Genesis 17:19 And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him.
Abraham already had God's promise that he would multiply him through Isaac. How could that be if he were dead? Abraham knew God could not lie and that He had a purpose. He went willingly, read what he told Isaac:
Genesis 22:8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
Some say he didn't want to tell Isaac the truth about what he was doing but he actually was telling him the truth! He knew what God promised him, all that was required of Abraham was to be obedient. In Genesis 22:4, he goes on to tell the men that were with them to stay back while he and Isaac went ahead and worshipped and "come again to you". He knew. How did he know? Because he had faith in God's promises. God's will will not take you where His grace cannot keep you!
"O ye of little faith". How many times do we miss God's blessings because we are not obedient? How many times do we miss the answer to our prayers because we give up to soon? How many times do we not listen to what the Lord is saying because we are afraid? The Bible tells us Abraham was a man of great faith and you can see by this one account that he was. God did not break any of His promises to Abraham. He will not break His promises to us. We don't even have to have the faith of Abraham, He said if we had the faith of a grain of mustard seed.
Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
What are God's promises to us? Read what Jesus said in Mark 11:22-24
22“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23“I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
John 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Phillipians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
The list goes on and on and every promise God will keep but more importantly than providing our needs, He also made these promises.Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
John 14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
Titus 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;
1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
If you belong to God through faith in Jesus Christ, then you are a beloved child of God. You are His heir forever entitled to all His riches and therefore ALL God's promises are for you, (me), all of us.
All it takes is faith the size of a grain of mustard seed. Lord, help my unbelief.
His servant,
Pray for the peace of Jerusalem
Sometimes, it's like a blocker... a wall of pride... blinders... something. It's like, I know these things, I say I believe in them with all my heart. But I don't do them. Why? Maybe I don't really believe/have faith as much as I think.. Why else wouldn't I be obedient? Because I'm wicked? Hardened heart? Yep.... Lord, I pray the same, help us, in Jesus.. amen.
ReplyDeleteIs it pride? Is it a hardened heart? Am I fooling myself by thinking my heart isn't hard, that I'm like a child who forgets at times my will is not my own but thinks I am being rebellious for a moment, knowing full well I need to do something because it's in my best interest but yet trying so hard to figure out a way around it? Does that not sound like a child? Are we not children to the Lord? I'm not saying it's an excuse to continue just that I believe maybe we are much harder on ourselves than God is and He knows the outcome. We just HAVE to keep trying. Unless of course it is something that WILL put a permanent wedge between us and God or a continuous willing breaking of His commandments. We are a constant work in progress, there is absolutely no one that is perfect except Jesus. Sometimes our unbelieve comes because we think "we don't deserve for God to answer our prayers". We are wicked :(, we were born in sin BUT Praise God through His grace we are no longer under that bondage, it is for us to strive to be righteous and "strive" we do. God bless.
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