Light of the World Today
In 1979, a thirty-two-year-old woman named Jackie Pullinger was asked to speak at a conference in Hong Kong about her work in the Walled City of Kowloon. The Walled City was one of the most densely populated and dangerous places on earth at the time. A lawless enclave of 33,000 people crammed into just 2.7 hectares, it was controlled by the triads and was the centre of Hong Kong's drug trade. The streets were so narrow that sunlight barely reached the ground.
Jackie had arrived there fifteen years earlier as a twenty-two-year-old with almost no money, no contacts, no organisation backing her, and no clear plan. She had felt God's prompting to go, and so she went. She took a cheap cargo ship from England because she could not afford a plane ticket, stopped in multiple ports along the way, and when she arrived in Hong Kong she simply began to walk around and pray, asking God where He wanted her and God led her to the Walled City.
Over the years that followed she saw hardened triad members, heroin addicts, and prostitutes encounter God and be completely transformed. She did not begin with a strategy. She began with a direction and a willingness to follow. By the time she spoke at that 1979 conference, hundreds of people had walked out of addiction and violence and into a new life.
Jackie Pullinger is still alive as of this writing and still working in Hong Kong. She has described her calling like this: God said go, so I went. I did not know the destination. I only knew the direction.
That is the walk of Abraham. It is also the walk of every person who has ever said yes to God before they could see where He was leading.
Scripture Foundation
Abraham's story begins in Genesis 12 with one of the most breathtaking calls in all of Scripture.
"The LORD had said to Abram, 'Go from your country, your people and your father's household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.' So Abram went, as the LORD had told him." Gen. 12:1 to 4 (NIV)
The last three words carry the whole weight of that passage: so Abram went. God did not give him a map. He did not give him a timeline. He did not promise smooth conditions or a warm reception at the destination. He gave him a direction and a promise. And Abraham moved.
Hebrews 11 explains what was happening inside Abraham when he took that step.
"By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would receive as an inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God." Heb. 11:8 to 10 (NIV)
He did not know where he was going. He simply knew who was doing the leading. That distinction is everything. Walking with God by faith does not require certainty about the destination. It requires trust in the One who knows the way.
Abraham's walk with God was not a clean, uninterrupted march from promise to fulfilment. He made significant mistakes along the way. He lied about his wife twice out of fear. He tried to produce the promised heir through his own plan when God's timing seemed impossibly delayed. He was not the composed and confident patriarch we sometimes imagine. He was a real person, genuinely uncertain at many points, who kept choosing to walk with God anyway.
"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, 'I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.'" Gen. 17:1 (NIV)
Ninety-nine years old, and God was still calling him deeper into the walk. That tells us something important: there is no age at which the invitation stops. There is no level of spiritual maturity at which you have arrived and no longer need to keep walking. The walk is always forward, always further, always deeper.
The fruit of Abraham's walk eventually became visible in a way that was staggering in its scale.
"'I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.'" Gen. 22:17 to 18 (NIV)
What began as one man saying yes to God in an ordinary city called Ur eventually became a blessing that extended to every nation on earth. The walk with God, taken one faithful step at a time, produces fruit that the one walking it may never fully see in their lifetime.
When God Asks You to Move Before You Can See
Most of us are not called to leave our country and travel to an unknown destination. But most of us, at some point, hear God asking us to take a step before the path is clear. It might be a career change that makes no financial sense on paper. A reconciliation that feels impossible. A commitment to generosity at a level that feels unsafe. A step of leadership in a situation where you feel completely inadequate.
The pattern is always the same. God speaks. He points in a direction. He makes a promise that is bigger than the information He is currently providing. And He waits for a response.
Isaiah captured this dynamic beautifully.
"Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, 'This is the way; walk in it.'" Isa. 30:21 (NIV)
The voice comes behind us because we are facing forward, moving, walking. The guidance of God is not primarily given to people who are standing still waiting for complete instructions before they are willing to move. It is given to people already in motion, leaning forward, facing the direction God has pointed.
Proverbs says the same thing in a different way.
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Prov. 3:5 to 6 (NIV)
Submit to Him. The word in Hebrew is yada, which carries the sense of acknowledging, knowing, recognising. In all your ways, in every part of your daily life and decision-making, recognise God's presence and authority. The promise attached to that submission is not that the path will become smooth, but that it will become clear.
Applying This Today
Abraham's walk teaches us that faith is not the absence of uncertainty. It is choosing to trust God in the presence of it. Here is how to apply that today.
• Write down one thing you sense God has been asking you to do that you have been waiting to do until you have more certainty. Name the step:
It might be something small that has been on your mind for weeks, or something larger that you have been circling for months. Name it specifically. Vague prompts stay vague forever. A named step can be prayed over, acted on, and tracked.
• Spend fifteen minutes with Heb. 11 today, the full chapter. Read the map of faith:
It is sometimes called the hall of faith. Read it not as a list of heroes to admire from a distance but as a gallery of ordinary people who each took one step in the direction of God before the full picture was clear. Notice what they had in common: they acted on what God said, even before they could see the outcome.
• Tell someone you trust about the step you named above. Go public with the step:
Abraham's walk became costly and real the moment he told his household to pack up and leave. Keeping a faith step entirely private is one of the most common ways we delay or avoid it indefinitely. Speaking it out loud, even to one person, makes it real and opens you to accountability and prayer support.
Key Takeaway for Day 3
• Walking with God by faith means taking the next step even when the full map is not yet in your hand.
• Abraham did not know where he was going. He knew who was leading him. That distinction is the whole of faith.
• God's guidance is typically given to people already in motion, not to people waiting for complete certainty before they will move.
• The fruit of one faithful step can extend far beyond what you will ever see in your own lifetime.
Memory Verse
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight."
Prov. 3:5 to 6 (NIV)