I want to look with you at a man of God who saw the impossible come to pass in his life, that man was father Abraham. There were two things Abraham possessed that facilitated this; Abraham had an ear that could hear faith and a heart that was conditioned to believe. We will see these are precious gifts and ones we should cry out to God for.
I want to begin with several definitions, in order to be clear about the difference between Faith, which comes from God and believing which is a condition of our own heart. Faith is a noun and believe is a verb. We can say, "I believe" because it is a verb. However, it is not correct to say, "I faith" because it is not an action, it is a substance or a noun.
Faith is not an act of the human will, it is a divine deposit. There are two especially important aspects of this word that we should be aware of. The first is that this substance is essential in living a life pleasing to God. Hebrews 11:6 tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God. Secondly, faith does not come from the human mind or the human will but is deposited in our hearts when God speaks to us. Romans 10:17 informs us that faith comes by hearing Gods voice.
Many refer to faith as, "Blind Faith" but that is an oxy-moron because Faith is not blind but is built up upon assurances and conviction, it is a substance an evidence that is real. Heb 11:1 ASV "Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen." This reality is illustrated for us in the life of Peter, it is with this assurance and conviction that Peter walked on water! He did not presume to walk on water, he did so by the faith that was put into his heart when Jesus spoke, "Come!"
Belief, on the other hand, is the act of the human will; "I choose to believe". When we judge Him faithful who has promised then we believe what He says is true. The scripture says: "be not faithless but believing" (John 20:28). When God spoke to the children of Israel and told them that they were well able to take the land they did not believe and therefore, they did not receive the faith necessary to triumph over their enemies.
God wants our hearts conditioned to believe Him, to put our trust and confidence in His integrity and virtue. This is why we admire faithful Abraham, he believed and his belief endured all trials and all obstacles. Let's look at this amazing heart of belief and faith in Abraham:
Rom 4:18-22 KJV "18 Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. 19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness."
God came to Abraham and Sarah when it was too late for them to have children and then God waited another 25 years! During that time Abraham grew older and waxed less likely to bear children.
The point is this, God will give a promise and we must believe that promise to start our journey. That heart of beleif in the integrity and virtue of the One who gave the promise will receive faith. In the process of time obstacles will be put in the way to challenge our belief and faith in that promise but we must not stagger in doubt or unbelief. We must, like faithful Abraham nourish that faith in our hearts and reject all obstacles to the contrary. That is how we prevail, that is the way we see promises come to pass.
How long must we believe and hold onto the faith of God? Is there a point whereby God is no longer trust worthy? Is there a point where we say, "Well, it obviously is not going to be fulfilled; I have waited and the promise failed." What a joke, there is no end to the trustworthiness of God. What He says He will do.
As we said at the beginning we will now repeat: There were two things Abraham possessed that caused him to inherit the promise of God; Abraham had an ear that could hear faith and a heart that was conditioned to believe. These are indeed precious gifts and ones we should cry out to God for.
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