It had been quite a while that I spoke to my
bestie who lives halfway across the world from me. So yesterday, when we spoke,
we should have had a handful of stuff to catch up on. Our conversation started with
pleasantries that sounded so pitiful from both our ends. We both realized how
sorry we sounded and just burst out laughing. You see, we are each going
through confusing times in our individual lives and sometimes, although we tell
ourselves we’re catching up, we really have nothing new to tell each other.
Before I continue…………
So, I know lately I’ve been telling y’all about
trusting God a lot. Well, this is Temi’s
Race! And Temi’s race isn’t very yuppy yuppy at the moment. Besides, I know
quite a number of believers asides from me who are going through challenging
times right now, and will appreciate any encouragement from the Word that they
can latch unto until the stormy wind passes. Therefore, this article is for my
bestie, Simi; my bosom friend, Chika, my mom, Lola, my sisters, Fiyin &
Komi; my friend, Olumide, and every other child of God whose faith needs to be
stirred up… Here’s a challenge from Abraham!
Anyway, about an hour after Simi and I spoke,
sharing our tales of woes, I picked up my Bible to study. My study for yesterday
was Romans 4:13-25. It is a passage about Abraham’s faith; and even though I knew
what the passage was about before I studied it last night, it was very timely. Here
are some of my jottings that I think you may find useful:
1. Abraham and his seed received a blessing from the
Lord, not because of anything he did, but just
because He believed God. (Note that, if you’re a Christian, then you are a seed
of Abraham. And that means you have the blessings of Abraham.) – Romans 4:13
2. The promises made to Abraham aren’t for those who
fulfill the law. They are ONLY for those who believe. – Romans 4:14
3.
Abraham believed
God because of God’s mighty abilities. If you’ve seen or heard or read about
God’s wonders in your life and in the lives of others, you have more than
enough reasons to trust him on this matter (you know what your “this matter”
is). Abraham knew that God could raise the dead and can bring something from
nothing (Romans 4:17b). At that time, those have not been demonstrated in
Abraham’s personal life; but he just believed. He held on to the God who is
able to do exceeding abundantly above all that one could ever ask or think
(Ephesians 3:20).
4. Abraham believed in hope against hope. “Who against hope believed in hope…” (Romans
4:18a). I personally think that this means that despite the fact that there was
nothing around him that seemed hopeful; that nothing around him impelled him to
believe, he still believed. He was certain beyond all impossibilities that he
would become the father of nations just as God had promised/spoken.
Permit me to describe Abraham’s hopeless situation
in two short sentences:
a. He was a hundred year old childless man with a
dead body and was supposed to be the father of nations.
b. His wife, Sarah, was a little younger; but with a
dead womb. She was to be the one to bare the first child for Father-of-nations,
Abraham.
Nevertheless, he believed in hope against hope…
5. He was not weak in faith. A weak faith is a legalistic one (See Romans 14). Remember I said Abraham's faith didn't have anything to do with fulfilling the law? A strong faith looks to God's ability. A weak faith looks to man's ability.
6. He did not stagger at the promise of God through
unbelief. Stagger (Gr: diakrino) in that
passage literally means ‘to separate’, ‘to make a distinction’ or ‘to withdraw
from’. So it means, Abraham did not make the mistake of distancing himself or
separating himself, his mind, his imagination from the promises of God. He did
not second-guess God and say, “Am I sure I
heard God well?” He gave no place at all to unbelief. For one whose body
was described as dead, I think he does very well to challenge all of us. Our situations
aren’t nearly as hopeless as his, yet we give up very quickly. Impatience makes us to
throw in the towel and just give up on God. God made this promise to Abraham
when he was seventy-five years old; and at 100, he was still holding on.
Challenge
#1: Keep holding on. Stagger not!
7. He was strong in faith and gave glory to God. Wow!
One could ask, “… gave glory to God for what?” What was glorious around him?
That’s where faith speaks louder than doubt.
Challenge
#2: Praise God in the storm.
Please, praise God in this storm. I tell
you brothers and sisters, God owes you nothing. If you die today, He’ll remain
God. If you live for 100 years, He’ll remain God. Praise Him. Satan can’t stand
when you praise God amidst trials. Praise God even when nothing around you
encourages you to. Just praise Him. It’s all about Him. That’s what I’ve been
doing, and I tell you, it has helped wane off depression and sadness a great
deal. Don’t do it one time. Do it all
the time. When you see that
sadness and depression setting in again, begin to praise God!
8. He was fully persuaded that God was able to do
what He had promised. I just can't stop wondering what made Abraham “fully
persuaded”. Or did Apostle Paul use wrong grammar there? Fully persuaded!!!
His body was dead; Sarah’s womb was dead. 25 years since the promise and
nothing had shown up. Yet, he was FULLY persuaded. I don’t understand this one
myself, but that brings us to …
Challenge
#3: Be fully persuaded! God has not told a single lie since He
became God (and that is, since forever), and He’s not about to start now. Don’t
think you’re that special that God is going to change who He is on your matter…
Pssh… He has never been unfaithful. Not once. Trust me; He won’t start
unfaithfulness with you. Be fully
persuaded that what He promised, He shall bring to pass.
I bit my lip yesterday for using negative words on
my situation while speaking to Simi. I shouldn’t have. That just reflected
unbelief. Like Abraham, let your actions and your words reflect how much you
trust God. Remember to give Him all the glory in spite of whatever you’re going
through.
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