Heritage of Faith

When I was a child, my parents told me about God. They didn’t sit me down one day and tell me the whole story of how we were created by God. They shared with me parts of the story as we simply did life together. We went to church on Sunday’s and we talked about our faith during the routines of the week.  My parents had deep faith in God. As a result of their faith, I gave my life to Christ at an early age and desired to live for Him. I must say that the faith I had at this point was pretty much directly connected to the faith of my parents.

As I grew older and moved away to college and was “on my own”, I began to wrestle with certain parts of my faith. I questioned some things about God. I ended up having some deep conversations with Him about our relationship. I remember clearly the evening at Johnson Bible College that my faith became my own.  I believed in Him because of the conversations that He & I had. I believed in Him because of His Word.  I felt His Presence very near me.   Asaph is reminding the people of Israel of their heritage of faith as he reminds them of the journey and how God had lead them and blessed them along the way. Check this out….

1 My people, listen to my teaching;

       listen to what I say.

 2 I will speak using stories;

       I will tell secret things from long ago.

 3 We have heard them and known them

       by what our ancestors have told us.

 4 We will not keep them from our children;

       we will tell those who come later

       about the praises of the Lord.

    We will tell about his power

       and the miracles he has done.

 

 5 The Lord made an agreement with Jacob

       and gave the teachings to Israel,

    which he commanded our ancestors

       to teach to their children.

 6 Then their children would know them,

       even their children not yet born.

       And they would tell their children.

 7 So they would all trust God

       and would not forget what he had done

       but would obey his commands. (Psalm 78:1-7 NCV)

I’ve always wanted my children to grow up and have a faith of their own. I want them to know the Lord fully and deeply. I want them to have conversations along the journey of life that give them a deep connection to Him.  I want to continue to be consistent in my own journey, but I want them to have their own faith in Him. I sometimes need to be reminded of my own journey and the things God has done. It’s refreshing and humbling to have one of my kids encourage my faith with their faith. I think that is exactly how God wanted things to go with our families. I am so blessed with 5 amazing kids who know and love the Lord.  I will continue to pray for them and encourage them as they encourage me. Together, God is building a heritage of faith that is built upon Him and His Word.

Pressing On!

Dwayne