More than words from Pastor Bernie Federmann

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

Faith for the Journey Called Life

Hebrews 11:8
By an act of faith, Abraham said yes to God's call to travel to an unknown place that would become his home. When he left he had no idea where he was going. By an act of faith he lived in the country promised him, lived as a stranger camping in tents. Isaac and Jacob did the same, living under the same promise. Abraham did it by keeping his eye on an unseen city with real, eternal foundations—the City designed and built by God. (The Message)

Sometimes we miss a lot of incredible opportunities because of a lack of vision in our lives. If we are not able to catch hold of God’s preferable future for us we can easily miss moving forward in faith. We may set out to travel the wrong road if we are not able to capture the vision that God may have for us. We may miss all the road signs due to preconceived notions or because of the way we’ve already figured things should be, could be or ought to be. We set out to travel where we think we need to go and in the process we block out other avenues, other possibilities, other interesting sites that we might have otherwise seen, that we might have otherwise experienced if it were not for the spiritual blinders that we put on our life. We set out on a predetermined course of action and we miss other things that God may in fact have had in store for us. I don’t want to miss what God wants, simply because I might be walking the same old trail or getting busy sidetracked and wandering. Traveling down the road of life presses us to the making of good decisions in order to enjoy the ride to the fullest and sometimes involves traveling off the map. Why would anyone want to march off their map? Why would we want to leave behind that which is familiar to do that which is uncomfortable? The Christian pilgrimage is all about knowing that I’m not yet where God wants me to be – spiritually I am on a journey – it is lived by faith and followed by faith. It begins by the realization I am not in the place I could be or should be. I’m not completely sure of how to get there, but my trust in the relationship of the One who gives the promises will help me to take the next faith step. What’s the next step for you? What is God calling you to do , be, say, give, share and or move in faith?

What we discover as we get a little bit further down the road of life is this: If we really want to live, we have no choice but to march off the map. Off the map, into the unknown, based on faith in the One who’s called us.

We set out to travel where we think we need to go and in the process we block out other avenues and we miss other things that God may in fact have had in store for us....Faith means you can't see it, if you can see it it's not faith...and it reminds us how sight oriented our spiritual life can be. How seldom, how little, we really take faith steps off the map.

Sometimes God calls us, as we’re traveling down the road of life, to abandon certain assumptions that we had always held about life, about ways that we always assumed life would be, should be, could be, and He says leave it all behind. Abraham is a great example of this as is Noah.

Hebrews 11:7
By faith, Noah built a ship in the middle of dry land. He was warned about something he couldn't see, and acted on what he was told. The result? His family was saved. His act of faith drew a sharp line between the evil of the unbelieving world and the rightness of the believing world. As a result, Noah became intimate with God. (The Message) It is not enough to have the faith to order the lumber. Once it arrives we cannot let it sit in stacks and loose heart. We must take it and build the boat even when it does not rain. It is the faith thing to do. Noah built the Ark – not with procrastination, excuses or disbelief but with faith and works.


As with Noah:



  1. Obedient faith responds regardless of what others may or may not think of say.

  2. Obedient faith responds before it starts to rain.

  3. Obedient faith responds whether anyone else has their umbrella out or not.

  4. Obedient faith responds because of where it gets you.


Follow God in faith - journey with Him regardless of what you see.
Living by faith more and more,
Pastor Bernie

No comments: