Bible Challenge – Genesis 15

“And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith.” v.6 (NLT)

Have you ever felt like you were going through the motions, jumping through the right hoops, but still feeling empty? There is a reason for that.  The enemy tries to keep us busy so we feel like we are doing the right things, but only God can can stir our hearts in a way that causes us to feel connected, driven, and effective.  God gives us the why behind the work and the passion behind the perseverance.  But it all starts with a little word called faith!

When we look at Abrams life it’s easy to see that he had been demonstrating his faith through his actions.  However, it was his faith in the Lord, not his actions, that made Abram right with the Lord.  We, too, can have a right relationship with God simply by trusting Him.  Our outward actions: church attendance, prayer, good deeds, service, will not by themselves make us right with God. (yes you read that right) A right relationship with God is based on faith! Faith is the heartfelt inner confidence that God is who He says He is and does what He says He will do. Right actions will follow naturally as a by products to our faith in Christ.

“Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? ² If his good deeds had made him acceptable to God, he would have had something to boast about. But that was not God’s way. ³ For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

 ⁴ When people work, their wages are not a gift, but something they have earned. ⁵ But people are counted as righteous, not because of their work, but because of their faith in God who forgives sinners. ” Romans 4:1-5 (NLT)

Today, Are you driven by faith, or by feelings? Both can cause us to do good things, but only one will make us righteous in the eyes of God.