‘Abraham believed God…’

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 13:05:26 +0000

By Chitanda

WELCOME to to-day’s discussion.  It is all about the obedience of Abraham to his only true God, the Most High. The quotation reads: “And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness.”

Abraham believed God when he told him that his descendants shall be as many as stars in heaven.  (Genesis 15:5).  To believe is to show trust in somebody.  To hold a firm conviction about some thing or somebody.  It is to accept as true, genuine or real.  It is a great blessing to hear the Word of God and believe. (John 4:41).

Abraham’s faith in his true God remains most outstanding to this day.  He was born in Ur, but spent most of his life in Canaan, which was a totally strange land. 

His test of faith in his God came about when he was told to give his only son Isaac as sacrifice to the Lord God Almighty.  That he was prepared to do, until the angel of the Lord God Almighty, stopped him from offering his son as sacrifice.

Terah was the father of Abraham.  Terah had two more children namely; Nahor and Haran.  And Haran was the father of Lot.  Haran died while his father Terah was still living.  Abram as he was known then, married Sarai. Who became Sarah later in life.  It was at the time Abram’s name changed also to Abraham.  Terah lived for 205 years before he died.  They all lived in a place called Ur of the Chaldeans.  They later on moved to the land of Canaan.  Among Terah’s family, it was Abraham who found favour in the sight of the Lord, God Almighty.

Our Lord God, the Most High, promised Abraham, that he would make him famous and that he would be a blessing to others and that all the families on earth will be blessed through Abraham.  And the Lord God told Abraham, that he was going to bless who ever shall bless Abraham and curse the person who was going to curse Abraham.  Abraham therefore became the father of the Jewish people. Abraham became the founder of the Jewish nation.

Faith in the book of Hebrews11:1 is defined as follows: It is a substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  It is the confidence that we hope for will actually happen, it gives us the assurance about things we cannot see. This is how Abraham earned himself a good reputation with his God. 

It was by faith that he pleased God.  It is written in Hebrews 11 verse 6 that: “It is impossible to please God without faith.”  It is like the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God had advised Abraham, on how best to please God.  Unless your faith is firm, no person can make you firm in the Lord.  Faith comes by hearing the word of God. (Romans 10:17).  This is the reason, we have got to feed ourselves with the Word of God at all times, not only on Sundays.  The Bible says, that Abraham believed whatever God told him, everything happened as told, Abraham believed.  It is his believing that pleased God.  And he was by faith declared righteous. 

To be righteous is to act in accordance with divine or moral law, free from guilt of sin.  It means to be morally right or justifiable.  And Abraham did everything by the power of God.

In the present day, faith is not easy to come by.  Jesus said; if you can have faith like a mustard seed you can tell the mountain to move and it can move (Matthew 17:20).  This is how difficult it is to have faith.  But we have got to try to have it for our own survival.  This is because, a believer without faith will find it very difficult to be saved.

In Ephesians 2:8, the Bible says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and not that of yourselves.  It is the gift of God.”  So, we know that to be saved or to be declared righteous is simply the gift of God that comes through faith. 

We are required therefore to strengthen our faith in our true God, daily.  This can only be obtained by being involved in praising and worshipping God all the time and by continuous prayer.  It is by so doing that we shall please God with our faith. 

St. Paul, boasted with the kind of faith that he had. In 2nd Timothy 4:7, it is written: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” 

St. Paul was very sure of going to heaven after his death.  Just as Abraham had the confidence of going to heaven after his death.  All because of the faith they maintained. 

Let us be their copycats. Abraham had faith that saved his life.  He was a blessed person. 

In Romans 1:17, it is written: “This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight.  This is accomplished from start to finish by faith.  As the scripture says “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”  We become righteous by faith and not by deeds, because we are all sinners. (Romans 3:23).

The Good News shows us both how righteous God is and his plan for us to be saved and also how we are made fit for eternal life.  By trusting Christ Jesus, our relationship with God is made right. 

By faith we shall have life now and forever.  It is written in Habakkuk 2:4; thus “look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked.  But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.”

Christians must trust that God is directing all things according to his purpose.  This is what Abraham believed.  And he was not disappointed.  It is most important to trust our Lord God Almighty and His Son Christ Jesus, as we conduct ourselves here on earth.  It is only then we shall be assured of life beyond death.

In 1Thess 1:3, the Bibles says “remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.” We should stand firm in our works for Christ, with great hope for good and for fellow human beings.  Truly, faith works by love.  (Galatians 5:6).

It is also written in 1st Corinth.13:13 that: Three things will last forever, faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” 

The greatest of all human qualities is love.  It is also God’s attribute. (1 John 4:8).  Love involves unselfish service to others.  And Abraham had lots of love.  And God loved the world first (John3:16).  If we believe in the son, then we shall have life eternal.

Another one important element possessed by Abraham was obedience.  To be obedient is to submit.  Abraham showed great obedience to His God.  It is written in the book of Isaiah 1:19, thus: “If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.”  To obey, is the key to good things to come from God the Most High.  People who are obedient have seen promotion coming their way.  Abraham was very obedient to his God.  When he was told to leave his usual place to a strange land, he obeyed.  It was in the strange land that Abraham became very rich. 

He was highly blessed by his God. Because of Abraham’s obedience, God made it possible that, the local people Abraham found in the strange land, loved him so much.  His relationship with the local people was most satisfying.  He owned tracts of land.  All was well with Abraham.

When God wants to move us for His service, we should not deny ourselves to serve Him, in a place of His choice. He may bless us with his greatest gift – life eternal.  We should learn to obey God.  In the book of 1st Samuel 15:22, it is written: “Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.”  This means that we should have a repentant heart, which must obey God’s commandments. 

When you compare obedience to burning of sacrifices, that is giving a lot of money to God as tithe, minus obedience to his word, then we are doing ourselves a disfavour.  Our giving of tithe should go hand in hand with obedience.

It is written in Romans 5:19. Thus: “for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”  Adam was disobedient to the instruction of the Lord.  And we are all called sinners.  And face God’s punishment which is death.  But because of the obedience of Abraham, he became the ancestor of Christ Jesus, in whom for those who believe, will have eternal life.  (John 3:16).  This is the benefit of obedience, you become like a tree planted near a river.  (Psalms1:1-6)

We learn from the Bible that those who have faith in the Lord and obedient to His Word, shall be declared righteous in the sight of the Lord.  We shall experience righteousness even though we are sinners.  We should always struggle to have the faith and obedience of Abraham.

Another very important element Abraham possessed was that he was a man of integrity.  He was sound in character and pure.  He never did anything stupid in order to break the peace of his relatives nor his neighbours.  He was upright in behavior.

It is important that we become like Abraham.  He was a great believer in his only true God of Isaac and Jacob. He had developed so much confidence in the Lord, and whatever God said to Abraham, he believed.  When God had promised Abraham a son, when Abraham got the promised son, he recognised that the son had come from God.  When we are rich, we feel riches have come by our power.  It is not right to think in that manner.  Riches come from God.  Deuteronomy 8:18, says “But thou shalt remember, the Lord thy God, for it is he that gives the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore unto the fathers, as it is this day.” 

Abraham, was a very clever person, he realised that everything that is good comes from God, Jehovah Jireh.

Let us strive to have faith the kind that Abraham had.  He is a fantastic example.  We should all the time strive to grow in faith, to be like Abraham.

May the Lord God Almighty continue to bless our Republican President and shower our land Zambia, with lots of love and peace,  Amen.