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The Lord spoke to Abram. His Word to Abram was a call to the life of faith. The life of faith is an invitation to continue walking in close fellowship with the Lord, hearing the Word of the Lord, and rejoicing to be able to honor the Lord by responding to Him in the devoted obedience of faith.

Abram did respond to the Word of the Lord in faith. His response expressed the genuine obedience of faith, as he willingly honored the Lord in that obedience of faith.

"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went" (Hebrews 11: 8).

The call to the life of faith was matched by the obedience of faith. That is the foundation of true fellowship. That is the key to vital spiritual fellowship between God and man.

That is also the fellowship in which the Lord is able to draw ever closer to His servant, even as He enables His servant to draw closer to Him.

Without that faith there is no such vital personal fellowship, rather, where that faith is lacking, there is a most serious rift. That breach of unbelief which destroys every possibility of true fellowship.

The only alternative to faith is: unbelief! Such unbelief is always unwillingness to take God at His Word. It is unwillingness to trust Him, and inevitably leads to disobedience. There can be no fellowship in such circumstances.

The Lord always rewards true faith with a closer deeper fellowship with Himself. A closer walk. A deeper relationship.

Abram responded in the obedience of faith. The Lord enabled Abram to experience more of His fullness. More of His sufficiency. More of His love.

That reality increasingly inspired the response of the servant of the Lord.

The Inspiration to worship was so real to Abram, and so vital. It was alive to him because of his perspective. He had the perspective of true faith.

God had commanded, "Get thee out!" Leave! Renounce! Abram was required to give up his country. His family. His father's house.

Yet, is that command to be regarded from the negative perspective? Or from the positive perspective?

The merely human perspective of it may choose to see it as totally negative. Why should this be asked of him? Why give up everything which everyone else values so highly? Why be required to renounce the things which all other people hold dear?

It is easy to suggest that it was all so very negative. That it was asking too much of Abram, or anyone else for that matter.

That may have been the human perspective. But it was not the perspective of Abram. Even as it was not, and never could be, the perspective of faith!

The first question the perspective of faith asks is, Who is saying this to me? Why is He requiring this of me? If it is His will, what will the end result be for me and those I love? Particularly if He really does have His way with us?

Leave: all? No! "Thy country?" Yes. "Thy kindred?" Yes! "Thy father's house?" Yes!

But - that is not: ALL! Nor are those things really the most important consideration, especially to the one who desires fellowship with the Lord.

"So Abram departed!" With him he took his wife, Sarai. Also, Lot; his brother's son. Also: "All their substance that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran."

All these details are important if we are to understand the inspiration to worship. But even that is not of the first importance!

In faith Abram obeyed the Lord. That means that he took the Lord with him! Or, even better, he went out in fellowship with the Lord! That is the truth which really matters.

All that he had to leave behind now fades into total insignificance. He had the Lord! With him! The Lord who was drawing him into a rich personal fellowship. A closer walk with the Lord who guided, led, inspired, and enabled.

Abram knew that he had gained infinitely more than he had sacrificed or renounced! It is in that fact that we have the true beginning of worship. The gracious inspiration to faith to worship.

To personally hear the Lord's call to the life of faith, and to respond in the obedience of faith. Then, to personally experience the Lord walking with you in fellowship. That is to live continually in the environment of inspiration. Great inspiration. Rich inspiration. The inspiration of the life that is so truly blessed.

He had received from the Lord the fullness of the promise. Everything! In every detail. Nothing was lacking. Every moment of every day was a continual reminder: The Lord was with him; with every development reminding him: The Lord was gloriously faithful.

Every new circumstance accentuated this reality. Every unexpected difficulty. All the perplexing problems which arose. All these continually gave the Lord His opportunity in which He constantly revealed more and more of His resources. Those resources which were faithfully and fully committed to Abram and to the blessing of Abram.

No need went unmet! Not one! Abram never reached the close of any day disappointed. The Lord was never a disappointment! There was never any reason for disillusionment. Or discouragement. Or any other such response.

Faith walked in that reality. It is any wonder that faith was so greatly inspired to worship and adore the Lord?

Nothing has changed! Nothing! The Lord certainly has not changed. Neither have His promises. Nor His faithfulness.

His resources are still the same. Still infinite and unfailing. His total commitment to us is the same. His continued call to us to walk in faith is the same. To daily walk close to Him in vital personal fellowship.

He gives us every reason for worship. He greatly inspires us with this inspiration of faith to worship and adore Him.

This is the glorious reality to which He invites us. It is the inevitable consequence of living in the grace of the Lord. By grace, through faith, walking daily with Him!

Abram had reached the land of promise, that very land which God had promised to show to him. That moment gave to faith a real sense of accomplishment.

In that very significant moment: "The Lord appeared unto Abram!" He promised him, "Unto thy seed will I give this land."

Abram's response was spontaneous. He gave himself in worship, in genuine praise and thanksgiving. This was the most natural response. Totally authentic. Expressing the genuineness of his walk of faith with the Lord.

There was nothing forced about his worship. He did not have to be reminded to express appreciation. There was no pretense. Nothing artificial in his response.

Abram was completely genuine. The worship of faith was utterly sincere. He so joyfully acknowledges the faithfulness of the Lord. So thankfully honors the sufficiency of the Lord. He rejoices to glorify the Lord.

He knew: It was all of God! It was all God's plan! God's goal! God's call! God's guidance! God's provision! It was God himself who brought it all to a successful culmination.

All that Abram had contributed was humble faith. The faith which was expressed: in sincere obedience first. And now, expressed in intense worship.

That was the reality for Abram. The reality as he lived out the life of faith. It is still the genuine reality for the life of faith. The evidence will be obvious. The inevitable expression of spontaneous worship. Intense worship focused totally on glorifying the Lord.

The freedom of faith: expressed in spontaneous worship. The two are eternally linked!

The focus of faith in worship is unmistakable. Yet sadly some miss it. The focus is always: The Lord. Only: The Lord. This is a most essential element of the worship of faith.

There are other, incidental things which could have distracted Abram. The very things which distract us all too often. The result of such distraction is inevitable. We take the focus of our response away from the Lord, which means, we are no longer responding in worship!

Listening to many Christians today, if Abram had expressed their sentiments we can imagine him saying something like:

"One reason the journey went so well was the weather. It proved to be so conducive to our needs at the time!"

"It is fortunate that the camels traveled so well. That we had no problems with them."

Or: "We were lucky to be able to evade the attention of the desert raiders."

And so people go on! Things which they see as being so significant. Yet all those things are so totally superficial! It is so dishonoring to the Lord to think and talk in such terms.

Faith can confidently rest on one essential reality. All the details are in the Lord's hands. Every circumstance is under His control. All we have to do is to keep our focus on Him. In faith to walk with Him. He will see us through.

The focus: The Lord. Therefore the focus of the intensity of worship is always The Lord!

Abram obeyed in faith. Therefore everything contributed to the intensity of worship. If Abram did consider the weather, that helped to inspire the intensity of worship. The Lord controlled the weather.

If Abram considered the camels, or other aspects of the transportation, that intensified his spirit of worship. Every aspect of the journey, seen in the 1ight of the Lord's faithfulness.

The journey was over. Faith focused on the Lord. “This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes!'' (Matthew 21: 42).

The land was laid out before him. “The promised land.” He could see it. Walk in it. "This too was the Lord's doing." The Lord made it all a glorious reality!

As he thought about the personal aspects, his own life, along with the development of his faith including his experience of the Lord's presence, as well as the glory of his personal experience of the Lord's provision.

All gave witness to the one vital reality. This too is all the Lord's doing! All of Him!

The worship of faith is greatly intensified. It is humble. It is sincere. It is overflowing with great joy. It is spontaneous in praise and adoration.

Faith! Inspired to intense worship. Expressed in spontaneous worship. Worship that is fully focused on the glory of the Lord.

The altar of sacrifice speaks so eloquently. It emphasizes two vital elements of the worship of faith.

First. The One whom faith seeks to worship. The Lord. The eternal God. The one who called Abram to the life of faith. Who continually inspired and enabled him to walk by faith.

God - is GOD! The Almighty One. He who exercises infinite sovereign authority. Who is perfect in every respect. Perfect in holiness. Perfect in spotless purity. Perfect in truth and justice. Perfect in love. In mercy. In grace.

He is eternally faithful to Himself. Faithful to His perfect purity and holiness. Faithful to His perfect justice and truth. There is never any variation. Never even the slightest deviation.

He is eternally faithful to His Word. To His promise of grace. To His covenant of love.

He so rightly reminds us, "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith The LORD.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55: 8 - 9).

Faith comes in worship. Yes. Yet faith also humbly accepts this vital truth. The One Whom faith seeks to worship is: Unapproachable. Particularly to fallen sinful man.

Faith accepts that reality. Faith is honest about the total unworthiness of man. The utter sinfulness of man. Faith faces squarely the problem of our total depravity.

That is the reason faith builds an altar. The altar of sacrifice. That altar where the sacrifice of atonement is made. Knowing that there is only one basis on which the sacrifice could be acceptable: grace!

Faith, at the altar which it has built, pleads for grace! To be able to come, through grace, to worship.

Abram in faith acknowledged that. The unchanging spiritual principle. He came to worship. To worship he must build an altar. The altar at which he sought grace.

Our faith can burst forth in spontaneous worship. To express that worship at The Throne, it comes to: the altar!

The altar of the cross of Calvary. Faith pleads for grace to provide access. Pleads for that on the basis of that One Unique Sacrifice: The broken body of the Lord Jesus. Faith pleads for grace, trusting in His blood. His blood poured out for our cleansing. His blood making atonement for all our sin.

It was in faith that Abram built the altar. That altar was a genuine witness. Expressing his humble sincere trust in God. His confidence in the grace of God.

True, he pleads for acceptance on the basis of sacrificial blood. Yet he makes that plea with confident assurance because he is convinced that he will be received. That the pleading of his faith will not be in vain.

Faith leaves no room for uncertainty. There is no reason for tentativeness. Doubts are banished.

Faith comes, inspired to worship. Comes to the altar of sacrificial worship. Takes hold of this as God's provision. Confident in God's grace.

That faith is never in vain. It is never disappointed. It's anticipation is fully rewarded.

That faith stands strong in the grace of God. Sustained continually by the Word of God. Strengthened in the commitment to worship the Lord.

God always responds to that faith. He blesses the confident anticipation it expresses. He reveals more and more of Himself in response. Enabling us to comprehend more fully the riches of His grace. The fullness of His love.

Faith sees His glory. His majesty. His greatness. This is the key to the urgent desire, ''That I may know Him!"(Philippians 3: 10).

The principle involved in this is most significant. It was established very early in human history.

The Epistle to the Hebrews expresses it. "By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and by it he being dead yet speaketh" (Hebrews 11: 4).

The altar speaks of sacrifice. Sacrifice to make atonement for sin. To make it possible for the worshipper to approach the Holy God. That was the key to Abel's acceptance.

"Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock" (Genesis 4: 4). He brought a lamb to the altar of sacrifice. The result is clearly stated. "The Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering!"

There are some key words used in this. In faith he came. He came to the altar of sacrifice. He offered a lamb to make atonement. He received the witness of God that he was righteous. The gift which he offered was acceptable.

Faith comes in worship to the altar. The altar God has provided. The cross. There the Lamb of God was offered to make atonement. Faith places its total confidence in His sacrifice. Thus faith is confident that God will honor that approach.

Faith seeks to worship: always at the altar. To express praise and thanksgiving. Always through the blood of the Sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the Cross. Access is granted because the approach is through His broken body!

Abram in faith came to the altar. In calm assurance, to be fully acceptable to the Lord. To be able to worship the Lord. Free to express his great thanksgiving and praise.

There is only one expression of worship that honors God. Genuine spiritual worship. The worship of true faith.

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him" (Hebrews 11: 6).

That is in stark contrast to: "This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me" (Matthew 15: 8).

The Lord Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.

"God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4: 23 24).

In faith Abram built the altar. His objective: true spiritual worship.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12: 1).

At the altar: present the right sacrifice! The sacrifice acceptable to God. That is: reasonable service. Or, Spiritual Worship!

It is the quality of worship which lifts to the highest. All that God had done was important. Abram so greatly appreciated every aspect of it. He expressed sincere thankfulness for it. Yet that was only the springboard to the realm of true spiritual worship.

He did not build an altar to what the Lord had done. He built an altar to the Lord Himself!

In spiritual worship the focus is not on what the Lord has done. Not on the gifts which He has so graciously provided. Not on the blessings so bountifully poured out. All of these things are only the beginning.

Faith rises to greater heights of worship. Faith focuses of God Himself. "An altar unto the Lord!"

Abram focused on the Lord. His infinite glory. His indescribable majesty. His eternal faithfulness.

Faith proclaims the vital truth. Simply. Clearly. Powerfully. The truth: "The Lord is Worthy!" He only is worthy! He is infinitely worthy!

The Lord is worthy. Worthy of all praise and thanksgiving. Worthy of all glory and majesty. Worthy of all worship and adoration. Worthy for all time. For all eternity.

Faith, in spiritual worship, knows no other emphasis. The Lord is not only central. He is: Everything! Faith, in spiritual worship, is utterly absorbed with His infinite excellence. With HIM!

Faith builds the altar to the Lord. There the Lord is all that is seen. His glory is all that is known. His very personality and nature are all that is honored.

Genuine spiritual worship gives God His opportunity. That opportunity which He so greatly longs to have.

Faith worships at the altar. In spiritual worship a strong deep longing is expressed. "That I may know HIM!" Know Him: to worship Him more!

God takes hold of that longing that is expressed by faith. The longing which is the heart cry of love for Him. God takes hold of it, to strengthen it, to deepen it, and to continue to develop it.

He uses it to bring about a much closer walk with Himself. To inspire an ever growing love. A Christ-like love. A walk of love with Him that strengthens genuine fellowship.

His aim is to make the spiritual reality a more glorious personal experience. To release the exciting potential in actual life. To enable the daily appropriation of the fullness of His promises.

Abram had only just begun. He still had so much to learn. His walk of faith needed to develop much greater maturity, as well as deeper understanding.

He built an altar unto the Lord. At that altar God was at work: In Abram. Gloriously. God was just beginning!

God was not through with Abram. Even so, He is not through with us. He has only just begun. How thankful we must be for that assurance.

Think through the impact of the teaching of His Word. Study the effects of true spiritual worship. When we do so, prayerfully, the possibilities will startle you. Astonish you. Inspire you.

Respond in faith. At the altar of worship. Believe that God is still at work, in us: At the altar of worship. At work to bring us much closer to Himself.

"Present your bodies a living sacrifice!"(Romans 12: 1). Present your all! All placed on the altar of sacrifice.

We are called by God to the fullness of the life of faith. That brings us inevitably to the altar of faith. The altar of true spiritual worship. That altar where: "ALL" is to be presented!

Paul wrote, "Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth to those things which are before,

I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3: 12 - 14).

"The extent" involved in genuine spiritual worship inspires our total commitment.

He rejoiced to surrender to the Lord. To surrender in the attitude of deep devotion. In adoration and worship. To express his thanksgiving. All at the altar of sacrifice.