“Abraham believed God and it was counted to Him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)

Abraham believed God. It seems simple enough and as a professing Christian, I would say that I believe God too.

But when I am truly honest with myself, I realize there is a bit of disconnection between believing in God and believing God.

Yes, I believe in God. I believe God is the mastermind behind this incredible world and universe that mankind has yet to fully understand or discover. I believe that God is The One who holds all that I see and don’t see together. I believe God directs all paths, manages the opening and closing of every door, and always has the final say.

But when it comes to believing God, that can get a little tricky, not in necessarily in word but in action.

For example….

God says it’s not by works but by grace through faith that I have been saved and invited into this wonderful relationship with Him. (Ephesians 2:8)  I believe that to be true, but can still exhaust myself trying to do “good works” to find favor from God.

God says we are to forgive that we may be forgiven (Matthew 6:14-15)  but I can still find myself being unforgiving towards others, especially when I feel I’ve been wronged.

God says that He will never leave me or forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6) but I can still find myself feeling and actually believing the exact opposite, that He has forgotten about me, leaving me to fend for myself and on my own.

God says that nothing is impossible for Him (Genesis 18:14; Matthew 19:26), but I can still find myself struggling with doubt at different situations where I am wanting change and with completing some of the tasks I believe God has called me to do.
So what gives?! How can I not only believe in God but believe God?? How can I bring myself from solely believing that He is to fully believing in all He has said and promised?

In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,  fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.  – Romans 4:18-21

Abraham believed God. He had hope against hope. He believed despite the circumstances around him (his age, Sarah’s age) He believed simply because he had been told.

Simply because God told Him.

I think it’s completely natural to struggle with believing God fully for each of the promises given to us in His word. (I don’t even know all of them!) Many times our idea of God is so limited, our God is so small, that it is hard to believe that He is able to do all that He says He is able to do. We live in the fallen world and we are sometimes so jaded by the realities we see around us that the God of the Bible, the God who parted seas, raised the dead, multiplied loaves, seems so far away from our reality. That God, however, still exists! It’s still who He is. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

Like Abraham, our faith grows through acts of faith. (*sigh*) It sounds like a “catch 22”, round and round circle, but it’s true.

Abraham exercised his faith when God told him to pick up himself and move to a land he did not know and there in that land, God proved Himself faithful. Abraham exercised his faith again when he let his own nephew choose the better plot of land. He trusted that God would provide, and God proved Himself faithful. When it came time to trust God to make Him the father of all nations, though he stumbled when he listened to voices other than God’s (Genesis 16), he refocused and decided to trust in what God had said. He did so even in the face of being asked to sacrifice his son Isaac, the one evidence he could see and hope in for the fulfillment of God’s promise.

We have to decide to trust God and seize opportunities to act in faith. In the face of doubt and fear, we have decide to hold unto our hope, against any and every obstacle that would try to cause our faith to waver. We fight those doubts and tear them down with the truth of God and who He is as revealed in His word.  Every word of God proves true.  If He’s said it, He will surely do it because the God we serve is faithful. (2 Corinthians 10:5; Proverbs 30:5; 1 Thessalonians 5:24)

As we grow in this practice, we will see God prove faithful time and time again. Experiencing His faithfulness will help us to be like Abraham, having hope against hope and believing God for greater and greater things with the confidence that nothing is impossible for Him.

Some promises to get us started:

• “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
• “The Lord will fight for you, you have only to be silent.” (Exodus 14:4)
• “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
• “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
      I will protect him, because he knows my name.

   When he calls to me, I will answer him;

      I will be with him in trouble;

      I will rescue him and honor him.

   With long life I will satisfy him

      and show him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:14-16)