1 - Heaven Calling

Genesis 28 :
10. So Jacob left Beer-sheba and journeyed toward Haran.
11. That night, when he stopped to camp at sundown, he found a rock for a headrest and lay down to sleep,
12. and dreamed that a staircase reached from earth to heaven, and he saw the angels of God going up and down upon it.
13. At the top of the stairs stood the Lord. "I am Jehovah," he said,
"the God of Abraham, and of your father Isaac. The ground you are lying on is yours! I will give it to you and to your descendants. .....
16. Then Jacob woke up. "God lives here!" he exclaimed in terror. "I've stumbled into his home! This is the awesome entrance to heaven!"
LB

At this point in Jacob's life, he is a young man on the run from his brother whom he has wronged and who wants to kill him. On the first night away from home he has an encounter with God.

It is very evident from this incident in the life of Jacob that God is the One who initiates contact with humans.
Not only that, but this contact is loving in nature.
And also, God seeks to contact us in a way that is non-scary, but which gets our attention.

The next thing we notice is that although God had had a relationship with Jacob's grandfather, Abraham; and He had also had a relationship with Jacob's father Isaac, God also wanted a relationship with Jacob himself.
This says to us that we cannot depend on the fact that our parents or grandparents may have had a relationship with God for our own salvation.

We cannot come to God when we are in deep trouble and say, "O God, You remember how my grandfather served You. Please come and help me now!"
We all need to establish contact with God for ourselves.
The faith of others may get us through for a while, but we need to develop our own faith.

When we begin to do that, we will have found out where God lives and like Jacob, we will have stumbled into His home and we will have found the entrance to heaven for ourselves.

When I can believe God and put my own trust in Him for myself, THAT'S FAITH!

Prayer:
Father, I would like to lay aside my dependence on the faith of others and cultivate a relationship with You for myself.
Thank You for coming after me and bringing me to the place where I am willing to know You for myself.
Open my understanding so that I can learn how to pursue You as You have pursued me,
in Jesus' name I pray,
Amen.