Devotionals
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A Journey in Faith: A Study on the Life of Abraham
I love this time of year because it marks a turn in the journey of faith for me. I try to spend time the week between Christmas and New Year’s giving God gratitude for the blessings of this life as well as acknowledging any grief or regrets as I entrust them to God in prayer. But what I especially think and pray about is how God might be inviting me to intentionally arrange my life to follow him in the year ahead. There are always things we need to leave behind or let go of in order to move out into the new and hopeful future God has for us. This is not easy; it can be difficult and painful, but it is an act of faith.
Abraham is a wonderful model of what faith looks like. Genesis 12 marks the beginning of his journey of faith:
Now the Lord said to Abram, "Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing."
It doesn’t seem possible, but five years ago I received the call to come to Vienna Presbyterian Church. My family and I spent months packing, giving things away, and preparing for a move to a new community, a new church, and new home. It was hard to say goodbye to people we had loved and cared about for ten years, but it was time. We grieved leaving the place we knew and the people we loved, but God had made it clear that we were to go to Vienna, and so we went by faith, not knowing a lot about where we were going.
Every new year brings an opportunity to leave the old year behind with its joys, sorrow, triumphs, and tragedies and move into a new, though unknown and even uncertain future. I am filled with joy and gratitude for how God has helped us to make our home in Vienna and for the sense of belonging and home that my family now has here. Although my transition from 2011 to 2012 will not be about a physical move, there are still ways I need to let go and things I need to leave behind in order to follow Christ and to have his life formed in me. That is true for all of us.
Hebrews 11 is often called the Hall of Faith as it provides wonderful portraits of the faithful people who have gone before us. This is what it says of Abraham:
By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old—and Sarah herself was barren—because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, "as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore."
We will see that Abraham was not perfect. He made a lot of mistakes, but he lived by faith continuing to trust God to do for him what only God could do. Our hope and prayer is that God will use our study of Abraham to help us understand what it means to live by faith in the midst of our everyday, ordinary lives. May we understand more and more what it means to be blessed by God and arrange our lives to live out the blessing of God and to be a blessing to others.
Grace and peace,
Glenda Simpkins Hoffman
A Journey of Faith - A Study of the Life of Abraham
Devotional Booklet
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Index to Daily Devotionals
| Week | Dates | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
3 | Jan 9-15 | |||||||
4 | Jan 16-22 | |||||||
5 | Jan 23-29 | |||||||
6 | Jan 30-Feb 5 |