This is an excerpt from my monthly prayer letter for all my blogger readers who don't receive my prayer letter. God has used this passage to really speak to me this past few weeks.
A few weeks ago at our Monday morning devotional at the office, we talked about the story of Abram in Genesis Chapter 15. In verse 6, it says that Abram believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abram specifically believed God’s promise that he would have a son from his own body for an heir and in fact, have offspring as numerous as the stars (and at the time Abram was almost 100 years old)! And Abram believed God in this. So why was it “credited to him as righteousness”?
Well, if you flip ahead to Romans 4:18-22, it is explained. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be’. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead….Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what was promised. This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness’.”
What a life application! Abraham believed that God had the power to do what was promised through faith (evidence of things unseen) even though the physical fact (what was seen) was that his body and his wife Sarah’s womb were dead. Still he believed that God had the power to do what He promised, and so it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
When I read these verses, the words seemed to jump off the page at me and God made the Scriptures real. As I look at my own financial situation—living in Portland and trying to save for a wedding, I know I need to look to God’s promise to provide (Philippians 4:19). That means looking beyond what my earthly eyes can see and putting my faith into practice.
Well, if you flip ahead to Romans 4:18-22, it is explained. “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be’. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead….Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had the power to do what was promised. This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness’.”
What a life application! Abraham believed that God had the power to do what was promised through faith (evidence of things unseen) even though the physical fact (what was seen) was that his body and his wife Sarah’s womb were dead. Still he believed that God had the power to do what He promised, and so it was credited to Abraham as righteousness.
When I read these verses, the words seemed to jump off the page at me and God made the Scriptures real. As I look at my own financial situation—living in Portland and trying to save for a wedding, I know I need to look to God’s promise to provide (Philippians 4:19). That means looking beyond what my earthly eyes can see and putting my faith into practice.
