Believe ye that I am able to do this? (Matthew 9:28)
As New Testament believers, our faith is patterned after that of Abraham (Galatians 3:7), but at what point did Abraham’s faith catch the attention of God? To find out, let us look at the progression of Abraham’s journey.
In Genesis 12, Abraham was obedient to God as he moved away from the place and the people he was familiar with to follow the plan of God for his life. I would think that just this one act would be enough for God to commend him, but that did not happen. Next Abraham went down into the land of Egypt where he became a very rich man (Genesis 13:1-2). Even as Abraham grew in wealth, there was no mention of God commending him. Abraham then accomplished two more wonderful things: with just 318 men he defeated four armies and rescued his nephew Lot (Genesis 14:14-16); and he met Melchizedek king of Salem to whom he gave the first recorded tithe in the Bible (Genesis 14:20). None of these four outstanding acts of Abraham brought any words of commendation from the Lord. At what point did the Lord commend Abraham?
In Genesis 15, the Lord appeared to Abraham with the promise of an heir from his own body: “This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.” At this point, Abraham “believed in the Lord” and God “counted it to him for righteousness”. All of Abraham’s accomplishments till then did not move the Lord to commend him with a blessing, but the moment Abraham chose to believe what God said, the Lord released a rich blessing on his life: the blessing of righteousness. Let us remember this one thing as we start this new week: the favor and the blessing of the Lord over our lives is not dependent on what we do but has everything to do with what we believe.
Declaration: Lord, I believe.
Scripture: Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. (Mark 16:14)