How did God teach Abraham about belief? How did Abraham learn about belief from God? Look at all the successful people in this world. All of the success they achieve is mostly extensional, not because they work hard, but because they have faith. After all, if success is the result of hard work, how many people do we see working so hard but still unsuccessful.
If success is the result of hard work, those who work hard should be even more successful. For example, building workers who work day and night to build a building, are they successful people? No! Have you ever met a building worker who is truly a successful person? We rarely find it. His boss is indeed successful, but a building worker is still a building worker. Besides, if you think about it, their work is even harder, they often work overload, which means that their work exceeds their strength. That is the reason why most of the time when they are old, diseases starting to appear because of the exhaustion of overload and overcapacity.
That’s why, keep in mind, don’t ever think that if we want to be successful we have to work hard. This is not the main thing. However, it doesn’t mean that we don’t work. If you don’t work, you are lazy! Lazy people will never succeed, but what determines success is conviction. Many people work hard, but they are not sure if they can be successful. Many people are thinking, why they work hard, but not as successful as others. It may happen because we don’t have conviction.
There are 3 ways that God used to instill belief in Abraham’s life.
1. Through imagination.
After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? (Genesis 15: 1–2)
Often we are like Abram, who at that time still didn’t believe. Does God not often come into our life with enthusiasm? Early in the morning when we wake up, the Lord says, “Good morning, my child. Good morning My son,” then we immediately answered, “God I’m dizzy…” Sometimes we can not talk to God on the same page because of different dimensions. God speaks in a dimension of faith, whereas we speak in another dimension. Maybe we say, “God, why is my life like this?” Just like Abraham whose trust still needs to be built.
This is good news for those of us who are still like Abram. God wants to build our belief again because God is not One who can give up.
And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. (Genesis 15: 3)
In other words, Abram wanted to say: “Because You keep promising, yet I still have no children. My heirs will not be my descendants….” This shows that Abram did not believe. God taught Abram to keep believing, by saying to him.
And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir (Genesis 15: 4).
Learn about belief from God, because God keeps His conviction. When He speaks, His words never changed. Once He said, “Your biological child will be your heir,” He always kept saying that Abram’s biological son would be the heir, never changing his heir to be Eliezer, or Ishmael, or Lot.
And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness (Genesis 15: 5–6)
Notice how God taught Abram to believe. Genesis 12:5 says God took Abram out. This does not illustrate that God only took Abraham out of his house, but, on the other hand, God also brought Abram out of his mind’s cage so that he could see another view because at that time what made Abram sad was that he was constantly looking at and watching images of thoughts. regarding facts in his life. He is old, yet has no children. He knew God’s promise, but it was a picture he could not imagine. That’s why God took him out of the confinement of fact thoughts to look at the stars in the sky so he could see something different.
Beware of feelings of disappointment, resentment, and despair, because the devil is trying to destroy your faith! What makes it difficult for us to believe that God will fulfill His promises is because our minds are not controlled by images of the fulfillment of promises. What controls our minds today? Is it a picture of the fulfillment of a promise or some other picture? What controls your mind?
2. Through a declaration of faith.
This seems like something we are used to hearing about, and of course, we have to do it perfectly through a declaration of faith. In Genesis 17 starting from verse 5, God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and was appointed “Father of many nations.”
Not only Abram who was renamed, but also his wife, from Sarai to Sarah and she would become the mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her (verses 15–16). Why were their name changed? So that when they each call each other, Sarah will call Abraham “O father of many nations!”, vice versa, Abraham will also continue to call Sarah “O mother of nations!” When they keep saying that, the facts of the past will not dominate their lives.
3. Through every event experienced in his life.
In Genesis 20, Abraham went to the land of Negeb, where he lived in Gerar. Abraham had previously settled in Canaan when he parted with Lot (Genesis 13:12), but God told him to continue on the journey. And on two occasions in his journey, Abraham confessed that Sarah was his sister because he was afraid of being killed (when in Egypt–Genesis 12:11–12 and while in Gerar– Genesis 20). In the story, it is written that God still defended Abraham even though from our point of view it is certainly a wrong behavior (because Abraham was more willing to lose his wife than to lose his life).
However, God can change mistakes to be good for us, a stumbling block is turned into stepping stones (but that does not mean we keep making mistakes. Remember, the important thing is we continue to focus on the fulfillment of His promises). What we experience is all because of God’s plan.
If we are on the way to fulfilling the promise, nothing will happen by chance in our life, everything is designed by God and often God designs it and uses it to make us learn to believe.
Why does God have a specific plan for our lives? Because God gives specific Words in our lives too. Concentrate our whole life on grasping His words and grasping His plan. That’s why we have to experience everything that each of us experiences. The only reason is because of God’s plan in our life, because of God’s word in our life.
Trust me, God is not silent, He is and still working. Everything that happens around us, the cause is because God wants to speak to us, because God wants to teach us, He wants to fulfill His plan in our lives!
In Genesis 20, the last verse said: for the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech. Then Genesis 21:1–2, And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.
We are the protagonist, not others. All events around us center on us. Because the only one God wants to talk to is us, no one else. Because God can only speak to us, God’s people. Keep this in our minds and deep in our hearts. Read also: Experiencing the Fulfillment of God’s Promises
We are the protagonist, not others. All events around us center on us. Because the only one God wants to talk to is us, no one else. Because God can only speak to us, God’s people. Keep this in our minds and deep in our hearts.
