Lord, Teach Us To Pray! Part 131

Prayers of the Old Testament
The Prayer of Abraham continued...

As Abraham was growing advanced in his age, and he saw the possibility of having children dwindling with every breath he drew, he came before the Lord pouring out his heart, reminding Him that though God had blessed him, all he possessed would be left to Eliezer of Damascus, a man born in his house, but not of his blood.

Genesis 15:4-6, “And behold the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir. Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the Lord and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

God speaks to Abraham, and tells him that his descendants will be as numerous as the stars in the heavens. Seeing as Abraham had no children at this moment in time, it might have seemed improbable, if not outright impossible for this to come to pass, yet Abraham believed in the Lord.

If God promises something, even if to human reason it might seem impossible, it will come to pass because God promised it. Abraham believed! He didn’t ask how, when, or if God was certain of this lofty promise…he just believed.

Far too often, when God promises us something, it seems we require further explanation. We want God to confirm His promise, thrice if possible, then go about telling us the steps by which He will fulfill said promise in our lives. We obsess over the details so much, we see the impossibility of it by filtering it through human reason, that at some point along the way we begin to doubt, and because we doubt it, the promise does not come to pass. When the promise of God doesn’t come to pass because we doubted, we shrug our shoulders and in the back of our minds think to ourselves, ‘I knew it couldn’t happen; I knew it was too much even for God to do.’

I work in a ministry toward which God made some truly wondrous promises. I was there when these promises were spoken through vessels with the gift of prophecy, and even in our darkest hour, when things seemed bleakest, I did not for one second doubt the veracity of the words our ministry had received.

Yes, in the natural these words seemed improbable, even impossible, but our God is not constrained by the natural. He is a supernatural God, and performs supernatural works, and so we cannot limit Him by attempting to put Him in a box of our own making.

Some of those promises have indeed come to pass, others we are still waiting on, but we never ceased to believe the Lord, because the word of the Lord is true, and He is able to do all things beyond what the human mind can imagine or conceive.

‘Abraham, count the stars.’

‘They are too many to count Lord.’

‘So shall your descendants be.’

And that was the end of the dialogue. Abraham believed, and God kept His promise. Why make things complicated when simple is so much simpler? Just believe God at His word. Don’t try to reason it out, don’t try to see the how of it in the physical…just believe.

Because Abraham believed, not only did God keep His promise toward him, the fact that he believed was also accounted to him for righteousness.

Abraham’s faith was such an inspiring thing, that Paul the Apostle of Christ reminds us of it in his epistle to the Romans as well.

Romans 4:20-21, “He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.”

In two short verses Paul explains what it is to have faith, and uses Abraham as the example we must aspire toward. Having faith is being fully convinced that what God promised, He is able to perform.

Are you fully convinced that what God promised you He is able to perform? If the answer is yes, then give glory to God, and thank Him for His faithfulness and goodness.

Men of faith take God at His word. He promises, and they are fully convinced that He will keep His promise. No matter the circumstances, no matter the odds, no matter the impossibility of the situation, if God promised it, and you are a person of faith, you are convinced that He will carry out His promise.

If you are lacking in it, pray for an increase of faith, that you will do as Abraham did and be fully convinced of God’s ability to carry out His promise. He is faithful to give us faith when we ask it, for His desire is to see His beloved walk by faith and not by sight.

Abraham was in covenant with God, and God was in covenant with Abraham. A covenant is a clause in a contract that requires one party to do, or refrain from doing certain things.

A covenant, as is the case with any contract requires two parties, and both parties must adhere to the agreed upon terms. As long as Abraham upheld his side of the covenant, God upheld His side of the covenant as well.

Genesis 15:18, “On that same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying.”

We are, as Abraham was in covenant with God as well. The covenant we are in was signed and sealed by the blood of the Lamb of God, the Christ, the only begotten. It is a great and wondrous covenant indeed, and if we hope to have our prayers answered, we must uphold and adhere to our part of the covenant, not trampling underfoot the blood of Jesus.

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea jr.