The promises of God are fulfilled in accordance with us partnering with Him. This requires us to live by faith. Faith can come in a moment where everything within you believes that what God says is true. But what about the moments that follow when that supernatural feeling is gone? How do you continue to live it out? Let’s look to Abraham as an example.
God invited Abraham into a covenant with Himself. God said that He would do the following: make Abraham a great nation, bless him, make his name great, and bless the world through him.
What a promise! This was a “mountaintop moment” for Abraham, but it required something from him – to live out his faith every day and to believe God for what He had promised. Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6). Abraham was found righteous by living a life surrendered to God. This story gives us three practical areas of our life we can surrender to God in order to live as men and women of faith and righteousness just like Abraham:
1. Surrender your comforts
To receive this glorious promise, Abraham, at the age of 75, was called by God to leave his home and everything familiar to him, and to live in tents as a foreigner of a land where God was sending him (Genesis 12). Most people at this age are into their “cushy” years of retirement, sipping Mimosas on the beach. But not Abraham. This was a whole new chapter of his life that took courage and hard work to live out. Today, a different gospel, called the prosperity gospel, has weaved its way into our thinking and has told us to believe if it’s not comfortable, it’s probably not God. But we see this was exactly God’s plan. So, your first takeaway: Do the hard thing, feel the discomfort, and lean into God for strength! You might just find you are walking in your destiny.
2. Surrender your timeline
The story of Abraham can take us about 20 minutes to read, but did you know that Abraham was 75 years old when God made a covenant with him and 100 years old when Isaac was born? That means he waited 25 years for the promise! Today, we live in a “microwave” culture where if things in our life don’t happen fast we can easily be disappointed and give up. But the promises of God take time. If you haven’t seen the fulfillment to promises in your life, press in. This brings us to our second takeaway: You’re not doing it wrong and God is not slow. Wait upon the Lord! His timing is better than ours.
3. Surrender your promise
Once Abraham received his promise of his offspring, Isaac, God then asks Abraham to sacrifice him on an altar (Genesis 22:2). The story reveals that it was not necessarily God’s plan for Isaac to die as a sacrifice, however it was to test Abraham’s heart. When Abraham raised the dagger to kill Isaac, an angel of the Lord stopped him. Abraham passed the test. God was testing Abraham’s faithfulness and allegiance to Him, and he was found faithful. This brings us to our third takeaway: Sometimes we can make it more about the promise itself than the God of the promise. Lay it back down at His feet and remember to keep the Lord your first and foremost.
A life of faith and righteousness requires surrender. So, let’s take notes from Abraham’s life:
Get uncomfortable
Throw that timeline out the window
Give God first place in your heart
May your faith grow on this journey.
Be Blessed Today!
Mallory Sunderhuse
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