ABUNDANCE POWERED BY FAITH

Good morning to all on this Friday morning. The cool weather has come to Georgia and feels great! You can sleep with your windows open and be lulled to sleep by the crickets or awakened by the chirping of the birds. Waine is returning from Jamaica today so please pray for God's traveling mercies for him. Please continue to pray for ET and his family and a speedy recovery for Violet. She was discharged to a Skilled Nursing Facility yesterday and looks good.

I am continuing my journey in Romans today, verses 1-12, "What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness." Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him."Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham's faith was credited to him as righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised." Amen.

Paul in now really getting to the heart of the matter. Abraham was the FIRST "Jew" and was chosen by God because of his FAITH and not because he kept the  Mosaic law! As flawed as Abraham was, he still had the kind of faith in God that God could use to demonstrate His grace and mercy. At the time Abraham was chosen, he was known as Abram. He was uncircumcised and his wife Sari was barren. They were approaching their 100th year as a BARREN couple. This is the man that God approached and gave the PROMISE that he (Abram) would become the father of many nations. When Abram shared this news with Sari, she laughed and called him a fool. Let's think about this. God a approaches a 100 year old man whose wife is 90 and has been barren all their married life and tells this man that he would father many nations. If you were Abram what would you do? What if you had 1 penny in the bank and God told you that you would have billions of dollars so that you could further His Kingdom? What would you do if you had a life limiting illness and God told you that you would build a ministry that would touch  millions of people? What would you do if your only child was in jail and God told you that your child would be President of the United States? What would you do if your business was failing and payroll was 3 days away and you didn't have enough  money to make payroll? Would you believe God for His PROMISE or would you laugh like Sari? This is where the Faith of a mustard seed takes over. When you BELIEVE in God's PROMISE, you are in the FAITH ZONE and should stay there. Most of us are not content to "do" nothing and JUST TRUST. We think we have to help God with His Promise. A friend of mine stays in the FAITH ZONE by constantly reminding herself that "GOD SAID", which is her way of reminding herself that although she is flawed God is perfect and has PROMISED HIS ABUNDANCE to us not because we deserve it but because the God we serve is generous and is the place where grace and mercy abound!

I don't know what challenge I will face today or what challenge you are facing. I do know the God that has conquered all challenges and desires that we through Faith trust Him for the outcome. This exercise is not for Him but for us to learn the skill sets necessary to commune with God through Faith. Faith is the language of God; Faith is what provides the portal for our salvation. Not our works. Don't be like Sari and Abram and decide what God must have meant is that Abram sleep with someone other than Sari to have a baby. To this day this one act has caused thousands of years of strife between the descendants of Ismael and Issac. You see Abraham seed did flourish through both Ismael and Issac however the PROMISE was only given to the product of the union of Sari and Abram. The conflict bewteen the Arabs (Ismael descendants) and the Jews (Issacs descendants) is not the outcome of the PROMISE God gave to Abram; this is the outcome of Abram's meddling. Confusion is the work of the Devil. Remember that today. If you are in a situation in which strife and confusion exists, walk away from it because this is not of God. God's promise is never confusing or filled with strife; God's PROMISE is only filled with abundance. Whatever you are believing God for take heart HELP IS ON THE WAY!

Stephanie