We are sons and daughters of Abraham. We not only inherited his blessings, we also inherited his faith. We believe when there is no reason in the physical realm to believe. We hope when things seem most hopeless. We do not consider the deadness of our situation. We know our God can resurrect every situation. We believe we serve a God who calls that which does not yet exist into existence. We are sons and daughters. We are believers. We are hopers!
God said to me the other day, “Don’t take 2017 disappointments into 2018. I’m trying to understand what that means. Should I stop believing, should I stop hoping for things He has promised? Should I give up on the dreams I felt He has given me?
Perhaps, He is inviting me to believe anew. Maybe He wants to heal my heart in those places where I have felt abandoned, disappointed, rejected so that I can believe afresh, hope can be restored, I can dare to dream again.
The Bible is full of stories of delayed promises, barrenness, and hopelessness. But in every and all those stories, promises were eventually fulfilled, fruitfulness was granted and hope restored. Not because the characters believed flawlessly or because they were perfect. No it was because God is faithful and He honors His promise to Abraham.
Brothers and sisters, don’t take 2017 disappointments into 2018. Allow God to heal your heart so that you can believe anew, hope afresh, dream again.
“We call Abraham “father” not because he got God’s attention by living like a saint, but because God made something out of Abraham when he was a nobody. Isn’t that what we’ve always read in Scripture, God saying to Abraham, “I set you up as father of many peoples”? Abraham was first named “father” and then became a father because he dared to trust God to do what only God could do: raise the dead to life, with a word make something out of nothing. When everything was hopeless, Abraham believed anyway, deciding to live not on the basis of what he saw he couldn’t do but on what God said he would do. And so he was made father of a multitude of peoples. God himself said to him, “You’re going to have a big family, Abraham!””
Romans 4:17-18 MSG