Romans 4:3, Abraham believed the promise of God and it was counted to him as righteousness.
Abraham was well past the age of fathering children; his wife also had passed her child-bearing years. Yet, when God told Abraham “Through your and Sarah’s son, all nations of the earth will be blest and your seed will be as numerous as the stars in heaven.” Genesis 15:4-6, Genesis 17:16
Abraham simply believed. “Alright God, I get that. It’s gonna happen. I will be a father, Sarah will be a mother. I’m gonna have millions of offspring.”
Abraham didn’t waste any time in analyzing or logical thinking. He just believed.
I Corinthians 2 says: ‘the natural man is unable to make sense of the things of the Spirit of God: for those things seem to be foolishness to the natural man. Neither can he understand them because they are spiritually discerned.’
The promises of God are spoken through His Spirit to our spirits – sometimes through the Word, people around us or a quickening of our spirit. Are these promises logical? Will they make sense to us? No! When we try to analyze or make sense of what God has promised us, we’ll lose our way. The natural man (our mind/brain) is incapable of understanding spiritual things.
God’s promise to Abraham certainly made no sense. But Abraham’s spirit received the promise, he clung to it and believed.
Guess what? That promise came to pass. Abraham became the father of many nations. Through his son Isaac, his children and his children’s children came the lineage of Jesus Christ in whom all the world can have redemption and blessing.
We don’t know if or how many other people God had spoken this same promise too. Perhaps God tried multiple times with different people and Abraham was the first one who grabbed that promise and believed.
What promise has God spoken to you that you aren’t believing?
Maybe He has whispered in your spirit something that seemed preposterous and you quickly dismissed it as impossible.
Wait! Stop! Do not discredit the promises of God.
What about the hundreds of promises that are in the Word of God?
‘I am chosen.
I am seated in heavenly places.
I am beloved. I am worthy.
I am healed. I am cleansed.
I am justified, sanctified.
Through Him I can do all things.
I have all wisdom and knowledge…’
Mary, the mother of Jesus; she also believed and held tenaciously to the promise of God. Was that promise of becoming the mother of the Son of God logical? Absolutely not! It defied all human reasoning! Yet Mary believed and became the single one person who knew and loved Jesus best. Through her faith, all the world has changed.
Noah believed the promise of God; he saved his life, the lives of his family and got to be a part of, see and do things that no one else ever has!
George Muller believed God’s promise that He would provide for every need. In his lifetime of caring for hundreds of Bristol’s orphans, not once did George ask anyone for money. God always provided. Through this faith, George changed the world for hundreds of people.
There are thousands of people who have taken God at His word, believed His promises and changed the world as a result. Think Hebrews 11, think the prophets and apostles, think of the thousands of stories in history we have of those who believed God. Think of people in your life right now who are tenaciously believing a promise God has spoken.
To all these, it is counted as righteousness unto them.
Stop and think twice before you discredit something that the Spirit of God has revealed to you. It just might be the promise that unlocks the best of your life. Grab hold of that promise, believe it, own it and watch what happens. God is going to blow your small mind. He is anxiously looking for individuals through whom He can change the world. People who are willing to believe impossible things. People who are willing to be scared out of their wits yet hang onto that promise with a fierce faith.
Believe – and it shall be counted as righteousness unto you.
Believe – and the world will be blest.