The year was 1960.  I was eight years old at the time.  I can still remember vividly the little Baptist church in the country we attended was full of kids.  It was summer and they were holding Vacation Bible School.

Vacation Bible School is full of scripture memory, Bible book memory, and loads of fun.  There is always a contest to see who remembers the most and who can stand first to read a portion of scripture that would be the theme for the day.  One of those days, something in me was changing.  It was more than the contests and prizes.  The Bible was beginning to make sense to me.  Something inside me was changing.  It was me heart.

You see, I had been raised in church by a godly man of faith, my father, who was a farmer all of his life.  He taught us kids right from wrong.  Taught us how to live in a godly way.  Took us to church every Sunday morning and night.  Showed us by example how to live by faith, not just talk about it.  It was beginning to make real sense in my head.  But, my heart needed to change.  I needed to be born-again.

Fifteen years later, in 1975, it all came back to me as I was living far away from that little Baptist church and my father's faith.  That is when God spoke to my heart and told me, "Daniel, I do not want you to have your fathers faith!  You must have your own faith in Me."

Right there and then, sitting on the living room floor in the dark, it was not my fathers faith that saved me, although that influenced me greatly.  It was my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that began to stir my heart.  God was calling for me to return home to His care and learn His ways.  And, I ran!  Not to God, but away from God.

When God calls someone, He calls them because He knows in His foreknowledge if they will turn to Him or not.  I was running.  God chased me.  By the way, God can run faster than we can.  So, keep running if you want to, but eventually, God will be there when you stop running.

I stopped running one Sunday morning while still deep in my sins.  God reminded me it was Sunday morning and I should be in church.  Oh, God was there with me there in that old paper mill up on top of #5 paper machine.  Funny, I thought God would have been in church Himself, not there watching and listening to my foolishness?

It became my faith.  Not someone else's faith.  My faith.

You cannot live on someone else's faith.  Faith comes by hearing and that by the Word of God.  But, that faith must be your own.  Not your Dad's.  Not your Mom's.  Not old grandma's.  Not your brothers faith.  Not your pastor's faith.  You must own your faith.  Feel your faith.  Grow your faith as you study God's Word for yourself.  As you grow your faith in God, your trust in God will also grow.

Is the faith you have yours or someone else's faith?  God does not have grand-children.  God has children.  Children who trust Him and obey Him.  Children who have their own faith, not an acquired faith.

It is now 2010 and my faith is still growing everyday.  I must always grow in my faith.

Do you have faith in God?  Or, is your faith not really your faith at all?