Tag: fully persuaded
Our God is able!
Scripture reading for November 18: Romans 4-5
Faith always has an object and that object is God! God alone is trustworthy and faithful to His word. If He said it, He will do it! He has the power to do whatever He says He will and the character of never lying! Paul writes to us today about Abraham and Sarah and what they discovered in their journey with God.
“Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it has been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” “Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead–since he was about a hundred years old–and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what He had promised. This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.'” Romans 4:18-22
Sometimes things look impossible to the natural eye. When Abraham and Sara left their home to go to Canaan, God told them that He would give them offspring. (Genesis 15:4-6) In fact, their offspring would number more than the stars in the sky! Abraham believed God and it was counted as righteousness!
Time passed and they tried to produce the offspring. Nothing happened and they were getting older. Sarah gave Abraham her maid and she conceived a son, Ishmael. They thought that perhaps this child was the promised seed, but God visited them again and told them that in their old age that they would have a son from their own bodies! This seemed so impossible that Sarah, listening to the angelic visitor, laughed out loud! (Genesis 18:10-15) However, God restored their bodies and they had the child, Isaac, whose name means “laughter’! God’s Word is good and He is faithful! He has the power to do whatever He says!
Faith is not difficult. It is simply coming to the point of being fully persuaded that God is faithful! What He has promised, He will bring to pass! If you have heard Him promise you a child, believe it and prepare for a child! If He has shown you it is time to move to a new city and preach the Gospel, pack up and head out! Your faith is counted as righteousness! How marvelous is the grace of our amazing God!
Abraham and the faith connection!
January 6th Scripture Reading: Genesis 12-14
About 2000 years before Christ or about 400 years after the tower of Babel, God spoke to a man in Ur of the Caldeans in the land that is now called Iraq. This man’s name was Abram; he was about 75 years old and married to a lady named Sarai. They were childless and already beyond the years of childbearing.
God gave Abram eight specific promises: (1) I will make you a great nation, (2) I will bless you, (3) I will make your name great, (4) You will be a blessing, (5) I will bless those who bless you, (6) I will curse those who curse you, (7) All peoples of the earth will be blessed through you, (8) To your offspring I will give this land (Canaan) (Genesis 12:2,3,7)
God then asked Abram to leave his home country and travel to a country that He would show Him. Abram obeyed God by faith in His Word. God, who is sovereign, chose Abram and revealed His promises to him. Abram believed God and acted. This is what faith is in its simplest form. Faith looks at what God promised and considers God faithful to bring about their fulfillment!
God calls us to a walk of faith with Him. It is by faith that we connect with Him through His Son Jesus Christ. We are called to trust God to bring His promises to pass in our lives. “Yet he (Abraham) did not waver in unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what He had promised.” (Romans 4:20-21) “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29)