Romans 4:21 …being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

This one little verse, just part of a sentence, speaks volumes about Abraham’s faith, and thus, about the faith that God desires of us. In the first place, Abraham knew that God had spoken to him and promised him some things. He wasn’t like some people today who ridicule anyone who says they “heard from God.” As I said yesterday, he didn’t have a developed theology, but he knew what he had experienced. We all can have problems distinguishing what we are really hearing from God from our own wishful thinking, or our otherwise twisted imagination. Throughout the Bible we read of people who struggled in this area, so we needn’t feel bad about it. However, we can also struggle with the flip side of this, believing that God really can do what He has promised. A very common problem, though seldom expressed this way, is in believing that God is stronger than our weaknesses and failures. We tend to feel we are too far gone for God to use! (Of course the flip side of that is the conceit of thinking we are so wonderful that God has to use us.) Because we are far from omnipotent, we can’t really grasp what omnipotence looks like. God is absolutely sovereign, and He is absolutely powerful. If He said it, that settles it, period. We actually don’t have to grasp the details of God’s omnipotence, just be fully convinced that He has enough power to accomplish whatever He has said to us.

Of course this applies to me. God has given us the absolutely impossible vision of Omura again being the foremost Christian city in the nation, but the simple fact of His giving us that vision takes it out of the realm of the impossible and makes it certain. I don’t know that I will see it with my physical eyes any more than Abraham saw his billions of spiritual descendants with his, but God said it and that settles it. Recently He has been bringing harvest workers, interestingly enough, from Hong Kong and Taiwan. That was totally outside of my imagination, but He knows what He is doing! He also just brought a young Japanese in her 20s who has been a Christian for three years but has never been planted in a church. I didn’t know those were running around! I’ve had to learn that in a sense, I am essentially beside the point, because it certainly isn’t dependent on me. I am to be faithful, doing each day what the Lord shows me and meeting His appointments, but the wisdom and power are all His, and I get to go along for the ride. Yesterday I didn’t bring a prepared message, but just interpreted for testimonies and gave a short one myself, and I was a little shocked to find out that we will have two people here next week from Taiwan (I think) who will be speaking for about 10 minutes each, so that means no sermon next week either. And yet I have a message that is growing and burning in my heart! I need to grow in the awareness that it is God who has the power to do what He has promised, and He isn’t dependent on me.

Father, thank You for this training. As Cathy has commented, it’s hard for me not to talk! Help me let go of myself in that area, and in every other area, so that I will be fully available to You and not get in Your way, so that indeed, Your promises may be fulfilled on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!