Do You Trust God
In the Depths of Your Heart?
Do you trust God? Do you trust Him to know what is best for you? Do you trust that He goes before you as your life unfolds? Do you trust that He is well aware of how long you may have been waiting for something or someone to change? Do you live in peace every day deep in your heart (for it is always a heart issue) knowing that God has all in your life covered with His divine plan? Take some time to think about your honest answer to each of these questions.
Do You Trust God’s Promise?
In reading about Abraham this week I could not help but think about trust and faith in each of our lives. The issues of trust and faith are as real today as they were for Abraham in the Book of Genesis in the Old Testament. In Chapter 22, God tests Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. Let us look back into earlier chapters to see the history surrounding the arrival of Isaac. In Chapter 13, God promises descendants as numerous as the dust of the earth to Abram. In chapter 15 Abram reminds God that he is still childless. God again promises heirs as numerous as the stars in the heavens.
God further promises that his heir will come from Abram’s own body. Abram believes God but Abram and his wife are both elderly at the time of the promise so it is most unlikely in the natural scheme of things. Time passes and they reason that they should take action and birth an heir through a surrogate, Sarai’s handmaid, Hagar. This son, Ishmael was born when Abram was eighty six years old.
There is a Set Time!
When he was ninety nine years old God made a covenant with Abram and changed his name to Abraham, father of many nations. God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, a mother of nations. God further promised that a son would be born to Abraham and Sarah and would be named Isaac. God will establish an everlasting covenant with Isaac and his descendants.
As Sarah was well past childbearing age she laughed at the prospect of birthing a son. God spoke to Abraham and said, “Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.” (Genesis 19:14) At the set time Isaac was born when Abraham was one hundred years old. Isaac is the son of the promise
What Are You Willing to Sacrifice?
So you see Abraham and Sarah endured much and waited long for their son of the promise. Getting back to Chapter 22 you can only imagine how Abraham must have felt to be told by God to sacrifice his only son Isaac. They had waited so long for him to be born. They had watched him grow into a young man and loved him greatly. Abraham had long served God and had a very close relationship with Him.
In Abraham’s obedience God saw that he did not withhold his only son. Abraham got as far as taking the knife to kill Isaac before he was stopped. The Lord provided a sacrifice of a ram in a nearby thicket. Isaac was spared and God blessed Abraham and multiplied him as He had long promised.
Abraham is referred to as the father of faith. He believed and trusted the Lord even to the possible sacrifice of his only son, Isaac. To walk in solid faith you must completely trust.
I believe God walks each of us through various trials in life to develop our trust in Him and to build and strengthen our faith. Each experience builds on the previous. What are you building? Is there a firm foundation added to with the solidity of trust and faith? Or is it cracked and crumbling under the surface with doubt and disbelief?
Search the Depths of Your Heart
What is your heart attitude in a trial? Do you press through with a trusting and faith filled heart or do you moan about everything you do not like? The situation itself is not the most important thing. Your heart attitude in the situation is crucial.
This heart attitude determines how you handle the situation. Each experience is part of your growth and maturing in the Lord if you will let it be such. You can choose to be crushed by every experience or strengthened.
It really is your choice.
Do you have a promise from God that seems impossible in the natural? Every promise in the Bible is yours if you follow Christ and submit to Him. Think about that. His promises are yes and amen for those who believe. Instead of looking at what you do not have or do not like in your circumstance trust that God knows exactly what you need.
With a trusting heart it is much easier to move through each day knowing that God goes before you to make the way straight.
Each beat of a faith filled heart resonates grace into any situation.
Trust and faith are deep heart issues. You can say you trust and have faith but what lies deep in your heart?
Quotes to Ponder This Week
“Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to this fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And all things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” ~Matthew 21:21-22
“Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.” ~Jesus, Mark 11:24
“And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered.” ~Genesis 13:16
“Then Abram said, ‘Look, You have given me no offspring…’ And behold the word of the Lord came to him saying, ‘…one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.’ Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward the heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’” ~Genesis 15:3-5
“And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” ~Genesis 15:6
“Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, ‘Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety nine years old, bear a child?’ Then God said, ‘…Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac,; I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his descendants after him.’” ~Genesis 17:17, 19
“Now it came to pass that after all these things that God tested Abraham…’Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and…offer him there as a burnt offering’…and Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him…’Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son from Me.’” ~Genesis 22:1,2,8,10-12
“’By Myself I have sworn,’ says the Lord, ‘because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, in blessing I will bless you, and in multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.’” ~Genesis 22:16-17
“For the Lord will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.” ~Isaiah 52:12
“And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulations produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” ~Romans 5:3-5
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” ~Hebrews 11:1
A Prayer Request
Thank you for your continued faithfulness to pray. Please keep all who serve our country, our servicemen and women and their families in prayer for salvation and safety. They are our front-line on the battlefield, let us be their front-line in the spirit. Also, let us cover all who have come home wounded that they and their families will receive the kindness, help and support they need to go forward in their lives.
God bless all our diplomatic and military personnel and their families. May the Lord keep them safe. Pray for all throughout the world for hedges of protection against radical Muslim extremists and all forms of terrorism. We have long prayed for spiritual victory over radical Islam in Esther’s Warriors Ministry. We now see the reality of this threat come to the forefront in this time in world history.
Please pray for all in authority over us, for the full truth to come forth concerning Benghazi and for safety in Israel. May God richly bless the United States of America, bring to light every single crooked place and keep her safe. May we may arise united once again as One Nation Under God in this auspicious season in our country’s history.
We continue to pray for truth to prevail as we saturate this country in prayer and stand for all that is right in America and for all of us who call ourselves American. These are treacherous times and now more than ever we must maintain our walk. Fail not in this hour.
Please Join Me in Prayer
Father we thank You that Your Word is yes and amen! Increase our faith to walk in Your ways with Your authority to bring Your Kingdom to earth as it is in heaven. Give us the faith of Abraham that we would trust You completely. Break our hearts for the things that move You. Let our hearts beat in resonance with Yours to bring Your Gospel to all the world. Teach us to lift our eyes above our circumstance to see with spiritual eyes the path You lay before us. Strengthen us to walk that path. We pray this in Jesus’ mighty name. Amen and amen.