The blessing of Abraham, the father of our faith, was that he became the father of many nations.  He received a Promised child.  He received a Promised Land.  He received a Promised Spirit.  From his seed came the Christ.  He was prosperous and he lived a long life.  There is a pattern to his life and if we understand the pattern, we, too, can become the seed of Abraham.

            Abraham prayed.  He prayed a long time for a son and he did not give up.  God seeing Abraham’s faith changes Abraham’s name from Abram to Abraham.  When God gives Abraham a new name, Abraham, he can confess that he will be the father of many nations, multitude, every time he calls himself Abraham.  So it begins with faith and prayer and it continues with calling those things which are not as though they were.  Faith is sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.  Then the trial of our faith occurs.  Abraham has been praying and confessing for a long time and both he and Sarah are now old.  If he chooses to look at the natural circumstances his faith will waver, but Abraham, rather than faltering, grows stronger and more determined, standing on the promises of God, in what God has told him, rather then on the natural facts.  So it is with us.  We begin with a hope and a prayer and faith gives it substance.  We wait until God confirms the confession by speaking to our spirit and we stand on the promise.  Then we can expect the trial of our faith.  Abraham believed without seeing and God rewards him late in life with a child.  Yet God is not through with Abraham.  God tells Abraham when Isaac is a teenager to offer him as a sacrifice.  Abraham yielding to the Spirit of God obeys God above his love for Isaac believing that God would still be able to keep his word even raising Isaac from the dead.  This was the ultimate act of faith for Abraham.  The point of all this is to suggest that there is more to faith than mere confession.  There is a trial of faith, perhaps many, before our confession: “I am Abraham’s seed.” becomes a reality.  That is the pattern for Abraham and that is the pattern for us.

            We begin in the world.  We begin sinners.  At some point we receive Christ and are born again.  We may receive the baptism of the Spirit.  We read the word of God and learn that there are many promises in the bible.  We begin to confess those promises.  At some point God moves us in our spirit to believe particular promises.  Then the trial of our faith begins.  We, like Abraham, must believe God despite natural circumstances which seem to contradict what God has promised us.  We must not waver.  We must stand on the word both read and God breathed until the manifestation occurs.  At some point in our faith journey we should enter the Promised Land and enter a place of rest and know with certainty and manifestation that God is true and faithful.  That is the pattern.

            Be at it for God!  Amen