As I meditated on the book of Romans, I was arrested by the commentary on Abraham’s faith. I pondered it and noted the following thoughts on believing God and obtaining the promise.
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How not to waver in faith
As the Bible says in the fourth chapter of Romans,
‘Abraham did not doubt or waver in unbelief concerning the promise of God, but he was strong and empowered by faith, giving glory to God. Being fully convinced that God had the power to do what He had said.‘
Before then, it had talked about the fact that he saw that his old body was as good as dead. In other words, hopeless; because he was 100 years old. And he saw that Sarah’s womb was dead. In other words, hopeless, because of her age as well. And also because, even as a young woman, she had not been fertile.
But despite what he saw, it did not change what he believed. We have to take into account what we are seeing, and then overrule what we are seeing with what we believe. When we speak of walking by faith, we are not saying that we will not see adverse circumstances, we do not pretend that they do not exist. We do not act as if there is nothing in front of us that denies what God has said about us. Sometimes that’s all you see all around you. Every material evidence points to the opposite of what you are expecting from God.
We have to take into account what we are seeing, and then overrule what we are seeing with what we believe Share on XEvery natural situation, circumstance, relationship, opportunity or lack thereof will incline you to think that what you have on your heart cannot happen. Some of these situations are extremely potent and very real. We are not talking about favourable circumstances or even slightly negative circumstances. We are talking about situations and circumstances which are the very opposite of what you are expecting.
Killing and burying expectations
In fact, you could consider them to be a death warrant of your expectations. Because when the Bible says that Abraham’s body was as good as dead, which meant that what he was expecting was a virtual impossibility; it wasn’t a matter of opinion. There wasn’t another way of seeing this. There was no way it could have happened. Not only was there an impossibility with him, but there was also another impossibility with his wife. Put the two together, and all you can just say is ‘forget it, it’s never going to happen.’
We need to think about this because we are confronted with such situations in our daily lives, and we tend to forget that it is actually supposed to be that way; that you are expected to believe God, even though everything else says impossible, impossible, impossible. People will tell you ‘be realistic, come on, show wisdom. How can you possibly imagine, how can you possibly expect…’
Circumstances are speaking
And if people are not speaking, the circumstances themselves are speaking. You find yourself in a situation where the equation for success is virtually absent; where what it will take to go where you want to go does not exist; where things have happened that now make it impossible for what you want, to happen. And those situations speak very loudly, they keep coming up in your mind. And sometimes your thought is, ‘if it had been earlier, I could have made this work.’ And the devil will tell you, ‘you missed your opportunity. You know, before, you had this, and you had that. And so you could have achieved this objective, but you no longer have those things‘ Or, ‘you had these people with you, they have left you and without them, you cannot do any of these things.’
So perhaps when you were younger, you had more energy, or you had these wonderful people in your life or in your business or in your ministry, then you could have achieved this objective, but now it is just too late. And those thoughts keep swimming around your mind. I see people all the time, who are completely defeated because they have agreed to bury their expectations in the tomb of regret and time. Sometimes they will tell you things like ‘yea, when I was younger, maybe’ or some may say ‘Yeah, but you know, now, with the current situation…’; because they think that something in the natural must favour you before God’s promise can come to pass.
Tapping into the power
But the experience of Abraham was the opposite. When he was in a ‘favourable situation’ because He could still have a child, e went and had a child. One would have thought that God would say, ‘Oh, good.’ Rather, God said, ‘no, I don’t want that child. That’s not the child I’m going to use. The child I’m going to use is the one that I am going to bring out of your impossible circumstances’.’ This says to me that when you have come to the end of yourself, when the situation looks the most unfeasible or rather the situation makes your expectations look the most unfeasible; when it seems as if the best people have left you and your glory days are past, that is when you are in the best position to achieve what you want to achieve because that is when the power of God will bring to pass what you are expecting.
Faith in God alone
This is not to say that it could not have happened before. I’m simply saying that those negative things have no bearing whatsoever on what God is going to do. And here’s the opportunity to now release your faith in God and in God alone, because now you can no longer trust in Peter, Paul and Jane. You can no longer trust in your ability, your beauty, or whatever it was that you thought was an enabling circumstance in your life. Now that it’s all gone, you should not think ‘oh so, the opportunity is gone. I can no longer achieve my goals. Perhaps that would be the case if your faith was in them. But if your faith is in God, it’s time to say ‘wow, I am ideally positioned for a miracle. I am ideally positioned for victory because now there is no one I can count on but God.
And that’s what happened to Abraham. He had no one to count on, but God. He could not count on the child he had in disobedience, because God said no. Likewise, he could not count on his body, nor could he count on his wife’s body. They were both totally useless. He had to trust in the God who had the power to do what He promised. And so must you. That is really the key. The key to your expectations coming to pass, the key to God’s victory manifesting in your life, is not the favourable circumstance, it’s not the willing people, It’s the power of God.
He is able to do, to create
Trust in God’s ability to do what He plans to do, irrespective of your circumstances, because He is able to create whatever is necessary. He was able to create a baby in the womb of a woman who was too old to have a child. He was able to cause a man of Abraham’s age to impregnate a woman.. And so whatever wretched circumstances you may think you are in, God is able to renew them. Whoever may have walked out of your life who you thought carried your miracle, God is able to do it without them. So when you have confidence in His power, you know that His power is not affected by any natural circumstance, that He can create whatever natural circumstance is necessary for the fulfilment of His purpose. What you have or do not have is irrelevant. Who you have or do not have is irrelevant. He can bring the right people. Whether you have the money or not is irrelevant. He can bring the money. Whatever it will take for you to fulfill His purpose, He will create.
He is able to create whatever is necessary.
Faith in His power
So when you have faith in His power, you don’t look at the circumstances and say ‘I don’t have this, and I don’t have that’; or say, ‘at my age…..’. He can renew your youth. This is so exciting because it means that we are living a life, as I like to say, of infinite possibilities. The things that would normally hinder us are powerless to hinder us because God is powerful to do it without them or create them if He needs them to exist. Meditating consistently on the power of God will make us stronger in faith.
It says ‘Abraham grew strong, and empowered by faith, giving glory to God.’ He was giving glory to God before what he was expecting had happened because he believed it would happen. He was strong and He grew strong. We can also grow strong. We don’t have to be bowed down by the impossibilities that we face. Likewise, we can grow strong and be empowered by faith because we know what Abraham knew; that God has the power to do what He said. And we will not waver in unbelief. We can continue to give him glory even before we see the thing because we’ve been empowered by faith.
Be fully convinced
He was fully convinced. It wasn’t ‘well, I’m not sure.’ His conviction was absolute And that absolute conviction is available to each of us, the absolute conviction in the power of God. It will come as we meditate long and hard on the power of God. When you’re absolutely convinced of His power; and know what He has promised; you will not doubt or waver. Rather, you will be at rest, enjoying God as you wait for things to change and to happen. Some will wonder, ‘What is wrong with him. What is wrong with her? Do they not understand that there are problems?’ And you will think, ‘God has the power and He will use it for me’. This is so empowering. God does have the power to do what He has promised. Find out what He has promised, hold on to it., trust in His power and give Him glory. That is how you will obtain His promises by faith.