Hey Gang: Wait, stop, re-read the above verse. Can you imagine how Abraham and Sarah felt when they received the message from the throne room that they were going to be with bambino? The essence of true faith is found in this single statement from God that Abraham was going to be a daddy! He would have a son, one who would become the seed of many nations.
Remarkably, Abraham didn't flinch at this promise, even though he was well past the age of siring children. But remember this was Abram, the one who received a message from the Lord to "Go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house, to a land which I will show you" (Gen 12:1). Hey, gang, how would you have handled this command from God?
Does God send out challenges like this today? In 1967 I received a similar command from God. Pack up your family, sell your house, quit your jobs and move your family to a place that I will show you. And for the next two plus years God did a heap of preparation in my life for the tremendous challenge that was to come.
When Abraham received this word from the Lord, we're told he "Considered his own body now, good as dead and the deadness of Sarah's womb.
Paul now goes on and challenges our heart with trusting God in the face of impossibilities: "Being fully persuaded that what (God( has promised He was able also to perform" (Rom.4:21). To the natural mind there was no way this promise could be fulfilled. But Abraham did not cry out "You got to be kidding". Why, because he had tested God and his life actions were based on experience.
Abraham was anchored on the words of the writers of Hebrews, who gave us the foundation key to all those listed in the Faith Hall of Fame: "Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him" (Heb. 11:6). James built on that irrevocable premise of God when he wrote, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance" (James 1?2-3). And if there is anything in the day of darkness and evilness that surrounds us, we need endurance.
Soooo, young warriors, let me end this message by saying, the fact is when God is at work producing a faith that is tried and better than gold, He first puts a sentence of death on all human resources, Keep in mind Paul's formula for chance found in Colossians chapter three: We must first die to self, then put off all those things that offend the Holy Spirit, then fill that void with the fruits of the spirit and all those things that bring honor and glory to God and lastly the most difficult part - we must let God be our pilot - not our co-pilot. Also remember the Lord gives strength a day at a time. We have no guarantees for tomorrow!
Blessings,
Gramps
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