Romans 4:18-21 “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, “So shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waiver 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.” Today's episode is about how strong Abraham's faith was and talks about how it is possible for you to develop a faith like Abraham had. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Can I Learn to Hope Against All Hope?
Romans 4:18-21 “In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations; as he had been told, “So shall your descendants be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead because he was about a hundred years old, or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waiver 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.”
There is so much in these four short verse. It begins with, “In hope he believed against hope that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told.” I wish we could believe in hope against all hope. We have all been in one situation or another when it looked like it wasn’t going to work out. We have all been in a situation where what we wanted seemed to be agains all hope. Think back to a time when all hope was lost. Can you think of a time when you were telling yourself, or maybe others were telling you that there was no hope? This is the type of situation Abraham was living. God told him he would be the father of all nations and yet he was 75 years old, which was pretty old in that day and age and he didn’t have any children. Abraham had plenty of reasons to doubt what he was told.
I like how the verse says his faith did not weaken when he considered his own body, “which was as good as dead because he was a hundred years old.” The author of this section is even saying that Abraham was as good as dead. According to several sources I found online Abraham was 75 years old when God promised he would be there Father of nations and his descendants would be like the stars. Then he was 100 years old when Isaac was born. Can you imagine waiting 25 years for a promise from God? Maybe you can. Maybe you have been waiting 25 years to meet your future spouse, maybe you have been waiting 25 years to have children, maybe you have been waiting 25 years for your child or your spouse to become sober or get off all drugs. If you have been waiting a really long time for your dream to come true, or a promise to come true, look to Abraham for guidance.
I want to have the faith that Abraham had. I want to have a faith that believes in hope, against all hope. I want to stand firm in my faith and not have it weaken when I see all that is up against me. I want to have total trust as Abraham had. It says in this verse, “No distrust made him waiver concerning the promise of God.” How amazing would it be if our trust was so great that nothing could make us waiver in it? I have had this type of trust before. When my niece was born early, I believed that God was not going to take her from us. I believed in hope, against all hope that she would live. The doctors told us she would not, and we continued to hope and believe in God. The nurses told us that she would not make it and we believed and trusted God against all hope. They told us to say goodbye and we decided to praise God instead and we kept trusting, kept hoping and kept believing that our God could do anything, and He did.
This believing in Hope for us lasted months, months that seemed like years, but it was still months. I don’t think I have ever waited for something for 25 years. Actually I did wait for a long time for things to get better in my family with my husband and with my children. It was not 25 years, but it was at least 15 or so. I trusted that God would work it all for our good, I trusted that God was in control and that He was there with us through all of it. I believe I was given this kind of trust because I asked for it, because I looked for it. I don’t believe I have this trust in God because I am special, I don’t think I am just lucky, I think God gives us what we ask for.
Have you been intentional in asking God for what you need, or giving Him permission to give you all that He thinks you need? God tells us in Matthew 7:7-8 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Ask God for what you want. Ask Him for a deeper faith, ask Him for a deeper trust, ask Him for more strength, ask Him for whatever you need and then praise Him when He gives it to you. I knew I needed more God in my life when I was facing the things I was facing. I knew I couldn’t do it on my own and I knew He was the only way we would all make it though. I know God can do amazing things and so I decided I wasn’t going to be afraid to ask for them. I wasn’t going to be afraid to seek Him and His gifts more. He never looks at us like we are greedy when we are seeking His gifts. He wants to give them to us. His gifts only bring us closer to Him and help us spread His word. Nothing bad comes from the gifts of the Lord. We don’t have to be afraid to ask for them, he loves when we seek Him and desire Him.
Sometimes I feel insecure talking about my faith in God because I feel as though others will think I am bragging, or think I am exaggerating. I feel the Lord has been telling me lately to talk about it more, to not hold back because if others see the kind of faith that is possible, they can search for it too. The kind of faith that Abraham had is not impossible. The faith that Daniel had in the lion’s den is not impossible. If you want to have a faith like this the first step is to ask for it and to keep asking until you get it. We heard in Luke 18:1-8 about the parable of the persistent widow. God likes when we ask Him for something over and over again. That is one way He knows how much we want it. The next thing to do is to seek it. Ask God what you need to do and then follow His promptings. Increased Faith is a gift from God. There are things you can do and should do, such as follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit, but ultimately, it is a gift from God. I have a sticky note right by my computer that reminds me to keep asking God for His gifts. That sticky note says, “It’s not that I am greedy, it’s that I am needy.” I need all that God has to give, especially if I want to become more like Him, especially if I want to spread His love all over the world. If you want the trust, faith and hope that is talked about in this verse above then the first step is easy, just ask for it.
I just want to take a minute to point out the last sentence in this verse, “No distrust made him waiver 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.” The part of this line that I want to highlight is when it says, “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.” Abraham grew strong in his faith as he gave Glory to God. How often are you giving Glory to God? Are you doing it even when you aren’t seeing the answers to your prayers? Are you doing it even when you have been waiting a really long time? I think we can all learn a lot from these few verses and one thing for sure is that his faith grew strong as he gave Glory to God. If his faith can grow by doing that, so can ours. What if we all gave a little more glory to God this week and this month? What if we praise him more and more and see what that leads too. I once heard a quote that I will never forget. I think it was Joyce Meyers that said it, but I can’t be 100% certain. The quote is, “If you complain, you remain, if you praise, you will be raised.” I truly believed that part of the reason my faith in the Lord is so strong is because I love praise music and I love gratitude. Those two combined have been huge in helping me grow in faith. Give it a try, and see if you love it as much as I do!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, you are amazing and we want to trust like Abraham trusted. We want to have faith and hope like he had. We want to believe in hope against all hope. We want to be unwavering in our faith, even when we look at all that seems to be against us. We want to wait faithfully, even if it takes 25 years for you to fulfill that promise you made to us. We love you Lord and we are so grateful for you. We are grateful you answer when we ask, we find when we seek and that you open doors when we knock. You are truly powerful and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Remember Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!