SPIRITUALITY AND FAITH
B. God seeks to revive people in a walk with Him! Gen. 5:21-24 shows Enoch as a model for intimate walking with God. His name which means “dedicated”, inspires faith in all who desire an intimate relationship with God and want to go in the Rapture! Enoch’s faith and life so pleased God that it drew God down from heaven to walk with him. He maintained unbroken fellowship with God. Enoch shows us that a man in communion with God is able to conquer the world, the flesh and the devil.
C. God helps one to find grace amid grief. Lamech sensing the tide of the world, voiced prophetic hope when he named his son Noah (which means “rest”). “Noah walked with God” (Gen. 6:9) – loved God, and listened to God, for amid the sins of his day, he wanted to gain the grace of God! When God gave Noah a 120-year countdown to the flood in Gen. 6:3, he began calling for repentance and living it. Even though it had not rained on the earth, Noah in Gen. 6:14-18 got busy building an ark based on God’s specifications for the saving of his household! As a result, Noah was lifted above his evil world to become a “Rapture-ready” example we must follow! He was 500 years old when God spoke (Gen. 5:32) and 600 years old in Gen. 7:6 when he entered the ark! Wow, what great faith even when God is silent!
D. God helps one live under “open heavens”. When Noah was called to build the ark in Gen. 6:16, it was to have a door on the side and a window to God on top.
When the ark was finished, Noah was shut in away from all who rejected God’s call, with eyes only on God above! Let us be attentive to God’s gracious call to come into the Ark of His Presence. Amid the rising floods around us…there is place for you in God’s “Secret Place” (Psa. 91:1-2). While the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days, Gen. 8:1 says, “God remembered Noah…” Notice how God uses the dove (a type of the Holy Spirit) for Noah to again find his place on the earth. In the same way, if we will remain in tune with the Spirit, we will be directed into our future!
III. GOD’S PRESENCE COMES WHEN OUR DESPERATION POSITIONS US TO OBEY HIM (Illustrated by Exodus 12 & 14)
A. God will delay intervention for us to gain dependency on Him! The people of Israel had been in bondage for 400 years. Then Moses arrives but they are not ready for him, and Moses is not ready to lead God’s way. So, God sends Moses off to live in the desert where he would learn about God’s ways of showing up (the fire of His presence, the snake his traveling rod, and his hand turned to disease, then healed). After 40 years Moses returns to Egypt and what both Moses and Israel needed to learn in the delay, is that dependency and obedience are keys to God showing up! God released 10 plaques that turned the heart of Pharaoh to let them go! God also caused all Egypt to favor Israel in Exodus 12:35-36, so in one night they paid up for 400 years of labor in “silver, gold and clothing”. Then