Romans 4:20-21 “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, (21) and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”
We have seen that if we are going to be able to exercise our faith in God’s word, we need to pray and ask Him to open our understanding to His word. And so when God answers that prayer and gives the saint understanding of His word on any given subject, what happens is that the saint becomes exposed, for the first time, to what God says about that subject. Bearing in mind that until that point the saint’s thinking on that subject would have been as this world thinks which is completely opposite to what God’s word says. And so the saint is then faced with the challenge of changing their thinking to line up with what God’s word says about the subject. We have already seen in scripture that in order for our faith to work in any given area, we must be fully convinced in our minds about what God’s word declares on the subject in question. The bible calls it “renewing” our mind, and depending on various factors, that process can be relatively quick or it can take some time (Romans 12:2). Nevertheless no matter how long it takes, it will not be until the saint is fully convinced in their minds that what God’s word declares on the subject is real, that they will be able to exercise their faith in His word. The above quoted passage of scripture is an illustration of this point, for in this passage we see that Abraham was fully convinced in his mind that what God had promised He was also able to perform, referring to the promise that God made to both Abraham and Sarah that they would have a son named Isaac. The scriptural account of when God made that promise reveals how both Abraham and Sarah had to change their thinking until they became fully convinced that God’s word would come to pass. God initially appeared to Abraham only, and told him that he and Sarah would have a son within a year and they were to name him Isaac. At the same time God told Abraham that He had changed Sarai’s name to Sarah. When God appeared to Abraham he was almost one hundred years old and Sarah was ninety years old and had been barren her whole life. Abraham’s thinking on the subject at that time was the same as this world thinks, i.e. it is impossible for a man one hundred years old and a woman ninety years old, who has been barren her whole life, to have children, and so he initially laughed to himself when he heard what God said. To be continued …
Michael E.B. Maher
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