A Convincing Story

One of the most encouraging passages of scripture in the Bible concerns the patriarch Abraham and is found in Romans 4:19-22, "And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform."

Here is a man no different than any other man, and we need to keep in mind that he was not born again, he did not have a recreated spirit, which means that he was spiritually dead like all other men. He also did not have God's Word written in a book that he could draw from. Yet he did not look at the condition of his or Sarah's body in hopelessness. Why? Because he believe the Word that God spoke to him, more than he believed in the circumstances that faced him. Abraham was not denying the tangible evidence of his age and the age of his wife. He was not denying that his wife was barren and that she was beyond child bearing years. Instead, he believed the Word of the Lord and operated independent of the circumstances at hand. He did not let the things in the natural realm breed doubt, but in a sense, laughed at them and believed the promise of God. Because he believe the Word of the Lord he was strengthened in faith. Why is this so important for the believer?

The apostle Paul tells us, "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17) Unlike Abraham, believers today have God's Word written down an for most it is accessible, that we call the Holy Bible. It reveals God's will, nature, character, purposes, promises and plan. Believers should spend daily time reading, studying and meditating on His Word so that their faith can increase. Unfortunately, a large numbers of believers do not fill their spirit and renew their minds with God's Word so they very easily accept what they hear not knowing if it is true or not. For centuries due to this attitude toward God's Word many believers have not strengthened their faith, but the contrary, it has created much unbelief which is an enemy of faith.

Unbelief is a product of two distinct issues that many believers do not seem to understand. First, it is based on a lack of knowledge. Many in the church today do not believe the Word of God because they only know what they hear others tell them. Unfortunately, what they hear is either stolen from their heart by the devil, the Word does not take root, and or the cares of the world choke it from bearing fruit. (Marl 4:15-19) Hosea tells us, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge..." (Hosea 4:6) It is very difficult to know what to believe when Christians have a lack of knowledge of God's Word. The second type of unbelief is based on unpersuadableness which means, being unwilling to act upon God's Word even though one knows what the Word teaches. "Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." (Matthew 13:28) Either way, unbelief is a disobedient attitude towards God's Word.

Abraham acted upon God's Word irregardless of the circumstances at hand which in turn strengthened his faith. Abraham was "...fully convinced that what God had promised He was also able to perform." This goes beyond believing that God's Word is true. Many today will honestly say that the whole Bible is true but they lack in acting upon the Word and therefore what they believe is nothing more than knowledge that is stored in the mind. True Bible faith is simply believing that God is able to perform what His Words says and then acting upon it no matter what the circumstances may dictate. This is exactly what Abraham did.

So, has a lack of knowledge of God's Word or unpersuadableness caused you not to believe and act upon God's Word? Do you believe what a doctor says or what an auto mechanic says more than you believe what God says? If so then this is probably why you struggle with many of life's issues. However, this can all change today. It only takes one thing. You must come to the place where you are you fully convinced that what God has promised He is also able to perform and then act on it...