Seriously Consider God’s Promises

Romans 4:19-21 KJV
(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 Sara’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.

You can’t look at or consider the problems in your life and still have strong faith. Sure you know they’re there. But once you start mentally chewing upon the things that are wrong and natural ability to overcome those things… you’ll start staggering at the promises of God.

Over the years I’ve experienced what it’s like to stagger and I’ve experiencing what it’s like to stand firm and grow strong in faith. Sometimes you can be hard on yourself when you look back on certain things, but remember, the Bible says we have an enemy. We fight against spiritual wickedness that works in this world.

In other words, many times we have “help” that pushes us in the wrong direction. We have “help” in not considering God’s presence and God’s promises.

No matter what happens to you in your lifetime, God has promises recorded in His Word that can give you the victory.

The Bible says Abraham didn’t stagger at God’s promises. He didn’t get there overnight, though. He tried to make things happen on his own when he took Hagar to be the mother of his promised child.

Abraham grew strong. He wasn’t strong to begin with.

It’s no different with you or me. If you feel weak in faith today as you face certain challenges. Maybe you’re facing physical challenges or financial challenges. Whatever the case may be, you can grow strong in faith – but you have to stop “considering” the issue you’re facing along with all the colorful details.

You have to stop being afraid of what might happen and redirect your focus back to the Lord.

The Bible says, “Perfect love casts out fear.”

1 John 4:18-19 Weymouth New Testament
(18)  Love has in it no element of fear; but perfect love drives away fear, because fear involves pain, and if a man gives way to fear, there is something imperfect in his love.
(19)  We love because God first loved us.

I can’t continue to focus on God’s love and God’s promises and still have fear. If I focus a little bit on the promises and a little bit on the problem, I can be double-minded about things. And we know how double-mindedness works.

James 1:7-8 KJV
(7)  For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
(8)  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Being unstable is having one day up and one day down. And here’s the thing… none of us are strangers to double-mindedness. We’ve all been there at least once in our lifetime.

You have to fight double-mindedness, fear and worry on every front.

The 19^th verse perfectly describes what it’s like to not be weak in faith. It says he considered not his own body. In other words, he wasn’t weak in faith. That would make the opposite true. If he was weak in faith he would have been considering his own body and he would have been considering the deadness of Sarah’s womb.

Those two problems would’ve seemed more real to him than God’s promises.

When the lie seems more real than the truth, you know where your focus is and you know where your focus isn’t.

Sometimes I think we can try to intellectualize and rationalize the Bible and how things work a little too much. Instead of focusing on God and His Word and let it naturally do its work from the inside-out, we try to figure too many things out. In such cases, the head hinders the heart where faith is supposed to take root.

It’s like always having our thought calculators working 24/7. You already know certain things don’t add up or make sense the way you think they should. How many times are you going to torment yourself by revisiting and recalculating the problem? Why not focus on God’s solution and let it wash away all the negative feelings you’re dealing with?

Deuteronomy 30:19 KJV
(19)  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

The choice is always ours. Make the right one.