[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. . . . 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. ~Romans 4:18,20 (AMPCE)
When human reason for hope is gone, we must hope in faith on the promise of God. Scripture teaches faith is the “substance” of things hoped for. That substance is the word of God. The word of God gives substance to what we hope for. The Lord said Abraham was empowered by faith. In other words, He was empowered by God’s word. He trusted in Gods promise to him when nothing even remotely pointed to the fact that it could happen. God promised Abraham an heir from his own body. Despite his advanced years and a few bumps in the road, Abraham was still hoping in faith, believing what God had said would come to pass. Scripture teaches as Abraham kept praising and giving glory to God, he grew even stronger in faith. You could say Abraham didn’t let his chains break his praise; Abraham’s praise broke his chains. Being able to praise God in the midst of our broken dreams, troubles and even bad habits is where the power for change comes. God says He saved you and is making you holy. Do you believe you are being made holy? Do you believe there will be a day when you are able to say with God’s help that you laid that sin down that so easily got you off track or that mindset that kept you in bondage to sickness or poverty? God is our way maker and a chain breaker. We need to start praising God more for all He is going to do in our lives. Now that is operating in vision!
It would be ridiculous for God to expect us to do something and not give us the ability to do it. God backs up anything and everything He promises. We are told in Luke 1:37 “No word from God will ever fail.” (NIV) The Lord doesn’t require us to live by faith only to abandon us to our own strength. He says we can do all things through Him who strengthens us. Our enemy knows how dangerous we are with a heart full of faith, so he attacks us with fear, doubt, and unbelief. But he is a defeated foe. Unfortunately, he knows that better than we do sometimes. Fear, doubt, and unbelief are enemies of our faith, and they tend to come on our weakest days. Learn to identify them in any given situation and you will be the better off for it. Don’t let them steal your faith and don’t let the enemy try to convince you that you are not worthy. It wasn’t for your worthiness that God brought you this far and it’s not going to be for your worthiness that the Lord enables you to overcome. It is Jesus’ worthiness that our heavenly Father is looking at and it should be Jesus' worthiness that we are daily counting on. Keep praising God and give Him glory no matter what storm or waiting period you are in. Faith will rise in your heart, and you will overcome.
In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. ~1 Peter 1:6-7 (NIV)
What has God helped you overcome? Can you identify victories in your life that only God could have brought about?
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