded to be read by future generations. And because he was faithful to take that first step, the nation of Israel was established, and the Savior of the world was born.

Have you ever thought about what God could do in your life if you walked obediently with Him? The Lord does not always tell us what he is doing; it simply says: "Follow me". Then, when we take a step of faith, He gives us more direction. If we received all the details, we would miss the excitement of walking with Him, and the blessings He would like to give us.

PERPLEXITY

When the Lord said to him, "Go from your land ... to the land that I will show you (Gen 12.1-3), Abraham had no idea where his journey would end or what the long-term results would be. His mind must have been flooded with questions.

In the same way, our walk with God can be difficult to understand. Sometimes, he asks us to go to places that seem illogical or that we do things without meaning. But we are called to walk by faith. Not by sight, feelings or human reasoning.

That is why we can not make decisions based on what seems logical to us. The right decisions are made only when we consider what is logical for God. His thoughts and ways are higher than ours (Is 55.8, 9).

The only way to receive more understanding of the Lord is through the study of His Word. In examining what He wants for us, and in the way he worked in the lives of men and women of the Bible, we will begin to see the baffling events of our lives from his perspective. Someday all of our questions will be answered, and everything will make sense.

We will see how he was doing everything for good, according to his good purpose in every situation (even painful ones). We do not have to always understand what he is doing; all we have to do is obey and leave all the consequences in their hands.

PATIENCE.

We are a hurried generation, but God is never in a hurry. In the way of faith, there are two indications. "Slow down," and "Wait here, and we do not like any of them. If you are like me, you will want to keep moving and move on with whatever the Lord has called you to do.

Sometimes, we have the idea that if He tells us to take two steps forward, five would be better. But remember that God has perfectly planned our route according to his schedule. If He says wait, you can rest assured that He is working to achieve the best possible result (a result that will testify to your faithfulness, and that will glorify you).

In Abraham's life we ​​see both the blessings of waiting on the Lord, and the consequences of anticipating his plan. When God told him to leave his land, Abraham obediently left Haran and settled in the land of Canaan (Gen 12.4-8). He even built an altar to worship the Lord. However, when there was a famine, Abraham decided not to trust the Lord or wait on his provision. Instead, he went to Egypt with his family.

PROTECTION.

Although walking by faith may seem risky, the way of God is, in reality, the safest, since He always protects those who travel with Him. When the Lord called Abraham, He promised him: "I will bless those who bless you, and those who curse you I will curse. "

This same principle of divine protection is seen throughout the Bible. Although God does not always deliver us from adversity, it does help us through trials. In fact, he uses them to improve our relationship with Him.

The Lord even intervenes on our behalf when we are in difficulties as a result of our imprudent decisions. When we make a slip in our faith, He does not abandon us. Understands our weaknesses and knows when we have a heart inclined to Him.

Does this mean that we will not have to suffer the consequences of our bad decisions? No way. The divine principle of sowing and harvesting is still valid (Gal. 6.7). Let's see the incident between Sara and Agar. The birth of Ishmael resulted in stress and conflict in the family of Abraham. However, even though Sara's clumsy attempt to have a child complicated the Lord's plan, that never frustrated her purposes. The promised son, Isaac, came anyway according to God's plan (Gen 21.1, 2).

PENDULUM.

As you walk with the Lord, there will be times when you will feel that your spiritual life swings like a pendulum between faith and doubt: you know what the Word of God says, but circumstances and your feelings tell you something totally different. Abraham, no doubt, sometimes found it difficult to believe God.

His faith was strong when he began his pilgrimage, but when difficulties threatened him, or the Lord seemed to go slowly to fulfill his promises, doubts seized his faith.

However, the moment Abraham faced the greatest trial of his life, his faith had become so strong that he diligently obeyed God's command to sacrifice Isaac on the altar. Because he believed that God could do the impossible, passed the test of faith, and the Lord saved Isaac.

PEACE.

Because Abraham had learned to trust God, he experienced the wonderful peace of having a relationship with the Lord. And is not that what we all need? Brother, there is no peace out of the way of faith. It is not a question of having everything we want, but of developing an attitude of trust and determination to obey, knowing that God always leads us on the right path.

When it comes to faith, we have advantages that were not available to Abraham. In the first place is the Bible, which reveals God's perspective on faith, and which allows us to learn from the successes and failures of those who preceded us.

Second, we have the incarnation of the Son of God that occurred 2,000 years after Abraham; This patriarch not only lacked everything that the New Testament reveals about Jesus Christ, but also the inner presence of the Holy Spirit, as believers do today.

Abraham demonstrated faith by the revelation that had been given him (1 Cor 3.11, He 9.10). By doing the same thing each day, we will experience the peace that surpasses all understanding and the emotion of following Christ, step by step, in the power of the Holy Spirit.