Believing and Faith

Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:6

Abram, later to be named Abraham, believed in the LORD. He believed what He said but that is not what makes the difference. He believed in the person of God. It was personal. Heart to heart. He believed in God's being. Not just His doing but His being. It is possible to believe a word He gives us, it is possible to believe somethings about God but do we believe in Him as a person?

Jesus introduced a revolutionary idea: That God was a person and you need to have a relationship with Him. The Pharisees had reduced their faith to compliance to some rules without any relationship. That is like couples who are married but don't like each other. Forget about love. God desires a person to person relationship. He desires for us deeply to experience His presence in our living and life.

Jesus warns us that those whom He will not allow into heaven are not because they were horrible sinners. The only criteria of getting into heaven is does Jesus personally know you? Have you talked to Him? Does He talk back? Or are you in a relationship with some rules but not a person?

Matthew records Jesus warning in his book, chapter 7 and verse 23, "I never knew you, depart from Me..." These are people who have attended church, done great things for God but did not know His Son.

Job was horribly attacked by Satan and tried to discredit God and His character. Satan wanted to ruin the personal relationship that Job had with God by making it seem as if God had personally abandoned Job. Even his friends assume that God has abandoned Job because Job has in some way abandoned God.

To know the person of God you must master the spiritual discipline of YADA.
1. You must learn how to be quiet.
2. In your quietness you must learn how to be still, very, very still.
3. In your stillness you must learn how to rest.
4. In your rest you must learn how to listen.
5. In your listening you must learn how to reflect back to God what He is saying to your heart without allowing any editing of your mind or your emotions.

God is never silent. He is quiet and gentle and you must be quiet and still and resting in faith and the ears of your heart wide open and receive what He says with an obedient heart. If you do, you will never lack from a sense of the presence of God in your life.