Abraham's Faith

This morning I have been reading Romans chapter 4. It is a good chapter to read if you have big dreams.

It recounts the faith of Abraham and talks about how Abraham was righteous apart from the rules (It uses circumcision as a picture of the rules in his time and culture). It also speaks of the him conceiving a child with his wife in their old age.

I'll quote a passage near the end of the chapter.

"For we say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness... No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was 'counted to him as righteousness.' But the words 'it was counted to him' were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification." - Romans 4:9b, 20-25 ESV

Abraham believed God and then he did a thing that old men and old women don't do. They had a child together.

"In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, 'So shall your offspring be.' He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God," - Romans 4:18-20 ESV

He said, and rightfully so, 'How can I be the father of many nations unless I become a father?'

His faith is our faith. Abraham's vehicle was fatherhood and parenting but ours is believing in Jesus.

How are we going to function in the impossible thing God has put before us? We will do it by believing in Jesus. Day after day and moment after moment. If we look at ourselves we will disqualify ourselves. Abraham was old he couldn't do what a young man could do... right? If we look at others we will disqualify the situation based on it's conditions. Sarah was too old to conceive or carry a child for 9 months... I mean that's not practical.

I want to look at what God says about a place. What does God say about a drug addict or a marriage? Is there a person I won't share my faith with because I think, 'They aren't going to listen to me.' Who is saying that? Where does that thought come from? Not from God.

God says, 'Believe in my Son.'

"...let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:1b-2 KJV

Maybe some will say you are a fool but what does God say?

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