What Kind Of Faith Do You Have?

Hello everyone!

Welcome to another time on our #OnlineBibleStudy.

I’m revved up already…

Why?

Because I take delight in God’s word, and in His truth we find our pleasures forever more!

We don’t look to the world for pleasures, we look into the word of God!

Wowzers! 🙂

 
This will be a long one but so worth it!
So please, just take up your pen, hard copy Bibles/Bibles on your phone, open it up and let’s delve into the Word!

 

I was supposed to post this last week but I thank God that it’s coming on today because I need the word too.

 
When I got my Bar finals results(see post here), it affected me like nothing else…It affected my faith.
Yes, I was learning the other side of faith which we dealt with here in this post but it still affected me.
I didn’t want to believe in God for anything else.
In fact, there was something I was praying for that I just stopped believing God for.
I even attended DCC at the end of last year where they were believing God for last minute miracles and I just couldn’t find it in me to pray and expect anything again.
What if those expectations didn’t come to pass?

 
This year though, God has been teaching me all over again on the rudiments of faith..down from the basics(ever patient Father!)

 
Some of us maybe at that point where I was before, you’ve given up on believing God to work out that situation for you, try as you might, you just can’t find it in you to believe God for anything… You prefer to live with the situation like that(God forbid)…
This Bible study is for us all in the Christian faith. If you don’t need it today, you will need it later.

 
So how do we find it in us to hold onto God’s promises when all circumstances make it seem like we wont get it?

 

 

One answer…
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been led to Romans 4 this year.
So let’s go there shall we?

 
What was Abraham’s faith like?

 
Romans 4:19 says
“Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”

 

 

He believed God even when there was no tangible reason to believe in God.
He kept hoping and holding onto the words of God and not circumstances.
Circumstances were inconsequential to Him.
He believed even before he had seen it come to pass.

 
Now, that’s the kind of faith that we(I) should have.
Abraham didn’t even see the complete fulfillment of what God promised him before he died.
Remember that God promised him that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars but Abraham only saw Isaac.
He didn’t see us(you and I) who became heirs of his promise as a result of what Jesus did for us.
He only saw Isaac but even before he saw Isaac, he believed God, held onto God’s word and never let go.

 
Now, I got this illustration as I studied.
That point where Abraham was where he was believing in God’s promises which had not physically manifested is like a traffic light(some of us are at that point right now too)
It’s just saying, “hold on, pause, wait, you will see action soon enough”.

 

 

The Lord said to Abraham in Genesis 12:1
“The lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.”

 

 

Was there any mighty miraculous act that was done by God that made Abraham move?
No.
Abraham moved at the words that came from God.
Now, let’s pause there for a minute…

Some of us, when God promises us something, we keep praying, “Lord, show me a sign”
It amazes me that Abraham simply moved at the word form God
Abraham departed as the Lord instructed Him(Genesis 12:4)

 

 

Genesis 12:6
“Abram traveled through the land as far as Shechem. There he set up camp beside the oak of Moreh. At that time, the area was inhabited by Canaanites.”

 
The land God promised to give to him was still inhabited by Canaanites but Abraham still built an altar to worship God there.
Why?
Because God had told him he will give the land to him and his descendants.

 

Let’s pause again for a second.

There was even no descendant at the time, yet God was talking about descendant(S).
How many of us have the kind of faith that would stretch that far?
But still Abraham took God at His word.

 

 

Now, let’s go down again.
Again, God told Abraham after Lot chose for himself the fertile land that He would give Him and his descendants the land as their permanent possession.
Again, Abraham believed God and built an altar to worship God.

 
Still, I am wondering, God didn’t just promise this man alone all these big things, He went ahead to say I will give these to your descendants too.
Please what descendants?
This man didn’t even have a child of his own but then ABRAHAM BELIEVED GOD.

 
Now, how many seemingly “outrageous” promises have God given to us that we have scoffed at instead of building an altar like Abraham did?
We, who have no power to do anything scoff at the promises of the One who has the power to do everything!
Has God given you a promise?
We should rejoice because it is already done, it’s just waiting for physical manifestation.
Now, there are those who scoff at the promises out rightly and there are those who believe but fall away because of the “wait”

 

 

Let’s recap for a bit…
God first appeared to Abraham and gave him a hint of His promise to him when he was 75 years old.
Abraham first saw a fulfillment of this promise when he was 100years old.
Meaning that he waited for 30years(hmm, I have hope eh, there are things I’ve only been waiting on since the beginning of the year)

 
So please soak that in for a minute.
For years and years, the only thing that Abraham had to hold onto was a word from God.
For some of us, it is God’s word and a dream that we had.

 
Gen 15, again God appeared to reassure Abraham of His promises to Him(its amazing how God was appearing to Him to reassure Him of his word)
This time though, Abraham didn’t immediately build an altar to God, He asked – “Lord, I don’t even have a child yet, what good is all your blessing when you haven’t even given me a child of my own”?

 

Ah, God immediately told him to step outside(its like saying, your spiritual antenna don dey rust, we need to recharge them)
Take a look at all the stars, count them if you can, so will your descendants be(paraphrased)

 
And this verse trips me to no end…
Romans 4:3
“For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.”

 

I want to ask us today, what kind of faith do you have?
Paul said to Timothy…
Fight the good fight of faith.(1Timothy 6:12)

 
That faith can be seen in two ways- the Christian faith and then faith-the raw faith of believing things that you have not seen yet and calling them forth as if they are.(Hebrews 11:1)

 
Some of us are crying- “Lord, I see no hint that my prayers and faith are even working, I am tired, I am not praying anymore”
I imagine that that statement would have made apostle Paul sad to no end.
You are already loosing the fight of faith.

 
Jesus said in John 20:29
“Then Jesus told him, “You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.”

 
So your home is fraught with issues right now?
You keep speaking that Jesus has given us His peace as our gift, my home is peaceful!
You see no way as to how God will do what He wants to do in your life?
No problem.
You aren’t meant to see the way anyway, your work is to believe in the way.
So do you believe?
Are you fighting and winning the good fight of faith?
Or are you fighting and loosing the good fight of faith?

 
Some of us are falling away because of the “wait”.
The wait is long and we are loosing faith…
But you haven’t waited like Abraham have you?

 

Psalm 37:7 says “WAIT PATIENTLY FOR THE LORD TO ACT”
I will like to rephrase that for myself as “wait patiently in active faith for the Lord to act”.

 

For some of us, the victory for our family and family members lies in our believing God and holding Him to His word.
But do we believe?
We say it doesn’t look like anything is happening, I am tired!
But there is no getting tired in this fight of faith.

 
Here’s what Romans 4:18 says again…
“Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!”

 

 

Abraham never wavered!
How many of us are wavering?
But we say, “Oh it’s too much for me to handle, all seems bleak”
Well, you are focusing on the physical things you see, step outside with God for a minute and focus on his word!

 
Abraham believed God’s word, not Sarah’s womb or his own almost deadened body.
You don’t have to see nothing before you believe – stop having the Thomas kind of faith.

 
Every time you feel like you are wavering, go back to Romans 4 and read from the start to finish.
The promise is received by faith.
Of course the promise is also salvation as a gift from God and it is also from Abraham’s angle, personal promises from God to us.
We are all certain to receive it if we have faith like abraham.

 
Some of us will say that we are not Abraham but Romans 4:23 says that Abraham was counted as righteous for our benefit also, so that we can be confident that God will do the same thing for us if we have the same kind of faith that abraham had.(Romans 4:16)

 
We dealt with righteousness in God in a previous post here and for this study, we are dealing with God’s promises which are also received through faith.

 
Paul says “fight the good fight of faith”.
We should also know that this fight isn’t physical, this fight is more often than not in our mind.

 
2Corinthians 10:4&5
” For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One)”

 

We must cast down those thoughts that do not align with faith from our minds.
How?
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
If you have to read Romans chapter 4 or Hebrews 11 100 times a day or plug in your ears with a faith message all day, do it.

 
I am determined to win my own fight.
I will believe God even without “seeing”
He is working it all out, my own job is to believe.
And if anything wants to take my job from me, I will certainly fight them for it.
How?
By holding onto God’s promises tenaciously.

 
So do you feel yourself wavering?
Remember that God cannot lie.
Hold on.
Hold on.
Hold on.
And have the same kind of faith that Abraham had.

 

Prayer – Lord, please teach us afresh on how to have faith in you again.
Strengthen our weak knees and hold us up in faith in you again.
Thank you Lord.
Thank you Jesus.

 
As always, you know that I love to hear from you too.
Let’s discuss the word of God, the comment section is open, drop us a word you got while you studied along will you?

And if this study indeed helped you, can you please share and get others to delve into God’s word too?

 

 

Much love,
Frances.