Are you expecting a promise from God to be fulfilled? Are you trusting God for a financial breakthrough? Are you facing seemingly insurmountable odds?
If so, you must make sure that your faith is strong and unmovable. You must believe as Abraham and Sarah did and stand firm until your victory appears.
Romans 4:17-22 in The Living Bible says:
17 That is what the Scriptures mean when they say that God made Abraham the father of many nations. God will accept all people in every nation who trust God as Abraham did. And this promise is from God himself, who makes the dead live again andspeaks of future events with as much certainty as though they were already past.
18 So, when God told Abraham that he would give him a son who would have many descendants and become a great nation, Abraham believed God even though such a promise just couldn’t come to pass! 19 And because his faith was strong, he didn’t worry about the fact that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred, and that Sarah his wife, at ninety, was also much too old to have a baby.
20 But Abraham never doubted. He believed God, for his faith and trust grew ever stronger, and he praised God for this blessing even before it happened. 21 He was completely sure that God was well able to do anything he promised. 22 And because of Abraham’s faith God forgave his sins and declared him “not guilty.”
Now let’s look at the Amplified Bible translation of Romans 4:17-22 which says:
17 As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed.
18 [For Abraham, human reason for] hope being gone, hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been promised, So [numberless] shall your descendants be.
19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered the [utter] impotence of his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or [when he considered] the barrenness of Sarah's [deadened] womb.
20 No unbelief or distrust made him waver (doubtingly question) concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God,
21 Fully satisfied and assured that God was able and mighty to keep His word and to do what He had promised.
22 That is why his faith was credited to him as righteousness (right standing with God).
Let’s look at seven keys to the God-kind of faith.
1. Seeing things as they can and will be and not as they are right now.
I’ve discovered that some people. . .even believers see things worse than they are. These precious hearts always look for the worst case scenario. They always believe that the worst possible consequence will take place.
“I know I’m going to get laid off.”
“I know somebody else is going to get that promotion.”
“I know I didn’t do well on that test.”
“I know the doctor is going to give me a bad report.”
Mark Twain once said:
“I've had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”
A similar quote from Sir Winston Churchill says:
“When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.”
The critical key in what we see for the future or believe will happen is the origin of that faith. Is it from God? If so, there’s no doubt. It will come to pass.
Numbers 23:19 in the Amplified Bible says:
“God is not a man that He should tell or act a lie, neither the son of man, that He should feel repentance or compunction [for what He has promised]. Has He said and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?”
If God says something is going to happen. . .it will not matter how hopeless things may seem.
Two scriptures confirm this point far better than anything I could ever pen.
First, Romans 4:17 in the Message Bible says:
“When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn't do but on what God said he would do.”
Abraham believed when nobody else did. In fact, some of his traveling entourage probably laughed at him behind was back. . .making jokes at His expense because we never imagined. . .God was telling the truth. . .doing what He said He would do.
What do you see . . . when all seems lost and hopeless. God prevails. . .and you can too if you put your trust in Him.
Hebrews 11:1 in the Amplified Bible says:
“NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].”
Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver’s Travels, said:
“Vision is the art of seeing what is invisible to others.”
People with strong faith can see things others do not. They believe in a future filled with infinite possibilities that others also do not see.
2. Our hope for the future is not based on “what you perceive with your natural senses.”
Has anyone ever asked you if you thought something was going to happen or if you were going to do a specific thing? To which, you responded “I hope so.”
When you use those three words. . .is it a confident expectation or wishful thinking?
The difficulty is that we often hope things are going to happen based on what we want to happen or what we think will happen.
But here’s the bottom line. . .our hope should be based on God’s promises found in the Word of God.
Psalm 130:5 in the New Living Translation says:
“I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word.”
Always remember, no matter the situation. . .there is only one place where you need to place your hope.
Psalm 39:7 in the New Living Translation says:
“And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.”
When you put your hope in the Lord. . .it should never be your last resort.
Psalm 25:5 in the New Living Translation says:
“Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.”
Your hope will remove all the doubts of the enemy.
Psalm 94:19 in the New Living Translation says:
“When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer.”
Now that is a profound scripture and one worthy of personalizing and memorizing.
“When doubts filled <<Your Name>>’s mind, your comfort gave <<Your Name>> renewed hope and cheer.”
The world doesn’t give you true hope. . .but the Word of God does.
Your hope in Him empowers you with the confidence of His protection.
Job 11:18 in the New Living Translation says:
“Having hope will give you courage. You will be protected and will rest in safety.”
Steadfast hope in Him will bring its own reward to you.
Proverbs 23:18 in the New Living Translation says:
“You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed.”
So the question is. . .how do we develop and strengthen our hope in God?
Romans 15:13 in the Amplified Bible says:
“May the God of your hope so fill you with all joy and peace in believing [through the experience of your faith] that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound and be overflowing (bubbling over) with hope.”
God is the source of our hope. . .and our hope is supplied and empowered by the Holy Spirit. . .even in the face of seemingly overwhelming odds.
When the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. . .there were roughly 3 million of them. . .plus wagons and carts and yes, animals.
Let’s see. . .there’s sixteen ounces in a pound. . .2,000 pounds in a ton and if each Israelite ate only 5 ounces of manna per meal. . .that would be approximately 15 tons of manna eaten EVERY DAY.
If each Israelite drank just 5 ounces of water per meal. . .that’s 15 ounces per day times 3,000,000 people or a total of 45,000,000 ounces of water. . .which approximates nearly 400,000 gallons of water per day…and we both know there was a lot more.
Our God is a big God who can give us hope in the midst of overwhelming circumstances.
If your loving Heavenly Father can supply an enormous amount of manna and water in the desert. . .He can met your every need filling you with hope.
3. It’s not what the tests show or what the doctor says but rather what the Great Physician says.
Have you ever talked to couple who’ve tried to have children for one, two, five or ten years and have given up. . .or been told by a doctor they’d never have a child?
Frustration and doubt rob them of hope. Can you image how Abraham must have felt?
The scripture in Romans 4:19 in the Message Bible tells us:
“Abraham didn't focus on his own impotence and say, "It's hopeless. This hundred-year-old body could never father a child." Nor did he survey Sarah's decades of infertility and give up.”
Probably every fertility doctor in the Middle East would have told Abraham not to get his hopes up. . .because after all. . .neither he nor Sarah were in the child-bearing years anymore.
But God .promised Abraham. That’s all it takes. . .a promise from God to turn everything around.
I know from personal experience what it means to receive a negative report from a doctor.
I’ve always thought I was special but recently I learned that I was one out of 1,000 that’s the number of men who get breast cancer. This past December 30th the surgeon informed us that the biopsy of my left breast was cancerous.
We were disappointed. . .but not moved. I had not worried about the prior and most certainly, not after the biopsy. In fact, every time the situation came to my mind. I laid my hand over my left breast and commanded the mass to dry up, dissolve and disappear and to never return anywhere else in my body.
On January 15th I had surgery. We rejoiced in learning my lymph nodes were free and clear of cancer. On January 29th we saw the final report that showed my body is FREE of cancer.
During this entire matter. . .we’ve had peace because we knew God was in charge. We also knew we had been freed from the curse by our Great Physician. I’m. . .we’re doing great. . .and we’re just walking through the recovery process.
No matter how long you’ve been dealing with a certain circumstance, sickness or disease. . .your focus should be to never ever give up or doubt the promises in the Word of God.
4. Decide to never question or doubt what the Word of God says.
Romans 4:20 in the Contemporary English Version says:
“But Abraham never doubted or questioned God's promise. . .”
You are allowed to question what your wife, husband, children, parents, best friend, employer or even your pastors says. . .but don’t’doubt or question the promises of God. Never give up hope in His Word.
One of the enemy’s greatest weapons in discouraging your faith is doubt.
Mark 11:23 says:
“For verily I say unto you, That whosoever…shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
Whosoever. . .that’s anybody. That’s you and me.
If the enemy can ever get us to doubt the Word or promises of God. . .he wins. . .we lost.
Romans 14:23 in the Amplified Bible says:
“But the man who has doubts. . .does not act from faith. For whatever does not originate and proceed from faith is sin [whatever is done without a conviction of its approval by God is sinful].”
This verse makes it clear anything not of faith is sin.
Doubt destroys, stops, prevents faith from being established in our hearts.
We can know a scripture is true. . .but we must believe. . .we must exercise our faith in knowing that scripture was written just for you and I. . .us.
The list of people I’ve just named may unintentionally lie to or disappoint you. . .BUT God is not a man that He should lie.
5. When you give credit where credit is due you will grow stronger.
It’s real simple. . .when you give praise and glory to God you grow stronger.
Romans 4:20 in the Amplified Bible says:
“. . . he grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God.”
If you’ve ever wanted to know how to build your faith. . .to have strong faith. . .to possess ever increasing faith. . .you just heard the answer.
We grow stronger and are empowered by faith “AS.” Romans 4:20 says AS he gave praise and glory to God.
The Living Bible version of Romans 4:20 reveals another powerful truth.
“But Abraham never doubted. He believed God, for his faith and trust grew ever stronger, and he praised God for this blessing even before it happened.”
“He praised God for this blessing even before it happened.”
Is there something you’re believing God for. . .something for which you’ve extended your faith. . .then get out front of you battle and begin praising God even before you see your manifestation.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said:
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
Let’s see. . .when we Praise God. . .our faith grows stronger and when we don’t give praise and glory to God. . .something dies inside us.
Acts 12:23 in God’s WORD Translation say:
“Immediately, an angel from the Lord killed Herod for not giving glory to God. . .”
Bottom line. . .we don’t wait for the victory. . .or for the answer to our prayer. . .before we praise God. . .we do it now. . .ahead of our answer or deliverance.
6. Knowing that God is able to meet your every need.
2 Corinthians 9:8 in the Amplified Bible says:
“And God is able to make all grace (every favor and earthly blessing) come to you in abundance, so that you may always and under all circumstances and whatever the need be self-sufficient [possessing enough to require no aid or support and furnished in abundance for every good work and charitable donation].”
Can somebody say “Hallelujah!!”
Ephesians 3:20 in the Amplified Bible tells us that God is ready to do more than we can ask or think.
“Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams].”
No question. . .God is able and He will do what He says He will do.
Matthew 9:28 says:
“And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.”
That’s the question we must answer. . .do we believe God is able to do the things His Word says He will do? More importantly, do we believe God is not only able but willing to do for us. . .what He says He will do.
Romans 10:17 says:
For “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.”
The more we read it. . .speak it. . .confess it. . .the more we know it’s true. God will is: willing, able and ready to meet our every need.
7. When you know that God will do what He says He will do. . .you are accepted as a person of strong faith.
Have you ever gone through a tough time. . .or a period of self doubt. . .wondering and worrying about this or that?
Did somebody come into your life speaking a Word that strengthened and encourage your faith. . .giving you the courage to travel on?
You were fully persuaded by their words of wisdom and exhortation.
Romans 4:21 says:
“And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.”
Romans 4:22 in the Contemporary English Version says:
“So God accepted him.”
That’s what I want. . .for God to accept me as a person of strong faith and power.
1 Corinthians 4:20 in the New Living Translation says:
“For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.”
One final verse:
2 Thessalonians 1:11 in the New Living Translation says:
“So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.”
That’s our prayer for you. . .that God give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.
Can somebody say “Hallelujah!”
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Harold Herring