Faith is not about what you can do, faith is about what you believe God has already done for you!
Take Abraham for example. In Genesis 22:1-13, Abraham was instructed by God to take his only son to the region of Moriah.
He was then instructed to sacrifice his son on a mountain that God was going to show him. Let's pause here…
Some of us have a hard time trusting God and some of us move when we are not supposed to.
Some of us even try to help God when all the time, we should quiet ourselves and be still in order to hear His instructions. God said that He would show Abraham the mountain, which meant, He had already set a plan in motion.
Can you imagine what would have happened if Abraham didn't trust God to even make this journey, or if he heard God, but decided to help God and choose any mountain to sacrifice his son?
It would have been devastating. This is why it is important to be still and listen for God’s instructions.
Continuing now...So, Abraham has heard the instruction of the Lord and the Word of God states that the next morning, Abraham got up and loaded his donkey, instructed two servants to come with him and his son, and cut wood for the burnt sacrifice.
I can't speak for Abraham, but I believe that even though Abraham trusted God, he had to fight off negative thoughts.
This comes with the territory of having faith because the enemy will always try to make you second guess what you heard or doubt God's Word and instructions that were given to you.
Continuing with the story, Abraham set out for the place that God had instructed him to go.
It took Abraham three days to reach his destination. We know this because the Word of God says, “On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance” (Genesis 22:4).
Abraham then said to the servants, “Stay here with the donkey while we go to the mountain.”
Pay close attention here. Abraham then said, “WE will worship and then WE will come back to you” (Genesis 22:5).
Now, God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son. So why is it that Abraham thinks he will return back with his son?
Well, for those of you who didn't know, Abraham had an intimate relationship with God, which meant he knew God on a personal level, and he also knew that God loved him.
And because Abraham knew that God loved him, he heard God and followed God's instructions.
Abraham knew in his heart that God would not do anything to hurt him. I can imagine Abraham saying, “God, You love me...I don't know how this is going to play out, but I believe that You are in control, and I trust you...”
When you are operating in faith, you will not have all of the answers, and most of the times, it will not make sense to you.
But you have to TRUST GOD even when you are scared and don't know the next step.
Trust God and do what He told you to do until you get the next set of instructions.
Don't worry about missing the mark. God knows exactly how to communicate with His creation!
In Genesis 22:6-7, Abraham takes the wood and puts it on his son's back.
Then he himself carries the fire and the knife. (I assume by fire, it is meant that he had something to produce the fire).
Isaac, Abraham's son spoke up and said, “Father, we have the fire and the wood here, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?”
PARENTS.....TAKE NOTE HERE!!!
Abraham answered Isaac by saying, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering,” and the two of them continued on.
Parents, there are certain things that your children are not ready to handle, and you have to use wisdom while raising your children.
This means praying for your child, exposing them to positive things, conducting yourself in a positive way in front of them and monitoring their intake of television shows, music, radio, etc.
When a child gets a hold of information that they are not ready to handle, you may end up having to deal with a bad situation.
In this case, Abraham did not respond to Isaac saying, “Son, you are the sacrifice.” He responded with, “God will provide the lamb.”
When they reached the place that God had instructed him, Abraham built an altar for the sacrifice.
He then tied up his son and placed him on the altar on top of the wood.
He took his knife, and he was about to slay his son but then he was stopped by an angel. The angel of the Lord called out to him, “Abraham!” (Genesis 22:11).
Abraham answered, “Here I am!” The angel then told him not to slay the boy. The angel of the Lord said, “Now I know that you fear God because you did not withhold your son from me” (Genesis 22:12).
The word fear in that scripture does not mean scared or afraid.
To fear God means that you honor or respect God. The angel could see that God's Word was Abraham's final authority and that it meant more to him than his own son.
At that moment, Abraham looked up, and there in the bushes was a ram tangled by its horns.
He took the ram and sacrificed it, rather than his son. Abraham was blessed beyond measure because of his faith and obedience to God.
Trust God in your situation. It may seem like it is getting to a breaking point, but know that God IS God! He loves you, and He always has a ram in the bush!
God bless you!
