I could go on and on, but I’ve run out of time. There are so many more Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets….Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. Hebrews 11:32
I have been writing a series on faith for the past month or so and I have been meaning to finish it which I will do in this post. If you want to read the last post I wrote on faith please click here.
The word tells us the men and women of old obtained promised blessings by faith! God had promised them things but they could only obtain them by faith! There was no other way those things could be obtained!!
That got me thinking, what does it mean to obtain promises by faith? What does that look like? When the word says we need faith to obtain the promises He has promised us what does that mean? Why do we need faith to obtain what God has promised us?
The word is filled to the brim with answers. Let me show you a few.
- Abraham was given some amazing promises. (Genesis 17) But there was a slight glitch…..
Abram was ninety-nine years old when the LORD appeared to him again and said, “I am God All-Powerful. Genesis 17:1
Did this very important fact slip God’s mind??? How could He call a ninety-nine year old man seriously? But this is God the Creator of the Universe we are talking about. He knew what He was doing. He knew the only way Abram would walk in what He promised him would be if he trusted in Him. There was no other way he would obtain the promise!
God knows what your situation is, He knows the circumstances you are in and He wants you to trust Him no matter how impossible things seem. Let’s face facts, without faith you will not be able to obtain the promise. I didn’t say “not willing” but “NOT ABLE”!!! You will not be able to no matter what you try. God’s calling for your life is too much for you to accomplish on your own which would mean in your flesh! You will fail….. Yes, you just heard me say you will fail. I didn’t make a mistake or mix up my words! You will fall and not be successful.
Let us look at another example:
- The Israelites were in a hard place. On one side there was the Red Sea and on the other side the Egyptian army! There was no way for them to turn back and fight the Egyptians because they had no weapons and they were not trained warriors! They would be massacred….In front of them was the Red Sea. They didn’t know how to swim, they would surely drown but by faith the word says, “They walked through the Red Sea on dry ground.” (Hebrews 11:29)
I hope you are beginning to see how important a role faith plays in you obtaining God’s promises. Without faith you will not be able to obtain what God promised! The Egyptian army thought they could walk through the Red Sea but like we all know, they couldn’t! The water crashed in on them and killed them! They didn’t know about faith! And without faith they died…..Is that the reason things don’t seem to be working out for you? Maybe you have been trying to do this in your own strength when God wants you trusting in Him. Sometimes doing nothing and waiting patiently for the breakthrough is what you need to do and at times that is so much harder to do. Anyway let’s move on….
- The Israelites thought taking the promise land was a small thing. They thought they were strong enough but that was quickly proven wrong. The Israelites were finally at the gate of the land flowing with milk and honey. All they had to do was obey the word of God and storm the city but they believed the ten spies! They believed them and were filled with fear. There was talk of appointing a new captain to lead them back to Egypt and there was talk of stoning Joshua and Caleb! But God stepped in and everything changed. The Israelites repented but it was too late, the damage was done! Let’s pick up the story in Numbers 14:39
When Moses told all of this to the people of Israel, they mourned long and hard. But early the next morning they started out for the high hill country saying, “We’re here; we’re ready – let’s go up and attack the land that God promised us. We sinned, but now we’re ready.”
As we know, the Israelites were defeated. Without faith, without God they couldn’t obtain what God had promised them! Let that be a sober reminder for us all…….I am going to stop here in the hope you got the heart of what I was saying!. God has some really amazing things in store for us but we will need to exercise our faith to obtain those amazing things. If you don’t know what God has planned for you know He has great and amazing things in store for you, things that are too big for you alone to handle and accomplish. If you can accomplish it on your own it’s probably not from God! It is clear in scripture that God called the men and women to a greater vision one that was too much for them! But with God and faith in God they accomplished what God had planned for them. It was not because of their wisdom or their good looks, or their strength but it was through faith!
I could go on and on, but I’ve run out of time. There are so many more Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, the prophets….Through acts of faith, they toppled kingdoms, made justice work, took the promises for themselves. Hebrews 11:32
God has a plan for us, so may we take it by faith!
Rolain
kingspeech 