Romans 4

“For the Scriptures tell us, ‘Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.'” – Romans 4:3

“But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners.” – Romans 4:5

“Circumcision was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous – even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are counted as righteous because of their faith.” – Romans 4:11

Faith. It is the foundation of everything in Christ. It is the path of righteousness. The life of Abraham, as Paul lays out for us in this chapter, depicts the perfect example of faith leading to righteousness, which leads to obedience to the Lord. Abraham’s faith in God was so strong and so deep that, even when it may not have made sense, he trusted God enough to do what He said. This is true faith that leads to righteousness. The kind of faith that says, “God, I know You and I know Your promises. I don’t know how we are going to get from here to there, but I know that You are faithful to do what You have said You would do. And because of that, I will do what You say because I have faith in You and Your power.”

Our faith in God, our pursuit for God, is not always going to make sense. Think about it. Abraham was living the life with his family. All of the sudden, the Living God, whom Abraham had never met prior to this, comes in and says, “Hey, I want to do something amazing and prove My sovereignty to the world. And I want you to be the guy through whom I accomplish My plans. I’ve got this land that I want to show you. In fact, I am going to give this land to you and your descendants to inhabit for all of time. What do you say?”

Ok first off, you can never tell me that faith isn’t blind. Abraham had no idea where he was going. He just knew that he had been chosen by God Himself to do something amazing! So, not knowing where he was going (and really not yet knowing Who he was following), he left everything behind him. If you are afraid to follow what God is telling you to do because you don’t know what’s going to happen, then you are relying on your own way of thinking and you don’t actually have faith in God like you say you do.

Second, Abraham’s faith was being shown to us from the very beginning when God called him out. God, give us the faith of Abraham! Gives us the eyes to recognize that You are faithful even when we can’t see what’s going to happen.

Now hear me in this, Abraham had some mess up moments. Yet he was still counted as righteous before God. Why? Because even with those moments of messing up, his faith in God never wavered. And because of his unwavering faith in the Lord, he recognized his mess ups and he repented of them, ensuring that he remained in faith with God. THIS is what righteousness is! Abraham didn’t make excuses for his faults. He didn’t remain in his mistakes. He recognized them for what they were, acknowledged his responsibility in the situation, and returned back to walking in step with the Lord rather than doing things his own way.

And this is where we find ourselves in the American Church. We have turned to doing things our own way rather than doing them God’s way. We have decided that we know better than God. Well, look where that has gotten us. We have plenty of buildings that are decorated with radiant, earthly things. Yet they are void of the Lord’s presence.

We have these “experiences” that happen on a weekly basis where people gather to hear their favorite worship leader or pastor, yet these are all void of the glory and power of God.

Yet, we have the audacity to pray for revival and think that God is actually going to give it to us when we are focused on and caught up in all of the wrong things?

Revival will come. But it is not going to go to the ones who want to remain where they are. No, God is going to pour, and in fact He already is pouring, out His Spirit and glory of revival on those who are willing to step out in the faith like that of Abraham and say, “God, I don’t know where you are taking me, I just know You said to come. I don’t know what any of this is going to look like, I just know You told me to follow. I don’t care if anyone else comes with me, I just know that I need You and only You.”