We’re continuing our series, “Faith-Full” and my message is “Like Faith-full Abraham”. When you talk about faith and being faithful, you can’t exclude Abraham; he is the father of faith. He’s the first one in the Bible who really began to expound on what faith is, how faith operates, what you have to do when you’re in faith, and what you don’t do when you’re in faith.
You know, you don’t whine and moan and groan when you’re in faith. You don’t belly-ache about your situation when you’re in faith. Instead, you believe what God says about you. You get in agreement with Him.
Here’s the core scripture for our series:
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.” – HEBREWS 10:23 (NKJV)
“Without wavering” means that when we hold fast to our confession, we’re not confessing one thing one day and then the next day confessing something different. We’re not making a confession and then an hour later going, “Why isn’t it working for me now?” Instead, we say, “Father, I know You’re faithful and Your Word is true; therefore, I stand on Your Word and I’m not going to allow myself to be moved from it.”
That’s the way we have to be!
Sometimes, we believe God for something and get frustrated because we don’t see it right away. But that doesn’t mean that God stopped working!
For Example…
Have you ever believed God for a job? You start applying for jobs. You were specific on certain things you wanted for a job. God’s got to work some things out for you. That job’s not going to just magically appear; He’s got to line some stuff up on the back end, to line things ups for you. Your patience needs to see you through during that time.
Years ago, I asked God for a job that was both physically challenging and mentally challenging. I got that job. The problem was, it was also financially challenging! So, I changed what I asked God for. And do you know what? I didn’t get a new job the next day; it wasn’t until a couple of years down the road that God opened some doors for me to move into a position that was a much better-paying job (that was a blessing to me and my family).
What would have happened if I had just given up on that confession? “We’ll, I guess God doesn’t want me to have a new job…I guess this is where God wants me to be; it’s my lot in life.” No!
“7 My words find voice in you. With your abiding in Me and My words abiding in you, a conversation is inspired where you will request that which arises in your desire from our union, and it shall come to pass for you! 8 These union-inspired desires bear the very fruit that endorses the Father’s glory!” – JOHN 15:7-8a (MIRROR)
When we’re in fellowship with God – when we’re in this seamless union with Him – there’s going to be some things that rise up on the inside of us because of this union, because of us being one with one another, because of us being the way God has intended us to be. (In a seamless union, you can’t see where one begins and the other one ends. We’re in such a union!) God said, “This union will inspire our conversation, in which you will ask something of Me and I will do it.”
God is faithful to His Word and promises! He is faith-full! If we were created in His image and likeness, we are to be the same way. We see this demonstrated in the life of Abraham.
“So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.” – GALATIANS 3:9 (KJV)
God’s Word calls him “faithful Abraham.” God specifically called him out. Other translations call him “believing Abraham” and “the man of faith, Abraham”. That applies to you as well: God has declared you faith-full.
God’s Given to Each Person the Measure of Faith!
“For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” – ROMANS 12:3 (KJV)
I think a lot of times when we see this in the Bible, we see the “measure of faith” as being the mustard seed Jesus talked about (Matthew 17:20). It’s not. Jesus only used the mustard seed as an example: “Hey…if you ONLY had this much faith, you could accomplish this.”
Let me use a cereal box as an example. When you open a box, have you ever been disappointed? The bag is not full. There’s a disclaimer on the box that says that the cereal is sold by weight and not by volume. If you shook the bag, you could probably add another third in it. When my wife buys a gallon of milk, she finds one where the milk is all the way up to the cap. Why? She’s looking for a FULL measure.
A lot of Christians believe that when God gives them faith, He gives them “just enough”. God does not give you faith by weight; He gives it to you by volume.
Think about a measuring cup: God does not fill the cup half full; He’s not in the business of doing things halfway. God doesn’t pour in a little and then tell us to fill up the rest. No…Romans deals us that God has portioned out to each person the measure of faith. It’s MORE THAN ENOUGH to take care of all your needs. It’s more than enough to make you faith-full!
If God’s given us the measure faith, it’s not half done. It’s a complete measure. I want you to understand this because God hasn’t just given you a little bit. We’ve been given a complete measure so that we can live out who we are in Him.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word (Romans 10:17). Faith for whatever you need. You can’t exercise faith in something you don’t know. Abraham could not exercise faith until God spoke to Him.
“20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.” – ROMANS 4:20-21 (NKJV)
The word “convinced” is the word “persuaded” in the King James Version. God began to declare to Abram (Abraham’s name before God changed it) what He believed Abram to be. Notice where Abram’s life was at this time. Genesis 11:30 talked about Abram’s wife and said, “But Sarai was barren; she had no child.”
This information is not in there by coincidence. God wanted us to understand that Sarai was in a state of being barren, but God was fixing to change that in her life.
NOTICE: It didn’t happen overnight. Abraham and Sarai had been married for many years (more than likely when she was a teenager). Seventy-five years later, still no children. But look at the promise God makes to Abram:
“1 Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. 2 I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” – GENESIS 12:1-3 (NJKV)
Abram got up the next day and said, “We’re leaving.” “Where are we going?” “I don’t know; I just know that we’re leaving.” And Abram’s nephew Lot tagged along, even though Lot wasn’t called to go alongside with him.
“14 And the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: ‘Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are — northward, southward, eastward, and westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.” – GENESIS 13:14-17 (NKJV)
This is a definite declaration to Abram. It wasn’t that God was GOING TO GIVE it to Abram; He said “I GIVE TO YOU.” It’s settled right then…it was his. He may not have been possessing all of it at the time, but in the eyes of God, it belonged to him NOW.
And if God’s saying that to Abram, He’s saying it to me! And it’s an exceedingly great reward! (Remember Galatians 3:9 that “they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham”.)
“1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.’ 2 But Abram said, ‘Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?’ 3 Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!’ 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ 5 Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ 6 And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” – GENESIS 15:1-6 (NKJV)
Eliezer was probably a servant of Abram, not even a relative. Abram thought Eliezer would be his heir, but God was changing things in Abram’s life. Abram had every reason to doubt God’s words. His and Sarai’s circumstances said what God stated was impossible.
I can hear Abram’s reasoning: “Sarai’s never been able to have children! We’ve tried, God! We’re WELL beyond the time for Sarai to have children; what do you mean, it’s going to happen for me?” But their circumstances didn’t turn God away at all. It carried no weight. The only thing that carried weight was God’s word.
Like Faith-Full Abraham
The only thing that should carry weight in my life is what God says about me. It doesn’t matter what I see or feel; what God says to me settles it. Period. If Jesus says that by His wounds, I’m healed, then I’m healed! If His Word says that I prosper in everything that I set my hands to, then I prosper. If He says I’m the head and not the tail, then I am.
My response to Him is “Yes!” Why? He’s faithful and He’s made me to be faith-full, just like Abram.
Throughout Genesis, God is painting Abram a picture of how He sees him. Abram may not yet see himself this way, but God does. YOU may not see some things in your life right now, but God does! You may not see yourself healed or prospering, but God does.
Right now, we don’t see ourselves fully the way God sees us. Do you not realize that right now you have a face-to-face relationship with Him? That means I can come into His presence – to His throne of Grace – with boldness to receive help in my time of need! I can come right in. I don’t have a sense of guilt or inferiority. I KNOW He’s faithful to me.
I know He’s faithful and I can be faith-full. I have the example of Abraham, who – before God changed his name – demonstrated faithfulness. He just believed what God told him.
He actually believed that he was going to be a father before he believed that he was going to inherit the land; he had to have a covenant with God over the land, but not with being a father. I love what it says in the Mirror Bible that when God said that Abram was going to be the father of nations, that it conceived in him the seed of fatherhood.
When we have the Word of God implanted in us, it should conceive in us what and who God says we are, what we have.
“1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am Almighty God; walk before Me and be blameless. 2 And I will make My covenant between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.’ 3 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: 4 ‘As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations.’” – GENESIS 17:1-4 (NKJV)
This is what God saw all along. Did Abram get there overnight? No. But in the heart of God, he was already there.
“’5 No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you. 8 Also I give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.’ 9 And God said to Abraham: ‘As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.’” – GENESIS 17:5-9 (NKJV)
“15 Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 And I will bless her and also give you a son by her; then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.’” – GENESIS 17:15-16 (NKJV)
God changed both Abram’s and Sarai’s name. Now, whenever they spoke to each other, they were saying “father of nations” and “mother of nations”. God was changing their perspective about who they ARE, not who they were to become. God’s changing what they saw themselves to be, their vision of who they ARE. They could no longer look at their lives as Abram and Sarai.
With the new names, anyone who called them understood what the new names meant. They may have had some servants in the background going, “I don’t know why they’re calling themselves that…she can’t have any children.” Yeah, but then they see a year later that God appears to them and tells them that they’re going to give birth to a son and they’re going to name him Isaac.
We have the whole Jewish nation because of that! Not only that, but I stand here today because of faith-full Abraham. Jesus told us, “Abraham saw My day and was glad.”
When We Dig Into God’s Word
When we dig into the Word of God, it begins to paint a picture of who we ARE…not who we’re going to become, but who we ARE. He knew who you were before He sent His Son Jesus. He knows the plans for your life and only speaks good over you. All we need to do is get in alignment with it.
“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” – ROMANS 12:2 (NKJV)
We are to renew our minds to who we are. Once we’re born again, we’re in Christ Jesus! All things have passed away; all things have become new. When we get into God’s Word, we read that Christ died our death, and we died with Him and that we’re raised to a new life with Him and seated with Him in heavenly places. We’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).
That’s not something that’s going to happen; it’s something that has already happened.
“Go on a walkabout tour to explore the extent of the land that is yours under His Lordship. Now you can conduct yourselves appropriately towards Him, pleasing Him in every harvest of good works that you bear. Meanwhile, you continue to increase in your intimate acquaintance with that which God knows to be true about you. This results in the most attractive and fulfilled life possible.” – COLOSSIANS 1:10 (MIRROR)
We’re to fellowship with God, get in His presence! We get to know the One Who created us and who we are in Him! We get to enjoy the presence of the God Who created everything. There’s nothing keeping me back from His presence, nothing that can separate me from His love!
We have the goods, amen? We already have it!
God is not dangling a carrot in front of your face to try and get you to reach out for it (like you were a horse). He’s not holding something out in the future to say, “Hey, IF you do this, you can reach it.” No…it’s already been made available to you. He’s said, “I have already regenerated and recreated you to be just like Me, so go and explore! Explore who you are in Me!”
God had to bring Abraham to a place where he realized, “I am who God says I am.” He was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God. He was settled and didn’t move. Did Abraham have any reason to waver? Absolutely! He was 100 years old and Sarah had never been able to bear children; but that didn’t matter to God. Your circumstances don’t matter. What God says about you is what matters.
So, explore your redeemed identity, finding out what God believes to be true about you!
Watch the September 11, 2022 service on which this post is based; CLICK HERE.
