Extraordinary Faith in an Extraordinary God

Extraordinary Faith in an Extraordinary God

“By faith Abraham, even though he was past age, and Sarah herself was barren, was enabled to become a father because he considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.” Hebrews 11:11-12

What an amazing testimony of Abraham! How did this bedouin nomad who had no property, no program, and no ministry become the vehicle of God’s blessing to the nations and the father of faith? I believe there are two keys in this verse. He was “enabled” by God to do the impossible. He and Sarah were enabled to have a child when he was past age and she was barren. What was born to them was not of man but of God. The promise of God seemed dead because it could not be fulfilled in the natural. God brought Abraham and Sarah to the end of themselves, which is often where God wants to bring us, not to discourage us or cause us to give up but to force us to depend on Him.

The second key was that Abraham and Sarah’s focus was on God’s faithfulness rather than the promise. “Abraham considered Him faithful who had made the promise.” Oftentimes we fail to maintain faith in the midst of adverse circumstances because our eyes are on the promise rather than the giver of the promise. I have known people who have been crushed in their faith, given up in their ministry, and some given up on God because what they were believing for did not come to pass. I find many Christians who have lost the ability to believe God for the supernatural because the reality of life has crushed their dreams.

The problem with focusing on a promise of God is that oftentimes we have little or no idea of when God will fulfill the promise or how He will fulfill it. God speaks something to us and we begin to pray over it, declare it in faith, positioning ourselves, working hard toward the fulfillment of the promise, and it just doesn’t happen as we expect. So we become discouraged, doubt ourselves, doubt God, or forget about the promise as it is choked out by the issues of life.

To have extraordinary, long-lasting faith we need to focus on an extraordinary God who is everlasting and sees things from an eternal perspective. God is the author and finisher of our faith. God’s character and nature is unchanging. You can count on Him. When you focus on the unchanging God, then your faith will remain consistent and resilient no matter what the circumstances. We live in unpredictable times when nothing in life seems sure. At times we may wonder how God will ever fulfill what He has promised to us. The promise is His, and so He is going to have to work that out. Our responsibility, like Abraham, is to consider him faithful who made the promise. He is always true to His word.

Andy Clark
Associate Director
World Horizons US Office
www.worldhorizonsus.org